Review by: ZoidbergOnTheRocks
I got a bunch of random minis on an auction many years ago, all of them stupidly cheap, and I never got around to really sitting down and trying them. I’ve recently been forcing myself to work through them, so here’s the last batch of the oddballs.
Tasted on 10/23/2020, neat in a Glencairn.
Glendullan 12 years old, 47% ABV in a 5cl mini. No info on coloring or filtering. Nice to see it at 47%. The fill level is low, well below the shoulder.
So, I guess this is only sold under the Singleton brand now, though apparently it’s something like Diageo’s second largest distillery. The labeling and ABV match bottles from the 1980’s, so I’m gonna guess that’s what we’re looking at here. Should be interesting.
Distillery: Glendullan
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Speyside
ABV: 47.0%
Age: 12 years old
Nose: very floral w/ lavender, carnations and such. Perfume, a bit hot, honey, liquorice, green apple, vanilla, straw. There’s something quite mineral about it too: hot wet sand, wet rocks, etc. A bigger note of caramel after it sits for a bit.
Taste: pepper, very salty, burnt caramel, some citrus, liquorice, fairly hot, thin mouthfeel, some of that apple under there.
Finish: a brief burst of nice bright apple, then much salt and quite a lot of pepper as it goes. Burnt caramel. A bit longer than expected, tails off a bit bitter.
Not bad overall. The nose is very interesting, quite floral with a lot going on. I keep coming back to nose it. It falls down on the palate though and it really doesn’t follow from the nose. Surprisingly hot for it’s ABV, it’s pretty thin and spicy and really hides the sweeter notes. The finish is also disappointing.
Final Score: 72.
Glenkinchie 10 year old, 43% ABV in a 5cl squat mini. Once again, no info on date, filtering, or coloring. I don’t see a 10 in their current lineup, and the packaging doesn’t match at all. It does match a mini on WhiskyBase which suggests this mini is from before the Classic Malts brand was used, so this is bottled pre-1989.
Distillery: Glenkinchie
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Lowlands
ABV: 43.0%
Age: 10 years old
Nose: green apple, cream, very light allspice, malt, oak, a bit grassy. A bit hot even after 30min in the glass.
Taste: malt, more citrus fruit than the apple from the nose, cut grass, very mild pepper.
Finish: malt, apple, honey, that grassiness is more prominent, and a hint of very light pepper. Short, malt and that light pepper remain the most.
This is a very simple dram, but overall pretty good. There’s a distinct grassy note throughout which is pretty nice with the rest of it. Gets a bit malty on the palate and finish but the fruit still comes through well. Simple on all fronts, but it’s good. This is my first exposure to Glenkinchie, and while it probably isn’t representative of what you can get currently I’ll still keep my eye out and give it a shot when I have a chance.
Final Score: 77.
Glen Scotia 5 years old, A. Gillies & Co., Unstated ABV (?!?!) in a flat 5cl mini. So, erm, that’s weird. It’s also one of the lightest whiskies I’ve come across, so light that I wonder if this wasn’t kept in the sun for a while. (Though the red on the label hasn’t faded in the slightest, and pics of similar bottles I can find online suggest this is normal.) And there’s a little bit of black shit floating in it. I don’t know if I should drink this or not…
Distillery: Glen Scotia
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Campbeltown
ABV: 40.0%
Age: 5 years old
Nose: bright and fruity, nectarine, peaches, ginger, ethanol, sort of a funky undertone I can’t quite place.
Taste: fruity w/ nectarine and peaches, a very little bit of ginger, very watery and thin, a touch of caramel.
Finish: nectarine, light ginger, malt, caramel. Longer than I expected, bordering on medium length. Tails off into ginger with a touch of that fruit. Is there a touch of peat on the end of this?
This is very fruity throughout, and not at all what I expected. Very little else going on beyond a touch of spice, and some malt and caramel. Feels a bit weak honestly, but other than that there’s really nothing wrong with it. The early ethanol on the nose dissipated with time. No off notes at all. A pleasant surprise.
Final Score: 77.
Tomatin 27 Year (1988) Batch 3
This is a little 3cl bottle of Tomatin (1998) Batch 3, 50% ABV bottled by Drinks by the Dram. This little guy is left over from my Christmas 2016 advent calendar. I guess I tossed it in the wrong box! No info on coloring or filtering, but we can hope for the best on this one.
Distillery: Tomatin
Bottler: Distillery Bottling
Region: Scotland, Highlands
ABV: 50.0%
Age: 27 years old. Distilled in 1988. Bottled in 2016.
Cask type: Bourbon Casks & Port Pipes
Non-chill-filtered. One of 1,800 bottles.
Nose: sweet apple, orange rind, vanilla cake batter, mild pepper, aniseed, a bit herbal.
Taste: citrus, mild pepper, salt, vanilla, dark caramel, medium-thick mouthfeel, a bit oily.
Finish: sweet apple, vanilla, salt, mild pepper, creme brulee, a touch dry, rather long,
This is a simple but extremely well balanced dram. Nice fruit w/ some nice creamy/cake batter notes, a touch of spice, a touch herbal, and a surprisingly nice mouthfeel. Finish is excellent, great balance all the way through, and really nice. If this was more complex I might have gone higher, but as it is I’ll stick with this.
I do note that a touch of water killed the nose on this, with the rest basically unchanged. Maybe a touch more oil in the mouth.
Final Score: 82.
Comparison
Order: Tomatin > Glenkinchie > Glen Scotia > Glendullan
The Tomatin is the clear winner here, and the Glendullan the clear loser. I’ll take the Glenkinchie over the Glen Scotia just because it has more going on than the pretty bare-bones simplicity of this particular Glen Scotia.
All-in-all this was a pretty reasonable set. I’ll be honest: I had assumed the Glen Scotia was tainted going into this, but it turned out just fine.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 