
March 29, 2023

Six lovely Glen Ord from The Black Isle

In my opinion some Glen Ords have been some of the greatest malt whiskies ever bottled. Think original Samarolis and think the official 28/30s in their charming silkscreened square bottles. Let's do this at random and start with a bottling for France (a country currently still doing romantic strikes and demonstrations for tourists, since 1968!) …

The famous old desk of the Excise Officer
at Ord Distillery (WF Archive)

Glen Ord 12 yo 2010/2022 (53.2%, Thompson Bros., for Le Gus't France, refill hogshead, 120 bottles)

Colour: light gold. Nose: deep paraffin, broken branches, fresh mushrooms, beeswax and sawn beechwood, plus green bananas. Awesome barley-y oiliness. With water: oh nougat, sweet maize soup, barley syrup, church candles, melon skins… Mouth (neat): terrific sweet-not-dull maltiness. More raw green bananas, sweet carrots, liquorice wood, melons… With water: what a fab waxy texture. There's also a small aromatic wineyness, around viognier perhaps… Finish: medium, subtle, nuttier. Hazelnut liqueur and nocciolo cordial. Comments: I'm not even sure Glen Ord's malt is malted at Glen Ord Maltings. Should be, but remember the older ones were malted in the now-closed Saladin box operation. Glorious whiskies and if I remember well, Brora's malt was done there too. Top-notch young Ord, this starts well.
SGP:551 - 87 points.

Ord 11 yo 2010/2021 (53.9%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, Cognac cask finish, 252 bottles)

Two years in an ex-cognac hogshead. A cognac hogshead? Never seen any hoggie in the Cognac region, I'm afraid. Colour: white wine. Nose: small berries, overripe peaches, barley syrup, gooseberries, a little sage, then cappuccino. With water: peaches and mirabelles. Mouth (neat): I'm not too sure this blending was necessary; the cognac's peaches and sultanas would tend to steal all the light. With water: more mirabelles, peaches, a few sultanas. Finish: medium, a little more herbal. Comments: very good but I prefer Ord al natural, with its perfect, waxy, deeper maltiness. Ord + Cognac = a very unnecessary combination, if you ask me, but yeah, it's very good. Just superfluous (unless this Ord was a wreck prior to finishing, which I doubt).
SGP:641 - 80 points.

Glen Ord 9 yo 2012/2022 (43%, LMDW, Artist Collective, first fill bourbon barrels, 1,920 bottles)

Some natural Ord at an easy strength and with a wonderful MoMA-level label, what could go wrong? Colour: white wine. Nose: fully distillate-driven. White cherries, sauvignon blanc, green gooseberries, lemon blossom honey and granny smith. No quibblings. Mouth: exactly. Oozes of fresh and lemony smartness, with a little lime blossom and honeysuckle, mirabelles, bergamots, fresh figs and chamomile tea. Finish: there, a little beeswax. Then assorted preserved plums and a touch of green banana. Comments: as I said, 'exactly'. The mirabelles were the queens of the show.
SGP:651 - 85 points.

Glen Ord 10 yo 2009/2020 (53.3%, Hidden Spirit, refill sherry, cask #GO0920, 270 bottles)

Colour: light gold. Nose: branches and beeswax, peaches, toasted brioche, scones, nougat, white chocolate, a little wood smoke, panettone… With water: sameish., perhaps a little grassier. Mouth (neat): good, fresh, cakey, with buttered pears and plums, some fudge, apple compote, mead… With water: fruit skin and peel, banana skin, a drop of chartreuse… Finish: medium, rather peely. Nectarines. Grittier, greener aftertaste. Comments: do not add too much water, it's not the greatest swimmer on earth.
SGP:561 - 84 points.

The Singleton of Glen Ord 15 yo (54.2%, OB, Special Releases 2022)

The Singleton of Glen Ord 15 yo 'The Enchantress of the Ruby Solstice' (54.2%, OB, Special Releases 2022, Elusive Expressions)

Lovely bottle with some kind of mermaid, would go well for suntan lotion too. No, really. I hope the wood treatment remained kind of moderate, because I think I have noticed that they've been cranking them up with last year's SRs. For example, this is ex-bourbon (good) and wine (bad) casks. Wine casks, wazzat? What is 'a wine cask'? Could we remain focused on the whiskies? Colour: gold. Nose: cask-driven. Vanilla, cakes, Nutella, macchiato. Starbucks whisky. With water: more Nutella. I just hope no orang-outangs have been harmed along the process. Mouth (neat): good for sure but indeed, there is a lot of Nescafé and Nutella. With water: roasted hazelnut and more Nescafé. Finish: medium, very dry, pretty oaky. Comments: I can't quite see how and why this would be 'Rare and Exceptional', but indeed it is rather 'Fair and Okay'. Now I've heard they'll soon launch new expressions of Ord that will be much closer to the Distillery's brilliant own character, in the vein of the magical official 28 and 30 of old. Unless I've been dreaming once more… … …
SGP:551 - 82 points.

Last one please, let's choose a potential winner…

Glen Ord 1996/2011 (53.3%, Malts of Scotland, bourbon hogshead, cask #2171, 310 bottles)

So many great whiskies within this range! Their 1999s were excellent, but this is an earlier bottling that's been sleeping in WF's rooms for years and years. After twelve years of waiting, time to crack it open, don't you think? Colour: some of the whitest white wine. Nose: not a lot happening to be honest, perhaps some white chocolate, surely stearin, fresh hazelnuts, butter cream, popcorn… Let's dig deeper. With water: yeah engine oil and hurray sesame and pistachio oils. It is to be remembered that textures are extremely important, on the nose too. Mouth (neat): excellent, pure raw Glen Ord, punchy, a tad burning, full of polishes and cereals, very waxy, with oils (sesame, sunflower) and just beeswax, with a drop of limoncello. Amen and awafe. With water: don't drown it or you'll harm the lovely waxy structure. Oh well, just don't add any waters. Finish: long, very clean on oily grains. Comments: some very proper, cool, perfect, authentic Ord that's not been murdered with silly wines and woods. Cheerio Thomas!
SGP:462 - 87 points.

Check the index of all Glen Ord we've tasted so far