2013 Glen Ord 8 Year Old "Hart Brothers Finest Collection" K&L Exclusive Cask Strength Single First Fill Sherry Butt Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Glen Ord isn't one we see too often and even less so in dark first fill sherry like this. Despite the relative youth of this whisky, it's absolutely packed full of character and offers one of the best values we've seen in some time. Ord is one of those Diageo properties that gets totally forgotten about since they don't bother to sell it as a single malt in this market. It's also part of the little crew of exemplary distilleries in the "Northern Highlands." That is to say the distillers north of Inverness in an area collectively known as the North Coast. The other names in this area are becoming quiet famous: Clynelish, Glenmorangie, Pulteney, Balblair, so it's a real pleasure to feature this exceptional cask and expand our understanding of this special region. Distilled on February 11th, 2013 and filled into a fresh sherry butt. The color is a vibrant old oak tawny. Rested for 10 minutes before nosing, we've got an immediate raisin-y sherry character, almost to the point that I might have guessed PX, although without the overt sweetness one might expect. Instead of saccharine sweetness on the nose baking spice, French roast, black tea, ginger snaps and a hint pumpernickel/caraway. The palate is rich and full of roasted malt, more coffee, sweet black cherry compote, bold clove and some tobacco leaf. It's absolutely delicious at cask strength and doesn't need the water, but adding creates tons of nuance on the nose instead of the more straight forward and powerful initial nose. Now we're getting all we had before plus some interesting mossy-ness, earthy freshly tilled soil, the tiniest hints of peat in the distance and gorgeous salted plum character. On the palate, the spice remains and the sweet barley comes through more, but we loose a bit of the oomph. Tough to tell which is better. Maybe just a few drops and some air no more to capture the best of both worlds. This is 2022's dark young sherry bomb and probably better than the outrageous Aultmore Sovereign that was so loved. Plus this price is nuts. Should be 2 or 3 times the price considering the quality. We'll all be sad when it's gone.