Glengoyne 10 y.o.

I enjoy this whisky a lot. I think it's mellow flavor and complete lack of peat make it stand out in the world of heavy Islay malts that have become the staple of the scotch enthusiast. I do feel it's a bit young, though. I am looking forward to trying an older bottle. I believe there is a 12y or 15y out there.

Ian

There may well be 12 and 15yo versions floating around out there, but locally the next age for owner's bottlings is the 17yo, which is not unreasonably priced and offers more flavor than the 10yo.

There is also a "Scottish Oak" version, but I am uncertain of its age; I haven't tried that one yet.

Bart

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww "May I, as a humble Scotsman (living within sight of the Auchentoshan distillery) offer the bit of advice that my father gave me...

'The best way to drink whisky is the way that suits you best.'

Never been known to fail."

---------- John Daly, Erskine, Scotland in alt.drinks.scotch-whisky

In what ways does the 17yo offer more flavour Bart? I think the 10yo is a very nice malt indeed, but not quite distinguished enough to make it a regular dram. Now if there was a richer version....

See, I don't find it young at all. There is a limited edition 12yo "National Scottish Heritage Fund", something like that out right now but the OB 12yo has been replaced by the OB 10yo. The next step up is the 17yo which is really good but I find the apple'n'spice qualities I like about Glengoyne are dumed down (but there is more soft sherry notes if you like that.)

Johanna

It's been a long while since I had it so this is based on a fading memory, but compared to the 10 the 17 is "smoother" or more mellow from the additional aging. The whisky is unpeated and malty; lots of it's character will be due to notes it picks up from the wood. The 17yo will have more woody flavors due to its time in cask, but also due to the flavor profile Glengoyne was deliberately vatting. It probably has more sherry too, as Johanna mentioned, although I don't remember sherry calling attention to itself. Put simply, it is very much like the 10yo, but with "the volume turned up". Some of the "fruity" flavors may come from sherry casks as well as from the esters derived from distillation.

I've only had one bottle of it and at the time I was still drinking a lot of Irish whiskey. I was most interested in the way Glengoyne had a clear "Scotch" taste even though it was unpeated. It was very different from an unpeated Irish malt whiskey like the Bushmills 10yo or the (unpeated) whiskies from Cooley.

I never repurchased it although I did like it and it was reasonably priced (at least locally). I tried it early on in my "malt studies" and at the time was much more attracted to trying something I had not had before than in revisiting the malts I liked. By the time I had gotten over the beginer's enthusiasm for the untasted distillery I had settled on a preference for big powerful flavors and buy few of the delicate or balanced whiskies - that's just a personal preference.

If you do try it I would love to hear what you think of it, your experience then being fresh and mine now a distant memory.

Bart

Thank you for the comments and advice. I purchased a 10yo and am thoroughly enjoying it.

Alex

Bart, Glengoyne uses palo cortado sherry casks which produce dry and crispy notes (more like Fino sherry) and a nutty flavour rather than the louder sherry notes you get with Oloroso, so the sherry is not obvious in the way you'd come to expect from whiskies such as Glendronach or Macallan.

Johanna

Do you think this is strictly a beginner's trait Bart? While I revisit many old favourites, my curiosity never ceases to be peeked by the dram I have yet to try. But perhaps that simply makes me a marketeer's sucker... I couldn't resist ordering the latest Glenrothes 1971 (32yo) vintage, the last remaining casks from 1971 at the distillery, blah, blah, blah...

Speaking of Glenrothes, does anyone else here find a parallel between older Glenrothes and Springbank (the earlier bottlings not the new releases)? I was musing about this over the Glenrothes 1979 the other night.

Johanna

Thanks. I'll make a note of the difference. That might be why I didn't notice the sherry before. Then again, as I said, I tasted this whisky some years back when the world of Scotch malts was still (for me) uncharted territory; I'd like to think I've refined my palate some over the years, and perhaps just missed it because I didn't know what to look for. I certainly had no doubts about your info. Hmmm... Glengoyne is clearly ripe for another tasting...

Bart

P.S. I haven't come to expect sherry to result in Glendronach. That stuff is nasty! The first Glendronachs I had were nice 12yo.s that had a good dose of sherry, (i.e. not the flask shaped bourbon versions) but they were replaced locally with the pure sherry 15yo which is sherried all out of proportion. And it's not just "too" sherried but poorly sherried. You once used the phrase "rudely sherried". I am not sure what *you* meant by that, but I loved the sound of it and have adopted it as my own in conversations and use it to mean obnoxious cloying sherry, like that found in the current Glendronach.

Old Mac's (and Aberlours and Glenfarcli) are entirely another matter.

No, it's not just a beginner's trait. In fact, earlier this year *I* was complaining in these pages that there had been very few new and different whiskies available locally, because I was craving novelty. And I'm still more likely to try something I haven't tasted over something I know, and know I actually like. But not a new expression of Tomintoul over a tried and true Caol Ila.

Still, for myself alone, there was a clear marcation between the time when every new and untried whisky was a mystery and the time I began to know what to expect from a bottle before I had even tasted it, and had a pretty good idea what my preferences were. I had tried something from between 1/2 to

The difference was when I quit going to the store thinking "I want something new to try" but rather "I want something peaty", or "I want something sherried", or "I want something simple and honest from plain wood". And knew which bottlings were likely to deliver exactly what I wanted.

As to marketeer's hype, I'm equally susceptible. If a distillery ever bottles an expression with the year of bottling (like the Singleton and, I think, Knockandhu) *and* significantly varies the expression from year to year (sherry one year, bourbon the next, the next at 50%ABV, port-finished the next, etc...) I'm sure I'll go bankrupt!

Speaking of Glenrothes, I haven't heard of this 32yo 1971. I'm sure I'm happier in my ignorance! I really love Glenrothes. Can you give me the (painful) details? That '79 is really a beauty isn't it? I'm assuming it's the 22 year old not the earlier one at - what was it? - 14 yrs or so?

What comparison did you make between Springbank and Glenrothes?

Bart

The MLCC (and many stores in Calgary) carry the 1989 12y.o. Glenrothes, and were it not for the very steep $90 CAD that they charge for it here, I would probably already have tried it; as it is, I think ninety dollars is too high to experiment on a twelve-year-old malt that from what I've read appears to be one of the less than stellar releases from this distillery.

Nice looking bottle, though.

Any comments?

-Matt

I happened to pick up a bottle of 17 yo for ~ 41 euros last month (yeah, I'm Dutch, price counts!) and was very pleasantly surprised. No tasting notes but happy memories... very rich, clean, soft and yet 'deep'. I love peaty whiskies but this one deserves respect as well. A whisky that drinks very easily (instant refill!). It won some Gold award and I can see why. Reason to try its younger sibling some time... but first a peat fix!

regards, Mark H

Thanks Bart and Mark for your replies. Clearly I am going to have to search out a bottle of this. Much as I love the reek of Islay peat, there are times when I get a bit tired of it. The hot summer we've had in western Europe has put me quite off them for the moment. I've been turning to Bruichladdich (unsurprisingly), Dalmore, Tomatin or, occasionally, Springbank (a wonderful flavour, but I find it takes me a glass or two to adjust to it). The Glengoyne 17yo definitely sounds like my sort of thing.

The S.O.G. is a 16yo limited edition, priced about the same as the 17yo (~$50USD). The intent was to boost up the flavor intensity of the whisky without destroying the distillery character. I am not one who normally agrees with the me-too wood finishing craze, but I do like the differences between the S.O.G. and the 17yo. The influence of the wood finishing is extremely evident in a spicy, resiny, astringent sort of way which contrasts against the honeyed sweet softness of the 17yo. The S.O.G. to me has a bit more going on with the clean crisp woody notes cutting through the thickly sweet distillery character, but leaving enough behind to let you know it's there. There are also rumors of a S.O.-matured Glengoyne in the warehouses, so that would be another one to keep a watch on.

I've never been too big on the Glengoyne 10yo, it is just too subtle and tepid to interest my jaded tastebuds. However, there have been some stunning bottlings from this highly underrated distillery. The Cadenhead's Chairman's Stock bottling from a few years ago immediately comes to mind as does the first online bottling of the 30yo from JT at scotchwhisky.com.

Sláinte, Bushido

Bart,

Glenrothes has a series of single cask bottlings and limited editions only available in Europe AFAIK. Their marketing segments are divided between "regular" dated releases (like the 71/32) packed in a round fibreboard tube, "vintage" releases (like the 79/22) cradled in a cardboard frame and metal ashtray, "restricted" releases (like the 72/23 yellow label), "special" releases (like the single casks from '66 and '67). Check out this link for more info:

A new Glenrothes OB vintage release was just introduced in Chicago this week, a 1974/29yo. My initial impression is that it does not represent the same sleeper QPR of the 1979/22yo that slipped under everyone's radar earlier in the year. It is a fine example of Glenrothes firmly in the same style as the 79/22, but with the success of that bottling comes a much higher price tag (and higher pressure of price-based expectations) for the

For my money, the "restricted release" 1972 "yellow label" remains an all-time favorite. I'd be interested to hear from Johanna if she has a/b'd the yellow label 1971/27 with her new 1971/32. From the website, the 32yo looks much darker, although the label tasting notes are virtually identical.

Johanna,

WRT Springer comparison, if anything I think the Glenrothes of old is less desirable than the recent bottlings, the opposite of Springbank. Glenrothes is suffering from a reverse discrimination because they flooded the market with substandard bottlings in the early to mid 90's. Springbank is riding on a reputation they built up during the same time and IMHO, are hard pressed to deliver the goods to fulifill the promise of that reputation. From a marketing perspective, sure they are both releasing multiple niche levels, but the difference is Glenrothes appears to have enough of the old inventory to get at the sweet spot of their production years. I don't know if they suffered the on again / off again production schedule like Springbank, but I would doubt it given their close affiliation with the very popular Cutty Sark brand.

Sláinte, Bushido

Bushido/Bart --

I ordered the newly released 1971 GR (32yo) but have yet to see it in my mailbox. That said, at some point in the future I do look forward to a/b comparison with the old, yellow label 1971 -- should be interesting, as you point out the label descriptors seem to be almost identical.

By the way Bushido, what is the price of the new 1974 released in your area? I am completely blown away by the 1979, the quality in the bottle at such a price is unbelievable. Unfortunately I don't get the impression it will be making its way up to Canada which is a complete shame.

As for comparisons between older Glenrothes (ie. 1979, 1971, 1972) and older Springbanks (the good stuff), I didn't make any notes but was just reflecting the other week that the 1979 seemed to have a some of the notes that I enjoy in the old Springbank bottlings as I started wondering about some of the ltd release Glenrothes but did not do any comparisons or give it much more thought. I have also encountered a number of diehard Springbank fans who also seem to have a sweet spot for the limited release Glenrothes so wonder if there could be similarities that I hadn't thought about before. I will sometime this weekend do ahead to head with the 1979 and a Springbank 21 to see if I'm staying up too late these nights or if there really is any comparison to be made between the whiskies themselves.

And while we're on the subject of Springbank, has anyone on the group bothered to get the latest 12 year old, 175th anniversary bottling? I'd be interested to hear if anyone feels that this bottling is starting to approach the benchmark they previously set with their old line of whiskies.

Johanna

All,

I like the 175th Anniversary and do not like the current 15 at all. The

Mark K

In NE Illinois, I've seen the 74 Glenrothes for $85 (US).

...

Johanna,

My local retailer has it for $85USD on "introductory special". The price will go up ten dollars after the end of next week. Here is a link to the retailer, maybe someone can mule one to the G.W.N. for you :

I haven't personally been struck by a lot of "Springbankness" in the Glenrothes bottlings, but I have been very impressed by the concerted efforts they have made to improve the quality of the product. I don't know what happened at BB&R in the 90's, but they seem to have made a change for the better in their marketing efforts and quality control lately. I like Springbank and I like Glenrothes, but I haven't thought much about any similarities in their characteristics.

To me, the best Glenrothes bottlings reek of an elegant top-drawer Speyside, soft, round, with a subtle depth of flavor whose layers unfold into interesting pockets of different elements. I suppose the same could be said of Springbank, but the revelations are different in character, with that signature briny ozone feel that I just don't get in the Glenrothes. I'd be very interested in hearing your impressions when you get around to the comparison study. I'd have to think for a while about which two representatives I'd even pick to narrow the gap between the two distilleries' characteristics.

I bought the last one on my local retailer's shelf, but haven't opened it yet. The "preiss" of admission is pretty steep for a 12yo whisky, $80USD in the Chicago area. This is a limted run of 12,000 bottles, don't know exactly how many were allocated to which areas of the world. It is a shade lighter than the current 15yo and much darker than the last 12yo bottling I have in the vaults.

Sláinte, Bushido