Of late I feel Scotch has been neglected, mostly as a result of focusing on exploring American whiskey. The whiskies reviewed here are bottles I have open at home and there just hasn't been any unexplored Scotch for a while. After finally cracking something new over the weekend I'm excited to learn more about it. So let's dig into Glenglassaugh Revival.
Glenglassaugh is a distillery near Portsoy, UK, a small town on the northeast coast of Scotland. If you know Scottish geography, it's almost straight east of Inverness and northwest of Aberdeen. Just outside Speyside, any single malts produced by the distillery are part of the Highland region. As for pronunciation, it's apparently a bit tricky.
What makes the distillery and this bottle interesting, at least to me, is the fact this is a very recently revived facility. Going back to 1875, Glenglassaugh's site was originally chosen for its quality water source and the high reputation of an old illicit distillery at the location. Founded by a few entrepreneurs it was sold to a corporation in 1892, with the whiskey made was used for blends like The Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark. Eventually in 1986, a very slow time in the whiskey industry, they mothballed the distillery and halted all production. It remained idle for decades.
A private group acquired and reopened Glenglassaugh in 2008. It's not the only old distillery making a comeback but it's certainly a good example. As is typical, even closed distilleries have considerable value due to old continually-aging stock in attached warehouses. When the new owners took over they immediately sold some 30 and 40 year old whiskey, undoubtedly gaining capital used when upgrading the site and its equipment. The distillery has since changed hands a couple times and is currently controlled by Brown-Forman, an American company that makes Benriach and Glendronach in Scotland as well as Jack Daniel's, Old Forester, Woodford Reserve and other American brands.
The expressions made since the 2008 reopening are called Revival, Evolution and Torfa. Revival is a simple reference to the reemergence of the distillery and was the first one crafted. It involves a pair of different barrel types before a second maturation in sherry casks and it shouldn't be surprising I wanted to try this one first. Evolution seems to be the next step in the vision for the distillery and uses 'ex-Tennessee first-fill whiskey barrels.' To me this clearly means Jack Daniel's considering the parent company connection. Torfa is a peated version that comes in at about 20 ppm.
Let's sample the Revival.
ABV - 46% (92 proof)
Mash - 100% malted barley
Maturation - Ex-red wine/bourbon casks (1st) and sherry casks (2nd)
Age - No age statement, meaning at least 3 years
Region - Highland
Price - ~$60
Tasting Notes:
Smell - Malt, sherry, fruit
Color - Good color, like copper (nothing added per the bottle)
Taste - Malt, orange, honey, vanilla, sherry spices, salt?
Finish - A gentle burn, some sweetness and spice hang around
Final Thoughts:
I'm liking it more and more. It's definitely sherry impacted so you get both the fruit, spice, and sweetness I enjoy, but there's a little something else going on too. Admittedly I want it to be the impact of seaside maturation though it's more likely the interesting mix of casks. Either way I get a faint salty character as part of the complexity.
The real question is this worth the money. For around $60 I think yes when you've already accepted the price for any single malt. This has to compete with similar popular options like the Macallan Sherry Oak ($70+) and Balvenie 12 year Doublewood ($55+), of which the latter would be an especially fun and useful comparison. Even if I ended up thinking the others better there's something unique enough about the Revival it's worth appreciating. In fact it'll stay in the pantry upstairs. Give it a try!
Sláinte!
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