Glenburgie is rapidly becoming one of my very favourite Speyside distilleries. It seems to produce those tropical fruit notes that I go crazy for with consistency, provided it’s had enough time in the cask. The 21 years of age on this distillery-label bottling from Gordon & MacPhail should be enough to get those flavours going.
- 46% ABV
- Aged at least 21 years
- Bottled by Gordon & MacPhail
Nose: Ehhhh, there’s some stale sulfur here, and mustiness like walking into a leaking basement. Slightly dirty and grassy too. Beyond that is standard Glenburgie – apples, peaches, sappy tropical fruit, and drizzles of honey. Some dollar-store milk chocolate, uprooted flowers, and red table grapes.
Palate: Medium texture. Arrives with honey, peaches, lemongrass, elderflower, and vanilla. Develops to fragrant old oak, chewed-up pencils, dirt, spiced cardboard(???) and a slightly sulfurous cooked-eggs note (though there’s much less sulfur here than on the nose). Lots of ripe mango in the middle.
Finish: Medium-length, fragrant and getting sweeter. Thick caramel, honey, sandalwood, chocolate milk, sour rope candy, mango, and cinnamon-dusted baked apples. Floral notes of dandelions and marigolds. A hint of that earthy sulfur again.
Thoughts: Not my fave. I have what I’d call a minor sulfur sensitivity in whisky, and this is just over the line for me. There are hints in here of why I love Glenburgie so much – love that mango note. They’re just a little buried under the sulfur and oak. If you don’t mind sulfur, you might enjoy this a lot more than I did.
Final score: 75/100
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