dhsilv2
Glengoyne 21 Year
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
January 19, 2020 (edited September 10, 2020)
The 25 is one of if not the best valued sherry whiskies on the market. How does the 21 year at a pathetically low 43% work?
Nose - So I get oak sour and bitter notes, some sherry plums and raisins, and oddly I'm getting vanilla like I'd get from a bourbon cask which doesn't make any sense as this is all european oak sherry butts. I should add this isn't the first time I got these notes either. Very sweet, fruity, but vegtably. i get almost a sweet and sour sauce note as well. Really complex and interesting, but not exactly what I'd expect on this. This is about my 4th pour from this bottle in the last 3 days since getting it, so I've removed enough from the bottle for it to oxidize but odds are it still needs a week. As always, i will try and come back at some point if things change up.
Taste - So up front you'll get the pathetic 43% and I'm not sure but I think this was chill filtered sadly (let me know). The result is that when it hits the tip of your tongue where often big bold whiskies blow you away without sweet flavors, it's almost a non event. Even as you get it into the middle of the tongue it's pretty boring. Then as you start to swallow, magic happens. The finish is this long complex fruity and well well aged oak note with some buttery elements, almost a burned caramel (not the caramel itself but the burned top). You get the spice from the European oak, the dark fruits from the sherry, but there's something else that's not expected that reminds me of a bourbon cask, it must be the from the malt.
Anyway, for 150 which this can be found for, it's awesome stuff though I'd get a glendronach 18 currently for about 160 (local prices). Really good value and it brings out some of the best notes you get in a sherry whisky, but it's complex and has bitter notes unlike some of the more sweat ones.
3.5 star score great stuff.
175.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@cascode eh, there's 2019 batches just now showing up around here.
@dhsilv I doubt very much it still is. Those batches are pretty much gone.
@Soba45 the glendronach 18 won't be a 24 year old scotch forever though.
Yeah I enjoyed it but wouldn't get another bottle as not as complex and more bitter than the Glendronach 18 as you noted and lower abv and more expensive here.