16/03/2021 Glendullan

Here is a name that does not get much love. I have to admit never being wowed by a 'dullan, thus far. Hope that changes, one day.

Glendullan 16yo b.1998 The Centenary Bottling (65.9%, OB for the distillery's centenary, b#000210): nose: some rather assertive power, unsurprisingly (have you seen the ABV?), and an immense, arid dryness. Muddy fields turned into a sorry, dusty crust, hay bales, left outside for a month with no rain, porridge dust, gruel. A few minutes in, toasted aromas develop -- roasted coffee beans, burnt toast, liquorice bark, but also rum banana and bone-dry, dusty red wine, if such a thing exists. It comes back to dryness, with a dirt track in a heatwave, and faded beef jerky, close to turning into crumbly parchment. Belatedly, a fine oak dust brings some relative gentleness to this brute of a nose, giving it a scent that flirts with vanilla. The second nose sees dry lichen on limestone -- you can almost hear it crackle, so dry it is!. Lastly, hot metal (picture the heating plate of a coffee machine) and a sack of pot-pourri so old it hardly smells of flowers. With water, the toasted profile is increased, with ground coffee, this time, black cumin seeds and charred orange rind. Mouth: wish me luck... It is enormous, of course, yet not as much of an assault on the taste buds as one might expect, actually. Pronounced ginger heat, green chilli, yet also a growing shade of fruit to calm things down, somewhat: candied-apricot cubes. The palate becomes dusty, after some time on the tongue, as if guzzling dried orange slices turning to dust, yet keeping a vague, sweet fruitiness. Repeated sipping turns that fruit into pineapple, although it (the pineapple) is so hot it is hard to discern. Water makes the palate much more approachable, juicier and fruitier (apricot jelly and orange marmalade), though still with a kick -- horseradish comes to mind, now. Yes, water makes this seriously good. Finish: seemingly mild and pleasant, much to my surprise, it is still pretty robust, and it develops a persistent sawdust coating, in the long run. Once again, it is extremely dry, here, even drying. The fruit has turned into ground apricot stone and citrus slices so dry they crumble to a dust powder with a mere breath. I also have to note that, although it does seem mild on the way down, it makes the temples beat the drums in no time at all; a good reminder that this is powerful indeed and should be taken with caution. Water seems to make it greener, strangely, displaying tough kale morphing into undercooked French beans, spearmint, and also rubber, in an old-bicycle-tube way. This requires a lot of time and patience to reveal itself, as the aromas and flavours slowly crawl out from under the high alcohol, and even then, its personality is maybe subdued. One can see why it is favoured by blenders, however: even at this insane strength, it contributes without shouting. A dram that is a little simple, maybe, but interesting nonetheless, on account of its strength, if nothing else. 7/10