Girvan 11 Years Old 2007 The GreatDrams Single Cask Series (46.2%, GreatDrams, Bourbon HH #300609, 273 Bottles, 2019)

• ABV: 46.2%
• Age: 11 Years Old
• Bottling: Great Drams, Single Cask Series
• Category: Single grain scotch whisky
• Cost: £55
• Origin: Girvan Distillery
• Vintage: 2007

What they say

Distillery: Girvan
Region: Lowlands
Age: 11 Years Old
Distilled: 27th June 2007
Bottled: 27th February 2019
Cask type: Ex-Bourbon Hogshead
ABV: 46.2%
Limited: 273 bottles globally
Non-chill filtered
Natural colour

Girvan is one of the industrial chic distilleries of the Scotch whisky industry and was constructed in 1963 with the first spirit running from the stills on Christmas Day.

The stills at Girvan were designed by a farmer who worked for the distillery part time purely because he had a fascination and love for technical drawings and calculations.

Single casks are the rarest releases in the whisky industry as they cannot be repeated, they are not blended & are the truest representation of a distillery’s character you can get.

This Single Cask Single Grain Scotch Whisky was distilled at the Girvan Distillery in the Lowlands of Scotland, a distillery that is rarely seen bottled as a whisky in its own right. With sweet, creamy notes of caramel, burnt sugar, hints of fresh fruit and fresh vanilla pods, this single cask Scotch whisky is super-smooth.

What I say

So my good fried Greg Dillon, blogger over at GreatDrams.com has recently started his own range of whisky bottlings. Previoiusly Greg had bottled this Ardmore expression with Douglas Laing & Co. in celebration of his book launch. These new bottlings are under his own label and part of their Single Cask Series. This is the third bottling from that series, distilled at Girvan grain distillery in 2007 and matured for 11 years in an ex Bourbon hogshead before bottling in 2019. Presented at 46.2% ABV – standard for this series.

Thanks to Greg at GreatDrams.com for providing a sample of this product.

My tasting notes:

• Appearance: Clear refractive gold (3/20), large, oily tears leave thick legs.
• Nose: Vanilla, rich custard, pastries, cloying and thick vanilla cream, underlying icing sugar, sweet and sharp, slightly green / kiwi fruits.
• Taste: Light-medium bodied, sweet golden syrup and honey, a sharpness of mixed citrus notes including pink grapefruit, vanilla, creme patisseries moves into a more sweet and chalky character with hints of white pepper and cinnamon spice.
• Finish: Medium, vaporous and sweet.

Overall

Very drinkable, lovely and vanillic on the nose suggesting fresh ex-bourbon cask. A little ethereal in places but with a lovely spirit character and somewhat of a sherbet or citric fizz about this one.

Score 80/100

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