Glen Garioch - Mystery Dram - #GGDrambassador

Want to know how we got to encounter this lovely mystery dram? It all began with an email I got... You read all about it here

Here are my tasting notes on this dram. Thomas' his notes can be found here.

Nose
Sweet, warm, dense jam notes, citrus, eucalyptus, light earthy note maybe and a bit a feeling of sweet mulled wines? On the other hand there are big spearmint notes combined with citrus notes and apple, vanilla, and creamy.

Fresh pastries, brioche, almost tropical fruits, pink grapefruit, and the dryness of pomolo. But it is honey sweet underneath the citrus and mint layer. Milk chocolate, anise and soft mango notes come to mind. It is a rich and complex nose...

Palate
Citrus, pepper, spearmint, vanilla, dried fruits, honey, bit bitter of coffee in the back intwined with the lemon and mint freshness blazing through your mouth?

There is some plums, like the jam send with the package? Some marmalade bitter almost, ginger, chocolate mouse, and orange. The citrus notes are very present here. And there is dark chocolate, and coffee notes, with some chili pepper.

That gives it a bit spicy mouthfeel to it, but mixed with the citrus notes it does not come to front directly, but is balanced quite well. There is a good bunch of liquerisch and bit anise notes lying underneath I find. Notes of toffee, red berries, strawberry, red grapes, pineapple, apple, banana, pomegranate, marzipan (light), honey suckle, and syrup are present on this rich and complex palate. Just like the nose, quite balanced.

Finish
There is a creamy after note to be found on the middle to long length finish. Some orange marmalade, toffee, dark chocolate, and chili pepper coming through. And in the end sugary sweet and liqeurish with red berries, ending in a bit rose water? Found that last one a bit strange. But it is intwined in it all and it all keeps developing to the end more and more like a soft almost silky note.

Score
Scored this one an 8 out of 10. A bottle that I definitely would love to have in the collection to share with friends. But where did it come from? In the challenge set for us we have to answer some clues. A bit the dense nose at first gave me some mulled wine notes feel very shortly, made me think it must be port like. But when tasting it more and more my doubt grows.

The fruity freshness and the sweet almost sugary feel to it made me think more like a rum. Swinging from one side to the other, and almost make me think for a moment of an ouzo with the citrus and liqeurish on the palate that are so strongly present.

Diving into the production of rum, sherry, port, and madeira and trying to find out what it could be. This nose and palate had something familiar, but what was it? In the end with many searches online I remembered about Cognac. This has to aged at least for two years in French oak barrels from Limousin or Troncais. 

And the Limousin cattle is a French highly muscled beef cattle. So that are a couple of the clues answered I think, but what about the sporting event in the summer? Scotland participated in a couple of things but next to the Tour de France (what we could not confirm completly) we think it must be the 1998 FIFA wold cup. 

That would make this an 16 year old new expression to be released, what has matured on a Cognac cask. 

But we could be totally off...

Update may / june 2014
Sadly we were a bit of track, but close :-) See below of what it was. Congrats to Steve for winning the great trip to the distillery!

"The limited edition, of which just 5,400 bottles will be available globally, has been aged for 15 years in French Bordeaux wine barrels from the Saint-Julien region.

“Distilled entirely on 23 June 1998, this Glen Garioch was fully matured for over 15 years in the finest Bordeaux barriques,” said Rachel Barrie, master blender at brand owner Morrison Bowmore.

“Firm in structure, with a full, rounded body and complex spiced-fruit taste, Glen Garioch 1998 Wine Matured has married the sweetness of Bordeaux with the wholesome maltiness of the Garioch spirit – the Auld Alliance at its very best.”

The bottling is described as having a “rich, fruity and spicy character” that is emphasised by its “unusual maturation”.

Bottled at 48% abv, Glen Garioch 1998 Wine Matured is available from this month at an RRP of around £100."