Girvan 25 Year Old – Old Particular – 51.1% abv

Info: Distilled by Girvan grain distillery in December 1989 and filled into cask 10805. Bottled by Old Particular (Douglas Laing) in June 2015.
Colour: Ripening straw.
Nose: Nice, light and sprightly… fairly spirity with a great grain nose, slightly closed, but opens up with time and a bit of warmth. Lovely old, subtle nut tones from the cask. Sweet vanilla and milk chocolatey hints.
Palate: The higher abv is fairly easy going on your palate – very slightly hot maybe, but the age helps to make it rounded and creamy. It’s medium thick feeling, and fairly sweet.
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The Girvan Patent Still
New Make, No. 4, 25yo & 30yo

A few months back I was invited up to go and visit Girvan distillery to have a look around. Sadly I couldn’t make it, so as a backup option I was sent a set of the distillery’s core range to take a look at. I’ve tried the 25yo old before, and really enjoyed it – review here – but to try the rest of the range was a bit of a treat to see how it compares. Let’s take a look…

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The Girvan Patent Still – 25yo – 42% abv

Colour: Light and clear gold to straw in colour – natural colouring and nice to see! – Doesn’t the bottle look sexy too eh?

Nose: Light and refreshing, gentle grains encased in perfect amounts of sweet vanilla oak. Well aged but it doesn’t smell old, it’s just had time to breath, relax and let off some alcohol steam.

Palate: Fairly thick feeling oils in your mouth, but they’re easy going on you. Just enough ABV and cask influence to give you a touch of spices and bite, but the over riding thing is a perfect velvety sweetness with a background of grains and oak, vanilla and toffee apples.

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