GlenWyvis Inaugural Release

GlenWyvis Inaugural Release

Region: Highlands

ABV: 50.0%

Price: £99.00

Established in 2015, Glen Wyvis sits just north of Dingwall, beneath the mountain of Ben Wyvis. A community owned and crowd funded distillery project, most of their releases have gone to the crowd funders.

This particular release uses highland concerto barley, that was malted at Baird's Inverness Maltings, and then fermented with pinnacle yeast for about 103 hours. The spirit was then matured in 80% first fill Tennessee barrels, 15% first fill Moscatel casks, and 5% refill whisky hogsheads.

Nose

Initially we’re finding this very yeasty / malty, but pushing past this there’s a strong vegetal note followed by a fair amount of fruit, most notably nectarines, and plums. Going back to after air reveals Vegemite, a smoky charred note, tobacco, and lemon bon bons. Finally there’s some sweet and salty popcorn, and whipped cream. Some interesting notes on the nose, but the youthfulness of the spirit is definitely noticeable.

Palate

Initially, like the nose, there’s some nice stone fruits here, and candied lemon jelly sweets. The mid palate is a touch disappointing and disappears a little too quickly leaving a wee bit too much chilli spice on the finish, alongside a little sweetness. We’re finding the mouthfeel is a touch thin. It also has the same yeasty / new make / malty note on the palate that showed on the nose.

Nose (with water)

Water brings out more of the malty yeastiness. Pushing past that there’s some strawberry syrup, oat cakes, sugar syrup and vanilla essence. To us it seems a little less complex with the addition of water.

Palate (with water)

Water brings this a little more into balance reducing some of the alcohol heat on the finish. The mouthfeel remains unchanged. The mid palate still disappears too quickly after an initial punch of now more synthetic sweetness. Personally we’d add a drop of water or two.

Conclusion

There’s some fruit here, but we’re finding it can be quite overshadowed the youthfulness of the whisky. It’s a promising start for a new distillery, but we think the whisky needs a few extra years of slumber to achieve its potential. It’s also worth noting that this was around a £100 a bottle when it released. Now, that’s far too much money for a ~3yo whisky, but while we can’t blame the distillery for the inflated price as the majority of these bottles ended up on auction. We are however going to deduct a half point for it. When we try this next we’ll be opting to get a more reasonably priced later batch.

Score: 6.5/10

• 10 - Perfection. A whisky that we’ll remember forever.
• 9 - Amazing. We’d pay through the nose for a bottle.
• 8 - Great. Pick this up at RRP.
• 7 - Good. Happy to have a dram or two but wouldn’t buy a bottle.
• 6 - Passable. Would accept a dram, but wouldn’t seek it out.
• 5 - Poor. Would drink if it was the only option.
• 4 - Bad. Maybe it can be saved by ginger beer?
• 3 - Awful. It can't be saved by ginger beer.
• 2 - Pour it out
• 1 - We’ve never tried a whisky rated this low and hopefully never will.

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