A quick review, since it’s been a while. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been massively busy, and the reinstatement of commuting hasn’t been without time consumption either.

So, between being away for a weekend, commuting, an insanely busy period from both a private and a work perspective has me tasting almost no whisky at all, and posting even less reviews. There’s some awesome stuff queued up, and I hope to get around to writing more and tasting more in the very near future, but it’ll be a few days.

Anyway, this one then. A Glen Elgin, released by Archives for the Taiwanese market. I never really knew Archives did things like that until recently, but apparently my information is lacking (and lagging).

Glen Elgin is one of these distilleries that I want to like, but in a lot of cases it just doesn’t happen. Sure, they have very good casks of whisky (this one, for example), but most of what is out there is 10 year old blandness that is too close to new make spirit to be considered to be anywhere near good.

Sniff:
Very aromatic with classical scents of yellow fruit, barley and oak. There’s an earthy edge to it as well. Apples, pears, very ripe stuff with a good kind of sweetness. Some spices, with a bit of a funkiness of old age.

Sip:
The palate has a bit of oomph, but isn’t harsh in any way. Lots of oven baked fruit, with some spices. Quite some pastry flavors too, sand biscuit, crumble, a touch of vanilla.

Swallow:
The finish has that same maturity as the nose has, but with the fresh addition of candied lemon.

The palate is a bit more generic than the nose and the finish, but far from being uninteresting. The sweetness, which is definitely there, is never too much, and never overpowering. This is one of those good casks that makes me try more Glen Elgin, only to be let down most of the time. Luckily, stuff like this exists!

88/100