Glenkinchie 10 y.o.

43% abv

Score:  83.5/100

Good friend, neighbor and bandmate, Jay, brought this over on a whisky night I threw together for the guys a while back.

Wandering around a local liquor store, with his iPhone as a reference tool, he found a couple of solid reviews for this whisky.  Enough, anyway, to convince him to make the investment.  Well…it ended up being a long night, and by the end of it Jay had gotten pretty deep into this bottle, and unfortunately for him, he hasn’t been able to touch it since.  The last couple ounces are now in my cabinet, sans the dram in my glass which I am working on right now.

Though I was pleasantly surprised that night, I must concede a less than pure palate when I first tasted it.  Not only had I been sipping a myriad of whiskies, I had most recently been enjoying a glass of Laphroaig and a Cojiba.  My tastebuds were already singing loud and long before I even got to this whisky.

It was truly a pleasant surprise to open the bottle this eve and be reminded of why I enjoyed this.  Light, not overly complex, yet smooth and enjoyable.  Good beginner’s whisky.

On the nose it is easy to pick out individual notes.  Something bittersweet like maybe grannysmith apples first.  Some oak, buttery caramel, malt and sweet hay.  A bit grassy and herbal.  Puts me in an autumn frame of mind.

On the palate it arrives with a bit of heat, but quickly mellows into flavors of distant maltiness, oak and prairie grasses.  The sweetness is much more prevalent on the nose than the palate, though you still get a green fruitiness on the tongue.  There is an herbal note, somewhat akin to a good sauvignon blanc, that often defines the Lowland whiskies, which seems uncharacteristically tame in this whisky.

It is a rather thin dram, not much in the way of coat-your-mouth-goodness, with a medium finish.  Last note to fade is a nutty oakiness.

My second impression of this bottle was almost as good as the first.  Nothing I would rave about, but a bottle I would have no problem paying for.  One of the better young Lowland whiskies I’ve met to date.

Final note:  Apparently being a part of Diageo’s enormous stable means only about 10% of Glenkinchie’s production is bottled as single malt.  The other 90% ends up in blends.  A shame really.

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt