Glen Ord 25 YO

Photo provided by The Whisky Exchange

Full of flavour and very appetis­ing indeed, this is the sec­ond spe­cial release from the only North­ern High­lands dis­tillery to retain its own malt­ings. Matured in a mix­ture of Amer­i­can and Euro­pean Oak casks, there are only 3600 num­bered bot­tles world­wide. Often described as “per­ilously drink­able”, it has only been avail­able as a sin­gle malt in the last ten years and it is pre­sented in a unique, hand etched Glen Ord decanter. Glen Ord is fresh, lively with well bal­anced flavours of honey and lemon juice, some acid­ity and dry spices. The fin­ish is medium lenghth crisp, smoky and dry. Tremen­dous depth of flavour and bal­ance, prompt­ing Jim Mur­ray to award this 95 points in his Whisky Bible.

The nose is very rounded and sweet, yet rather nervous. Quite grassy at first nosing, on fern, hay, straw… Develops on smoked tea and camomile. Very, very good, with little wood influence, letting the distillery’s character shine through. Some nice whiffs of sea breeze (yes, I know, Ord isn’t really near the sea). Mouth: creamy but again quite nervous, bold and powerful. Lots of pepper, cooked apples and cinnamon. A bit of fructose, crystallised angelica, lemon peel… A very serious whisky that doesn’t play any dirty trick, and with a superb balance, at that. Most satisfying. 90 points.

Tasting note by Whiskyfun