Glengoyne 21 Year

Literally a Christmas cake. Delicious dark fruits and extremely well balanced experience. It just lingers and lingers forever! Amazing.

Nose: Honeyed sherry, dark cherries, rum, malt, orange marmalade, dried figs, manuka honey, cinnamon, chocolate, red apple, almonds. A richly layered and complex sherry nose that keeps developing through the tasting. Over time a mild peppery note appears. [The dry glass aroma is all dark honey]. Palate: A deeply malty-oak arrival with magnificent texture and poise. The development brings out dark honey flavours together with roasted nuts and dried fruit. The orange marmalade from the nose appears again accompanied by cinnamon spice and a slice of rich fruitcake covered with caramel butter. Oak is strong in the background but not too dominating, the tannin presence is just kept in check and emerges as a bittersweet dark chocolate note. Finish: Medium/long. A malty dry sherry character becomes dominant and then segues into a dry aftertaste like overbrewed black tea which is on the very cusp of being too intense for balance. A polished and refined whisky with a certain reserved swagger. Allow this one the dignity of 20 minutes rest after pouring, particularly if it's a newly opened bottle. It needs time to compose itself before you presume to strike up an acquaintance. I'm not a great fan of highly sherried whisky but when I do indulge in it this is the form I like it to take - reserved, complex, and a little bit of a challenge with a dry side to its personality. The only fault I find here is that the dryness is just one notch too intense and veers towards bitterness in the aftertaste. It's like a dark fruit cake that has been baked for about 30 seconds too long. The nose is spectacular - I could enjoy nosing this all day. It's full and rich with many layers to explore. A dash of water does not hurt but changes the character slightly - it melds the nose together and reveals a slight minty note. The result is very good indeed and it keeps evolving over time. The first taste is divine, but subsequent tasting uncovers the furtive tannic note. Adding water brings out some ginger spice whilst slightly muting the tannin, which is a good trade-off for me. The finish, whilst very good, is where I feel it falls short and exposes 21 years of cask age. If it was just a smidge less bitter at the end it would be more to my palate. Again, adding water mutes this but too much flattens the palate. If watering this whisky then don't use more than a few drops at a time. Overall, this is a excellent sherried malt. It's a pleasure to savour and recommend. "Excellent" : 88/100 (4.5 stars)

Nose: Plums and a chocolate bitterness with an undertone of mint and orange zest Palate: Cinnamon, ginger, cloves, apple sauce Finish: Black pepper, dried apricots, vanilla A very interesting whisky that keeps changing and keeps you guessing. Very rich and potent and has me going back for another sip again and again to see if I've missed something.

clean. aged. amazing

Very good sherry whisky. The 25yo still the most excellent in its class!