Glen Keith 24 1992 Signatory Cask Strength

Being a whisky fan comes down to learning and understanding one thing.

You’re going to find distilleries you enjoy. Due to the nature of capitalism, they are going to go out of fashion. They will water down their whisky, make too little, be in high demand and go up in price, or fire the main person behind their whisky. Or they pass away.

We’ve seen it countless times, and I’m not going to list out the distilleries that it’s currently happening to. That’s unprofessional, and if nothing, I draw the line at rude, vile comments and not unprofessional.

That’s not to say that there can be good releases from a distillery “on the decline”. Or that we will agree on what a “decline” is.

The positive side to this is there’s distilleries going up. Now to find them. And of course, we won’t agree on them. And we don’t know how long they’ll grow. Heck, if some guy/gal/goat writes about them too much, maybe they’ll be ruined.

Which brings me to Glen Keith 24 1992 Signatory Cask Strength. I don’t know if Glen Keith is on the rise or not. Nor do I know how easily it will be to get some. What I can say is another whisky nerd mentioned it, so I split a bottle with other whisky nerds.

Is this automatically a good one? Is anything consistent in the world? Should I be sharing what little knowledge I have with the world? Where are my pants? All questions we’ve been asked in the mall food court, all without answers.

So let’s see how this tastes, shall we?

Price: Not available at the LCBO

Region: Speyside

Distilled: 01 Oct 1992

Bottled: 03 Oct 2016

Total bottles: 289 bottles

Cask Numbers: 120579 & 120580

Cask Type: Two Ex-bourbon barrels

Abv: 50.1%

Colour: 2.5Y 8/8

Nose: Pineapple, vanilla milkshake, ginger ale, banana, leather

Nice tropical and creamy notes on the nose. Some spice, and eventually, given some time/water, leather, which is quite nice. Rounds the whole thing out.

Can be a little tart at first, so if that’s not a thing for you, give it some time to mellow a tad. Big flavours on the nose.

Taste: Green banana, cinnamon hearts, ginger syrup, coconut pie

Again, a little tart at first, and can be quite hot. This needs time to calm down. Then it gives you that good mouthfeel and great tropical flavours again.

You know, like me when I get all anxious. Wait, I don’t think my mouthfeel is all that great.

This almost comes off as a whisky cocktail versus a single malt.

Finish: Lime cordial, gingerbread, artichoke, caramel, dry pear, rubber

The finish is where this shines. This is where it goes all over the place, with big heather/rubber notes, more tropical, and more spicy aspects rounding it all out. If the taste and nose need time, the finish is what keeps you connected to the dram, filling in the interim.

Conclusion: Is Glen Keith the new hotness? Who knows. I can tell you I enjoyed this dram a lot, and it hit some really great notes. It wasn’t going to blow my mind, however it’s all done with ex-bourbon casks to make a tropical, fruity, and leather/rubber based dram. Which sounds like I’m into clowns and S&M (my safe word is Howdy Doody time), however after this dram, you may be as well.

All in all, a great dram to pick up (in my opinion) and one I enjoyed quite a bit. I’ll be looking into more cask strength Glen Keiths, and hope they are as good as this one.

84/100

Scotch review #838, Speyside review #239, Whisky Network review #1349