Another day, another dram. And today we’ve arrived at the 14th offering from this Advent Calendar. Tonight, we get to fill our glass with Sweeties in the Forest, a 12-year-old dram from Glenlossie. Aged in a second fill ex-bourbon barrel. Glenlossie as a single malt is mainly found in independent bottlings, which makes it interesting to get to know the distillery profile as there is no baseline (or core line-up) to compare it to. I wonder how it will play out in this particular dram.
Tasting Notes: Society Cask 46.126 “Sweeties in the Forest”
ABV: 55.4% (110.8 proof)
Age: 12 years old
Distillery: Glenlossie
Bottled by: The Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Category: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
SMWS Flavour Profile: Juicy, Oak & Vanilla
Chill-filtered: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Nose:
Immediately there’s sweet apples, like a golden rennet. There’s also some cinnamon and cookie dough as well though, making this nose another sweet treat. Just like yesterday. This lacks a bit complexity compared to yesterday’s dram though, as it’s hard for me to distinguish anything else beyond those initial notes. A couple of drops of water reveal a handful of powdered sugar sprinkled on top of the aforementioned apples. And the cookie dough turns into fresh baked cookies, with a layer of frosting on top.
Palate:
The initial touch on the palate is reminiscent of a dry white wine. Perhaps a Verdejo is what comes closest. There are some pencil shavings in there as well, and just a faint hint of liquorice root. It’s rather mellow for a cask strength dram, although you do notice some burn on the back of the palate. I’m also getting hints of pond water, and unfortunately yes I do know what that tastes like (as I spend many a summer fishing my football out of the local pond, and slipping in more often than I’d like). It’s a pleasant palate for sure, but also rather uninspiring. Like the nose, there’s just not all that much going on. The drops of water make the mouthfeel even thinner, but it does reveal an odd stale beer note that I don’t quite appreciate. It saves itself a bit revealing some aniseed as well though.
Finish:
The finish is rather short, even when I was enjoying it at cask strength. It’s not unpleasant though. There’s more apple puree and a slight tannin bitterness on the sides of the tongue. It all fades away to quickly for my liking though, leaving you with just the slightest spearmint that I don’t find particularly desirable. Perhaps it makes a good after dinner dram because of it though. Come to think of it, it does remind me a little bit of an after eight chocolate… Water does change the finish somewhat. It adds a little length to it, and replaces most of the previous flavours with a black tea note.
Verdict:
There’s nothing wrong with this dram of Sweeties in the Forest. It’s pleasant enough and I wouldn’t mind serving myself another dram of this someday. But given the choice it probably wouldn’t make it to the top of my list. Sometimes you just want something pleasant, and this will give you that. It doesn’t wow, or surprise you in any way. And as I stated before, that can sometimes be a good thing, but usually I expect a little more from my drams. This would not make it on my Christmas list.
Rating:
74/100
How did I know this was a Glenlossie? Just look at the code and find it in my SMWS bottle codes list!
