A 23-year old cask strength independent bottling from one of Diageo's unsung and oft-forgotten workhorse distilleries. One that shouldn't be forgotten, mostly due to the worm tubs!
Not that worm tubs alone equal a good whisky, of course. But what they do indicate, generally, is more spirit weight and more texture, and potentially a sulphurous "funky" distillate that should hold up to more cask influence. If you're lucky, when left alone with enough time in the right cask this style of spirit can turn into delicious tropical fruit notes that many whisky lovers love to stumble across. While Ben Nevis, Clynelish, and Bowmore, along with longer-aged Irish whiskies distilled at Cooley or Bushmills, are the more famous names on this list, under the right conditions many other distilleries can dip their toes in these fruity waters too - including this example from Tasmania's Hellyers Road, for example! Speyside distillery Glen Elgin wouldn't feature highly on most tropical fruit-hunters' lists though, probably because there just aren't that many well-aged examples of Glen Elgin to choose from, and those that are out there tend to vary massively in flavour profile. There's only really one official bottling on the market from distillery owners Diageo, a 12-year old bottled at 43% ABV, which is of course chill filtered and artificially coloured. Even this "core range" bottling seems to only appear sporadically and I haven't seen it for sale in Australia for quite some time, while the last time this distillery featured in Diageo's annual Special Releases was way back in 2017. Obviously the independent bottlers will step in here to save the day, right? Well, maybe!
Glen Elgin was founded in 1898 but suffered a rough start to life; production didn't start until 1900 and the distillery closed only five months later, staying silent until 1906. In 1930 it was purchased by Scottish Malt Distillers / Distillers Company Limited, which would eventually become part of what is now Diageo. This 128-year old Speyside distillery is of a decent size, with a production capacity of 1.8-million litres of spirit per year, with the vast majority going into Diageo's blended whiskies; mainly White Horse which isn't imported into Australia, but also J&B, and some of the Johnnie Walker range. The distillery is five miles south of the town of Elgin, the major town in the Morayshire region, roughly a 3.5-hour drive north of Edinburgh. That large production capacity is down to nine wooden washbacks where fermentation is long at 80-120 hours, and six relatively small pot stills which are equipped with external worm tub condensers as seen in the photo above. Distillation is relatively slow, which increases copper contact and reduces sulphur, in contrast to the worm tubs which give less copper contact than the modern shell & tube alternatives. As with most of these workhorse distilleries there's no visitors centre or shop, and most of the spirit goes in to refill casks.
The example we're looking at today is from the "Small Batch" series from independent bottler Cadenhead's which was discontinued around 2021-2022. These bottlings were from 2-4 casks married together and bottled at cask strength, with black labels as pictured below, and were replaced by the "Original Collection" which are all bottled at 46% ABV and have grey labelling. Obviously replacing a cask strength range with one diluted to 46% was never going to be a popular decision, and the sales and amount of attention that these "Original Collection" bottlings receive seems to reflect that. I'm also yet to see a single one get a rave review approximately four years after Cadenhead's made this change. Since they made this change the only cask strength bottlings from Cadenhead's have been their "Authentic Collection" range which are only sold directly from an official Cadenhead's shop, or one of their anonymous "Enigma" bottlings. These older Small Batch bottlings were generally well regarded, and they were generally very well priced, even for the time. This Glen Elgin is a 23-year old distilled in 1995, matured in two ex-bourbon barrels, and bottled in 2019, with a yield of 486 bottles at a cask strength of 50.6%. It is of course non-chill filtered and natural colour. Let's get to it!
Cadenhead's Glen Elgin 23 Year Old, 50.6%. Speyside, Scotland.
Distilled 1995, 2 x ex-bourbon barrels, bottled March 2019. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 486 bottles.
Colour: Gold.
Nose: Oily, sweet, fruity, nutty. Sweet peach & mango syrups, macadamia oil, salted peanuts & hazelnuts. Spicy ginger & cinnamon, runny honey, baklava (filo pastry with nuts & syrup), aniseed powder, and bitter dark chocolate. Touches of dried apple chips around the edges.
Texture: Medium weight. Rich, oily, fruity, sweet, spicy. Light heat.
Taste: Fruity, sweet, nutty. Macadamia oil, peach & mango syrups, roasted & salted nuts - almond and hazelnut this time, warm ginger. Natural honeycomb wax, bitter dark chocolate, and oat cakes (dry oatmeal biscuits).
Finish: Medium-long length. More peach & mango syrups, roasted & salted nuts, and warm ginger. More like a ginger syrup here though. Big pinch of white pepper. Dried apple chips, oat cakes, macadamia oil, and runny honey behind.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: A bit hot in places, sweet & fruity in others, and spicy & dry in others - slightly rough around the edges then. Weird & wacky! But there's nothing wrong with that. The sweet tropical fruit & syrupy notes cover that heat pretty well most of the time, but the ginger and oaty notes dry things out - just like oatcakes do in real life. This Glen Elgin is a nice sweet tropical fruit-led whisky with a great oily & syrupy texture, with some nutty oak influence plus that ginger, and the odd sneak attack by a bit of alcohol heat. Overall, a fun experience but I wouldn't be hunting down a bottle.
This bottle was an auction win for which I paid around $300 AUD landed, which seems about right given the age and other specifications, and is probably one of the cheapest ways to get to the "funk & roughness matured into tropical fruit" flavour profile which is one of my favourites at the moment. If memory serves this is my favourite Glen Elgin to date, although there really aren't that many to choose from!
Cheers!
