Always trust your gut feeling. I usually follow that rule, but yesterday I did not, and scored badly because of that. I have no idea but I wanted to put Glen Garioch as the distillery ( I was wrong about abv, and age too), but I don’t know why, I decided against it.
Always RTFM!! (in case you’re not sure what RTFM is, look here), and sadly I did not , or did not do that thoroughly enough, otherwise, I’d known not to guess a Speyside distillery when dram #1 was a Speyside (Never two whiskies in a row from the same region), Thanks for letting me know that NOW.
Ok, I’ve made a complete ass of myself, and I deserved my score : 0. yes, Next time I might as well get the region right and score something. Oh dear. But that’s bygones, now let’s move on to the dram at hand.
Glen Garioch 22 yo 1990-2013 (51,2%, [Kintra ]2013, cask #7934, 302 btl
Clearly this is a sherry refill butt.
Nose: A certain metallic and phenolic with damp oak and coconut. Balsamic vinegar. Pepper and lots of spice. Dusty.
Palate: Peppery and alcoholic on entry. Sherry and wee hints of smoke. Or am I dreaming? Again some sulphur.
Finish: sherry and cigar leaves Sugar and dried fruit.
A funky dram this one is, and with the wide variation of the single casks, it’s plainly impossible to guess a distillery (by chance maybe) If you have not had this bottle (I bet a few Dutch participating and scoring 100 points, have).
Score: 85/100
better luck tomorrow, at least I will not guess it’s a Highland… 