Glenglassaugh 36 Years / 1975

I had the pleasure of meeting Stuart Nickerson (MD of Glenglassaugh) almost two years ago when he decided to visit my neck of the woods. I remember him to be an extremely humble person who was immensely proud of the whiskies he was sharing with us that day.

Among some stunning whiskies (which included a 39 year old Massandra Connection) was this beautiful 36 year old single cask - part of the Rare Cask series.

Basically the distillery got shut down in 1986 and only re-opened it's doors after 22 years in 2008. This meant that there was a lot of stock lying around waiting to be bottled and this 1975 distilled spirit was part of it. Aged for 36 years it saw light in 2010 and was presented in a gorgeous decanter, complete with certificate of authenticity and a red wooden box. Interestingly they bottle states 'Aged over 30 Years' instead of giving the exact age.

But what is truly remarkable is that the sample I write about now is about two years old from a bottle (decanter) that was 90% empty. As I poured my self a small dram I expected the worst. Sitting for two years in the back of my closet I was sure oxygen had done it's best to destroy the spirit inside.

But that was not to be.

Nose: There is first the slightest hint of peat which immediately gets lost in a beautifully layered fruit salad where there is a more than proportionate share given to mangoes and passion fruit. There is a delicate orange marmalade and red berry mix to make the nose even more exotic. I am not sure if this particular spirit has seen a sherry cask but I detected some.

Palate: So creamy and velvety. Lots of passion fruit and then a surprisingly late arrival of nutty spices. Rounded off with a sweet lemon tart citrus coat.

Finish: Comes back up for your second surprise and lingers with delicate spice.

This must be one skillfully crafted malt because two years of non-stop oxidization failed to make a dent in it's beautiful personality. At around 500GBP a bottle this is not your every day whisky.

But I sure wish it was!

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