10/04/2026 Glen Mhor

Glen Mhor 1982/2009 (46%, Berry Bros. & Rudd Berrys' Own Selection, C#1231): nose: a whiff of sea air, brine-y, close to sea spray, albeit one from a warmer climate than the Moray Firth. Beneath that is a larder loaded with jars of marmalade, some of which are not tightly sealed. Sugary citrus, syrup and tin lids, then. This nose has a reassuring presence; maybe a basketful of logs by a wood stove in a room where marmalade is being made. It is rather grandmotherly -- if one accepts that one's grandmother may have lived not far from the sea. Yes: marmalade, wood, salty air and even gas, somehow. Oh! Nothing unpleasant; just a whisper of natural gas, as if there was also a gas stove on site. To follow all that, we detect warm metal. It is now dusty zinc gutters or galvanised-iron buckets, instead of tin. The second nose unearths dry blond tobacco and a little smoke coming out of it to supplement the inescapable marmalade, which happens to be spread on sponge cakes, now -- imagine PiM's without the chocolate coating. Mouth: it is definitely metallic on the tongue, and a little salty. Dusty disused boilers, ancient salt mills, salty marmalade in the tin lid of the jar it came out of. Chewing adds a strip of rubbery tyre still warm from the car race. This has a clear bitterness to it, though something dark and tarry, not leafy nor vegetal. Perhaps it has eucalyptus bark as well, and still that bold salt that now suggests salt water, not unlike drinking lukewarm sea water. The second sip manages to be both bitterer and sweeter. It should make no sense, yet it works perfectly. Lukewarm yuzu tea in which one dumped cigarette ashes. The light smoke comes from a boiler room, though, not from a cigarette. Finish: this demonstrates, as if we needed it, that 46% is a splendid strength. It allows the flavours to shine, while retaining some bite. We have tyres, salt, dusty metal, old spoons, a lick of black liquorice bootlace, creosote, tar and even mentholated-cigarette ash, after a long while. The whole is sprinkled with ground mace, which is original. The second gulp stirs up more marmalade (yuzu more than orange), blows ciggy smoke on it, and sprinkles it with ground mace and metal filings. That is experienced while sitting on a zinc gutter on the edge of the roof of a seaside bungalow. Superb old-schooler. 8/10