Glenglassaugh Pedro Ximenez Sherry Wood Finish

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.

Sharp intake; kind of spicy, sweet after. Smoother with water, nice tasting

Typical PX profile. A classic whisky.

Profound and complex. Mapple, cinnamon,. Long 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.