Glen Garioch 25 Year Old 1990 Usquebaugh Society

The Usquebaugh Society, a Dutch whiskyclub, celebrates its 25th anniversary. That has to be celebrated with a beautiful release. They chose a Glen Garioch 1990 from David Stirk of the Creative Whisky Company. It matured for no less than 25 years and was bottled at cask strength. That sounds promising.

Ha! I have only just poured a dram and immediately the room fills up with this grand aroma. Lime, caramel, a touch of smoke from the toasted oak and a handful of nuts, some candied oranges and camphor. It has a dusty side as well, with a slightly metallic note underneath. Actually, this is what a warehouse smells like. It shows its age. The longer you leave it, the sweeter it becomes. Then some apricots and honey steal the show. This nose is definitely bull’s eye in my book.

Despite the high ABV, this is quite quaffable without water. Ok, you get a good kick in the teeth at first. While the fruit lingers on the palate, it is somewhat overpowered by a sturdy spiciness. Think camphor, white pepper, aniseed and woodspice. I even detect some peat in there. After the sweet nose, I would have expected the palate to be equally sweet, but that is not the case. But good? No two ways about it.

In the long finish, the spices recede to make room for the fruit once more. Delicious.

A fantastic Glen Garioch! I believe it was a refill sherry cask. Hey, a Glen Garioch that is a quarter of a century old, at cask strength and this quality for only 99 EUR? Recommended! Thanks for the sample, Sjoerd!

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