1997 Glen Garioch 15 Year Old "K&L Exclusive" Single Barrel Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml)

Let me bring you back to March of 2013; back when whisky kids could still be kids. David OG and I drove to Glen Garioch to meet Rachel Barrie. We picked out a delicious 15 year old cask from the Morrison-Bowmore stocks. We toasted to a successful journey, placed our order, and left with a smile. Then a funny thing happened in between the time our cask was bottled and the time our cask was due to be received: Suntory and Beam merged, Campari (who was acting as an importer to the U.S. for Suntory) was given the boot, and all hell broke loose. We never got our cask. We never knew what happened to it. After a few years went by, we kinda just forgot about it. Three years later the cask has been found and finally delivered to K&L, more importantly for the same price we were quoted back in 2013. The whisky explodes on the palate with sweet grains, rich vanilla, malted barley, and stonefruit. You get spiced apples and notes of butterscotch as well. They still couldn't get the peat out of the distillery even after halting peated whisky production in 1994 as there's just a smidge of smoke on the finish. Distillery-direct casks from Scotland have become almost extinct at this point, making this selection that much more special. It took three years to get it here, but it was worth the wait. (David Driscoll, K&L Spirits Buyer)