22/12/2025 Glenburgie

Glenburgie 16yo 1997/2014 (57.2%, Hunter Laing The Sovereign, Sherry Cask, C#HL10522, 300b): nose: fruity and gamy, it conjures up images of lingonberry compote, or cranberry sauce, served with venison. Not sure to which extent the deer on the label suggest that image, but there we are. Steamed red cabbage gives a vegetative acidity, and there is a drop of red wine amongst all that. None of those is particularly pronounced, by the way; it is a relaxed nose, altogether. The second nose has a biscuit-y-cereal-y profile, with Horlicks, digestive biscuits, gravy granules. Then, we find stagnant water in a well whose level is much lower than average, possibly a drop of red ink, and pickled pearl onions, after a while. Perhaps strawberries in liqueur, coated in chocolate, and the skin of a skinned rabbit, with flesh tatters and all. Mouth: sweet and sour on the tongue, it is definitely steamed red cabbage and lingonberry compote over button mushrooms in a red-wine sauce. Chewing pushes the loudness to unexpected levels. It stirs up cured meat, game salted beyond recognition (is it pigeon?) and leather, black with a thick coat of patina. The second sip brings about liqueur-soaked strawberries with the tiniest amount of chocolate on top. It is a trifle too much for tOMoH, yet that is a but a matter of taste: it is not exactly overwhelming either. Further sips have a whisper of marzipan, soon overtaken by an earthy-winy current. Finish: more gamy meat, pastrami-ed boar, cured sausages, cured poultry or wild fowl, and a generous pour of heavy red wine. It is a long and warming finish, certainly adequate for the season, but not exactly subtle. The second gulp feels fleetingly sweeter, then turns salty (not just savoury: salty). Cured pheasant, roasted pigeon in a wine sauce, salt-crusted chicken, berries in a bath of caramelised liqueur and Grande Fine. Lots of breathing time does this a lot of good. It retains a pleasant sweetness, which helps berries (raspberries, strawberries) contain the salty, winy cured meat a little more convincingly. This is decent, but not my thing. 6/10 (Thanks, OB)