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The Glen Ord Story

Over the next few days, I’ll be working my way through some interesting samples from independent bottler, Lady of the Glen. These guys have been responsible for some of the most interesting bottlings I’ve encountered over the last few years and specialise in unusual cask finishes. This week, I’ll be reviewing whiskies from Craigellachie, Benrinnes, Glenrothes and Braeval but first up, is Glen Ord.

Glen Ord is located in the Black Isle, a peninsula that falls under the Ross and Cromarty area in the northeast of Scotland. The distillery is owned by Diageo and its whisky contributes to The Singleton, a brand designed to compete with industry giants like Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet.

Unlike the Pernod-owned Glenlivet or Grant’s Glenfiddich, Diageo’s distilleries don’t have the production capacity to break the top five in sales. What Diageo does have, is more distilleries than anyone else. The Singleton, therefore, is a brand comprising whisky from three distinct distilleries: Dufftown, Glendullan and Glen Ord.

Glen Ord was established in 1838 by Robert Johnstone and Donald MacLennan. Landowner Thomas MacKenzie encouraged the distillery’s creation so that he would have a reliable buyer for the barley grown on his land. Sadly, however, the founders were declared bankrupt in 1847 and the distillery fell silent, at least officially.

The stills continued to run “under the radar” until the site was eventually relicensed in 1855 by Alexander McLennan and Thomas McGregor. It was then sold, in 1923, to Thomas Dewar and from there, the distillery became part of the Distillers Company Ltd (DCL).

In 1961, DCL replaced the distillery’s floor maltings with Saladin boxes. Those in turn were moved in 1969 to make room for drum maltings. Nowadays, the Glen Ord malting facilities fulfil the requirements for several of Diageo’s distilleries.

Beyond the Singleton range, Glen Ord isn’t the most common of malts so it’s always exciting to find a single cask release from an independent bottler like Lady of the Glen. In this case, the whisky was matured for 11 years in a first-fill bourbon barrel.

*Full disclosure: the whisky featured in this review was sent to me free of charge. As always I will strive to give an honest opinion on the quality of the dram and the value for money it represents.

The Whisky

Smell: Grassy with green apples. Watermelon. Lemon spritz. Creamy vanilla buttercream. Crème fraiche. Buttery shortbread and savoury biscuits.

Taste: Fruity arrival, developing some maltiness with some medium woody spice. Towards the back, there’s some toffee and a bit of oak. Buttered scones with fruit jam. Another blast of fruit as it moves into the finish. Pineapple. Lemon curd.

Thoughts: By appearance, you might wonder if the first-fill bourbon has had a fairly minimal impact as it’s very light in colour but even though the spirit leads the way, the bourbon definitely adds some flavour of its own. With time in glass, the dram developed a lovely texture. It’s buttery and even slightly gritty. In truth, this isn’t the sort of dram I normally go for but I really enjoyed it and could easily find a place for it. It’s got a nice summery vibe but carries enough weight to be interesting. An unexpected hit and a good showcase for the qualities of this distillery.

Price: £80. Maybe I’d have liked to see a slightly lower price but it’s a good dram regardless.

For more about Lady of the Glen visit here

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