Glen Ord 30 Year Old

gift sample from a friend

Nose: Oh man, this is the sort of thing that I go for. It starts very waxy with a bit of clean, light honey. Lemon zest, quince, mirabelle jam. Some wood and vanilla. A few high-pitch floral notes and nuts, reminding me somewhat of a Folle Blanche cognac in its youth. This is elegance in a bottle. Very light chocolate malt, clotted cream, coconut shavings. Nectarines, apricot, and tangerines for the fruit - more distinct with air. Incredible. (with water) Water brings out more of the wax and wood, as well as the honey and dried fruit quality. Maybe even a hint of grass and sawdust. Still a total champ.

Palate: Holy shmokes. Holy smokes. BANG! Big. Waxy, smoky, and a little malty sweet. Lemon zest (from the best lemons of Sorrento, no less),dried fruits - same as from the nose. Honey sweet star fruit, and some oak. It's really perfect and awesomely punchy. The wood keeps everything in line. Mirabelle jam from France (as is proper.) Have I ever mentioned that I love mirabelles? (With water) Highlights the wood, wax, zest, honey, and vanilla. Some of the fruit becomes less distinct, but it keeps the core elements going.

Finish: Endless and the same. Doesn't lose anything. This is just glorious. Punchy as hell, and gracefully elegant. I love Clynelish, and this reminds me of my favorite (waxy, non-smoky) Clynelishes, only better. It may be a bit big and punchy for some, but if its your sort of thing, then it's really, really great. Depending on my mood, I could really score this up - so, somewhere around A/A+, but let's call it a bit in the middle for now.

We end the Glen Ord tasting with the lightests of the three. In colour, I mean. ABV-wise, this one is the heavyweight from the family with no less than 58,7%. Let’s see if it can compete with it’s younger brothers.

The nose is wonderfully sweet with freshly cut grass and both fresh and dried flowers. Apricots and honey. Some polish. But it becomes very fruity after several minutes – hey, for a 30 year old whisky, even you can spare 15 minutes, right? – with gooseberry, coconut and tangerines. Some lemon as well. Great with capital G.

Being so fresh and bright after 30 years in an oak cask is not an easy feat, I think. But this whisky pulls it off. A whole range of marmalades (not just apple sauce), but also baked banana, suffused with orange juice and sprinkled with granulated sugar. The whole is nicely balanced with the bitterness of the wood. Wonderful with capital W.

The finish is very, very long (say Long with capital L), keeping the balance between sweet and bitterness.

While I’m not per sé convinced that older means better, it is the case with these official Glen Ord bottlings.

A couple of months (or years?) ago, Diageo dumped some of its premium whisky stock on the market. Suddenly € 600 bottles were available for € 200. One of them was this Glen Ord 30 years old, a limited release from the Black Isle distillery.

Glen Ord 30 yo (58,7%, OB 2005, 6000 btl.)

Nose: starts malty and grassy (hay, dried flowers). Geraniums? Furniture polish and freshly treated sandalwood. Some peaches on syrup. A little wax (scented candles) and mint syrup. Herbal accents. It takes some time to discover this nose. It’s complex and full of character, but it fails to convince me completely. Mouth: starts spicy (pepper) and fresh with some cereal notes and a faint aromatic (slightly soapy) edge. Herbal honey. Malt. Ginger. Orange, grapefruit and apple compote. Quite some oak as well, but nicely integrated and not tannic. Finish: oaky, gingery with hints of grapefruit and liquorice.

By no means a bad whisky, and a very good deal at this price, but too rough to be a real cracker in my opinion.