Scotch Whisky Review #273: Lady of the Glen Glen Elgin 16 Year Rivesaltes Cask Finish (1997)

Distillery: Glen Elgin

Bottler: Lady of the Glen

Region: Speyside

Age: 16 year. Distilled March 4th, 2004. Bottled November 2nd, 2020.

ABV: 53.6%

Cask Type: 15 years in a Hogshead, finished in a Rivesaltes wine cask

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/DangerousDoorknob

Color:1.8, Old oak.

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Nose: Fortified wine is the main note here. It’s joined by licorice with both regular black licorice and strawberry flavored Twizzlers making an appearance.

Palate: It’s quite thick and heavy on the tongue, even after water is added. You get a very thick red fruit jam, mostly cherry is what I’m picking up. There’s a slightly dry herb mix sprinkled around. Red velvet cake without any icing and a super heavy red wine wrap things up along with some tannins.

Finish: Medium in length. Similarly to the palate, it sits quite heavily for a bit. It’s slightly creamy with a lot of licorice going on.

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Conclusion: The more Lady of the Glen I have, the more of a fan I become of Gregor and his work there. They’ve come up with some quality bottlings and some very creative cask uses. This Glen Elgin is no different from the quality and creativity aspect. The wine finish is very much present from start to finish and results in a unique experience. Unfortunately, however, the flavor combinations of red fruit jams and licorice along with some heavy red wine don’t quite hit the right notes for me. If those flavors/that flavor combination do appeal to you, I would think that you would enjoy this whisky quite a bit.

Final Score: 77.

Scotch Whisky Review #273, Speyside Review #101, Whisky Network Review #416

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.