Glenlossie: yet another nearly forgotten Diageo distillery used almost entirely to provide bulk anonymous volume for Johnnie Walker blends other Diageo fodder. A name that is unknown to 99.5% of Scotch drinkers, and even the single cask independently bottled options are hardly seen.
That is the main reason I bought this Adelphi bottling - until today, I've only had a single dram of Glenlossie, at a SMWS outturn: 46.128, "Lotta Good Stuff," which is one of SMWS's lazier names.
I am curious if this Adelphi version brings back any concrete memories, or if Glenlossie is just pumping out blank-faced characterless barley water at the behest of Diageo. Aged 10 years in refill sherry - and a good bet the cask is pretty tired, given the light color here. Bottled at 59% - I can't tell if all Adelphi Selection offerings are 59%, or if that's the actual cask strength. What a strange percentage to bottle at, if they are diluting it a bit!
Let's check it out:
Nose: Starts out sweet but gradually becomes more savory and herbal the longer it rests. Honey, cinnamon French toast, butter, rum raisin ice cream, fresh mint, chocolate, malt balls... there's a lot going on here, and it gets better and better as it opens up over time.
Deeper in the bottle it's a little more balanced and a little more complex: melon, rum, vanilla pods, garden herbs (mint, chives), baking spices.
Mouthfeel: Really surprisingly heavy body on this.
Palate: Some alcohol burn. Honey and fresh-cut garden herbs. Apples, pineapples, pears, mangos - a real mix of orchard and tropical fruit here. Chocolate. Old rum, maybe brandy. Butter, hay, and peach pits.
Farther into the bottle, I get that rum note much stronger, paired with the herbs and chocolate malt balls. Very little sherry influence here - very much spirit-driven.
Finish: Chocolate, malt balls, mint, burned honey, a little bit of that old rum quality.
Verdict: This is a nice little whisky from Glenlossie and presented well by Adelphi, but I feel like it's missing an element or two. Maybe a little smoke wouldn't be amiss, or a little more of the tropical fruit? I'm unsure. Basically this bottle confirms the previous opinion I formed about Glenlossie - it's fine, even nice at times, but a bit forgettable and a bit lacking in verve or panache. This is a spirit that really needs a strong cask or a weird cask.
The sherry maturation here is very, very sleight - the cask was clearly used up, or close to it - and the only sherry influence is in the occasional rum raisin and chocolate flavors. Even then, I'm not sure I know Glenlossie well enough to say that's not an aspect of the distillery.
In some sense, that's what makes this so interesting: who knows anything about Glenlossie? This is one of Diageo's most unsung distilleries. Even Wikipedia hardly says anything about it. And Adelphi takes a perfectly inert cask and allows the Glenlossie spirit - rare as it is in single cask format - to shine through.
It works - this is perhaps a tad simple for my own preferences, but it's still characterful and reasonably flavorful.
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