Whisky : Glenlossie 11 Year SMWS 46.76 “Fully loaded lemon”

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 58.3%

Cask : Refill Ex-bourbon Hogshead

Age : 11 Years (Distilled 14 March 2007)

Nose : Werther’s Original; a whole pile of them spilling out of Grandma’s purse.  Thick sticky butterscotch covers the senses.  Rivers of velvety caramel flow by with drifting chunks of salty toffee.  It’s a butterfinger candy bar melting on a hot day.

Palate : The butterfinger as well as all of those beautiful butterscotch notes appear for a blip just to wave goodbye before wood spices and malty sugars say hello.  The nose and the palate are divorced from one another— irreconcilably different.  Astringent crab or mountain apples, faint lemon, and a hint of creamy butter.  This dram is all over the place, held together by bitter notes of burnt caramel.  A bit of water tamps down the bitter and highlights the lemon notes.

Finish : Lingering but quickly fading creamy lemon and boiled peanuts.  The finish is not unpleasant, it just fades too quickly

Score : 3

Mental Image : Grandmother’s purse, the Werther’s Originals are tumbling out.

Something Better : Octomore 8.3 (similar velvet caramel & desert on nose & palate, much richer)

Something Similar : Suntory Ao (similar butterscotch, though less intense, more balanced)

Something Similar : Amrut Aatma (US 2019 Single Cask) (similar bitter notes that clash and linger)

Notes : A butterscotch bomb on the nose, a lemon on the body.  This has to be one of the most disjointed drams I have ever tried.  The nose was amazingly rich, thick, and sticky… but what happened to the body?  If I blindly smelled this dram and then took a sip, I would think someone had swapped out my glass.

The palate was not devoid of any appealing notes— bitter is not all bad and there were some interesting variations on just how the bitterness expressed itself, but overall the palate lacked a lot of cohesiveness.  I hoped that this might open up with some time to rest and a few drops of water, however the water only seemed to simplify the flavor notes, emphasizing the lemon.  While that helped the dram to come together a bit, it only divorced the palate further from the nose and left tasters wondering where that melted candy bar had gone.

This Glenlossie was doubly disappointing after just how divine the Glenlossie at our previous tasting had been.  It was in running for dram of the night ranking either first or second on most lists— the bottle that most people remarked they would happily buy if given the chance.  This Lossie ranked near the bottom, saved by the luxuriously rich nose.  It was not a drain pour by any stretch of the imagination, but neither was it very good.  It was fine.  Just fine.  I am sure it will find a good home somewhere.

A sniffing scotch, if such a thing were to exist.