Glengoyne 1998 (Malts of Scotland #1131)

So you review and review and review, right? Basically it’s what you do beyond class, trips, work, sex, and whatever is on TV.

And you end up thinking you’re pretty hot shit. Then you walk into a bar that you haven’t been in for 2 years (as it’s in the UK and you live in Canada, so the commutes a bitch) and see not 1, but 4 different bottles from an independent bottler that you’ve never seen.

So you need to review them. Grab your buddy a pint for dealing with you, ask the guy for a glass with a chimney on it, and point out the whisky on the top shelf. It’s Glengoyne 1998 (Malts of Scotland #1131), a heavily sherried influence from those enigmas of the world, Malts of Scotland.

Now you’re in my shoes. I’ll need them back at lunch, have to go grab my lunch.

Anyway, Malts of Scotland is German. I think. The website is, so I’m assuming. Maybe they’re from Zimbabwe. And the have released a bunch, none of which I’ve ever seen.

Price: N/A in Ontario

Region: Highland

Abv: 55.5%

Cask Type: Sherry Hogshead

Cask MoS: 12056

Distilled: 04/1999

Bottled: 11/2012

Number of Bottles: 242

Colour: Pilsner

Nose: Butterscotch, watermelon, pear, thyme, lemon snack cakes, oat crackers, pineapple

Very flour-y and fruity. Do I know what if the fruit flavours work? Kind of? Maybe?

It’s odd. Very fruity, and very cake-y. Also really complex. I like it, I think.

Taste: Melon, pepper, caramel, mushroom, cherry, ginger

Fruity. Definitely can taste the sherry influence, with the earth, fruit, and spice. Actually less complex than the nose, yet the flavours are meshing a little bit better.

Doesn’t really taste like a whisky so much as a sherry. Which isn’t a bad thing for me, but be ready for it.

Finish: Pear, peach drink, spearmint, sulfur, mushroom

Boring finish with too much sulfur in it, which is too bad. I was actually starting to really appreciate this one, and then the finish took a sulfur dump and tasted like Cornwall, Ontario.

Conclusion: This would be a proper, interesting sherried whisky if not for the finish. Not a sherry bomb, rather a delicately made sherried whisky that just works.

Too bad the finish wasn’t anything great. If you can get over it, buy a bottle, otherwise it’s not a buy for me, yet a good try.

79/100

Scotch review #291, Highland review #46, Whisky network review #431