Scotch Whisky Review #324: Single Cask Nation Glenburgie 20 Year (1998)

Distillery: Glenburgie.

Bottler: Jewish Whisky Company.

Region: Speyside.

Age: 20 Year. Distilled in December of 1998. Bottled in March of 2019.

ABV: 58.9%. Cask Strength.

Cask Type: Second Fill Bourbon Cask.

Cask Number: #751405

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/herr_maltenberg.

Color: 1.0, Deep Copper.

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Nose: (according to the wife) Honey, pineapples, and lots of mixed fruits. (According to me) Coconut macarons are what I picked out.

Palate: At full strength it is quite strong and harsh. Not a whole lot you can pick out. Water does calm it down. Very unlike the nose, the palate is strongly dominated by vegetable notes. Green bell peppers, green ones, celery, and rhubarb are what come through. A hint of lemon and malt biscuits follow along after the veggie parade.

Finish: Quite long. At full strength, there is a very dominant note of milk chocolate and it lingers for a long time. The chocolate note continues on even with water added, though it does become muted.

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Conclusion: I’ve only had one Glenburgie before this one, a rather impressive Elixir Distillers bottling also from 1998, and went into this excited for a nice bomb of fruity flavors. That wasn’t what I got in the slightest. While the nose has some fruit in it and there’s a touch of lemon in the palate, the overall dominant notes of this dram are of vegetables. Now I do enjoy my veggies, but man was it surprising to find such strong notes of them in a whisky. The finish was full of chocolate, leaving behind some quite tasty notes that lingered for seemingly forever. Quite an interesting dram, each of the individual piece parts is quite nice but when you put together a fruity-nutty nose, a veggie palate, and a chocolate-y finish, there does come off a touch disjointed. It’s more like a three course meal rather than a single glass of whisky. Fun, but perhaps not fun enough to warrant a whole bottle.

To steal an idea from /u/the_muskox and /u/b1uepenguin, a potential SMWS name that comes to mind is “Fine dining in the Garden of Eden”.

Final Score: 80.

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Scotch Whisky Review #324, Speyside Review #122, Whisky Network Review #469

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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.