GLENDULLAN 1998 - GORDON & MACPHAIL FOR MCBAINS OF DUFFTOWN

Glendullan Distillery (under renovation) May 1st 2010 © The Malt Desk

Glendullan was also on the tour during the '7 stills of Dufftown' event at the Spirit of Speyside Festival... actually it's on every year, but 2010 was the last year Diageo let anyone take pictures inside - I also had a short rant about this in the 1 month old Mortlach review.

Glendullan is another of those workhorse distilleries that's a part of the Diageo portfolio and is rarely bottled as a single malt except by the independent bottlers - and not often from them either, I might add...

Now, I've only reviewed 1 Glendullan before here on The Malt Desk and that was a very nice official bottling in the Rare Malt series... but other than that Glendullan is generally only blend fodder - and much like Glen Ord it was for a short while associated with 'The Singleton'...

Still some of it gets bottled as a single malt, like the one I'm about to review... Its a bottling done for the McBains off-license shop in Dufftown who in 2010 had a very nice bourbon cask Mortlach bottled for them...

Glendullan 1998/2011 54,7% cask#18567, Gordon & MacPhail Reserve for McBains of Dufftown

Colour is straw

Nose:
Metal shavings, a bit of farmyard, grapefruits, hint of plastic boxes, very acidic and with hints of fabric softener

Taste:
Custard and licorice, a bit hot but water takes some of that away, but it still relies on that citrussy note to carry it through. The finish has a bit of a hoppy style note to it - some bitterness, but what surprises me most is that it has a bit of peat on the finish!! Go figure!...

Drinkable - especially with water but it won't win any awards, IMHO.

Thanks again to my very good friend for the sample....   79/100!

GLENDULLAN 1978 - RARE MALT SERIES

Glendullan is one of those Diageo workhorses you don't really hear about.
Its often been made fun of, because of its name as its whisky has a reputation of being
(Glen)DULL(an).

They have been producing (along with Glen Ord) The Singleton for the American market some time and have recently been renovated, though production seem to have been slowed for some reason in the spring this year when I passed the distillery.

Other than that, it really beautifully located along the Dullan water before eventually reaching the Spey river down by the village of Craigellachie.

But is this whisky really dull? Had this edition on an earlier without taking notes, but lets be more serious this time, shall we?

Glendullan 1978 26yo, 56,6% bott. xx.04.2005,  Rare Malt Series

Full straw in colour

Nose:
Heavy, hints of a flowery note, fruit - grilled banana and a some herbal notes. With time it gets more of a mashy note to it. Pretty hard to pick stuff out here, I think

Taste:
Spicy oak, fruits - pineapple even? some nutmeg and honey melon and a little licorice, mint and a coating of natural caramel. Also thinking a part of this bottling comes from sherry casks as I get a particular sweetness here that I normally only get from that type of casks.

This one in particular is surely not dull - actually very good whisky indeed!

87/100!