Glenburgie 10 Gordon & MacPhail [MYSTERY]

Thanks to /u/bradbobaggins for this mystery dram.

Mysteries, in and of themselves, are a good way to get your feet back on the ground. Add to that they are fun, and you have a good time where the chances of guessing what you’re drinking are typically reserved for some of the best and brightest amongst us, of which I’m still working on.

Then there are mysteries that differ from the main profile. And those are sent to really make you feel human once more.

Guess where Glenburgie 10 Gordon & MacPhail falls? This is a whisky released as part of Gordon & MacPhail’s distillery label releases. Some of these are released at 40, and some at 43%. I’m writing about the higher ABV one today.

But what makes it different? Let’s see, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Speyside

Cask Type: Refill Sherry Cask

Abv: 43%

Colour: 5YR 5/10

Nose: Peach, anise, pastry, tropical punch, candied lemon peel

Nice stone fruit development… Pretty strong, given the abv. Nice tropical flavours, just on the cusp of being complex. Love the pastry, anise, tropical fruit, and even some candied lemon peel.

No funk though. Very clean.

Taste: Nectarine, cinnamon, butter, rosemary, lemon

More strong fruit, butter, lemon and spice. A bit lighter now. The ABV starts coming out. Or rather it’s not as strong as the nose was.

At this point, it has some nice flavour to it, but I’m guessing it’s young.

Finish: Oak, lime, butter, nutmeg, char, brown sugar

Very oak forward, especially given the age. Still really clean, with just some char being “rough” here.

Conclusion: So what we have here is a really, really clean Glenburgie that ended up balanced in an Ex-sherry cask. Overall it does the whole holiday spices/sherry influence really nice, with a nose that punches above it’s age and abv. weight.

That said I really do like my Glenburgies to be dirty, sulphur, and rough. This seems to have lost it. If I was a betting man, I’d more so say the lower abv. made it clean. Something to test out as I have more of these moving forward.

78/100

Guess: Edradour, ex-rum cask, maybe under 10 years old?

Actually: Glenburgie 10 Gordon & MacPhail

Scotch review #1049, Speyside review #287, Whisky Network review #1635