Glen Albyn 1974

Glen Albyn: worth resurrecting from the past!

Glen Albyn used to be one of the three active distilleries in the Highland Capital of Inverness, the other two being Glen Mhor and Millburn. All of them closed in the mid-1980s, and surprisingly it lasted till 2023 for a new distillery to finally open and put Inverness back on the whisky map. Actually, I discovered the Uile-bheist Distillery and Brewery only after fact-checking for this blog if Inverness indeed did NOT have any active distillery anymore, to find I was wrong. Located behind the Glen Mhor Hotel & Apartments you will find this operation, close to the River Ness. I am sure I will manage a visit in the future, because it looks like an interesting establishment! 

Glen Albyn however, seems to be lost to the ages, if it weren’t for the efforts of @glenalbynwhisky on Instagram, who maintains the website Glen Albyn Whisky Distillery. On there you will find a wealth of information. One very unique piece of information I found on there for instance, is the fact Glen Albyn had an unusual shape in the worm tubs: “The tubes were shaped like a D with the flat side face down. The expectation of this design was that it allowed the spirit to cool much quicker than the traditional design”, we read. For a whisky nerds, it is amazing to browse this website! Let us go taste one, thanks to a sample I got from my whisky friend Daan. Thanks! 

Glen Albyn 1974, bottled at 46 % abv by Gordon & MacPhail

First things first: Around 29 years old (bottled 2003), this Glen Albyn was bottled in the Connoisseurs Choice Map Label livery of independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail. This was always a nice entry level series, that is weirdly missed by me because of nostalgic reasons. 

Upon Sipping: A very classic old school nose with a mixture of car workshop where somebody is eating an orange on a lunchbreak. After some breathing, it turns more towards a candied note, like sweets in a wrapper you sometimes get in a restaurant after dinner. Eventually, a soft flowerbed alongside a canal rises. You can smell the tar on the ship’s bellies as they pass by on a summer’s day. With water, the aroma gets more zesty.

The taste is difficult. Quite a “hard” palate, as if some jacket envelops the taste underneath. It turns oily after a while, leaving strong notes of ginger and herbs. It is complex and rewarding to wrestle with this Glen Albyn.

It is interesting how there are no fruity notes to speak of here. It remains very industrial in nature, instead of wooded because of the long maturation. A whisky that reminds me of black coal and dirty, muddy shovels and peat fire. Absolutely a single malt you do not taste anymore. In the very end there is a floral note that borders on a tiny soapy edge.

Word to the Wise: Glen Albyn produced a very singular spirit, judging on this one bottle. Sadly, I have not tasted many other examples and cannot even remember the last time I had one in the glass, so this tasting note stands on itself. In general, I would say this is a magnificent whisky to dissect, because you keep on discovering new assets. Quality stays behind a bit on the value of entertainment though. 

Score: 85 points