Glen Garioch Vintage 1999

Rating: 9/23 This 1999 vintage Glen Garioch is the penultimate dram on my trip to reviewing 2000 alcohols! E: Despite being a year younger than the 1997 Glen Garioch I just reviewed, this is darker, so I'm guessing that this one got some sort of a sherry finish. N: I was worried about this. There's more meat here than there was in the 1997 vintage. I do get some sherry fruits though. I'll let this sit for a few minutes. After a few minutes, I get classic PX finish character! That's a bit challenging itself, but it's a nice departure from the roasted meat. It's cherry, blackberry, licorice, menthol, black pepper. And a faint roasted meat. It's more PX than I'd like, but I'll take it. P: PX and youthful alcohol! It burns! There's some really nice fullness, but the roasted meat comes through much more than I'd expected, and so do some other bitter flavor and harshness that make me think of a youthful spirit. There's a touch of sulphur here too that I really don't like. I'm getting the impression that that someone tried to cover up some spirit that wasn't aging well with a PX finish. I do get hints of the black pepper, licorice, and menthol, with more obvious blackberry and tart strawberry nods, but the weird meat and sulphur take center stage. I'm not liking this. There are occasional notes of malt and light vanilla, but they aren't the key players here. There is actually some cinnamo with some nice wood notes that bring in a bit of clove, but they're largely crushed by the rest of the flavors. F: The malt comes out a lot more here - along with a little more of the vanilla! For a while at least. As it goes on, more meat and sulphur come out, starting at the roasted level, but gradually moving backward into undercooked and then raw territory. Benjamin Button the dram, I guess. Really not a nice finish. - Conclusion - Signatory's Inchmurrin 17 (1996) (15/23) is weirder and more bitter than this, but its flavors seem more intentional. There are things that I like better about this, but it mostly just tastes worse. I wouldn't go above a 14 for this. As a sanity check, Cadenhead's Deanston 19 (1994) absolutely crushes this. I'm thinking that this is most likely not even a 14. This is actually kind of unpleasant. I'm in a bit of a predicament here, which is that I have very few drams as bad as this. Signatory's Caledonian 29 (1987) has some really nice coconut and oiliness when placed beside this. Oh, the sulphur shows through here when placed side by side. There's even an elegance and nuance to Compass Box Hedonism (11/23) that makes me favor it over this when the two are placed beside each other. This is just actually unpalatable. I'm in 11 or lower territory now, which is a real challenge since I don't have things to compare this with in that range. This is absolutely a bad dram. Side by side, this somehow makes Uncle Val's Botanical Gin (10/23) taste a little bit sane. I'm not sure whether this is better or worse though. Even Rabbit Hole Dereringer (12/23) manages to taste much more mature and coherent than this. There sherry here doesn't work as well, the sulphur shows through more, the flavors that are present are more muddled, and there's more of an alcohol bite. I can't see this being over a 10. I'm thinking it's an 8 to 10. I'm having flashbacks to Grant's (7/23) and I don't think that the sulphur and wackiness are bad enough to push this down to that level, but they do get it pretty close. I think it comes down to how I think this compares to the Uncle Vals... which is not an ideal comparison to be making. I think that the Uncle Val's is a little bit better, but not a lot. I'm leaning toward a 9 for this. It could be a 10 though. It definitely isn't an 11, but it isn't trailing tremendously. I can definitely imagine a 10 for this, but it's a rough one. This is really not fun to drink. What a huge disappointment. I didn't have high hopes for this after the last Glen Garioch, but I had no conception that this could be as bad as it turned out to be. I think I'll be avoiding this distillery as a result of this tasting.

Great stuff. Nose: Raisins, Toffee, Sultanas, Oak, Dark Chocolate, Honey, Coffee, Green Apples, Apricots, Red Apples Palate: Honey, Raisins, Sultanas, Pineapples, Nutmeg, Hazlenuts, Almonds, Dark Chocolate, Cloves, Plums, Leather, Oak Finish: Pepper, Nutmeg, Almonds, Chocolate, Toffee, Cherries, Walnuts, Cranberries, Raspberries, Sultanas, Raisins, Leather