For all you whisky fans out there, we have a real treat courtesy of the Whisky Emporium (http://www.whisky-emporium.com/) and more specifically their founder and curator Keith Wood. Only a few weeks ago, Keith neared the milestone of his 500^th online tasting note, and to celebrate this milestone he ran a competition through twitter and the website http://www.whiskywhiskywhisky.com/ and somehow I ended up being one of the five winners!

This was a proper competition, with a prize and everything, and trust me it’s a pretty rare prize so I was very happy, and just a couple of days ago it arrived. So I know you’re all dying to find out what it was, so it was a sample of Glen Flagler Pure Malt. Now a lot people may not have heard of the infamous Glen Flagler distillery, and you’d be excused, as it has a pretty short history.

It all came about in 1964/65 when Inver House (a subsidiary of an American company) decided to open new Whisky distilleries in Scotland, as the market was doing well. They converted the old Moffat paper mill into a distillery, and also built a larger complex including another distillery, a cooperage, and bottling plant, etc. Here there were 3 main whiskies distilled, Killyloch malt whisky, Garnheath grain whisky, and finally Glen Flagler malt whisky.

However only 10 years later, Scotch went through some tough times and Inver House made the decision to cease production at the Killyloch distillery. However it wasn’t much longer until Glen Flagler and Garnheath were shut in 1985 and 1986 respectively. Up until then, these whiskies were used to support their blended whisky campaign, however there are a few bottles of Glen Flagler Single Malt and Killyloch Single Malt from an officially bottling of remaining casks in 2003.

 The only other example we have around, but it is still pretty rare is a Glen Flagler Pure Malt released during the 1980’s, and that is what I have in front of me today. The Pure malt is essentially a vatted malt, or what would now be known as a blended malt whisky, i.e. a blend of single malt whiskies, but no grain whisky-confusing hey?! But now we have put a little bit of history and context behind the dram, we all know what is next…

The first thing I notice is its colour, a lovely light golden straw tinge, not too dark at all. It has a light fresh nose, with earthy tones supporting slight pepper notes. Strangely enough it reminded me slightly of an aged tequila with its organic/earthy textures. On the plate it is smooth and soft to start with citrus and pepper coming to the forefront with touches of liquorice. It has a surprisingly long finish, with the liquorice lingering, but also leaving a mint like zing in the mouth.

I think it lacks a real power punch, but that’s fine, it’s still more than drinkable and all in all not a bad whisky to be honest. It may not be the most complex whisky out there, but the suprise it gives with its long finish with subtle flavours is still welcomed.

I have to thank Keith for this again, obviously without this competition and his generosity, I (and the other guys) would not have  had the chance to try such a rare whisky. Congratulations on your milestone, and I do hope that I will be around to help you celebrate your 1000^th dram!

Slàinte Mhath!