GlenBridge: A 40 year old single malt speyside whisky from Aldi
Glenbridge 40 year old from Aldi ©Colin Hampden-White
This morning, as a freelance journalist, was not what I am used to. Getting up well before sunrise.
Another thing I am not used to is premium whisky being sold by a supermarket chain, and rather than that supermarket being the rarefied Waitrose, Aldi was the shop to go to.
To find (having been tasted by Jim Murray, amongst others), the best value 40 year old whisky on the market. With only 3000 bottles produced and 450 stores country wide to distribute them around, there were to be only 6 bottles for most of the stores.
I decided to go to Aldi on the Old Kent Road in London. A good choice I found. I arrived at 7.30 for an 8 o’clock opening and was the 6th person in the queue. A couple of minutes later a 7th joined us and within ten minutes there were 40 of us. A nice lady popped out of the shop, explained there were only 6 bottles and gave us lucky 6 a ticket each.
The other lucky five were a mixture of two present baggers, a real whisky fan, another whisky journalist writing for Whisky Magazine and a brand ambassador for Drambuie. So for once, the idea of first come first served, no exceptions had worked. There was no preferential treatment for journalists or big whisky buyers, even the staff were not allowed first dibs.
Joel, of Whisky Magazine was getting texts from other stores around the country where people had started to queue pretty early, from 3am in Oxford, and there were stories from others turning up that other shops in London had very long queues, up to 200 in Catford.
So was all the fuss and early starts really worth it for the luck few?
Tasting the Glenbridge 40 year old from Aldi ©Colin Hampden-White
Well I supose one has to start by saying that even if the whisky wasn’t good, there would be elements of it at 40 years old which would certainly make it interesting, at £50,
But no, the lovely amber brown liquid wasn’t good, it was very good. A bigger bargain one could not imagine for a 40 year old dram.
So what did it taste like, well.
On the nose:
Dried Fruits, lots of sherry, a little bit flinty, and a touch of spice
On the Palate:
Sherry again, and chrystalised fruit, nuts and dates folowed by some spice, nutmeg, sweeter on the end.
The finish:
Bits of spice and a little orange peel. Oaky from the cask, but not overbearing.
All in all a pretty good dram, I certainly have poured myself another, and leaving it to open out a little gives it a bit more complexity in the spice range.
This would be good value at four times the price, so I can’t really complain about getting up early for once!
Champdenwhite 