Glenlossie 10 Year Old Flora & Fauna Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2014) 70cl

The only distillery bottling of Glenlossie, other than a Manager's Dram. Almost all of their whisky goes into Diageo's blends, which is a shame as this is a classic spicy Speysider.

Tasting Notes

Nose: The first impression is vinous, like a well-used cocktail cabinet. Through this comes a light sponge-like aroma, followed by fruity notes (fresh plums, kiwi-fruit). Then the nose closes somewhat, with a promise of pear drops. With water, the reduced nose is estery, solvent-like and fruity – a fruit salad including oranges, apples, plums, and pears. There is a hint of coconut milk and a fugitive scent of sweet tobacco. If more water is added, the nose becomes mossier, with a whiff of matchboxes (the sandpaper striker on a matchbox, to be precise). The last might indicate a thread of smoke.

Palate: Sweet; a good balance of primary tastes, with some pleasant acidity. If more water is added, there is a very slight hint of smoke.

Finish: Dryish, with some light chocolate notes and a light, malty aftertaste.

About Glenlossie

Glenlossie was founded near Elgin in 1876 by John Duff, a former manager at Glendronach, in partnership with a consortium including Alexander Grigor Allan (who would later have a share in Talisker) and HMS Mackay. The restless, entrepreneurial Duff departed in 1888 to seek his fortune in South Africa and, later, the USA.

In 1962, Glenlossie's license was transferred to the DCL subsidiary Haig (the blend which accounted for almost the entirety of Glenlossie's malt). At the same time the number of stills was increased from four to six. Less than a decade later, in 1971,a sister distillery, Mannochmore, was constructed on Glenlossie's site and a dark grains plant was also added to convert pot ale and draff from the group's distilleries into animal feed. There is also a bonded warehouse on Glenlossie's land containing over 200,000 maturing casks from various Diageo distilleries.

Given that Glenlossie was named as one of only twelve 'top class' malts by blenders in 1974, it is perhaps surprising that the distillery is so little-known. The reason, however, is easy to determine - the blender's high regard means that demand for Glenlossie remains extremely high, and as a result less than 1% of the distillery's output is kept back for single malt. The only official bottling of Glenlossie currently available is the 10 yo Flora & Fauna release available since the 1990s. This range is being gradually phased out, however, and it remains to be seen what plans Diageo have for this distinguished, yet obscure, workhorse.

Independent bottlings of Glenlossie are pretty rare, although Gordon & Macphail have bottled a handful of expressions recently.