Review #585 - SMWS 63.117 'Rich Treasures Soaked in Time' - Glentauchers 34 Year
Due to the price of entry, we typically don't try too many bottles from the 'Old & Dignified' flavor profile from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. These are generally bottles with age statements of 25 or more years, often 30+; these also often come from a smaller list of distilleries, as the Society has been able to procure more casks (or hold onto them longer) from certain producers. Glentauchers is one of those distilleries from whisky we see some well-matured SMWS bottles: more than 20 bottles with 20+ year age statements can be found with a quick search of Whiskybase.
This is the first time we've reviewed a Glentauchers - it's a single malt that's nearly impossible to find as an official bottling from the distillery, as almost all of its production is for blending purposes. There have been a couple of one-off bottlings in the past, namely a 15 year old and 23 year old in the last 10 years, but there's no core range from this distillery. A few independent bottlers have worked with the distillery, though, and more than 100 single casks have been bottled by the SMWS.
Glentauchers was actually mothballed in the 1980s, leading up to the time at which this spirit was distilled. The distillery changed hands, moving from control of United Distillers (now a part of Diageo) to Allied Distillers (now a part of Chivas/Pernod Ricard); after being shut down in 1985, production was restarted in August of 1989, just a couple of months before the whisky we're looking at was distilled. This, then, came from some of the earliest production runs under the Pernod Ricard ownership.
One specification that sticks out on this bottle is the strength: 40.1% ABV. We suspect that this cask was chosen to be bottled as it was close to falling below the legal minimum bottling strength if it aged even just a few more months, considering that these SMWS single casks are all bottled at cask strength. The whisky dropped to that strength of barely more than 40% ABV over the course of 34 years - it spent that time maturing in a refill ex-bourbon cask.
SMWS 63.117 'Rich Treasures Soaked in Time' - Glentauchers 34 Year
Scotland/Speyside - Single Malt
Price: USD 895 (2025)
Age Statement: 34 Years
Strength: 40.1% ABV
Cask Makeup: Refill ex-bourbon barrel
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled November 21, 1989; 45 bottles
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 70% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a nosing glass, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Fragrant with juicy sweet fruit - a bit tropical, some white stone fruit too. Menthol notes build, and then old antique oak grows stronger with time.
Palate: A medium-thin mouthfeel, but better texture than expected considering the strength. Strong flavors of watermelon-mint salad - very minty, actually - and then the oak again builds with time. Leather arrives, but there's good balance overall; it's somewhat soft and subtle after the sweet watermelon note.
Finish: Great balance - strong leathery oak, but it's offset by that oversweet watermelon fruit. Mint is still a theme as well - spearmint, just a hint of menthol lingering in the aftertaste.
Final Note: Very tasty and quite unique - that watermelon-mint salad note was quite dominant, a specific combination of flavors we can't remember getting in any other whisky before. Lovely tropical fruit, but also a decent amount of oily oak with the age; because of that low bottling strength, everything is quite soft and pleasant, not overpowering.
Value, of course, is going to be well below average - this is a very expensive bottle, a trait common among highly aged whiskies, especially with the SMWS. Very fun to taste, but personally, we aren't willing to spend this much.
Our Average Rating: 8.5 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 3.53
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other reviews of 30+ year old whisky:
Review #449 - Adelphi Breath of Speyside 32 Year
Review #241 - Master of Malt Cambus 30 Year (1991 Vintage)
Review #158 - GlenAllachie 30 Year
