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Glen Garioch 21 years

fruity
4.3
(4)€466Scotland, Highland, Single Malt

Flavours

Whisky character

Fresh
Warm
Mild
Full
Smooth
Spicy

Taste mentions

Facts

In 1968 Glen Garioch ran out of water and closed. The distillery had been working since 1797, one of Scotland's oldest. The town of Oldmeldrum sits just outside Aberdeen, in barley country. Two years later Stanley P Morrison bought it and put manager Joe Hughes on the problem. Hughes found the Silent Spring on a farm next door, and production jumped tenfold. Twenty-one years in cask have made this a gentle, sherry-leaning dram. Warm spice and old leather to start, then raisin and fig. It is a quiet whisky from a distillery that nearly did not survive its own thirst.

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About the distillery

Distillery

Glen Garioch

Glen Garioch is a Scotch whisky distillery located in the town of Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was founded in 1797 and is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. The distillery produces a range of single malt whiskies, including their signature Glen Garioch 12 Year Old, which is a smooth and complex whisky with notes of honey, vanilla, and spice. Glen Garioch is one of the few distilleries in Scotland to still use traditional floor maltings, where the barley is soaked in water and then spread out on the floor to germinate. The malt is then dried using peat smoke, which gives Glen Garioch whiskies a distinctive smoky flavour profile. One interesting fact about Glen Garioch is that it was closed for a period of time in the 1990s due to a decline in demand for Scotch whisky. However, the distillery was reopened in 1997 and has since become known for producing high-quality single malt whiskies.

3.9Average rating

31Whiskies on Distilld

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Highland

Most popular whiskies from Glen Garioch

About the Glen Garioch 21 years

Glen Garioch 21 years is a Highland single malt Scotch whisky from Oldmeldrum, a market town near Aberdeen. The Glen Garioch distillery has worked this site since 1797. That makes it one of the oldest still running in Scotland. This bottling spends twenty-one years in cask and arrives at 43% ABV. The name comes from the Garioch, an old word for granary, after the barley country around it. Water almost ended the story. Chronic shortages forced the distillery to close in 1968. Stanley P Morrison bought the site in 1970 and set manager Joe Hughes looking for a new supply. Hughes found the Silent Spring on neighbouring Coutens Farm. That single discovery lifted production capacity tenfold and brought the stills back to life. The distillery also made smoked whisky until 1995, then reopened unpeated in 1997. Twenty-one years show up first as scent: warm spice, then a trace of old leather. Sherry character takes over once you taste it. Dried fruit sits at the centre, raisin and fig together. A fruity brightness keeps it from turning heavy or syrupy. The cask has had two decades to work, and it shows. Spice returns at the end, dry and faintly peppery. The whole thing stays soft, which the 43% strength helps along. Most people meet this distillery through the 12 Years Old, bottled at 48% ABV. Glen Garioch 21 years takes a different route. Nearly a decade more in wood softens the spirit and gives the sherry notes room to speak. The strength drops to 43%, which suits that slower, rounder style. Alongside the vintage releases it is the calmest bottle in the range, and the easiest to sit with.