Now, this bit about the Port Hogshead is not on the internet, or on the label. However, the bottler himself told me in an email, so we’re going with that.
A rather darkly colored Glentauchers, in line with quite a few that have been coming out over the last year or two. As in, same age bracket, heavily cask influenced and rather strong. Actually, this one sits at the low end of how strong a 7 year old whisky generally is. I guess I find that a good thing.
The whisky itself was released just before Christmas, but it’s already sold out. This usually happens when someone of the stature of Michiel Wigman, and his rather famous (or, from a personal finance perspective, infamous) bottlings, festival stand and Dutch Whisky Connection in general, releases something.
What is also interesting, but that’s more personal than anything else, is that I generally don’t even like Glentauchers that much. At least, generally, I don’t. And yet, I find myself in the posession of at least four bottles of it and I tried bottle-sharing one last week.
Glentauchers seems to come in two different forms. Of course there are exceptions, but what we see mostly is either about 25 years old, or around 6 or 7 years old. I don’t know if there is less available in general from the in between time, or that this is simply what’s been made available. It’s something that caught my eye, at least.
Sniff:
It’s quite heavy. Glentauchers is a dram that I generally find rather heavy, and the port cask only adds to that. There’s a lot of stewed fruit and hints of shoe polish. A whiff of stock, or fond, that needs deglazing from a pan too. Charred barbecue beef. It’s not getting any lighter with time.
Sip:
The palate is as heavy as the nose, but it does take a while for the alcohol to stand out. There’s a little bit of black pepper and slightly more oak than there was on the nose, but other than that it is very consistent. Barbecue charred beef, some slightly burnt stock, hints of leather. Stewed fruits too, caramelized strawberries, some blue grapes. Rancio, heaps of that as well.
Swallow:
The finish is a little bit lighter, it veers towards the more fresh strawberries, without losing the barbecue notes. Sweet notes of soot, without being smoky, charred beef, leather.
I had to take my time coming to grips with this whisky. In a way, I really like it. However, it’s a very strange whisky. It makes me think, and return to the glass to discover more notes, or to verify ones that I already got. That, in itself, is a good thing, of course. I like interactive whiskies.
I think I’ll be drinking this with pleasure, especially because of the weird beefy notes, in combination with the strawberries and fond. It’s strange, but in a good way.
88/100