Glenglassaugh Pedro Ximenez Sherry Wood Finish

Rating: 12/23 I've heard that Glenglassaugh Evolution is perhaps a little better, but I didn't care for it much. I'm kind of nervous about this one. N: It has a bit of sort of a Glenfarclas funk, but not quite. There's dried bing cherries with dry grass, a bit of a citrus bite, a dash of meatiness, the faintest whiff of salty smoke, a little maltiness, and a touch of harsh graininess. Based on this nose, I'd either guess Glenfarclas or some sort of sherry-matured blended whisky. I certainly wouldn't be guessing PX finishing - it just doesn't smell sweet or rich enough. P: The palate is fairly complex with some slightly harsh malt coming through before turning into grain and getting harsher. There is some dried cherry in with the malt along with some syrupy raisin, though as the flavor turns more grainy, it becomes more of dry grass and citrus before the cherry comes back a tad on the light and tart syrupy side. There's a bit of mineral throughout and I get touches of pepper and maybe cinnamon in places, but it's much more harsh than spicy. There's quite a bit of a mushroom flavor at points too. It initially came across as a bit dry, but now I'm getting a bit too much syrupiness, drawing a little unwanted attention to the sweetness. There is a faint nutty note too, making the PX finish more detectable. F: I get more mushrooms with some dashes of bitter herbs on the finish alongside lesser lemony and tart dried cherry notes. There's a fair amount of lightly burnt grass too. I was pretty OK with the palate actually, but this is kind of ick. - Conclusion - This isn't what I think of when I think of a PX finish. There's tons of funk going on here. It's far more challenging that the rest of the Glenglassaugh range and, unfortunately, I don't think that this is one I'd want to sit around and sip. I appreciate the complexity, but that mushroom flavor hits the balance like a wrecking ball. This strikes me as a brash, young distillate that might really excel with a fair amount of additional aging to take off the edges and bring it into balance. Currently, it tastes maybe 7 to 12 years old. It's hard to guess too well at its age because of all of the funk going on. I think that on technical merits this beats Glenglassaugh Revival, but it isn't as good as Glenglassaugh Evolution because it doesn't balance nearly as well. I think this and the Evolution are pretty similar in quality, actually. The Evolution is as easy sipper now that was clearly aged in a fresh barrel for a while. This, on the other hand, is a funky challenge that is on its way to being great. So where does this land? Well, I considered as low as an 8 for that mushroom flavor and as high as a 15 for that interesting funk. More realistically, I'm in the 10 to 14 range, but that's still broad. I'm leaning toward a 12. Although the Evolution is less complex, it has a much cleaner profile that I can appreciate. This has some serious flaws that even rough drams like Glenfarclas 105 and Càrn Mòr's Cambus 26 from 1992 don't have, despite their overwhelming proofs and sherry cask influences. A 12 it is here, but I could imagine going up to a 13.

Glenglassaugh tasting evening, Sydney, Feb 19th. Whisky #4 Nose: The good: Honeycake, current biscuits, strawberry shortcake, maple syrup, vanilla. The bad: Rubber galoshes, fusty amontillado, baby sick, nail varnish, gentian violet (!). Palate: A bold and full arrival with raisins, chocolate and salty caramel characteristics. As it developed there was a note of stewed fruits (apricots, peaches) and sticky date pudding. Water seemed to make the palate dryer (maybe uncovered tannin?). Finish: Medium/long. Dry fruity notes that fade out into a sweet aftertaste. One of the strangest malts I've tasted, and I'm convinced the sample we had was from a badly sulphured cask. The nose had much more dry sherry than PX influence, and the oak notes and sherry seemed to be in a personal feud instead of contributing to the spirit. Overall the nose was sharply funky and confronting - way beyond an interesting challenge. The palate fared much better and was somewhat Macallan-like, although bolder and darker. However I could not help but feel that the cask was a poor choice for the distillate - although as said above, maybe it was just this particular cask. The group was sharply divided on this expression - most found it delightful and it was their favourite of the core-range expressions we tasted on the night. However a handful (myself included) thought it was repulsive on the nose. I would rate it 3.5 except for these odd aromas, but as it is I can't see any reason to give it more than 2. I would, however, be very interested to try this again at some stage from a different batch. "Adequate" : 70/100 (2 stars)

Final dram tonight is Glenglassaugh Pedro Ximenez Sherry Wood Finish. Here's a dram that redefines expectations. Exploding with strawberry preserves, rum raisins, gingerbread cookies, orchard fruits, sponge cake, honey, and figs, it's fruity to be sure, but it's by no means a sherry bomb. Rather, the cracked white pepper and ginger notes typical of Glenglassaugh come out in full form, particularly in the palate, further enhanced by a touch of dark chocolate, raspberry jam, biscuits, plum, pears, and a fleeting bit of dememara sugar. There's clove, too, and a slight musk. On the finish, there's loads of those dark fruit notes: raisins, plums, figs, dates--and it turns the roof of your mouth into a canopy of flavors. There's cracked black pepper, but it has a back seat to the fruit medley. It does something few of the sherry cask finishes achieve: neither on the light, tangerine and fruitcake ting that from a quick trek in the cask that only flirts with what the sherry cask can offer, nor the picking up on heavier notes only with the loss of its pre-cask character. This somehow comes out of the cask an oddity: distinctively Glenglassaugh and yet distinctively a dense sherry contribution. Finish doesn't just last: it sings. Still after minutes have rolled by and the dark fruits are still hanging, giving much to ponder.

Rating: X/23 I just tried throwing in a bunch of random wood chips that I'd previously used for aging who knows who, who knows how many times (probably mostly bourbon and probably 1-3 times, with about 1.5 being the average). Shockingly, the result was tremendously improved! The wood chips really toned down the excessive sherry syrupiness and medicinal funk while adding more nuance and tasty bourbon, wood, and mild smoke flavors. Now, the wood did consume something over 20% of the spirit, but to me it's worth it because it changed what was (generously) a 12 into at least a 15. It might be a 16 and I can faintly imagine a 17. Does knowing that I can improved this in this way make it a good deal? No. The effective cost of a bottle of this is $85+ now, but if I had another bottle, I would absolutely do this to it rather than suffer through the dram as it's sold.

Woah ho ho, Glenglassaugh I have wronged thee by placing you in the pile of crap. Now you aren't reaching to great heights but you have climbed to the top of the pile of crap. I'd call you the king of the crap pile but that would insinuate you weren't that good and you are. The PX bolts out of the gate. Very mild sulphurousnous balances well with the dark fruits and raisins. Now it is thin and the aftertaste not really there but not to shabby a dram.

One of those rare, perfectly crafted whiskies where a superb spirit has worked in perfect harmony with the brilliant, well chosen casks it’s slept in. Sweet, spicy. Toffee hidden behind soft raisins. Nigh on flawless.