Glen Garioch 17 Year Old 1998 Celebration of the Cask Black Gold

Celebration of the Cask is a series from Carn Mor (Morrison & Mackay) in which they bottle single casks at cask strength. A few years ago they added a sub range call Black Gold, reserved for sherried matured malts. They have about 16 already. This is a good example: a Glen Garioch from 1998 matured on a sherry hogshead and bottled in 2016. Wonderful colour.

Cany-like sweet nose, but wonderful on cherries, peach, baked apples, blood oranges, plums and all kinds of red and black berries, flanked by cinnamon and chocolate. I am a fan from the first whiff. I hope the malt can keep this up on the palate.

The arrival is alcoholic and piquant. I hope it will settle. At first I get lots of spices (black pepper, cinnamon and cloves), but once the saliva glands have extinguished the worst fire, the dark fruit emerges. And it’s all good. Both red and dark fruit, just like on the nose, with some Mokatine and espresso along the way. A bitterness from the wood appears, as do some green herbs, but the whole remains pleasingly juicy.

The finish is creamy and sweet, but now a mild touch of sulfur detracts a bit of the experience.

Pity about the false note at the end, but on the palate and especially on the nose, this is a grand Glen Garioch.

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