This 8 year old Glen Garioch has been filled into ex-bourbon wood, then put to the Ex-Rasta Morris Bielle 2011 Rum Cask on 16-08-2019 and bottled on 29-11-2019

Tasting notes by Serge Valentin: 87 points

I’ve heard the letters ‘AM’ in the cask references were not related to Aston Martin, rather to Asta Morris. Makes sense, doesn’t it. I’ve also heard that this baby was finished for three months in a Bielle cask. Nothing to do with cars either, that’s the famous rum distillery in Guadeloupe/Marie Galante.

Colour: white wine.

Nose: I’m really glad we had the Golden Barley just before, since that allows us to find out about the impact of Bielle’s pretty massive rum. In this case, that’s all about tar, oranges, liquorice, rubber boots, then floral notes, ylang-ylang, orange blossom, rosewater, various bonbons, prickly pears… It’s a bit of a rumsky so far, but that works. With water: indeed. Rum baba.

Mouth (neat): some rumsky indeed, but then again and again, that works very well. Oranges, barley syrup, olives, brine, perhaps even sugarcane with a bit of imagination, and first and foremost, liquorice! With water: very good, swims well. Mind you, it virtually crossed the Atlantic.

Finish: perhaps not the best part once water’s been added. Aren’t finishings always more unstable and fragile when you reduce them?

Comments: I think Bielle tends to dominate here, even if it makes for, what, 5% of the content? I also think that’s great news, since I just love Bielle. To hell with pure concepts and single terroirs! (for a short while, ha-ha…)