Review #44: Glengoyne Cask Strength (Batch #4)

Distillery: Glengoyne

Region: Highland

ABV: 58.8%

Age: NAS

Price: $5.75 for a 30 mL Sample

Color: 1.3, Russet/Muscat

. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.

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Nose (according to the wife): A nice big bunch of jasmine flowers and sweet berry jam. Maybe a bit of a fresh berry tart?

Palate: Mouthfeel is medium in thickness with a very slight oily element. There’s a load of fruit in here in the form of pears, white peaches, and tart berries (I thought tart raspberries). Along with the fruit, there is some honey—almost like you’re biting into a bowl of fruit after you poured a bit of honey on top of it. Absolutely delicious. It is, however, extremely hot. There’s a lot of fresh oak spices and it really dominates the tail end of this. With a bit of water, the heat goes away but the distinct differences/layers of fruit do as well as they muddle into more of a fruit tart flavor.

Finish: Medium in length. Again, there is a lot of fresh oak spice. On the tail end, there’s a bit of sherry as well as candied ginger. With a bit of water, the candied ginger is significantly more noticeable.

Conclusion: I haven’t had the pleasure to try a Glengoyne before and part of me kicking me for having passed up a few opportunities before. The nose is lovely and refreshing with the flowers and berries. The palate is delicious with complex layers of fruit that are absolutely delicious. The candied ginger near the end is also a very nice. The biggest detractor in this for me is how much oak spice there is. While I expect a cask strength to be strong, the oak spices in here almost make it hard to drink. Would I buy a bottle? If I could find one, probably. In any case, this makes me interested to see what else this distillery can offer.

Final Score: 84

Scotch whisky review #44, Highland review #12, Whisky Network Review #61

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection.
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.