Glengoyne 10 Year Old Whisky Review!

My first review of a Glengoyne, and my first go at their entry level 10-year old bottling. Yes it's chill filtered and bottled at 40% ABV, but it's naturally coloured, and also very reasonably priced.

According to the Scotch Whisky Association's regional classifications (which are becoming less relevant these days), Glengoyne is a Highland distillery, but only just - at an easy 30 minute's drive north of Glasgow it's very nearly in the Lowlands region. So very nearly in fact that while the distillery itself is in the Highlands, the distillery's warehouses over the road are located in the Lowlands. Originally founded in 1833 as 'Burnfoot Distillery', it was sold and renamed Glen Guin in 1876, which was changed to Glengoyne - meaning "Valley (Glen) of the Wild Geese - in the early 20th century. Ian McLeod Distillers purchased the distillery from Edrington Group in 2003, and the distillery has seen a number of upgrades in its time, resulting in a modest production capacity of 1.2-million litres of spirit per year through six wooden washbacks and three stills - one larger wash still and two smaller spirit stills. Glengoyne's main claims to fame are the total lack of peat used in production, and a long fermentation and slow distillation - reportedly the slowest in Scotland, while the vast majority of maturation takes place in ex-sherry casks, and thankfully they do not add any artificial colouring to their single malts, although most are chill filtered.

One more interesting point is that Glengoyne did for a time use Golden Promise barley, an older, lower-yielding barley variety that is also more vulnerable to disease than the modern varieties like Concerto and Optic. Unfortunately there isn't any official word on when Glengoyne switched from Golden Promise to Concerto, although that's not surprising. If they were to publicly announce something like this it may affect their sales, and create higher demand for their older bottlings. They were definitely exclusively using it when Ian McLeod purchased the distillery, so I'm guessing it happened relatively recently. A few distilleries have played around with Golden Promise in the past, and it arguably played a big part in the past successes of Macallan (who used it almost exclusively until 1994, while it now makes up less than 30% of their total barley usage), but Glengoyne persisted with the older barley type longer than most after it fell out of favour with most distillers in the early 1990s.

Being so close to Glasgow means Glengoyne is one of the more easily visited in Scotland, attracting its fair share of tourists, but also locals. It's an aesthetically pleasing distillery, with the traditional "pagoda" roof and scenic surroundings, and they offer both a hand-fill bottling and a distillery exclusive bottling known as "The Teapot Dram", which is widely praised. Aside from the large age statement range of 10, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 25-year old single malts, there's also a non-age statement Cask Strength offering, and quite a few travel exclusive bottlings. Aside from the 25-year old and obviously that Cask Strength expression, all are bottled at 43% ABV and are chill filtered, but naturally coloured as mentioned above. Interestingly, while this 10-year old entry level Glengoyne is matured in ex-sherry casks (mostly refill, I'd assume), the more expensive 12-year old is matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, and the NAS Cask Strength does not specify any cask types, while the rest of the range is fully-matured in ex-sherry. The aforementioned Cask Strength bottling is also very reasonably priced, and at under $100 AUD is in fact now one of the cheapest cask strength single malts to be found on Australian shelves, but I must admit that it has never quite pushed the right buttons for my tastes - despite the significantly higher prices, when looking for a cask strength sherried whisky I would (and have) opt for Glendronach's NAS Cask Strength bottlings or Aberlour's A'Bunadh instead. Although the Glengoyne is certainly a lighter style in comparison with those two, so some palates may beg to differ. As always, your experience may vary!

This 10-year old is the entry level Glengoyne expression, and is a more recent addition to the distillery's age statement line-up. Unusually for an entry level expression it's matured in Oloroso sherry casks, both American and European oak, although naturally they're going to be mostly refill casks, if not all refill. It's bottled at the minimum of 40% ABV, and is chill filtered and artificially coloured, but for the asking price and the target market that's understandable. Speaking of price, this one retails for around $75-80 AUD, which is very reasonable, although there are quite a few age stated single malts at that price level that are bottled at higher strength and presented more naturally - Ardbeg 10 and Benromach 10 for example. Let's give it a shot!

Glengoyne 10-year old, 40%. Highlands (just), Scotland.
Matured in ex-sherry casks, American & European oak, presumably refill. Chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Gold.

Nose: Red apples, honey, roasted nuts - walnut, chestnut, possibly brazil nut. White pepper, sweet stone fruit - peach, apricot, and some BBQ sauce-like spices, plus a sour / acidic tang. A little dusty oak and overripe banana further on.

Texture: Light-medium weight, warming & nutty. A little heat and youthful at times. 

Taste: More roasted nuts, more white pepper, and more stone fruit. Some toffee, a little oak again, and that acidic / sour note again - not a bad thing at all, just different.

Finish: Short length. More pepper, some solvent-y acetone, then more nuts, dried stone fruit - peach and apricot again. A little honey, overripe banana, and some dry wood spices to finish.

Score: 2.5 out of 5.

Notes: A nice easy, relatively simple dram here, but it still has its own distinct distillery style, which is nice. It's definitely quite nutty and not as sweet as I expected - which is also nice. There's certainly a youthfulness about it, with that pepper and acetone showing themselves - particularly on the finish, but they don't spoil the show. The nose is the highlight of this Glengoyne if you ask me, while the palate and finish are held back by the low (minimum) bottling strength. I can't help but feel the whole experience would be lifted if it was instead bottled at 43% like most of the distillery's range. But at this price point that's an understandable decision, this is an entry-level bottling after all.

I can see this Glengoyne working well for a novice or newcomer, or as a gift - there aren't any particularly challenging or confronting notes here that could put anyone off. It's a crowd pleaser, and it makes for a light & easy thirst-quencher of a whisky. 

Cheers!