Glen Keith 17 Year Old 1997 Chapter 7

Glen Keith rarely disappoints. This bottling by the Swiss company Chapter 7 is a very pale Glen Keith from 1997. The cask yielded 309 bottles, which I find quite a lot.

The nose is fresh and… a little strange. As expected, I got some white fruit and gooseberries, soft honey and some coconut, but it has a strange edge that makes it quite young, but not in a good way. I cannot pinpoint it (yoghurt, cheese, a combination of both?), but it makes it smell more like a liqueur than a whisky. Or a grappa. Luckily it is not dominant. What is dominant is banana. With ice-cream. A veritable Banana Split! Adding water makes it somewhat foul, actually.

It has a good body. Mouthcoating. Spicy. The pepper and wood keep the fruit at bay, though. It tastes quite pure. Naked, if you know what I mean. Very malty. More malt than fruit in any case, which surprises me somewhat. Hint of aniseed. Again I get the impression of tasting a very young malt, while this matured for almost two decades. Tired wood? Diluted it becomes maltier still and there is no trace of fruit. This is more like a pint of stale beer.

The finish is long on pepper and banana. It dies a very dry, almost woody, death.

I had expected much more of this Glen Keith, to be honest. Like I said: Glen Keith rarely disappoints. This is one of those rare occasions. Especially if you dilute it. Thanks for the sample, Jurgen.

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