Girvan 1988 27 Year (The Exclusive Malts)

Note: This is for Exclusive Grain 10 yr old rum finished Girvan. I read the scathing reviews. It can’t be this bad, can it? Pouring the sample from @PBMichiganWolverine. Maybe there’s a beacon of hope. There is a strong presence of industrial cleaning chemicals. Rubber, chewing gum (like the gum you would get with baseball cards), rubber cement, rubbing alcohol. For the natural-like aromas: apples, bananas and vanilla. An odd nose indeed. Hmmm. Strange and different. Rum-soaked Raisin Bran cereal, vanilla sweetness, crazy glue (if I could imagine what crazy glue tastes like) with sprinkles of cinnamon spice. The finish is ginger and toothpicks and nail polish. It would almost be safe to say that this is not a scotch or whisky. More of a cheap mixer rum with industrial qualities. I don’t think there is much more to say. Save your time and your money. [62/100][Tasted: 4/20/18]

Disclaimer: this is for Exclusive Grain 10 yr old rum finished Girvan. Oh no. This one was a tough one to deal with all around. I got the same sawdust notes that Lee did, along with rubbing alcohol and a slight note to let me know the rum cask is there. The palate reminded me of what drinking Pledge or Pine Sol might be like. Medicinal notes, but not not the nice TCP/Iodine ones. Heavy oak, and reminded me of why I don't like drinking bourbon. There is some redeeming vanilla and sweet notes there, but the alcohol burn just annihilates the pleasantries. I love the band, but this is like "March of the Pigs" by Nine Inch Nails. Thanks for the chance to try the distillery Pranay. Maybe grain whisky is just not my thing.

Disclaimer: this is for Exclusive Grain 10 yr old rum finished Girvan. This was one of my contributions to our little Scottish sample trading team. We have a list of all the Scottish active distilleries, and every quarter, we each choose a few to send to the other members. We then grade the samples. This sample will clearly get the "most likely to get spat out" by us all. It's horrible. Can be doubled as paint thinner.

Disclaimer: this review is not for the 27 year old but for the 10 year old single barrel from The Creative Whisky Co. Stop number 35 on the SDT is Girvan. A Lowland distillery, and unlike all of the other stops thus far, this is a single grain scotch whisky. Single grain meaning it is made from grains (of any variety), and not of 100% malted barley like a single malt would be. BTW, the term "single" refers to the fact that 100% of the whisky is from a single distillery and not a single type of grain. This single cask is an ex bourbon hogsheads, aged for about 10 years and then finished in rum barrels. This is an independent bottling from The Creative Whisky Co. as part ad their Single Cask Exclusives line. Bottled at 50% ABV, non chill filtered and a natural color of pale gold. The nose on this one is very harsh up front. Strong alcohol and solvent notes. I'm battling a cold right now and it nearly cleared out my sinuses completely! This one needs a few extra minutes to settle down. Very grainy. Some rum sweetness and a fair amount of oak. Green apples, floral, honey and a little vanilla. Wood glue and old rubber, not horrible though. Dried banana and Windex. I had to add water to see if it would help. It did but not much. More apples and honey, but not much else. A strange dichotomy of smells, but the bad outweighs the good here. The palate arrives hot, even at 50%. It's better than I expected after the craziness of the nose. Silver or light rum and oak. Cinnamon apples, vegetal notes and some bitterness. Bourbon notes, but not good ones. Water takes away much of the heat, but washes away most of the flavor. A very hot mouthfeel, but light at the same time. A little oily. Medium length finish that is dry and consists of rum flavored glue and oak. A less than mediocre whisky for me. The alcohol and solvent hits on the nose were too much to overcome. It's like a cheap rum mixed with cheaper bourbon and a few drops of acetone in there to complexity destroy your palate. At $40 a bottle, this is $30 too much. It's not the worst thing I've ever had, but it's light years from the best. Thanks(?) to Pranay for the sample. Glad I can move on from this one. 2.25 Cheers