Strathclyde 24 Years Old 1988 G10.3 Promises sweet indulgences (59.6%, SMWS, Refill Bourbon Barrel, 171 Bottles, 2013)

• Category: Single grain scotch whisky
• Origin: Strathclyde distillery
• Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society Cask G10.3 Promises sweet indulgences
• ABV: 59.6%
• Cost: ~ £70 buy from SMWS
• Score: 80/100

What they say:

Cask No. G10.3 Promises sweet indulgences

UK Tasting Panel: The nose evoked a breakfast buffet – bran-flakes, porridge, honey, marmalade (lots of orange notes) and maple syrup on waffles. We also identified random hints of carrot cake, ginger nuts, faint perfume and laminate flooring. The palate was immediately attractive, promising sweet indulgences – butterscotch, toffee éclairs, orange creams and floral perfumes, with ginger, cinnamon and clove not far behind. The reduced nose was very sweet, just held in check by gentle spices. The palate was now a silky, velvety experience – millionaire’s shortbread, crème brûlée – liquid honey sunshine filtering through a filigree trellis of oak. This Gorbals-based distillery was built in 1927.

Colour: Yellow gold

Outturn: 171 bottles

What I say:

Another new distillery for us in our hunt though the SMWS codes. This one is from Strathclyde grain distillery (SMWS distillery code #G10). Strangely enough I had waited a while to find this and almost immediately was served up another G10 example (G10.6) at one of the WOLS tastings.

Colour:

Light gold (5/20) medium-large sized tears leave thick legs

Nose:

Sweet honey and toffee-coated popcorn, toffee, caramel, crème caramel, woody oak, orange zest and marmalade

Taste:

Light and spicy cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel, fruity, oranges and orange and ginger marmalade, fruit salad sweeties, butterscotch and werthers originals, quite drying and tannic new oak wood, lemon and lime citrus, honey, crème brulee and toffee, slightly herbal, clove and rosemary

Finish:

Short, spiced herbal citrus, sweet and drying

Overall:

Quite light and silky in mouthfeel but a real intensity to the flavours, this was much less like grain and more like a good malt whisky (despite lacking a good malty backbone)