I usually have restaurant meal reports on Tuesdays but as this is officially still primarily a whisky blog let’s start the month with a whisky review instead. I’ll have a report tomorrow on our most recent takeout meal, which saw us return to Godavari in Eden Prairie.

Meanwhile, back to K&L’s exclusive casks from late 2020. I’ve had a pretty decent outing with them so far—only the Glenfiddich/Hector Macbeth 23 disappointed a bit and even that was far from bad; the Bunnahabhain 12, the Craigellachie 16, the Blair Athol 24 and the Glen Garioch 10 all came in above 85 points. That’s on my regular ratings scale. On my patented EW! or Everybody Wins! rating system they scored quite a bit higher but you should not bother with that unless you work at K&L. Okay, time to see what this Glengoyne is like. It’s not the best sign that it’s been finished in PX—often an indicator of a rescue attempt on something over-oaked. Let’s see if that’s the case.

Glengoyne 11, 2008 (56.3%; Old Particular for K&L; PX sherry finish; from a bottle split)

Nose: Lemon peel and oak spice make the first impression. The lemon turns quickly to sharper citronella and then with time it mellows letting sweeter fruit up to the surface (plum, berries) along with some vanilla; the oak recedes. Really quite nice now. A few drops of water and the berries pick up some cream.

Palate: A nutty, beany start with the citrus (lemon peel) returning as I swallow. Thick, oily texture. On the second sip there’s quite a lot of the oak spice from the nose and the malt emerges as well. No change as such with time that’s worth reporting. Let’s add a bit of water. Hmm more acidic now and even more oaky bite—and also some of the grainy character from the finish.

Finish: Long. The citrus peel continues and oak spice and a grainy note rise up to join it. The nutty, beany notes expand here on the finish with water and it picks up an astringent note.

Comments: This is no one’s idea of a sherry-forward malt, leave alone a PX finish—forget the colour, there’s none of the sticky fruit or toffee. Indeed, the best part of this—the nose—seems driven by ex-bourbon character. It’s more austere on the palate but, the grainy note on the finish aside, there are not very many signs of its relative youthfulness. That’s taken neat. I really did not care for the palate and finish at all with water added. The finish seems to have done its job—this is drinkable enough but I doubt it would have been before the PX went on. Your mileage may vary.

Rating: 80 points.
EW! Rating: 95/100 points