Adelphi Glen Garioch 21 Year Old

It’s all happening in the East.

Glen Garioch is further East than any other distillery in Scotland and continues to produce Malt right next to one of the finest areas in the world for growing barley. Historians may argue this one but there’s every chance it was also Scotland’s first licensed distillery. Maybe not a coincidence given the incredible location. Since 1797 they have controlled their production to ensure that only the highest quality Scotch escapes their East coast home. Even today with a capacity to create a million liters of spirit every year they still spend a lot of their time producing less. With a turbulent past like many distilleries there were times when this lower production was a result of demand rather than choice but today the decision is purely to keep up with the quality standards.

A focus on limited production ensures that the core range of Glen Garioch remains relatively small and new batch releases rarely see the light of day. Occasionally however certain individual casks are too good to blend and are privately bottled for the special few. And you’ve guessed it, this is one of them. Age may not always be a sign of quality but sometimes you just have to sit back and respect the level of rich complexity that can be found in one sip of a Scotch that has matured for this length of time. If they are setting their standards this high for special releases then it is no wonder we rarely get to see them.