🥃 Smoke Devil Marries a Delicate Sweet Thing – Tasting Notes
Tasting Card Version
Distillery / Region: Glen Garioch (Highlands) — SMWS code G8
Age: 14 years
Cask Type: Bourbon + re-fill sherry butts
ABV: 59.0% (cask strength)
Outturn: 1,224 bottles
This is a bold Highland malt that fuses peat smoke and sherry richness — the "smoke devil" tempered by sweet elegance. Balanced, complex, and lingering.
Nose: Smouldering embers, tobacco, cherry, cassis, dark chocolate, orange zest
Palate: Peat smoke leads into glazed cherry, toasted nuts, rhubarb, cardamom, blueberry pancakes
Finish: Long with smoky spice, dark chocolate, and dried fruit
Food Pairing:
- Dark chocolate truffles or smoked duck breast
- Sticky toffee pudding with smoked salt caramel
- Blue cheese with honey or walnut bread
Detailed Write-Up
Distillery & Release Story
Bottled under SMWS code G8, this expression comes from Glen Garioch, one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries. While Glen Garioch traditionally produces robust Highland malts, this release introduces heavy peat into the equation — layered atop sherry cask richness. Aged 14 years in bourbon and re-fill sherry butts, it represents a complex, mature meeting of fire and sweetness.
The name evokes a whisky of duality — a "Smoke Devil" crashing a tea party — and the result is just as theatrical. With only 1,224 bottles released, it's a unique profile worth savouring slowly.
Tasting Experience
The nose opens with a bold hit of smouldering wood, tobacco leaf, cassis, and dark chocolate. Let it rest and the dram reveals cherry compote, orange zest, and a leathery richness.
On the palate: peat forward, yet elegantly tamed. Flavours of glazed cherry, rhubarb, blueberry pancake, and spice (cardamom, nutmeg) play alongside toasted oak. With water, hints of marshmallow and sherry trifle emerge.
The finish is long, smoky-sweet, and softly spicy — fading like a fireplace on a winter night.
Serving Tips
Pour neat into a Glencairn and let it breathe. At 59.0%, this cask-strength dram benefits from a few drops of water to coax out its fruit and spice layers. Serve later in the lineup to highlight its depth.
Food Pairings & Talking Points
Ideal Pairings:
- Dessert: Dark chocolate, mango trifle, sticky toffee pudding
- Savoury: Smoked meats, duck breast, barbecue-glazed ribs
- Cheese: Stilton or blue cheese with honey drizzle
Conversation Hooks:
- Ask guests: Which side wins for you — the smoke devil or the sweet thing?
- Talk about Glen Garioch’s history and rare foray into peat
- Highlight how sherry and peat balance each other in modern whisky craft
🏰 Glen Garioch’s History & Rare Foray into Peat
Glen Garioch (pronounced “Glen Geery”) is one of Scotland’s oldest working distilleries, founded in 1797 in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire — deep in the eastern Highlands. Known for robust, malty single malts with notes of orchard fruit and spice, the distillery has a cult following for its classic Highland style.
But from the 1970s through the early 1990s, Glen Garioch produced heavily peated whiskies, using Islay-style peat to dry the malt. These smoky Highland malts were bold, characterful, and unlike anything else in the region. After the distillery closed and re-opened in 1997, the peated style was largely retired — making modern peated Glen Garioch extremely rare.
🔥 Glen Garioch: Peat, Patience & Reinvention
Founded in 1797, Glen Garioch is one of Scotland’s oldest operating distilleries — nestled in the town of Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire. For most of its life, it’s been known for unpeated Highland malt, but in the late 20th century, the distillery briefly turned to peat for a smokier style.
These peated runs were short-lived, and the style nearly vanished — making any peated Glen Garioch today a rarity worth celebrating. “Smoke Devil Marries a Delicate Sweet Thing” channels that brief past with a modern twist: not just smoke, but balance — with sweetness, spice, and coastal intrigue all in one glass.
"Smoke Devil Marries a Delicate Sweet Thing" is a throwback to that smokier era — a celebration of contrast, and a rare glimpse into the peated soul of this historic Highland house.
To sum up...
🥃 Smoke Devil Marries a Delicate Sweet Thing – SMWS G8
Heavily Peated Highland Malt • 14 Years • 59.0% ABV • 1,224 Bottles
Appearance:
Golden copper with oily legs — hints at the sherry richness and cask strength texture.
Aroma:
Bold and dark: tobacco, smouldering embers, dried cherry, cassis, and toasted oak
Palate:
Peat-driven but balanced: campfire smoke, rhubarb compote, blueberry pancakes, spiced syrup, and marshmallow
Finish:
Long, warm, smoky with sherry-drenched dried fruit and baking spice fading slowly.
📝 Suggested Tasting Note for Event:
Smoke Devil Marries a Delicate Sweet Thing – A complex Highland whisky from Glen Garioch, full of peat smoke, sherry richness, and fruity elegance. Sweetness and spice swirl around a smoky core. A dram to sip slowly and contemplate. Just 1,224 bottles produced.