Glen Garioch 18 Year (SMWS 19.65 "Fifties Nostalgia")

 

The third and final of the 18 year Glen Garioch bottles released by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") as part of their distillery deep dive into this little known gem from the Highlands. Sorted into the "juicy, oak, and vanilla" and featuring easily the most creative nickname of the bunch - "Fifties Nostalgia," eh?? Unsure what that implies, but it gets the imagination going.

Here are the official notes:

A typically rich and satisfyingly deep aroma to begin, lots of malt syrup, mothballs, cough mixtures and herbal resins all betray this is an older style highland malt. We also noted toasted nuts, bergamot, citronella wax and tea tree oil. With water we found milk bottle sweets, cold cubes, vanilla sponge cake and dusty waxy tones. The neat palate opened in classically waxy and syrupy form, lots of tinned fruit juices, myrtle, wintergreen, herbal teas, ointments and spiced custard. With water emerged lemon oils, fir wood, hardwood resins, furniture oil, camphor and honeyed brioche toast. 

This has the profile that aligns the closest to what I like to taste in whiskies of this age: malt syrup, herbal resins, wax, oil, dust, etc. - a variety of textures and subtle flavors. I am particularly interested in tinned fruit juice and spiced custard. Botted at 57.5% ABV, let's investigate:

Nose: Interesting - not as fruit forward as the other two 18 year Glen Gariochs I just had. This is more typically "Highland" in style. As before, some things are in common, and some are different: I get malt/fresh-cut grass, naphthalene (moth balls), black tea, soft cherry cough drops, beeswax, dusty warehouse, and pine needles. The nose is generally very shy, though. 

With a touch of water: Almost nothing changes. The cola candy is detectable on the nose, there's some orange wax, and that's about all that's added. 

Mouthfeel: The thinnest of the three Glen Garioch bottles, but still oily. 

Palate: Interesting! The palate diverges from the nose pretty significantly. Wax and syrup, it's true; also fruit cups, tropical fruit (pineapple and lychee), honey and vanilla, cola gummi candy, and dust. 

With water: Heather, mint, tea, wax, dust, and hints of smoke (!), in addition to all previous flavors. Interesting - the least fruity of the three sister casks, but the most herbal and resinous, it features - by far - the biggest spread in textures. TONS of texture here. 

Finish: The shortest finish of the three Glen Garioch sister casks. Wood, cola, wax, and dust. Fairly dry and brief. Some lingering fruit at the very very end. 

Verdict: A very, very interesting older Highland expression here - a kaleidoscope of textures. It's less immediately pleasing than the other two sister cask expressions, yet it has something they don't - a certain depth and richness that is hard to write out. It's a texture-related thing, I am pretty certain. It reminds me the most of the 18 year Glenmorangie I had not long ago - autumnal, on the darker side, full of hints (but no more) of fruit, forest notes, medicinal notes, and all kinds of interesting warehouse- and farm-type notes. I can't recommend this as easily as the other two, but I get the nickname - this is a weirdly nostalgic dram, filled with scents and flavors from a bygone age.