Glenglassaugh 2009 10 year Cask #2213

Nose: Red wine, berries, dark cherries, apricot, peach. Intense red fruit aromas with bright, zesty notes behind them – almost like vanilla cola! There is also an elusive note like almonds or lychees in the distance. Palate: Sweet, fruity arrival – so intense on the red fruit notes it’s almost like extract of red gummy bears. So many berries in the development! Cranberry, strawberry so sweet it must be genetically modified, raspberry and morello cherry. This profile could easily be cloying but fortunately there is hefty, leathery malt and an earthy quality like horehound or chicory root (slightly coffee-ish) behind this mountain of sweet berry notes. The texture is voluptuous and erotic (yep, erotic, that’s what I wrote in my notes!). Finish: Medium/long. The focus never drifts far from red fruits, and this sweet-wine saturated character lasts until the final wisps of the aftertaste. A very interesting single malt. One of the most intensely flavourful sweet red wine finishes I’ve tasted. It might sound almost like a caricature of a wine-finish but in some odd way it does not descend to banality. It is, in fact, scrumptious but yes not exactly demure or reserved. This is a no-holds-barred bawdy-house madam of a whisky. Engage with her to your peril and delight. Distilled in December 2009 and bottled in December 2019, this whisky spent 10 years in the same ex-aleatico wine cask. Aleatico is a red grape varietal related to muscat, and it is typically used to create intense dessert wines, which are often also fortified. It’s not quite in PX sherry territory, but not far away – imagine a blend of PX and a bold red rioja. This is also notable for being one of the first 10 year age statement Glenglassaugh whiskies to come to market. Let's hope it is the harbinger of future expressions, and that Glenglassaugh escapes the dead hand of chill-filtration stupidity that Brown Forman are laying onto GlenDronach. I enjoyed this quite a lot. It was one of three bottlings exclusive to the Sydney Whisky Show and whoever was in charge of the selection this year clearly has a sweet tooth and a love for fruity wine-influenced whisky. Like the BenRiach I reviewed before this, I was tempted to buy a bottle but in the end I held back. This was maybe a mistake because at the show it was selling for $145 and now the remaining bottles are selling for $195. If it sounds like your thing, grab it while it is available. Tasted from bottle 386 of 411 at the Sydney Whisky Show, May 15 2021 (my taste #8) “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)