Glengoyne 12 year old

Rating: ★★★★
Type: Single malt
Origin: Highlands, Scotland
Reaction: 🙂

Glengoyne is a Scottish whisky distillery located in the southern Highlands of Scotland, about half an hour drive north of Glasgow. It adopts a practice of air drying barley, rather than using peat, which tends to result in a clean fruity flavour profile. The Glengoyne 12 year old is comprised of whiskies that have matured in sherry casks.

Nose: 

Oranges, tea cake, Earl Grey tea and mild hints of licorice are all buoyed by chocolate, dried dates, lychee skins, nuts, cinnamon and citrus oils.

Palate:

On the entry the whisky is balanced, with flavours of vanilla, red toffee apple, spice (especially cinnamon), orange cake and a gradually intensifying Italian hot chocolate. The flavour profile then morphs into gooey caramel and melting orange and Champagne truffles. Despite these sweet sounding descriptors, the whisky is not what I would describe as sweet and it is nicely balanced.

Finish:

The finish is mildly warming, with the lingering taste of a wedge of lemon doused in lager (think Corona and a lemon wedge), cinnamon spice, caramels, honey, coffee lollies and chocolate.

Bottom line: 

Buy it, if you want an easy drinking but complex Highland single malt with a very fair price tag. I have tasted Glengoyne 12 year old a few times in bars and at Whisky Live, but its intricate flavours did not leap out as they do when I taste it at home. This is a dram that can be easily under-appreciated, and while it is not very challenging, it is a supremely drinkable whisky.  It is a fruity whisky with a toffee apple/citrus theme and soft hues of vanilla, spice and chocolate from the oak – delicious, if you are in the mood for something elegant and poised

Match with: 

Pair this whisky with a mild-medium cigar with zesty undertones, such as a Perdomo 10th Anniversary Champagne cigar or a Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve, the latter of which set my palate abuzz with spice when puffed alongside Glengoyne 12 year old – find a curious chilli flake burn and cinnamon spiced chocolate entanged in the tobacco smoke, smoothed by the vanilla and toffee in the whisky.