Glina 10 year German single malt whisky - 56.8% ABV, matured for 4 year in ex- Bordeaux casks, 4 years in ex Port casks, and 2 years in ex-Knupper cherry wine casks
In this little journey aiming to see if there’s any whisky from mainland Europe that might be able to lay a claim to the Scottish throne, we’ve covered an obvious contender from Sweden, an outsider from France, and this week I feel we’re betting on a dark horse. You see, in terms of quantity and distilleries, Germany may well be the best equipped country in the whole of Europe. The Malt whisky Yearbook mentions over 60 German distilleries, and there are possibly another 60 or even more we may not have heard about thus far. And yet, like is the case with French distilleries, you’ll probably struggle to come up with more than a handful. Slyrs will likely ring a bell, as will Blaue Maus or St-Killian an maybe Finch, but I’m pretty sure anyone not deeply rooted into the Scottish whisky scene will throw in the towel at this point.
So I’ll happily pardon you for not being overly familiar with Glina, because until I was sent a sample from Holly from the whisky buzz channel (check her out, btw, she does fun, insightful and interesting video reviews and livestreams in both German an English), I had never heard of them either. So safe to say, a bit of further introduction may be due here. The distillery, located just West of Potsdam, takes its name from an old Slavic word for clay or loam, and the family running the distillery settled in the region in the late 19th Century. Due to its fertile soil, a monastery has been cultivating wine in the region since the 1400’s, until halfway the 18th Century one particularly harsh winter pretty much destroyed the vineyards, making for a shift towards grain agriculture.
Focussing on both rye and malt whiskies (the 2 grains they feel thrive best on their fields – yes, this is a ‘grain-to-glass’ approach distillery), they have been releasing mostly young whisky – 3 to 8 year old, making this 10 year old single malt the flagship alongside a 12 year old rye expression. They are pretty busy distilling spirit there, as they also produce gin, vodka, liqueur, fruit wine and brandy. You may struggle to find this in stores, but should you be able to get this shipped: you can buy this directly from the distillery, but will be looking at forking out close to €100.
One look at the bottle and immediately the colour from this triple wood matured (from ex-Bordeaux cask, ex Port wine and ex cherry wine casks) cask strengths screams ‘Big’ and ‘Rich’. Let’s see what’s what then, shall we?
Nose
In one word: boom! Bold and very rich. Viscous with a wood-oil thing going on (varnish and wax), red fruits and dried fruit galore: cherries, plums, prunes, dates, very sweet berries and blackcurrant… the works. Overbrewed tea with a suggestion of after eight minty chocolate underneath evolving towards an almost umami-like fungi note - it’s quite subtle, trying to grab your attention, but almost buried beneath that fruit and wood avalanche. Not particularly hot or peppery despite the stronger ABV, but let’s see what a few drops of water do here. Indeed, that leafy-fungi note becomes more clear and if anything, it brings out even more oily notes.
Palate
Oil, oil, oil! Again a big and hefty arrival. Only, what follows next is quite different from what the nose suggested. Wood bitterness, coffee and treacle take centre stage now, whereas the fruit bombardment from the nose now translates into thick marmalade, combined with a dark, almost bitter honey note. With the added water some sweetness returns, with notes of demerara sugar and lots of syrup.
Finish
Long and increasingly dry with that woody bitterness lingering on.
Final thoughts
I’m almost embarrassed to make this silly little joke here, but this whisky is a bit like a Blitzkrieg: it knocks you off your feet before you even know what hits you. The combo of those 3 casktypes could well have been a recipe for disaster, as it just screams ‘overkill!’ but for whatever reason this works. You could argue that it becomes a bit one dimensional as there’s absolutely nothing subtle about this, but even if you would put this down as a one trick pony (which, to be clear, I don’t), you’ll have to admit that it is a very impressive trick. I ‘m impressed, but also and in a good way feel a bit violated. This is definitely a whisky to close the night with as this will very likely murder any palate, and mercilessly at that. So move over A’bunadh the Barbarian, make way for Glina the destroyer!
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