Crikey, I haven't written a review for ages! Sorry about that, I realize my regular readers must be weeping under tables in gloomy bars due to the long and hopeless wait. Or wandering from internet cafe to internet cafe stopping for an espresso and to check for new posts, only to suffer disapointment as bitter as the over extracted, tar like coffee. Do they still have internet cafes? I thought they were pretty much obsolete, but comment below if you've been in one recently. If we meet in person I'll try to reimburse you for the espresso too, but no promises. Anyway, it's been long enough, let's get into action.
Bit of an intro
This is technically not whisky, although it's kind of the same thing. It's Glen Glassaugh new make spirit. "The spirit drink that dare not speak it's name" apparently. I'd be surprised if any drink was able to speak it's name at all, and suggesting that it's failure to speak is due to a paralyzing sense of dread is a just weird, but maybe I'm being a bit literal. Actually, the phrase "The spirit drink that dare not speak it's name" is a reference to the fact that it's the same spirit as whisky, but can't be called whisky yet. To be called scotch whisky the spirit has to be matured in oak barrels that have contained something else first for at least three years in Scotland. This spirit is not aged at all so technically can't be called whisky. As far as I know it's straight from the still to the bottle, probably via a bottling machine, or bucket and funnel or whatever.
It's distilled at the Glenglassaugh distillery, which is indicated by the word "Glenglasaugh" on the bottle. The distillery was founded by Colonel James Moir in 1875 at the east end of Sandend Bay on the coast of Aberdeenshire. If you look on the website there's a picture of an old bloke, but that's not Colonel Moir it's Billy Walker, the master blender. Colonel Moir is long dead. 1875 is 141 years ago and people don't usually live that long. My condolences to his family. The late Colonel Moir ran the distillery with his nephews for seventeen years before selling it to Highland Distillers in 1892. Technically it was sold to Robertson and Baxter, a long standing customer, but htey sold it immediately to Highland Distillers. It was rebuilt in 1960 and I have no idea what happened in the intervening time. I assume everything just ticked along happily with everyone enjoying themselves and having a merry time. Oh, I just found out it wasn't all roses after all. It was closed in 1907 in spite of having a pretty good reputation and relatively high demand, simply due to a "downturn in the whisky industry". I guess that means that although the demand was relatively high, overall demand was low. A relatively high percentage of not much is still not very much, and so the distillery was closed. Some of the buildings were still in use, but distilling equipment was not used, although I believe it was all still there. During the second world war the maltings were turned into a bakery, which is kind of a shame since there are now very few distilleries that have their own maltings.
The rebuilding in 1960 was also a re-opening, with the intention of producing large quantities of failry bland whisky to be used in blending. The owners soon discovered that the whisky they were producing was pretty complex and interesting and not the cheap paint brush cleaning fuid they were hoping for. While interesting to those of us who like to get nerdy and analytical about small glasses of spirit it was of much less interest to business people who are interested in selling large quantities of whisky. They found that the whisky they were producing had too much character to be used in any quantity in a blend, and since it was used in smaller quantities than expected it was also sold in smaller quantities than had been hoped for. They tried to change it's character in various ways over the years, which I can't help thinking of as they tried to make it worse. I almost put that they "tried to make it a bit shitter" but that would have been rude so I didn't. In the end the whisky was too characterful for their marketing strategy, and they eventually decided to close the distillery, although they still operated a warehouse at the site. Weirdly during the 1960 to 1986 period they produced some whiskies that are now very much saught after and which have won awards as single cask whiskies. Please take a moment to ponder the nature of business.
In 2008 the distillery was reopened by a group of investors (possibly just a bunch of blokes from a local pub) and began to produce spirit again. Apparently Alex Salmond was happy about it because of the use of traditional methods and equipment. Apparently Alex Salmond is into that kind of thing. The first products were released a year later, including a 21 year old, an "over 30 year old" and an "over 40 year old". Don't know how much over 30 and 40 years old they were, but they were old and presumably distilled in the 1960 to 1986 period. Also released in 2009 were this lovely new make spirit and another new make spirit drink they called "The spirit that blushes to speak it's name" which is slightly pink for some reason. That reason is 6 months of aging in a californian red wine cask and only 8000 bottles were produced. 2012 saw the release of the first proper whisky from the new production, Glenglassaugh Revival, which I'll be looking out for. In 2013 BenRiach bought the distillery, planning to develop it fully restore it to maximum restorative potential or something. Good luck chaps.
Like I said earlier, this is not whisky because it hasn't been aged in a barrel at all. It's like a kind of whisky zygote. Kind of. A bit. Or not. Hmm. Well, it's 50% alcohol, the bottle contains 50 cl and it cost £50. it didn't really, I was just following the 50s. It would have been cool if it had been £50, although it would have been more expensive and I might not have bought it. It actually cost £26.59 which is $38.18, €33.77 or 130.08 Brazillian Reals. Hi Brazillians, or at least people looking at my blog in Brazil. I suppose you might be from anywhere, but you definitely read my blog in Brazil. I hope you're having a nice time there, with sunshine and stuff. Oh yeh, no caramel colouring in this one, and you'll soon see how I know that.
Bit of an intro
This is technically not whisky, although it's kind of the same thing. It's Glen Glassaugh new make spirit. "The spirit drink that dare not speak it's name" apparently. I'd be surprised if any drink was able to speak it's name at all, and suggesting that it's failure to speak is due to a paralyzing sense of dread is a just weird, but maybe I'm being a bit literal. Actually, the phrase "The spirit drink that dare not speak it's name" is a reference to the fact that it's the same spirit as whisky, but can't be called whisky yet. To be called scotch whisky the spirit has to be matured in oak barrels that have contained something else first for at least three years in Scotland. This spirit is not aged at all so technically can't be called whisky. As far as I know it's straight from the still to the bottle, probably via a bottling machine, or bucket and funnel or whatever.
It's distilled at the Glenglassaugh distillery, which is indicated by the word "Glenglasaugh" on the bottle. The distillery was founded by Colonel James Moir in 1875 at the east end of Sandend Bay on the coast of Aberdeenshire. If you look on the website there's a picture of an old bloke, but that's not Colonel Moir it's Billy Walker, the master blender. Colonel Moir is long dead. 1875 is 141 years ago and people don't usually live that long. My condolences to his family. The late Colonel Moir ran the distillery with his nephews for seventeen years before selling it to Highland Distillers in 1892. Technically it was sold to Robertson and Baxter, a long standing customer, but htey sold it immediately to Highland Distillers. It was rebuilt in 1960 and I have no idea what happened in the intervening time. I assume everything just ticked along happily with everyone enjoying themselves and having a merry time. Oh, I just found out it wasn't all roses after all. It was closed in 1907 in spite of having a pretty good reputation and relatively high demand, simply due to a "downturn in the whisky industry". I guess that means that although the demand was relatively high, overall demand was low. A relatively high percentage of not much is still not very much, and so the distillery was closed. Some of the buildings were still in use, but distilling equipment was not used, although I believe it was all still there. During the second world war the maltings were turned into a bakery, which is kind of a shame since there are now very few distilleries that have their own maltings.
The rebuilding in 1960 was also a re-opening, with the intention of producing large quantities of failry bland whisky to be used in blending. The owners soon discovered that the whisky they were producing was pretty complex and interesting and not the cheap paint brush cleaning fuid they were hoping for. While interesting to those of us who like to get nerdy and analytical about small glasses of spirit it was of much less interest to business people who are interested in selling large quantities of whisky. They found that the whisky they were producing had too much character to be used in any quantity in a blend, and since it was used in smaller quantities than expected it was also sold in smaller quantities than had been hoped for. They tried to change it's character in various ways over the years, which I can't help thinking of as they tried to make it worse. I almost put that they "tried to make it a bit shitter" but that would have been rude so I didn't. In the end the whisky was too characterful for their marketing strategy, and they eventually decided to close the distillery, although they still operated a warehouse at the site. Weirdly during the 1960 to 1986 period they produced some whiskies that are now very much saught after and which have won awards as single cask whiskies. Please take a moment to ponder the nature of business.
In 2008 the distillery was reopened by a group of investors (possibly just a bunch of blokes from a local pub) and began to produce spirit again. Apparently Alex Salmond was happy about it because of the use of traditional methods and equipment. Apparently Alex Salmond is into that kind of thing. The first products were released a year later, including a 21 year old, an "over 30 year old" and an "over 40 year old". Don't know how much over 30 and 40 years old they were, but they were old and presumably distilled in the 1960 to 1986 period. Also released in 2009 were this lovely new make spirit and another new make spirit drink they called "The spirit that blushes to speak it's name" which is slightly pink for some reason. That reason is 6 months of aging in a californian red wine cask and only 8000 bottles were produced. 2012 saw the release of the first proper whisky from the new production, Glenglassaugh Revival, which I'll be looking out for. In 2013 BenRiach bought the distillery, planning to develop it fully restore it to maximum restorative potential or something. Good luck chaps.
Like I said earlier, this is not whisky because it hasn't been aged in a barrel at all. It's like a kind of whisky zygote. Kind of. A bit. Or not. Hmm. Well, it's 50% alcohol, the bottle contains 50 cl and it cost £50. it didn't really, I was just following the 50s. It would have been cool if it had been £50, although it would have been more expensive and I might not have bought it. It actually cost £26.59 which is $38.18, €33.77 or 130.08 Brazillian Reals. Hi Brazillians, or at least people looking at my blog in Brazil. I suppose you might be from anywhere, but you definitely read my blog in Brazil. I hope you're having a nice time there, with sunshine and stuff. Oh yeh, no caramel colouring in this one, and you'll soon see how I know that.
Packaging
I was slightly disappointed that there was no box or tin with this, but only a tiny little bit. Any disappointment I felt at not being able to analyze the design of the box (or blag some kind of quasi arty hot air about it) was more than compensated for by my excitement at pulling it out of the box it was shipped in to find it was wearing a life jacket!
Safety first
This is pure brilliance on the part of masterofmalt.com. There's no way this bottle would fail to survive a shipwreck. Not sure how it would make a shelter once it was washed ashore of a desert island though. I suppose it would just wait patiently in it's protective cocoon until help arrived. Or get a message in itself somehow and go back out to sea. That's ridiculous. I'm personifying this stuff far too much and it's beginning to look like I'm taking the micky. This is genuinely great packing for a fragile bottle of something you want to keep. I'd be very happy to order from master of malt again just on the basis of bottle safety. Great customer service too, I've order a couple of bottles for friends and I messed up the order every time by neglecting to change the country from Norway to UK for delivery. They were able to rectify my mistakes for me almost immediately. What a bunch of heroes. They really seem to know what they're doing, and I like their sense of humour. I got an email newsletter from them about a new crazy hot chili. The title line was "No good will come of this". I was quietly amused. Here's another picture of it emerging from the chrysalis.
Like a beautiful butterfly or possibly one of those fat moths that gets in your face
So a look at the bottle next. Clear glass so you can see the real colour of what's inside, which is clear. The label's clear too, with thin gold writing which I guess is in keeping with the secrecy, "dare not speak it's name" theme. You can't speak it's name if you can't read it off the bottle. You can read it on the bottle, but it takes a bit of effort. So now you've found out the secret and you'd better not tell anyone. You're in the special club of people who know it's name. Lucky you.
The shape of the bottle is pretty nice. It has the thin neck a bit like a Bunnahabhain bottle which gives the nice glug glug sound for the first couple of drams. Are they still drams if it's not whisky? Comment below if you have a clue. To be honest I was kind of torn between thinking it was a bit plain and thinking it was subtle and an interesting change from the usual cozy Scottish countryside, nature and comfy chair by the fire thing you get. In the end I figured what the heck, it's purpose is to stop the whisky trickling onto the floor which it does perfectly well. Here's another picture. Note how much is in the bottle and how much is flooding my apartment. If you want an exact measurement you can have it: 100% of the spirit was not flooding my apartment, owing at least in part to being contained in the bottle.
100% contained
I got a closer picture of the label, which I'm going to call subtle in it's design. See through with elegant gold writing, which means there's not a great deal to see. Here it is anyway:
I told you there wasn't much to see
I decided to call in subtle in the end as I said. No pictures, not even paper. Just the writing, barely visible, because as has already been well established this spirit dare not speak it's name. Since the label's so plain (plain doesn't seem like the right word. Maybe just invisible.) there's not much to say about it. I quite like the idea, but I think just a little more on the label could have been good. it looks a bit home made from a distance and we all know that's a bad idea. Don't want to risk explosions, blindness and poisoning do we? The writing's pretty nice. golden and elegant without being perfume bottle-ish. Good job Glenglassaugh.
Appearance
Well, it's clear isn't it. Crystal clear like a mountain stream, or tap water. Unless you have dirty tap water, in which case it's like mineral water. You know the expnsive one, Voss? That's from Norway and it's the same colour as that. David Beckham like Voss apparently. Unless it was Brad Pitt. Someone famous anyway. So this spirit is the same colour as water that famous people drink. Very exclusive.
Like the water of the famous
I realize the phrase "the water of the famous" can be taken in two ways. Please take it in whichever way is more appetizing to you. Actually, one of the ways you could understand the phrase suggests a colour other than crystal clear, unless they've been drinking a lot of expensive bottled water. I'm not sure where this is going, but how much can you say about a colourless liquid? Actually now that I think about it there was something interesting about the appearance, but I didn't get a picture. I'd left the bottle lying on it's side in it's little life jacket for quite some time before opening it because I was reviewing other things.When I set it upright I noticed a brown swirl in the spirit where it had been in contact with the cork. It would have been a great thing to explain where the natural amber colour of whisky comes from. The brown colour had been leeched out of the wood of the cork, I think it would have been tannins and general woody chemicals. Shame I didn't get a picture, but never mind. Worse things happen at sea. At sea I'd be pictureless and at risk of a large wave depositing a jelly fish on my head, which is why I've never been surfing. Please comment if you've ever had a jelly fish on your head. Someone told me it's not possible, but someone else told me a jelly fish put its tentacles in his mouth while he was surfing, so I don't know what to believe. Enough of this, I'm getting creeped out.
Smell in the bottle
On opening
Soft friut, kind of peachy or nectariney. That kind of thing but not quite either of those.
Cereal
Biscuity malt. My notes say "Something kind of biscuity, very familiar but can't quite place it. Malt! ha ha!"
Milk chocolate
Vanilla
A kind of berryish note developed after a few minutes of diligent smelling
Later
I forgot to make any notes on how the bottle smelled later, and now it's all gone. I don't think this it the first time I've done that, sorry.
Neat
Nose
Very subtle at first.
Gentle, slightly toasted cereal.
Something berryish, like berry juice. Not very specific at first, but it developed over the time the bottle was open, which was a couple of months.
Faintly floral.
Sea weedy, costal smell develops after a while. Bit of iodine maybe
Minerally rocky type coastal smell.
Something slightly earthy, like good fertile garden soil. Possibly with a hint of carrot. It put me in mind of those carrrots you can get that are still covered in soil.
All the while theres a background of subtle berry juice or ripe berries
Sweetish smell becomes more apparent when the bottle's been open for a bit.
Berrylike juicy smell also becomes more prominent.
Baked banana I think.
Lightly toasted cereal grains, which seems to be diminishing as the bottle's been open for a while.
smells like a really sweet fruit, possibly fructose smell, fructose being the main sugar in fruits for those who didn't know.
Maybe lai chi, like a kind of heady, fruity thing. It's not lai chi but it's leaning in that direction.
Baked banana for sure when it's been open a couple of weeks.
Baked apple
Lightly toasted grains very much behind the fruity smells after a few weeks
Tangy berry, maybe ripe blackcurrent, becoming a lot more prominent after a few weeks of the bottle being opened.
Earthy
A little rocky
A hint of some king of vinegar, I want say wine vinegar, but not a hundred percent sure. Maybe I'll pick up a few different kinds of vinear and do another "Trying to develop my palate a bit" post.
Black pepper I think, kind of a sweet spicey thing with fruity berry smell
Creamy cereal barley smell. I had a barley salad and began recognizing the creamy barley note. I'm not sure if it was there all along and I diddn't notice or if it developed after the air got in the bottle and did it's thing for a few weeks.
Dusty earthy now, again developing as the weeks passed.
Something not unlike pear drops, like that artificial pear flavour. I think it's a ketone, that family of chemicals smell fruity.
Berry like smell again, like blackcurrant but sweetened and maybe syrupy with it.
Eventualy the fruity smell became distinctly pineapple, but only after the bottle had been open for a few months. The very last glass in fact.
Arrival
Earthy smell while taking first sip
Alcohol sting of course
Juicy
Warm ripe black currant, not tangy, but rich and fruity, with a bit of sugar added so it's not so tart. That flavour developed after the bottle had been open a while and wasn't there at first.
Surprisingly gently considering it's 50%
Apply, like the one's that are around at the moment, eating apples, the ones that go a bit meally, quite sweet, not tangy. Maybe Russet apples but not sure. I forgot to check in the supermarket and now they don't have them
Fruity in general
Development
Juicy berries (not sure exactly what. I was going to get my Nordic farming friend Mr. Bjelland to try it since he's better at identifying fruity flavours than me, and I did but I forgot what he said.
Earthy
Apply, same as in the arrival, but lingering
Berries, maybe blackcurrant or blackberry. Kind of a general dark red berry taste.
Dark chocolate
Finish
Kind of creamy, barley mouth feel and flavour.
Fairly substantial feeling in the mouth. I wondered if it was protein from the barley, but nor sure.
Bit of milk cjocolate.
Fresh leafy thing like privet
Kind of old chocolate - bit vanilla, bit chocolatey, but not like cocoa, maybe that's cocoa butter? Maybe more like a cross between old chocolate and white chocolate.
Apple lingering, same kind of apple taste, like apple that's been left out for a bit, not like apple eau-de-vie. Old apple I suppose, but not fermented apple.
Vanilla
Maybe white chocolate, cocoa butter maybe, not mixed with the old chocolate flavour, but after the bottle had been open a while
Dark chocolate lingering
Berries in general
Leafy vegetal. Kind of like raw kale, not so much like privet after the bottle had been open for a bit.
1 tsp water
Nose
Again very subtly to start with.
Sort of cereal with dried berries, a bit like posh musli.
Malty biscuity.
Eventually something herby, like mild fennel or angelica.
Kind of old apple
Fruity, not unlike rhubarb and custard sweets, that kind of artificial fruity ketone thing.
Cooked banana
Think I can smell somekind of spicey meaty pepperoni type smell, although that could coming from elsewhere. I think I had a pizza earlier which might be affecting it.
Lys syrup ("Light syrup" in English, pretty much tastes like sugar really, but has a sweet syrupy smell. Nothing like as good as golden syrup. Hooray for Mr. Lyle!)
Herbs of some sort, I want to say sage.
More malty as it developed in the bottle.
Something acridly acidic (To be honest this smell was not unlike the sick I cleaned up at Work at Christmas, which mainly consisted of red wine. Maybe it was red wine vinegar, which sounds a lot better than saying it smells like the yuletide vomit of a drunken party goer.)
Cookd banana
Dark chocolate develops afrter a while with water
Soft cereal creaminess, that barley smell
Berriness reduced compared to neat, but increases again with a little time in the glass
Hint of something metallic, which I believe is characteristic of young whisky. This whisky's so young it's not whisky, so understandable.
Fresh fennel becoming aniseed as it develops in the glass
Sandalwood? Not sure, but a kind fragrant woody, just a tiny whiff
Arrival
Mild
Malty
A faint barry tang develops when it's been with the water for a long time.
Sweet, almost like plain white sugar, maybe light brown sugar
bit appley, like old apple, whatever kind is around now. Think it's those Russets again. Who knows?
Juicy berry kind of smell when the bottle's been open a while.
Vanilla sauce like we have at the hotel I work in. Piano brand.
Maltiness gets more biscuity when the bottle's been open a while
Dark chocolate shows itself after a while with water
Getting a hint of what i believe to be angelica
Dryish, earthy herby
dark chocolate gets more prominent when the bottle been going for a few weeks.
Very faint black currant at this stage
Development
Kind of milk chocolatey
Still malty
Faint berry aroma
Toffee note when its been with water for quite a hile, or caramelized sugar like the top of creme brulee. I suppose that's what toffee is really.
Old apple grows, are they Russets? Golden Delicious maybe?
Hint of vanilla, like real custard
Appley, like fermented apple, or apple eau de vie.
Dark chocolate getting more prominent as the bottle goes down, even becoming the most prominent flavour in the development.
Dry herby
Hint of dark cherry
Finish
Quite long lasting, don't know if that's normal with new make spirit but I suspect not since it's a sign of good maturation, but then is it something that's created by quality maturation or kept by quality maturation?
Kind of milk chocolate.
Malty.
Apply, bit old apple, apple core kind of
Old milk chocolate - interesting that the old chocolate vanilla isn't from oak, at least in this case. I've probably mentioned before, but oak wood tends to impart a vanilla like note.
Kind of a richness and slight bitterness at the back of the mouth like the adftertaste of good dark chocolate.
Baked apple hint.
A hint of beery maltiness, but with a bitter note making it seem like a roasted malt.
Creamy cereal barley, cooked barley like in that salad I mentioned.
Old chocolatey style vanilla when the bottles got some air in it.
Leafy at times.
Richer dark chocolate like aftertaste when the bottles got some air in it, kind of dry and bitter like a high cocoa solids one, like 80%.
An aroma I can't identify, so why put it in here?
Bittersweet but pleasant, lots of dark chocolate but with other things i can't quite pin down
A few extra comments
I was surprised by the range of flavours and aromas in a spirit that has no wood influence at all. I believe the general consensus of opinion was that this was a very promising new make spirit, so I'll try to get a bottle of an aged whisky from Glenglassaugh, even thought I've heard a rumour that it's not quite as good as the new make suggested it would be. Might have to wait til after my next trip to England for that one. To be fair, good casks are getting harder and harder to source, and there's always a possibility that they managed to get better ones after the distillery was bought by BenRiach, but that was only four years ago as I write this so we'll have to wait and see. The length of the finish surprised me too. I'm assuming a long finish in a properly matured whisky is a finish that hasn't been diminished by a poor cask, rather than one that has been developed during maturation. Comment if you know.
Conclusion
Overall very pleasant. The most noticable flavours were the creamy barley, the chocolate and the berries. It surprised me, but then I don't really know what I was expecting. It was a very interesting experience to taste completely unmatured spirit from a whisky distillery. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in whisky, and I'm looking forward to tasting the next bottle of mature spirit. I'm hoping to be able to do a more in depth analysis, but i can't promise anything. Would I buy it again? I'm not sure. It was certainly pleasant and I have no regrets about buying this bottle, but I'd probably choose a new make spirit from a different distillery to compare, rather than buy another bottle of this one. I'd like to try a new make from a distillery I'm more familiar with, especially an Islay distillery like Laphroaig. Might have to visit a distillery for that one though, I've never seen Laphroig new make spirit on sale anywhere, and definitely not in Norway. On the standard one to ten scale I'd say this one's very interesting ineed. Bit sad it's gone, but I miss my friends' cat more. He was hit by a car recently. Let's have a moment of silence for Pusle the cat.
I think I'll do a couple more beer reviews next. I want to get through the Berentsen's beers that I've still got in the fridge so I can get onto some more interesting ones. I've got a load in the cupboard, including Theakston's Old Peculiar and a clone of it made by my eccentric, property owning friend Mr Thompson and his assistant Mr. Ede. In fact, whether Mr. Thompson or Mr. Ede is the assistant is probably a matter of some debate. Eitherway, the Spamalot Brewery is quite prolific, but still not licensed, so you can't get their beer unless you're invited to a barbecue or something. I think I've got a couple more of theirs too. The next whisky I think will be Bunnahabhain Toiteach, since I'm in the mood for something smokey after all this fruity subtlety. Hope you enjoyed this review and I'll try to get the next one done a bit quicker. Cheerio.
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