Glentauchers 8 Year; Scotch Universe Alpha Centauri III
Whisky : Glentauchers 8 Year; Scotch Universe Alpha Centauri III
Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside
ABV : 56.0%
Cask : First Fill PX Sherry Barrel
Age : 8 Years
Nose : Chocolate pudding, chili pepper infused fudge, and spiced holiday pastries. Spices and pastries intensify overtime with cinnamon rolls, cinnamon candies, cinnamon tea, and rich molasses gingerbread. Hanging in the background are fruit and herbal notes of sweet cherry pie, a bit of dried herbal grass, and burning sandalwood incense.
Palate : Sweet and thick with a very chewy, very jammy body. Sweet cherry cordial, mixed berry jam, cinnamon sticks, and grated clove. Fresh creamy caramel and coffee candies develop beyond the fruits. Tiramisu— coffee, pastry, cream, and a hint of cocoa come through at the end.
Finish : Lingering sweet caramel and holiday baking spices.
Score : 7
Mental Image : Italian Pastry Shop
Something Better : Longmorn 15Y SMWS 7.226 (similar jam/pastries, more tropical)
Something Similar : Westland Hand-filled No. 3204 (similar cherry, jam, and tiramisu, more campfire)
Something Worse : Octomore 8.3 (similar tiramisu, more citrus, sweeter)
Notes : A gorgeous heavily sherried Glentauchers, I absolutely loved the combination of sherry and Glentauchers. Glentauchers is one of the few distilleries that I believe matches perfectly with loads of PX or oloroso influence. It can also be great without loads of sherry, but drams like this just work so well. I’d hate for anyone to write off a dram like this just because it is under a decade old. The malt on this was so robust, with just enough youthful spirit coming through, that the cask influence did not totally dominate. This was not a one note sherry bomb, it had a lovely complexity. With hints of fudge, cocoa, and coffee I would have blindly guessed that this was an oloroso maturation rather than PX. Overall an excellent dram and just another smash by Scotch Universe.
