I’m following up my recent trip to Glengoyne with a review of one of their cheaper whiskies at the bottom end of their age ranges. Largely because this was a sample that I returned with, but also because it’s a commonly available whisky that costs less than £40.
This was the dram that was used to welcome visitors at the distillery on the Malt Master tour, just as we settled in for the introduction. My wife was the driver for the day, as I was mixing whisky, so we decanted that into a little sample bottle for me to try at home. Though I enjoyed it on the day, I’m glad I did have the chance to analyse it at home because it turned out to be a very nice whisky indeed.
So if you want to read about Glengoyne, you can do that. Otherwise, here’s one of their entry-level bottlings – the Glengoyne 12 Years Old, which is bottled at 43% ABV and which is available to buy as little as £35 a bottle if you know where to look.
Glengoyne 12 Years Old Tasting Notes
Colour: old gold.
On the nose: rush of apples, the distillery’s trademark character. All shades of it too, from dry cider to russet. Peaches and apricots. Then digestive biscuits, or rather malted milks. Floral honey. Very fresh and clean.
In the mouth: clean, fresh, hoppy almost, but then definitely into shades of mead, apples (stewed and green), cider. Plenty of cereal character as well, with an Aultmore-like grassiness to boot. The texture, though, is lovely. Nice and viscous, chewy. Just lovely to sit in the mouth. Digestive biscuits. This is not the most overly complex dram in the world, but it is exceptionally well executed for the price.
Conclusions
An excellent clean, fresh whisky, well-made and with enough depth of flavour for this being lovely at the start of the evening. I suspect newcomers might find this especially approachable – and note, that I think that not because it is bland (it isn’t) but that it’s got so much softness, and tenderness: a late-summer shaft of sunlight across an orchard.
There’s a lot to be said for having a whisky like this on your shelf – something that works well as an everyday drinker. I’ll certainly be buying a bottle soon.
