I haven't had the best experiences with Glen Keith so far, I can't actually remember ever having a real good one. But the foursome of which I am about to try now should hopefully help that matter. Btw. I think it's easy to become biased and blended by the feel of exclusivity when tasting rarities, so I'll enjoy this one when there still are many reasonably priced Glen Keiths left on the market.
Glen Keith 40yo 1970-2010 45.1% The Whisky Agency
From an ex-bourbon hogshead, hopefully forty years will be enough to remedy the usually quite bitter and perfumy malt. But as I was mentioning becoming biased by positive associations its equally important not to pre-judge malt from a distillery based on former experiences, as every whisky tells a story of its own, doesn't it? And what story won't a 40 year old whisky be able to tell? Pretty light in color, smells very restrained, gonna need some time to develop, I'll let it sit.. After doing laundry, taking a shower and changing to a more festive outfit, it finally starts developing, lets say 20-30 minutes. And now there's this rich custard and moscatel reduction that is perfect for a hot summers day. The taste is peppery, a bit perfumy, and these beautiful sour and spicy notes, kind of like laurel broth (which I have never tasted, but the laurel adds this flavor to my irish stew.) Amazing, not as complex as I could've hoped for, but still a fantastic whisky altogether. A bit heavy on the aftertaste, the pepper notes gets the best of it now, maybe water will help. No. A bit of a letdown at the end, but the palate is sour and rich, and way more to my liking than other versions of Glen Keith that I've tried.
The wood has done an excellent job on this one: 8
Glen Keith 21yo 1973-1994 50.9% James MacArthur's
Going down a couple of decades in maturation, an older bottling, will the alleged effect of maturing in a bottle for almost twenty years have an impact, as of then, this shouldn't be very far from the 40 year old, but again, lets not get biased before I try this one. Also this one with a light color, sort of like apple cider. White wine perhaps. It smells instantly much more than the one from TWA. Perfumy, burnt sugar, burnt oil, sort of like a dessert meltdown. Some dark chocolate as well, and, oh yeah, there's definitively some dried apricot going on. The taste is peppery, honey, nylon, oaky, green tea, brick dust, much more dry than the TWA. It doesn't blow me away on the palate, but that doesn't mean its bad, not at all. It's just more rustic and a bit more subtle. The aftertaste is again too peppery, and water doesn't help here either.
An old style whisky, very pleasant: 6.5
Glen Keith 22yo 1978-2000 51.2% James MacArthur's
Another one from J.M. About the same age, bottled 6 years later, maybe they found an age profile that fits Glen Keiths malt spirit, without the time in cask making it an overpriced luxury product. But since its scotch, I guess it already is. Again this light, almost greenish yellow pale color. This time it smells much lighter than the 21yo, almost a bit oily, no not oily, more like, you know the damp that comes off when cooking fish stock. Like, it doesn't smell much but you know its gonna taste good, well I certainly hope so. After some time it gets spicier, but not as perfumy as its predecessors in this tasting. Much lighter, a certain highland style, I remember a couple of Fettercairns that reminded me of this one on the nose. The taste is much more like the TWA. These fantastic sour notes, sour leaves is the best I can describe it with, fantastic! It has a striking resemblence to the 40yo from TWA, not as smooth, and just a tad wilder. If you like your malt loud and clear, this is the one for you. Some pepperiness in the aftertaste, which again is the letdown for this malt.
I have to say this is sort of an intervention for a Glen Keith skeptic: 7
Craigduff 32yo 1975-2007 53.9% Signatory Vintage
An alternative version made at Glen Keith distillery. A peated Glen Keith, I think Glen Keith might have been the first distillery to make a peated version with a different name, which we are now seeing elsewhere, such as the Old Ballantruan of Tomintoul Distillery. It's gonna be fun to try this one. Golden color, Smells much sweeter than the previously tasted ones. Not that much of a peat influence, but it gets bigger and bigger as it sits. Air brings out quite some peat character in this one, and for that, there aren't much else to trace by using the nose. The taste then, it's peaty, perfumy and spirity, the bad things that I often find in Glen Keith, plus the peat. Peat doesn't make it a good whisky on its own, well documented by the 12yo Bowmore, and so is the case here. I don't think it even helps the case. How can this whisky be so raw and spirity after 32 years on wood? Well, I can perfectly understand why they decided not to move forward with this experimental speysider.
I'm sad to end a surprisingly good vertical on this note: 3
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