Review by: dustbunna
Distillery: Glengyle.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Campbeltown.
ABV: 59.2%. Cask strength.
Age: NAS. Bottled in 2023.
Cask type: 90% ex-bourbon, 10% ex-sherry.
Price: $90 USD for 750mL.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 5 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point, italicized notes taken towards the heel.
Nose: vanilla angel food cake, broken twigs, burning leaves, wool, grape juice, Alka-Seltzer, vanilla bean paste, coffee ice cream.
Palate: rich and unctuous ~ pretty hot, more vanilla cake, Concord grapes, forest floor, minerals, smoke, a candle shop, goes a little more bitter toward the end.
Finish: long ~ on twiggy smoke, minerals, and waxes.
Conclusion: It’s pretty rare for me to dislike anything from Glengyle, I really enjoy the general profile of what they make. That said, this one might be the hottest one I’ve encountered so far—it seems to really drink at its high ABV and, oddly enough, adding water appears to increase that heat (at least until one has added enough to just drown the glass.) Though it comes across as well-peated, it doesn’t feel as heavily peated as the 80ppm malt spec would suggest, which echoes my experiences with other heavily peated Kilkerrans. The notes are generally very tasty, and the nose and finish are especially pleasant, but I can’t help but feel like this could have melded a bit better—the overall experience is rather disjunct, particularly between the strong grape and smoke elements and with that bitter tinge that takes over as the fill level drops. It’s still good whisky; it has the potential to be great but doesn’t quite get there for me. There’s obviously some batch variation to consider (as there always is with J&A Mitchell products), but this is the first batch where they’ve removed the ‘Peat in Progress’ label, so maybe they’re satisfied with where this stands at the moment. I think I need to wait to see if they’ll try aging their heavily peated stock just a touch longer.
Final Score: 83.
Scoring Legend:
- 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
- 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
- 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
- 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
- 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
- 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
- 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
- 50-59: Save it for mixing.
- 0-49: Blech.
Malt Runners 