Glengoyne 17 Year Old

Long slow warm fruity arrival develops a balanced fruity & vegetable thick oily long mouth coating finish.

Glengoyne claims to be the only Scottish distillery to not use peat as fuel to dry its malt. This is the third expression of Glengoyne I've tried - the other being the 10yo, (far too malty and cereal flavoured for my liking) and the 21yo - much better, gentler, softer but pricey. So here we go with one in the middle......

I get a sharp citrussy nose but with some maltiness underneath, (nowhere near as much as with the 10yo thankfully). There is a nuttiness apparent - hazelnuts particularly. Still, this is not as good as I'd hoped for.

The palate is much softer and sweeter than the nose - in fact it's entirely different to what I expected. Primarily we have a toffee-sweet dominance but there are lemon notes too. A very slight note of freshly cut grass also comes through - lemongrass? The mouthfeel thickens as we progress.

Now nosing it again it has become a touch sweeter and fresher. Becoming more interesting as we go on.

Medium-long finish with the citrus/lemon edge dominating.

Vastly superior to the rather rubbish 10yo, but just give it a bit of time if it seems disappointing at first.

This is only a miniature I'm sampling but just seen that a full 70cl bottle costs more than the 21yo!! And now also I've just noticed that the 18yo has replaced the 17yo in the standard range. Perhaps I should have had hung onto it.

I could not pass this up when I saw a bottle of this for only $58 US. Basically, the sweetness and sherry without smoke remind me of a Glenlivet 18, but at about $30 US less. The only problem is this one is hard to find and I understand that this 17 YO will no longer be bottled. If you find a bottle at a good price and you want a sherried malt that is inoffensive, give this one a try.

Nose: Raspberries, clover, sugar wafer, white chocolate, honeycomb

Palette: perfect delivery, holds off and then gently swells to a crescendo: clover honey, pistachio ice cream, cashews, halvah, moonbeams, faerie's treacle, the stuff dreams are made of.

Finish: long but delicate and it goes on and on, decrescendo: peanut butter wafer, honey, sea salted caramel

NOW THIS is a desert whisky and so much more. It's not a powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a delicate beauty with a decidedly feminine persona. Chicks would dig this whisky, but so would burly hairy chested men who are willing to admit what tastes delicious without whacking their tastebuds with a salty plank. In my prime, I regularly bench pressed 350 lbs and squatted much more when I played American football and rugby in college, and Iove a good strong Islay single malt, hell, I even have a dog that I named "Islay," but sometimes a nice delicate and floral whisky is just what the witch doctor ordered. When my girlfriend tasted this whisky tonight, she instantly loved it. This and Peat Monster are her two favorites in our cupboard at the present time. Go figure. I was shocked when she took to Peat Monster last week, but she did, even though she waters it down quite a bit. . . .

At any rate, GG17 is indeed an underrated treasure from the "line" between the highlands and lowlands. How could I have not known about this distiller? What a much needed pleasant surprise after two recent failures over the past month buying a bottle of Highland Park 18 and a bottle of Dalmore 15 that turned out to be overwrought garbage.

My cap's raised high in the direction of Glengoyne! Tapadh leat!

I bought this online at KL for $50 just a few months ago and I’ve already gone through half the bottle. With all the open bottles I have that’s a little unusual. The other odd thing is I thought my score would have come out higher considering how much I liked it and how fast I drank it.

Glengoyne uses completely un-peated malt and I can say I detect absolutely no peat, not that that’s a bad thing. They claim their malt is air dried and the mash has a very slow distillation rate. It sounds like they are in no hurry to make this scotch.

Oloroso casks from Spain are used for their whisky. The sherry spends about two years in the casks before they are broken down and shipped to Glengoyne. The fact that the casks only spend 2 years with sherry in them explains the milder sherry flavor in this scotch. I like that the sherry flavor to this scotch is in balance and on the milder side. I don’t like overly sweet sherried scotches.

Smell: Light citrus sherry sent. This is NOT the dark fruit sherry like Macallan. Right away you can smell that familiar scotch sent. Malted barley, and vanilla cake. Honey(mead) comes out after a little water is added. It smells so nice and light, no detectable offensive scents. I can smell orange zest, banana, marmalade, dried apricots. No real floral notes.

Palette: It has a buttery mouth feel, not dry and distinct pepper spice. It’s lightly sweet and I tiny bit bitter.

Finish: The finish is moderate to long. The lighter sherry flavor allows some of the other flavors to hang out awhile. It’s a well balanced.

Conclusion: The only complaint about this scotch is that there’s a very slight metallic flavor to it. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s the spicy peppery burn that is bringing out this metallic note, every so light that it is.

I think I’ll seal cap with tape and store it for a year and see if my notes change. I must have liked it went down pretty quick. Recommended

Color: gold

Nose: Clear wood smell: lumber yard and tires, as if almost smoky; maybe some light brazil nut.

Palate: Surprisingly sweet entry, and then WOOD, simply. Oily toffee mutes any bitterness, so it is smooth and balanced.

Finish: Wood and toffee linger pleasantly. After a while bitter on roof of mouth beckons another sip.

Far better than the 10-year in its smoothness, the 17-year is easy to drink. I usually like something more complex in flavor, but this makes a decent and bold statement of pure lumber.

I'd like to refer you to my previous Glengoyne review, that of the 10yr, where I said it was a solid young malt that shouldnt be overlooked. Well after having such a good experience with that standard botting, I thought I would treat myself to the next expression up so to speak.

And that brings me to this 17yr Glengoyne, it holds a lot of the qualities of the 10yr and expands on them. It remains easy on the nose, but there is a lot more going on, picking up more fruit, and almost a bit woody. When you taste it, again it retains the smoothness and drinkability of its younger brother, but gives you a richer, fruiter flavour to savour.

The dram finishes nicely, not too short and it allows the flavour to really sink in. All in all it improves on the younger offering, but isnt mind-blowing though, it seems to feel like it's a little above standard and that there is more to come. I know Glengoyne have older expressions available, so I may have to sample them to find my perfect dram from that distillery!

Nose : Sherry notes, some raisins, oak, and baked apples again. heavier then the 10 year old... bigger bodied, but same ‘DNA’.

palate: Rich and mouth coating. Fruits, big oak notes, butterscotch and nuts. very satisfying.

Finish : Long, Oaky, wood spice.

Bottom line :

I like this one better, heavier, more complex and with a bigger body and aftertaste. the 10 yer old on steroids.

Glengoyne 17 yo , 43% , £48 Nose : Sherry notes, some raisins, oak, and baked apples again. heavier then the 10 year old... bigger bodied, but same ‘DNA’.

palate: Rich and mouth coating. Fruits, big oak notes, butterscotch and nuts. very satisfying.

Finish : Long, Oaky, wood spice.

Bottom line :

I like this one better, heavier, more complex and with a bigger body and aftertaste. the 10 yer old on steroids.

The Nose: Soft, slightly floral, candied lemon and citrus notes...at times pleasantly reminiscent of Fruit Loops. There's an anise/Pernod quality as well, and since I'm name-dropping heavily manufactured, high-fructose, brand-name kids' foods, I might as well add Good N' Plenty's to the list. A bit of oak as well, and coupled with the citrus, some nice Earl Grey/Bergamot tones. There's also just a faint whiff of smoke.

The Palate: Kind of surprising in that it tasted far simpler than the nose lead me to believe. It tasted like...well, it tasted like single malt scotch. A nice light, slightly oily mouth-feel, some pepper and spice, some, not much, but some smoke, some burnt-orange and citrus notes. Nothing too unique or for that matter, rewarding here.

Finish: Medium, a little pepper and smoke. 17 years in wood comes through here more, but frankly, If I'd spent 17 years in a wood cask, I'd want someone to know a little sooner than the finish.

Thoughts: Smooth, balanced and proper in all the right ways but in the end, I was unimpressed. This is a light, social, aperitif scotch, refined, quaff-able and uncontroversial, not that I need my malts to be revolutionary firebrands, but very little stood out to make it an excellent dram.

A braw dram.