Tuesday is usually Twin Cities restaurant review day on the blog, but this week’s review—of a recent dinner at Petite Leon—will be posted not today, but tomorrow. It’s the end of the term and I’ve been too busy catching up with everything I need to get done to have time to resize the photographs from the meal. That review will be posted tomorrow, after I finish all my current grading today (and then a fresh wave of papers will come in over the weekend). In the meantime, you can go read my previous review of dinner at Petite Leon, or just read the second in this week’s reviews of bourbon casks bottled by Cadenhead.
Monday’s whisky was from Glenburgie. Today’s whisky is also from a Speyside distillery, and one that is even less vaunted than Glenburgie: Glentauchers. I really liked the last Glentauchers I reviewed, but that was almost twice the age of this one, and from a sherry cask. All the other Glentauchers I’ve reviewed have been from bourbon casks—and while none reached the heights of that 27 yo, none disappointed. And so I am hopeful that will at least be good. Let’s see.
Glentauchers 15, 1998 (55.4%; Cadenhead; hogshead; from a bottle split)
Nose: Lovely, mellow fruit: apple mostly, with pear and a bit of lemon. Sweeter on the second sniff, as the apples turn to juice. A slight grassy note too now along with some cereals; a bit of oak in the background. As it sits, plum emerges to join the apple and pear, and it picks up some malt as well. With a few drops of water there’s some vanilla and some cream, and the lemon expands.
Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose but with more lemon (waxy peel mostly). The lemon crests and then it turns sweeter as I swallow. Very approachable at full strength; oily texture. On the second sip the lemon is more pronounced and waxier. Sweeter and oakier with more time and air. Alright, let’s see what water does for it. It pushes the oak back and brings the white pepper from the finish out faster.
Finish: Long. The sweet notes subside and the lemon emerges again, picking up a bit of white pepper on the way out. The white pepper turns to slightly bitter oak with time. Water pushes the bitter notes back and emphasizes the pepper.
Comments: Pretty much what you want from a bourbon cask whisky of this kind of profile: fruit, malt, a bit of grass and just a bit of oak. Profoundly unsexy but very good—especially in the summer.
Rating: 87 points.