Weekend Briefs Sept. 2022: Glengoyne, Macallan, and Sherry
A round-up of brief reviews from a recent weekend and behold the sherry bombs! Three unrepentant sherry-driven drams provided the opportunity to blow out my taste buds with sherry. All three, two Macallans and a Glengoyne, were matured entirely in sherry casks. The casks varied slightly: the Macallans spent most of their life in refill oloroso butts before a final maturation in a Spanish Oak Oloroso hogshead and an American Oak PX Hogshead, while the Glengoyne spent its entire life in European Oak Oloroso casks.
I have written repeatedly over the years that sherry bombs are not my preferred style. An entire segment of the enthusiast crowd loves the rich and heady cask influence, the deep color of the whisky, and the full-throated assault by sticky stewed fruits. I am not a member of that particular religious sect. I might make a small offering at my personal sherry-shrine; I do love a gentle refill butt to accent the malt without overwhelming it.
I presume fans of the sherry bomb style would surely rate these even higher, though spoiler alert, even I scored these highly. The Glengoyne Teapot was not a surprise; I enjoyed a previous batch and thought the distillery spirit robust enough to handle the cask— and boy, does Glengoyne utilize some great casks. The Macallans were a fun contrast; while also intensely sherried, they ran in completely different directions thanks to that final maturation.
The mighty hammer of the sherry gods rang true on each of these whiskies. My palate might be deaf and blind as a result, so on to the reviews!
Whisky: Glengoyne “Teapot Dram” Batch 008 First Fill Oloroso European Oak 59%
Nose: Cherries in syrup, cream, cured vanilla bean, dark chocolate, bitter orange, black pepper, intensely sherried.
Palate: Full-bodied, tannic, cherry, tobacco, woody cherry pits, chocolate, nutty-sweet roasted almonds, vanilla bean extract, butter and torched sugars at the end, toffee.
Finish: Long and lingering with coffee, cherry, hints of licorice, and a tannic dryness.
Score: 6-7
Commentary: There was no mistaking the mighty sherry war horse that is Glengoyne’s limited Teapot Dram release. It feels as though the amount of sherry stuffed into the bottle has increased in tandem with the price of each release. There are few finer sherry-driven drams than the Teapot; however, the lofty price makes it hard to recommend it for anyone beyond distillery-stans or those longing to feel the steady thunder of the sherry war horses’ hooves on the ground. I found this release a tad sweeter and more open than the previous, with loads more vanilla. It required no water to shine, though a few drops unlocked levels of fruit beyond cherry. Overall, horses are expensive.
Whisky: Macallan 13 Year (2008) Oloroso Butt/First Fill Spanish Oak Oloroso Hogshead 63.3%, SMWS 24.167 “Glory Days”
Nose: Big tobacco with nutmeg and chicory initially; herbal with rosemary, oregano, black tea, bergamot, dried orange peel, Earl Grey, star anise, coriander, five spice, tamarind, spice traders on the silk roads.
Palate: Thick and sweet, chicory, cinnamon, tamarind, jack fruit, espresso beans, dark chocolate, dried cherries, fruit liqueurs, toffee.
Finish: Long and lingering with chocolate, cherry, and orange.
Score: 7+
Commentary: An intriguing double sherry matured Macallan; the malt began life in a refill sherry butt, before it was vatted together with similar butts at 10-years old, and recasked for a final maturation an assertive first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead. It bore a fair semblance to the Glengoyne due to the influence of the European oak and Oloroso sherry. However, it had a much more interesting structure as it transitioned between different types of spice. And spice was the name of the game, from sweet baking spices and cigars to colorful spice markets. Herbal notions of strong tea complimented the complex melange of well-integrated spices that appeared one after the other.
Overall, intense but good, sure to delight sherry-aficionados, but with enough depth to entice even those of us who typically prefer a milder cask influence.
Whisky: Macallan 12 Year (2008) Oloroso Butt/First Fill American Oak PX Hogshead 63.9%, SMWS 24.157 “In a tapas bar”
Nose: Thick and unctuous, dried dates, stewed stone fruit, coffee, petrol, chocolate fudge, cured vanilla beans.
Palate: Full-bodied, oily, salted dried plums, toffee, molten chocolate cake, hazelnut cream, nuttiness grows with time (and water), cherry and peaches jubilee,
Finish: Long with a mild tannic drying, stewed fruit, brown sugar, and hints of coffee.
Score: 7
Commentary: I almost hate how much I have enjoyed these SMWS Macallans. With tax and shipping, they were priced right around the two hundred mark, which was honestly below what I expected from that combination of premium branding: SMWS x Macallan. I would have expected a force multiplier to kick in and send the price astronomically higher, as I have no doubt people would have paid it. This feels especially true when one considers the pricing of the Exceptional Cask series from Macallan— or any of the core range products from the distillery.
Overall, I rarely reach for this kind of sherry-laden dram, but this was excellent with a weighty palate and varied, though well integrated, flavor profile. The bottle is now long gone, shared with friends, which seems a fitting fate for fine whisky.
