Glengoyne SMWS 123.8 “In the Spanish mountains”

Glengoyne is the one distillery in the Highlands that doesn’t let me down. It doesn’t run me around. And dessert me.

I’m going to have a tough time giving it up, to say the least. Not that I need to. I just somehow had to write a start and I’m on the last SMWS I’m going to review for a bit.

I say a bit because while I make it seem like this is all planned and I have my shit together, I’m mostly two bouts of writer’s block away from screaming at the top of my lungs and curling up with my cats, unable to drink again.

FUN!

None the less, Glengoyne is a Highland that I enjoy. And that’s rare, because Highland is the weakest region for me. And luckily I happen to like it, because my friends like it too.

But that’s usually not enough for me to buy a full bottle. I’m notoriously cheap, and when it’s a full bottle, I go for a sure thing.

Which worked out well for me so far. But this one was a Port Pipe! Crazy casks are a weakness, so I dove in.

Let’s see if I screwed up or not.

Price: N/A in Ontario

Outturn: 743

Date Distilled: 30th April 2001

Age: 12 years

Cask Type: Refill Port Pipe

Region: Highland

Abv: 59.2%

Colour: 2.5Y 7/8

Nose: Plum, white chocolate, Xmas pudding, caramel sauce, daisies

So yeah. It’s Port cask. No hiding that fact.

It doesn’t blast you like a sherry bomb. More so there’s this massive amount of well defined spice and caramel, all drizzled all over itself, making me have a 4 hour erection.

Jesus Christ, less than a week off sweets and I’m already mental. Well… more mental.

Taste: Brown sugar, plum pie, mint, caramel, chestnut

Christmas in August, just like it’s suppose to be based on the insane cult I was raised in.

The taste is missing the spice from before though. Which I guess is coal in my stocking. Or something. Let’s stop beating up that metaphor, shall we?

Finish: Creme de menthe, plum, rosemary, charcoal, nutmeg

Spice is back. Floral element is back, though more muted and mixed with earth.

The charcoal throws things off. Granted if I was still working on a coal fired ship, I probably wouldn’t notice it as much.

Granted I may also have black lung from all the charcoal dusted sweets that were suppose to be “thrown out”. Or black stomach. Or whatever that would be.

Conclusion: The nose writes a cheque that the rest of the whisky, in this case, can’t fully afford, and now has to dance for the rest of the money or have it’s legs broken and suck dick for the rest of it’s agonizing days.

Man, I’m beating the shit out of metaphors today.

Given the size of the outturn, I’m going to say this was a large Port Pipe. And given the youth of it, and the refill nature of the cask, it’s nearly there. May have been worth it to leave it for a few more years, however that could be debated.

If you’re a sucker for port casks, or Glengoyne in general, then this is a simple decision. It’s solid, quite tasty, and while there’s room for improvement, it’s still a nice dram overall.

82/100

Scotch review #467, Highland review #82, Whisky Network review #762