Glen Garioch The Renaissance 18 Year Old (50.2% abv)

First launched in 2014, the Renaissance series showcases the revival of Glen Garioch distillery, since its reopening in 1997. Glen Garioch is, of course, one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland.

The idea was to illustrate the progression of the distillery’s spirit as it ages, in a combination of sherry and Bourbon casks. A limited release, Chapter 4 marks another major milestone in the distillery’s rebirth, with the whisky hitting 18 years old. This is the last bottling in the series, following on from Chapter 3’s 17 year old.

The dram offers a great, well aged iteration of Glen Garioch’s robust house style, which has emerged over the last 20 odd years. This bottling serves up notes of dark honey, red apples, strawberries with a little balsamic, underripe bananas and bright oak, sherried dried fruits, meaty malt, caramel, sherbet, some drying spicy black pepper, beeswax, vanilla and sandalwood.

Bottled at a cask strength of 50.2% ABV and without chill filtration, this is a fully flavoured whisky, packed with character.

One of the best bottlings of Glen Garioch around, this series was introduced by Beam Suntory when they took ownership in 2014, and has been a runaway success. Review by Fine Drams