Review 282. Glenglassaugh Sandend. 2025 release

It must be tough, being Glenglassaugh. Mothballed, brought back, mothballed again and changes in  ownership as much as 3 times over the course of not even  20 years: it does look like the unwanted child of the whisky family in that regard. In 2008 it was brought back to life by Scaent Group (a European investment consortium with a predominant  focus on the energy sector – don’t ask me how they landed on a whisky distillery and Glenglassaugh at that), 5 years before being bought by Billy Walker. Prior to that, it was already mothballed for over 20 years under Edringron ownership. It’s well known how Billy Walker acquired  3 distilleries, and famously put both Glendronach and BenRiach back on ‘the map’. Glenglassaugh, which was acquired by the Walker Group a few years after Glendronach and BenRiach, however,  became the distillery Billy Walker didn’t fully get round to properly relaunching. Despite the previous owners completely refurbishing the distillery and releasing several new  expressions in 2011, it never really ‘esablished’ itself with  a recognizable and stable core range. Even under the ownership of Billy Walker, it never produced at full capacity (which is about 1.1 million LPA according to the Malt Whisky Yearbook) but was running at around 70 – 60% capacity. When, around 2016,  Billy Walker moved  on to buying Glenallachie (from Chivas Brothers) and selling his three distilleries to Brown Forman, he must have felt the distillery was in capable hands with Rachel Barrie at the helm. It needs to be said: Rachel Barrie picked up where Billy Walker left, revamping Glendronach’s core range while building a core range for both BenRiach (there was something resembling a BenRiach core range under the Walker years, but as a brand it was also a bit all over the place with a lot of small batch and/or single cask releases) and Glenglassaugh.  But even then, it took them about 7 years to get round to sorting out Glenglassaugh. And just when Glenglassaugh seemed as if it would finally be getting its fair share of attention and TLC, in 2025 a decision was made by Brown Form to ‘pause’ production once again, in the wake of the downward spiral many whiskyproducers are facing post the Covid boom, laying off staff in January of that year.

Glenglassaugh Sandend. Bourbon, sherry and manzanilla casks matured, 50.5% ABV, app. €55 - €60

This Sandend (named after the town where the distillery is located) now sits alongside a 12 year old and a peated, port cask finished called Portsoy. Now, I don’t know if you ever tasted an indie version of Glenglassaugh, but if you, like me, appreciate their style of outspoken fruity, buttery - jammy sweetness with a bit of maritime twist and a whiff of funk, I really urge to try and get your hands on some. So that profile I’ve come to know and love from indie releases is pretty much my benchmark when it comes to Glenglassaugh. When in 2023 these 3 official expressions were launched, reactions were a bit mixed. I didn’t really bother chasing them down but when I stumbled upon this one earlier this summer for a decent price, I took the punt: at a higher ABV, and a combination  of 3 interesting cask types used to mature these bottlings, I decided ‘why not’.

Nose

Citrus, creamy – lactic, a soft yet distinct note of rich apples and pear drops. Gently nutty – almond like, hinting on marzipan even. A touch of clove. A mineral coastal salinity at the back. Quite a lot going on, but regrettably not all that well integrated, making the overall experience a bit messy even…

Palate

Rich, fruity arrival. Full, dry mouthfeel. A generic sweetness and some spice notes – somewhat feisty even. There’s a savoury element to this, but neat I can’t quite put my finger on things. So, let’s add a drop of water… Indeed, it takes off the heath and allows more of those fruity notes to come forward. That said, it still remains a bit generic and comes across as a bit haphazard.

Finish

Long and clinging-  dry,  with echoes of salt and spices.

Final thoughts

Let’s not beat about the bush here: this is a bit underwhelming. That dense, fruity, slightly funky ‘signature’ note I’ve come to love from almost every indie Glenglassaugh I tried so far is only showing mere fragments of itself. Drowned out by the different cask types? Decimated by heavy filtration? Also, it comes across as young.  And while I’m all for spirit character to shine through, it also feels and tastes a bit rough, under matured and unguided, lacking ‘purpose’. As if those 3 different casktypes aren’t working together all that well to create something bigger than the sum of its individual parts. So what we’ve got here is a half decent, unpersuasive and somewhat generic and forgettable whisky.  Easy drinking and palatable, sure, but that’s about it.  I’ll stick to indies when it comes to Glenglassaugh for the time being. Pity… 74/100, meaning ‘can be enjoyed, but not in a hurry to replace it’. (I even had to look up my own scoring system as it’s been that long since I rated anything under 80 points).