Glengoyne Legacy Series: Chapter Three

N: Punchy and wiht a slight ethanol burn. Lightly floral malt with lashings of honey, danish pastries and raisins. Spice comes and tannins and cinnamon. P: Creamy and trending towards slightly oily. Malty and thick fruit loaf with butter provide a robust backbone. There are the oozy sugary flavours of toffee and spiced pastries and the richness of a poached pear with cinnamon, ginger, and leathery oak. F: Medium. Oily and slightly dry. Bitter coffee, dry tannic oak, leathery caramel. Spicy (cinnamon, clove?) warmth. After a perfectly ordinary experience with the 12 and 18, the Legacy Three has slotted in without making waves. This would have been drunk as a better sequence between the 12 and 18, it is definitely the same distillery profile as the 12, with a somewhat more rushed feeling sherry casking compared to the 18. Indeed, when I look at the casks used for this Legacy Three I can’t help but feel its a bit of a jumble making use of odds and ends. A little harsh at 48% perhaps, but I’d also go so far as to say this has some more memorable character than the 18 or 12. An interesting dram, but still a bit ‘meh’ on the big scheme of things. Distiller whisky taste #289 [Pictured here with another Californian blueschist, this one from San Benito. This blueschist, whilst perhaps appearing mainly green is special for the unusually large size of the blue glaucophane crystals that owe this rock type its name. Forming at 200-500 deg C and depths of 15-30 km the glaucophane forms as part of a complex mineral reaction that reassembles the lower metamorphic grade chlorite (the green stuff!) that forms at shallower depths and lower pressures.] Glengoyne running scores: Glengoyne 12: 2.75/5 Glengoyne 18: 3.75/5 Legacy Series Three: 3.25/5

Nose: Boozy spiced fruitcake. Sticky malt sweetness. Palate: Sweet caramel, stewed orchard fruits, peppery heat develops. Finish: Tannic pear skins. The fruitcake arrives and lingers.

Had high hopes for this Whisky. Bit sharp upfront with quite some iso-amylacetate and ethyl acetate. Opens to plenty of vanilla and oak, but not a lot more than that to me. Fruity and apple-ish after taste, quite harsh. Bourbon and Sherry barrels are not obvious to me.