Glenburgie 22 Year, The Whisky Exchange Black Friday 2021
Whisky: Glenburgie 22 Year, The Whisky Exchange Black Friday 2021
Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside
ABV: 49.2%
Cask: Oak
Age: 22 Years (Bottled 2021)
Nose: Honey and mellow tropical fruits, pineapple jam, gauva candies, and candied ginger, woody, malty pastries and shortbread cakes; earthier over time with hints of chocolate
Palate: Medium-bodied with fruit punch, dried grass, and wood, initially sweet with pineapple, apple, and ginger preserves; more wood and earth on the mid-palate with dried grass lingering with a mellow woody bitterness and subtle fruit toward the end.
Finish: Medium-length with wood, vanilla, and some grassy earth.
Score: 6-7 (80)
Mental Image: Uncle’s Tiki Kitsch
Narrative & Notes: The aroma featured a delightful evolution— initially sweet honey with hints of tropical fruit jams and candied ginger, it turned toward malty pastries and shortbread with time. Though it was never quite tangy enough to hit that golden pineapple shortbread cake note I love so much. Wood hung in the background while time brought out more earth, dark chocolate powder, and hints of more unctuous sweet fruits. On the palate the dram was medium-bodied with sweet fruit punch up front and more gentle notions of apple, pineapple, and ginger preserves. The flavors were well-integrated, though maybe not entirely well-rounded, and a touch austere at times as wood ran throughout, occasionally bringing a touch of bitterness to the fruits. The finish was medium-length with a touch of floral vanilla, grass, earth, and more wood.
As with all of the Whisky Exchange Black Friday specials, the bottle technically gives no distillery, though a wink and a nudge gave this as a 1998 Glenburgie— a vintage no stranger to Elixir Distillers.
Overall, the whisky developed nicely in the glass with a beautiful aroma but a slightly too woody profile for my taste. Scanning reviews online, the fruit and chocolate elements appear relatively common, though few others found the woodier elements as strong or expressing bitter qualities— so, as always, your mileage may vary. I consider myself near enough to be a proper Glenburgie fanboy that my expectations are properly high and I imagine it is the kind of whisky that grows on you over time.
