Review by: dustbunna
Yet another quiet Highland distillery that keeps flying under my radar. I’ve never had Glencadam before; although they don’t get a ton of review coverage, I’ve seen both Ralfy and Roy (Aqvavitae) speak very positively about what’s coming out of the place these days. Glencadam’s malt is 100% unpeated, and the 15yr is matured in refill ex-bourbon casks, so the distillate should be on display front and center here. I ordered it from overseas as the price seemed very reasonable and the stats looked great… didn’t have much to go on otherwise.
As always, notes taken not necessarily at the same time, but experienced and gathered over the course of the bottle– normally I take notes from my ¾-size stemmed tulip glass, but for this one I found a regular Glencairn allowed the notes to come up with more clarity.
Distillery: Glencadam.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Highlands.
ABV: 46%.
Age: 15 years. Bottled in 2019.
Cask type: Refill ex-bourbon casks.
Price: $67 USD.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 3 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: very yeasty and malty, oatmeal, cookie dough, magnolia flowers, water brings out strawberry gummies and liquorice, tangerines, a faint chemical tinge, sugary peach candy.
Palate: medium body ~ more malt on arrival with a burst of minerals, savory herbs, salt, bitter melon, water brings out white pepper, becomes fizzier, with something like the scents of a florist’s shop coming forward on the tongue, turns a bit more spicy and dry.
Finish: long ~ astringent lemon and grapefruit, more minerals, Windex (yes, really), more rich malty cereal and white pepper, water sweetens it a bit, somewhat mushroomy on the tail end, chalk dust.
Conclusion: Whoa, what was that? This is quite sweet and inviting on the nose, then austere as hell on the palate (but no less interesting)… it feels like two different whiskies with the exception of the cereal-malt backbone threaded through there. I think I prefer it neat– water unlocks some new notes here and there, but it disturbs the already-very-precarious balance.
Early on in the bottle I already knew it was going to be a difficult task to score this. I would not say this is approachable whisky, but it is very flavorful, with notes I haven’t come across anywhere else (and took me a while to pin down because some were really unexpected.) I’d invite anybody who is sort of at the intermediate stage or beyond on their Scotch journey to try it out, because it’s a different kind of weird than what we find in the other ‘funky’ Scotch spaces like sulfur-candled sherry, Laddie butyric, Campbeltown dunnage, etc. Engaging and interesting, keeps me coming back, definitely a bit strange and off-kilter.
Final Score: 83.
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 