These 3 Highland Single Malt whiskies were tasted during a Glencadam zoom tasting on 6/5/21.
Glencadam 10yr old, 46% ABV
Multi-award winning Glencadam Highland Single Scotch Malt Whisky Aged 10 Years is a fine example of centuries of craftsmanship and tradition. “The rather delicate” malt with a beautifully balanced, pure flavour. Category Winner- World Whiskies Awards 2020, Gold Outstanding Award- International Wine & Spirit Competition 2019 .
Glencadam Whisky
Appearance
Straw/white wine in colour, nice thick swirl line and slow medium legs.
Nose
Initially the nose is quite sweet and fruity, and we’re talking lemons, pineapple and pears. With more time light pastry notes like danish pastries come to the fore, and eventually we get to coffee with a splash of milk, hints of ginger and cinnamon.
Palate
To kick off we have much from the nose, it’s sweet fruit forward. Sweet pineapple and lemon zestiness, pears, and icing sugar comes along for the ride. It does develop nicely, and we’re into warming spices and buttery notes, ginger, cinnamon, butterscotch, vanilla, and a touch of golden syrup and flapjack.
Finish
The finish pushes into even darker notes, black coffee, a light black liquorice note, oak, and grapefruit.
My thoughts
Being at 46% ABV, natural coloured and non chill filtered, this is a hidden gem to be honest. It is the youngest of the Glencadam age statement whiskies, and it has plenty going on, good development, and comes at a great price, i would definitely buy a bottle.
Glencadam 15yr old
Multi-award winning Glencadam Highland Single Scotch Malt Whisky Aged 15 Years is a fine example of centuries of craftsmanship and tradition. “The rather dignified” malt with a beautifully mouth-watering, true flavour. Gold Award- International Spirits Challenge 2020 and Gold Award- International Wine & Spirits Competition 2019.
Glencadam Whisky
Appearance
Again this is straw/ white wine in colour, has a nice thick swirl line, and good thick legs.
Nose
We start off with a sweet fruity note similar to the 10yr old, pineapples, guava, pears and lemons, it’s also quite zesty. Then we get the differences that an extra 5 years has brought, and it’s dusty and musty, interestingly i get a perfumed note here, and meadow flowers. It is slightly waxy, as was said on the tasting. There are grains/cereals here too, Weetabix definitely come to mind.
Palate
I get the feeling of a more substantial and robust whisky on the palate, i’d say it’s more “chewable. As iv’e now found with the 2 Glencadam whiskies sweet fruits kick us off, which i do really like to be honest, along with Fruit danish pastries and vanilla custard. The mouthfeel is nice, and combined with the spicy warmth that comes through on the development it’s a very nice experience on the palate. Just as we’re heading toward the finish it develops again, into spicier and darker notes.
Finish
The finish is medium/long, and concentrates mainly on the spiciness of the the whisky. We’re touching black coffee, pontefract cakes, milk stout, oak, and even a hint of chilli’s, again lovely and warming.
My thoughts
As iv’e found previously with the core range from Glencadam, the difference between age statements is quite obvious, the progress of maturation is clear on the nose and palate, and is very enjoyable, and again this is a bottle i would purchase, it’s overlooked in my opinion, especially as this bottling is also non chill filtered and presented in it’s natural colour.
Glencadam 21yr old, 46% ABV.
Multi-award winning Glencadam Highland Single Scotch Malt Whisky Aged 21 Years is a fine example of centuries of craftsmanship and tradition. “The exceptional” malt with a beautifully lingering, true flavour. Gold Award – Scotch Whisky Masters 2020 and Gold Award – Meiningers International Spirits Award 2019.
Glencadam Whisky
Appearance
This whisky is slightly darker than the 10 and 15yr old, more like damp straw, it also is quite viscous on the glass and has thick legs.
Nose
Even though the distillery spirit style comes through on the nose, we also have menthol, i’m thinking mint Aero chocolate bars. The age shows as dusty, musty, an old leather chesterfield sofa in a reading room. Liquorice and anise combine with ginger and cinnamon to create a lovely warm and enticing spiciness, a nuttiness also comes through, which come across as very well married, thick and chewy.
Palate
The palate also reflects it’s age well in my opinion. If you are someone who knows their way around whiskies, and knows what they hope the palate will bring, this whisky doesn’t disappoint. Stoned and tropical fruits start us off, pineapple, guava, apricots and nectarines. A slightly sweetened cup of espresso, with hazelnuts note is here, and it’s wonderful, then the ginger and cinnamon, black liquorice and anise, pepper also comes through, more of a mild black pepper rather than black peppercorns.
Finish
The finish as expected is peppery, quite spicy, and leaning towards, oak, char, chillies, coffee grinds, and cigar leaves. It’s quite long too, lingers for a while, it’s very nice.
My thoughts
We have a good 21 year old Single malt here. It’s well married, becomes quite bold through development and is very moorish. Again the jump between age statements is obvious, and the end result is another very capable and enjoyable whisky, that again i would purchase. This bottling, like the 10 and 15yr olds, is non chill filtered and presented in its natural colour.
Overall tasting thoughts
Around 2 years ago i vertically tasted the whole Glecadam core range, and my memory of them has been that they were light and sweet. Coming back to them with more experience of whisky through nosing and tasting has shown me more depth and complexity in the 10, 15 and 21yr olds. They certainly do come across as light and sweet initially, but they all develop nicely, into a darker and spicier palate and finish, with each older bottling becoming more complex and showing greater depth.
Like some other distilleries iv’e found recently, Glencadam is a hidden gem, rarely spoken about on social media at the moment, and i don’t really understand why, i know they are quite a small operation, but quality is quality.
Thanks to – @GlencadamWhisky (Twitter.)
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