dhsilv2
Glengoyne 30 Year
Single Malt — Highland, Scotland
Reviewed
April 11, 2020 (edited December 25, 2025)
Glengoyne 30 Year
Seems I can’t add the whisky tonight…so I guess I’ll write this and see if distillers ever gets their system to work. It did, but there is an error and the abv is off, 46.8%
Nose – there’s a distinct and strong oak character in this one. Beyond that is dark fruit and yet a sweet and bright malt that’s a bit unexpected. My understanding is that this is a mix of first fill and refilled sherry, unlike the 21 and 25 which are all first fill. I’m also not sure if they use some American oak here instead of exclusive European. It would not surprise me if we have some American oak in here.
Taste – Oak remains on the flavor, this is really one of the more oak forward scotches I’ve had. The sherry casks of course bring with the oak everything you want from sherry. Dark fruits, raisins, chocolate, plums, and the oak brings spices as well. Just when you think maybe it is a touch oak bitter, the whisky transitions to what almost makes me think juicy fruit and oak along with raisins and brown sugar.
Glengoyne rarely leads me to writing books, it’s a sherry showcase that in this one brings in a lot of really nice cool oak elements that might put some off. Me this is my wheel house, but their basic malt is fairly simple and with that, you really don’t get a lot for extra depth.
4.0 – outstanding whisky but at 600, I’m not sure outstanding is good enough for most. But I can’t say another bottle won’t be in my future from another batch. The quality is absolutely here.
600.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@Soba45 god bless, 160ish for either here. :(
@dhsilv2 Over here i can still get the GD 18 old stock for $95 vs $115 for GG 21. Definitely no contest! Managed to last week get at old GD 15 bottling in a swap..very happy with that :-)
@Soba45 i found the 21 completely forgettable until the finish and then, it really left an impression. That said it costs about the same as glendronach 18 and that’s just not even a fair fight. The 25 is a massive step up. Good friend and imo a whisky expert, after he tasted the 25 called me up and said "omg, this is better than macallan 25". he happens to be a fan of macallan for additional context.
@dhsilv2 Yes whilst I liked the 21 by the end I didn't think interesting enough to get another. @cascode Yes under 21 yr haven't been a fan.
@PBMichiganWolverine I have two bottles of the 25 open...cause you know wanted to know if there was any variation. So if that tells you how much I love that whisky. If you want an oloroso forward spirit, there really isn't a better bottle to buy. That said it is still glengoyne malt....which is boring and adds little to the bottle. Some may like that (I do to a degree) and others won't. But yeah it's a whisky I don't ever want to be without a bottle or two open.
@Soba45 yeah—-curious to see what folks think of the 25. I bought a bottle, and if it’s worth it, I’ll go storage diving to find it
I've never been a great fan of Glengoyne, at least not the younger expressions. The 18 is OK and the 21 pretty nice. This 30 sounds excellent but I'm not paying that sort of money.
@PBMichiganWolverine I have a sample buried away which I'll hopefully be able to dig out in the next few months and let you know. I liked the 21 year, very decent drop. 4.25 i gave it from memory
Have you tried the 25? Wondering how that stood up.