Glenburgie 15 Years Old 2008 Cask #8126 (BB&R)

This Glenburgie comes from Berry Bros and Rudd, the London house at No.3 St James's Street, merchants since 1698, a 15 year old, distilled in 2008, from cask 8126, at 58%, one of 199 bottles. Glenburgie is a Speyside single malt, a blending malt rarely seen on its own and largely the work of independents. Its water is drawn from a local spring near the distillery. It was expanded to six stills after the rebuild, one of the bigger distilleries in the group. Its make has long fed big blends like Old Smuggler down the decades. It was rebuilt in 1881 by Charles Chree Doig, the architect behind so many Speyside stillhouses.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a soft, fruity spirit with a waxy thread. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the fruit. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters of apple and a light tropical note over a waxy depth. A soft waxiness from the spirit carries a thread through the maturation.

At its natural 58% it is full and fruity. Pear, honey and a creamy oak, with a soft vanilla from the oak. Pear, grass and a creamy oak fill the middle. A fresh finish closes on apple and a soft oak. This is the fragrant blending malt of Alves.