{"product_id":"glen-garioch-21-year-old-2003-smws-1st-fill-bourbon-hogshead-19-103-delight-in-the-uncanny-highland-single-malt-scotch-whisky-2025-70cl","title":"Glen Garioch 21 Year Old 2003 SMWS 1st Fill Bourbon Hogshead 19.103 Delight In The Uncanny Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2025) 70cl","description":"\u003ch2\u003eGlen Garioch 21 Year Old 2003 SMWS 1st Fill Bourbon Hogshead 19.103 Delight In The Uncanny Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2025) 70cl\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 of 241 bottles produced from a single 1st fill bourbon hogshead\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGlen Garioch was purchased by Suntory who also own Bowmore, Laphroaig and Auchentoshan and several changes were made. Glen Garioch sits in its underrated years and underrepresentation through the times we find ourselves in, in 2025. Their standard core ranges are at 48% ABV whilst many trail at 40 or 46 standardisation is the current so they are in essence, ahead of the curve. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTASTING NOTES\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productView bottle js_itemPageProfile flavour-default\" data-categories='[\"No Menu Link\/Bottle Archive\"]'\u003e\n\u003carticle class=\"productView-description\" id=\"productView-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productView-descriptionWrap\"\u003eThe nose took us simultaneously to a farm shop café and to the orangery, where we found warm rubber boots, a shaved fennel salad topped with rapeseed oil, coffee grounds and cola. The palate was oozing with strawberry, melon, passion fruit and blackberry pie, and offered a touch of mace to a steaming bowl of custard sprinkled with sugared almonds. Water amplified the custard, added a raspberry slushie and gave coconut on the nose. The palate was now just like the nose, uncanny, but with a spoon of orange marmalade, coconut taffy and ginger. A vocal Panel thoroughly enjoyed this dram.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productView-descriptionWrap\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"productView-descriptionWrap\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout Glen Garioch\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"productView-descriptionWrap\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"banner wrapper\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"banner-container\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"banner-content\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"banner-content-inner\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"introduction\"\u003eThis is an old distillery which for many years was self-sufficient in malt. In fact, the maltings, sadly now disused, dwarf the production facility. That malted barley would have been dried with peat from Pitsligo, giving Glen Garioch its distinctive reek.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"pagenav js-fixed\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough the layout inside Glen Garioch is typical of a centuries-old site, with small rooms being added on and converted into use as production increased, it contains relatively modern kit. The mash tun, squeezed inside a tiny chamber, has a lauter system; the washbacks, in another tight room nearby, are stainless steel. The stillhouse with a panoramic window facing the road has three stills, but only one pair is used.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFerments are short, giving a deep cereal and spice note to the new spirit which also has a distinctive waxy, tallow-like, character. When mature, the heaviness changes into a thick, fat texture, allowing honeyed fruits and heather to emerge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been unpeated since the 1990s, but in recent years, small batches of smoky barley have once again been run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough the date of Glen Garioch is officially given as being 1797, there are claims (still to be substantiated) of it producing legally at an even earlier date, a claim which if proved true would make this Oldmeldrum plant the oldest distillery in Scotland. It would make sense that there was whisky being distilled in The Garioch – a fertile part of Aberdeenshire long given over to arable farming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhatever the date of its formation, Glen Garioch survived when other eastern distilleries foundered. This was initially thanks to its ownership by blenders J.F. Thompson of Leith in 1884. William Sanderson of Vat 69 (at that point one of the top-selling blends in the world) became a partner in 1886 and took full control in 1908.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSanderson owned it outright until 1935 when it joined with Booth’s [Royal Brackla, Millburn, Stromness] and then two years later, following a merger, into DCL. It continued in production until 1968 when it and Brora were considered as the sites which could produce heavily-peated whisky for DCL’s blending requirements. Glen Garioch had always struggled for water and it was felt that this would impact on an increase in production. DCL’s response to this was to close Glen Garioch, and re-open Brora.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo years later, the Glasgow broker Stanley P Morrison [Bowmore, Auchentoshan] bought it. The firm brought in a local water diviner who found a new source and production not only restarted, but increased.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMorrison’s brought in the same design of heat recovery system it had installed at Bowmore. In that distillery waster heat warmed the water of the town’s swimming pool. At Glen Garioch, it heated two acres of greenhouses where tomatoes were grown.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHeavily peated malt was produced until 1995 when the distillery closed once more. Thankfully it opened again two years later, though by now the peat had gone (as had the distillery’s own maltings) as a different style was being made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday it is a member of the Beam Suntory stable, with all of its production going to single malt. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/article\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e56.4% ABV\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e70cl\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Glen Garioch","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55409060708677,"sku":"GLGAR21SMWS19.103","price":225.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0941\/9495\/8661\/files\/GlenGarioch21YearOld2003SMWS1stFillBourbonHogshead19.103DelightInTheUncannyHighlandSingleMaltScotchWhisky_2025_70cl.jpg?v=1755468946","url":"https:\/\/b1yyjg-bk.myshopify.com\/products\/glen-garioch-21-year-old-2003-smws-1st-fill-bourbon-hogshead-19-103-delight-in-the-uncanny-highland-single-malt-scotch-whisky-2025-70cl","provider":"Whisky Situation Old","version":"1.0","type":"link"}