Glengoyne is a beautiful little distillery straddling the Highland line, but on the northern side to Lindores Abbey’s south. They emphasise tall stills and slow distillation, a patient approach also seen with their casks - a motto of the distillery being to never rush anything. It certainly makes for some great whisky. The distillery is perfectly known for its oloroso sherry casks, even producing one limited edition, the Teapot Dram, to commemorate the old dramming that was common in distilleries before health and safety banned it. Each employee would be offered at least 2 to 3 cask strength drams per day. And at Glengoyne, these would get mixed together in a big copper kettle from which you could take your dram from. Apparently it was much better than most barrels!
The distillery itself also has additional significance to us, because it was our first proper distillery to way back in 2012. We’ve been back quite a few times since. The distillery also is one of those great ones that offer visitors the opportunity to bottle your own from a cask they have at the visitor centre. This particular expression was bottled for us by former president of @quaichsta, Dan Hannaway, on a visit to the distillery a couple of years back, for which we tagged along. It is an 11-year-old from a single oloroso cask at 59.9% ABV - cask number 2431, if anyone’s interested.
The palate begins with the beautiful green and red apple so characteristic of this distillery quite rightly towards the front of the tongue, with lashings of dark, brown sugar coming in next to immerse the centre palate. It is rich and thick, almost chocolatey, with hints of dark chocolate and strong, rich fudge. A little bit of cinnamon spice comes in, mainly towards the finish, to make this a rounded, yet big dram. Adding a little water, just 3 drops, softens the dram slightly. The treacly notes are more muted, with a little bit of butterscotch coming in. I had expected to taste the apple more, but instead brown sugars are still there, but less refined - more like actual granules on the tongue. There is perhaps a little more apple, but it is cooked and sweetened. Overall, a very pleasant, rich dram that will satisfy any sherry head, although it’s maybe not the most unique of casks. Slàinte!
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