Glen Garioch Virgin Oak

The Glen Garioch Virgin Oak expression is bottled in 2013 at 48% after being matured in a virgin north american oak cask. On the nose I find a lot of sweet notes mixed with warm leather, spices, malt, creamy, vanilla, dried cranberry and different fruity notes. Cookie dough, gingerbread, fresh wood, orange marmalade and elderflower syrup.

The palate is warm and sweet with some bitter notes showing some wood and marmalade. Feels balanced and the notes I found on the nose come back very nicely. It has a creamy mouth feel and medium length finish.

Creamy vanilla and powdered sugar on top of some fresh black currant, red berries, blackberry, pearjuice and almost something of cherries in the back. The maturation on the virgin oak is clearly present and gives a bit harsh and bitter edge to the very sweet spirit. Not sure that I like that, but it is not bad. For me it scores an 7,5 out of 10, the virgin wood shows for me a bit too strong on the palate.