The Malt Cask

A quick review of a sample from Glengoyne today. This is from batch 006 of their Teapot Dram. What is the Teapot Dram from Glengoyne? Well that's the story taken from their website: "The Teapot Dram series has been created in tribute to an old Glengoyne Distillery tradition: until the 1970s, workers would be given three fingers of whisky, three times each day. Most distilleries gave their teams new make spirit, but not Glengoyne. At Glengoyne, the finest whisky from first fill Oloroso sherry casks was chosen for the distillery workers’ drams. The less seasoned stillmen would, to save face, discreetly pour some of their untouched drams into a copper teapot which sat on the canteen windowsill, ready for their older colleagues." Batch 006 was aged in first-fill Oloroso casks, was bottled unchillfiltered, without colouring and at the natural cask strength of 59.3%. Only 2772 bottles were released. The colour is pretty dark even if no age is stated on the bottl...

A new distillery for me to discover today: Glengoyne. I actually went to visit the distillery in August as it is just north of Glasgow and well worth a visit in my opinion. I had never really experienced any Glengoyne before my visit, and even whilst there, I did not really try anything as I was unfortunately driving. I should have bought a bottle but wasn't really sure of what to go for, so (for once) left empty-handed. A couple of weeks later I came across a bottle of the 14 as I was in my local Marks and Spencer and decided to give it a go. The 14 is an official bottling released only for M&S so it might be harder to track if you do not have one around.  Glengoyne work a lot with ex-sherry casks which heavily influence most of their whiskies. In the case of the 14, a lot of 1st-fill and refill Oloroso casks.  Glengoyne pride themselves in bottling whisky with its natural colour "from time and sherry casks alone" and this 14 is a lovely gold colour. It is...