There is a distillery in LA? Are there Glens in LA? I have no idea. A friend brought this bottling to an afternoon tasting and I admit I was equal parts curious and suspicious. My expectations were low, Southern California is not one a center of the American Single Malt scene and eight years in new oak in LA sounded like a recipe for wood juice.

---

Whisky: Glen L.A. 8 Year 10th Anniversary Edition

Country/Region: United States/California

ABV: 68%

Cask: New Hungarian Oak

Age: 8 Years 

Notes: This was truck stop decadence: muddy robusta coffee and brown sugar bubbling away with pecans in a buttery pie crust. Maple icing, fried donuts, funnel cake, and cinnamon sugar sent my heart racing with background notes of hot oil, diesel, and herbs. The aroma was spicy and spirited, but not burning.  Full-bodied on the palate, the whisky was thick and tannic with plenty of spirited spice and pepper— though never overbearing on either account. Pecan pies and maple frosting appeared again with more caramelized sugars providing treacle and dark caramel. Rum raisin and kūlolo arrived later, or quicker with water, leaving butterscotch candies and coffee-flavored pastry cream at the end.  The finish was medium to short with caramel, medicinal spices, and hints of kettle corn.

---

Score: 6-7 (80)

Mental Image: Little Debbie Pecan Pie

Conclusion: This highly flammable whisky drank smoother than I expected. Though water improved the overall balance of flavors and the mouthfeel by breaking up some of the tannic astringency, it was not strictly necessary. I was impressed at the integration of the alcohol and at the general evolution of flavors as they ranged between different caramelized sugars and candied nuts. 

I had never heard of this distillery before and this made for a cracking introduction. It was quite old for an American single malt— due to the hefty wood influence and climate it is rare to see anything approaching a decade.