Glen Breton Rare 10: Shy Porridge That Blooms In Time

Glen Breton is a fascinating case of cultural transliteration.  Davin De Kergommeaux writes a chapter about Glenora Distillery and Glen Breton (and the "battle of the Glen" over the lawsuit concerning the use of the word "Glen" on a non-Scottish malt whisky) in his superb book Canadian Whisky: a portable expert.  The gist of the story is that the region of Canada where Glenora is located - out in the Northern part of Nova Scotia (literally "New Scotland") on what's known as the Cape Breton Island in a rugged area that looks just like Scotland; has the same climate as Scotland; and is chock full of migrated actual Scottish people.  The Glenora distillery carefully crafts a malt whisky that is as close to Scotch malt whisky as they can make it.  It's a unique chapter in the Canadian whisky story and fascinating story all around.  I knew from the moment I read it that I wanted to try it.  Never mind that the reviews were a bit tepid and mixed and the price was high.

De Kergommeaux addresses the price a bit in "Canadian Whisky".  Glenora is a small distillery that does much by hand.  Their output is limited.  Meanwhile there is plenty of curiosity and demand for this product - thus the high price.  This item runs $87 at the Ontario Liquor Control Board and $100 at Park Avenue Liquors.  The question of pricing is a different topic than whether it's good, however.  I'm going to address what's in the glass.

2oz sampled at NYC's The Brandy Library.

Glen Breton Rare 10 43% abv

Color: pale honey gold

Nose: very shy with gentle notes of oatmeal porridge with salted butter, and a drift of marzipan. This evokes a powerful sense memory for me of the smell of how my father took his Cream Of Wheat porridge when i was a boy: with salted butter and cream. Its a warm and comforting gentle aroma. Deeper nosing reveals some slight acid and vegetal and floral notes. 

The palate entry is gentle and lightly sweet with a fresh floral meadow grassy vegetal sweet. There are notes of puff pastry with powdered sugar, and whipped cream. The midpalate expansion follows the gently creamy theme. Oats, sweet butter and half and half power through into the finish that had a few light herbal bitter notes almost as a faint afterthought.

With extended air (over 30 minutes) the mouth feel riches and the buttery mid palate flavors sweeten into butterscotch caramel notes. Fruity flavors appear as well, gently floral and faintly sherried. It's shy but when it finally opens it's lovely.

The addition of three drops of water does little to the nose except maybe to lessen it further. On the palate, however, there is a bit of acid bite in the fruit now that is a welcome development to help liven up the show. On the whole, however, I preferred the richer mouth feel and more buttery flavor balance of Glen Breton without water, so that's how I'll refer to it for the remainder of the review.

***

I had it head to head with Mackmyra The First, which is simultaneously more floral and also more berry/grape acidic and minerally. But both share a similar light body and density of flavor. Glen Breton has a warmer and more savory palate with more simple butter and cream. It has less flavor amplitude but the flavors are appetizing, comforting, and harmonious.  I give a slight edge to Mackmyra for it's more floral and effusive nose and greater complexity earlier on in the tasting - but these are very different drams and Glen Breton Rare is lovely when it finally opens.  It's borderline 4 stars.

Bottom line, this is a competent credible malt whisky which I enjoyed and have no problem recommending as an enjoyable tasting experience.  However, at the current US pricing Glen Breton Rare 10 is in no way competitive with other whiskies at the $100 price point (or vicinity).  Just no way at all.

Update (30 minutes after initially posting): Bruce Fraser (@BruceFraser) of Nova Scotia reports that older bottlings of this were harsher and had a soapy flavor.  This explains the poor ratings and complaints of soapy flavors in the LAWS web site reviews.  Johanne McInnis (@Whiskylassie) confirmed: "...well, I was at the distillery two years ago, and tried it right from the barrels, PLENTY of soap!"  However, this recent bottling was in no way harsh and had no off or soapy flavors whatsoever.  My sole complaints were lack of density and high price.  The flavors that were present were very nice, and became a bit better than nice with extra time.