Little Brown Dog Glen Garioch 10yo (Small Batch) & Cadenheads Glen Garioch 13yo Authentic Collection March 2025

Little Brown Dog Glen Garioch 10yo (Small Batch) 

Region: Highlands

ABV: 56.2%

Price: £80.00

This small batch release is composed of a first fill bourbon barrel and 40 litres from a sister cask, both distilled on 17th November 2014 and bottled on 17th February 2025. A total of 337 bottles were released.

Nose

The nose opens with tinned pineapple, vanilla essence, light oak, fizzy peach rings, green grape juice, and muscovado sugar. The Glen Garioch distillate is present but feels slightly more subdued than others we've had at this age, there's a little more bourbon sweetness here. Going back, we're getting more green apples, a little runny caramel, ginger juice and custard cream biscuits. The alcohol is fairly prominent, but it doesn't stop you from getting your nose deep into the glass.

Palate

The palate opens with a burst of tropical fruit, papaya, mandarin orange, mango puree, vanilla beans, custard doughnuts and a bit of black pepper spice as it develops into the finish. The mouthfeel is nice and viscous, custardy, and we're finding melon balls, pear drops and more of those custard cream biscuits. This is dangerously drinkable, the alcohol is very well integrated, it's still present but only gives a light pepperiness in the background. As we go back, we're finding more dark chocolate, cookie dough and perhaps a tinge of salted caramel too. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has a mix of creamy vanilla custard and pineapple at first, but overall maintains a very similar profile to the unreduced nose. It feels a little lighter and fruiter than before, some of those caramel aromas have faded into the background. We don't think it particularly benefits from reduction. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate feels slightly richer, the tropical fruits have been pushed into the background in favour of more vanilla, custard, double cream and some oat flapjack bars. The alcohol feels more prominent now, like it's been woken up. Similarly to the nose, we'd skip adding water, it was better before.

Conclusion

There's no doubt that this is a dessert dram, we're reminded of a well made trifle, lots of fruit, custard and some biscuit-y flavours to top it all off. There's good alcohol integration, a good mouthfeel, and it's still recognisable as Glen Garioch, albeit perhaps more cask forward than some other 10yo's we've had from this distillery. Very tasty. 

Score: 8/10

Value

While you can find Glen Garioch cheaper from other bottlers, LBD are always fair with their pricing—so we’ve no doubt the extra cost reflects the cask price.

Cadenheads Glen Garioch 13yo Authentic Collection March 2025

Region: Highlands

ABV: 55.0%

Price: £60.00

Distilled in 2011 and fully matured in a bourbon barrel, this release was bottled in March 2025 as part of Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection. A total of 234 bottles were released.

Nose

The nose opens with fizzy green apple sweeties, fresh lemon zest, pineapple upside down cake, artificial banana essence, a little gingerbread and some old dusty furniture. There's a lot of sweetness coupled with a good amount of acidity coming through for us, backed up by that signature tropical Glen Garioch character. Going back, we're also finding some white wine notes, grape must, white peach and a little funkiness right in the background. The alcohol has a bit of a white pepperiness coming through but it's reasonably well integrated.

Palate

The palate opens with a mixture of warm oak spice, white chocolate, creme caramel, brown sugar and marzipan. There's more raw oak here than expected, but there's also an incredible amount of milky, sweet white chocolate. As the palate develops, it moves into more fruit, fresh peach juice, a little drizzle of pineapple syrup, and we're finding the distillate starts to shine through towards the finish. The mouthfeel is reasonable, there's some texture here, and the finish does linger on for a while, mostly showing chocolate, a little marzipan, and wafer cones. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has more cooked banana, cooked fruit, and feels a little mushier, alongside simple white sugar, peach cobbler and a bit of citric acid in the background. The nose feels a bit more subdued, a little more closed off, and there's a bit more of that pepperiness appearing too. We'd avoid adding water, it doesn't really benefit the nose. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate feels fairly similar, lots of marzipan and peach coming through, and lots of that white chocolate, but the drier oak is still present. The water has made it feel a little thinner, but we're getting lots of vanilla cream and waffles with golden syrup now. Again, we'd skip water here.

Conclusion

A fairly typical teenage Glen Garioch, which is no bad thing. There's a good amount of the tropical esthery character, alongside the bourbon barrel sweetness on both the nose and the palate. Our biggest issue is the disjointed integration between the wood and spirit on the palate - they haven't come together for us and it leads with dry, bitter oak before the sweeter, fruitier flavours start to appear. Still a solid dram though.

Score: 7/10

Value

13 years old, cask strength, and only £60. As Harrison Ford would say: “Nice.”

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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