Glendullan 1978 26 Year Old

The original Glendullan Distillery was built in 1897 in the heart of Speyside. But a completely new factory was built on the same site in 1972, bigger than the original tripling the capacity. Strangely enough both distilleries were operational at the same time between 1972 and 1985, making it impossible to know whether this malt was distilled in the old or new stills. Anyway, this one was released in 2005, the last year in which Rare Malts appeared.

You cannot really call this nose fruity. While there is a lot of yellow fruit and citrus, the nose is dominated by potato skins, barley sugars, leather, breakfast cereals, wild flowers, pineapple cubes, peach in its own juices and watercress (I think that’s a first for me). Quite pleasant.

It is oily, mouth coating, sweet and very punchy. The emphasis now is on the fruit, though (apricots, peach, bergamot, kiwi and melon), followed by honey and liquorice, vanilla and some woodspice. It prickles the taste buds quite a bit. But it remains nicely sweet and fruity with a wonderful waxiness. This gives it some old school character, which is something I quite like.

In the long finish, it evolves from sweet to mildly bitter and leaves the mouth dry.

I have only had 4 Glendullan in the past with very mixed results. But this one – as was to be expected, to be honest – is grand. Hands down the best Glendullan I have tried so far. Thanks, Chris!

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