Review 273. A bourbon cask matured Glengoyne!

Glengoyne 10 yo. Murray McDavid selected by The Whisky Mercenary. Bourbon Barrel matured, 57.7% ABV.

Glengoyne, for obvious reasons I regret to say, is distillery that has fallen somewhat off my radar. And it has nothing to do with (lack of) quality, and everything with how they wish to position themselves in today’s whisky market. I’ve banged on about this in the past, and to avoid the risk of starting to sound like a broken record, I’ll just summarize by saying that their attempt at premiumization – particularly for their older age statement core range and their limited releases – simply doesn’t sit well. They literally went full Talisker and almost overnight doubled (at least) the MSRP for their 18, 21 and 25 year old releases, while happily slapping 3 digits price tags on limited, releases without batting an eye. There is simply no justification for it other than trying to compete with other ‘luxury brands’ out there. But it’s a kick in the shins to many enthusiasts who have been if not loyal, then certainly returning customers for years and years. It’s a double pity because they make excellent whisky, and even when released at a fairly low ABV of 43% ABV, there’s no denying how good some of their expressions are.  So, indies to the rescue? Well…

Immediately there are  two things that grab my attention with this one. Firstly, the fact that this is an independent bottling of  Glengoyne, which, particularly in recent years, is rarer than hen’s teeth. Secondly, it’s a single cask, cask strength Glengoyne that has been fully matured in a bourbon barrel. Most (official) Glengoyne tends to come with, if not a full maturation in sherry casks, than at least a ‘significant’ bit of sherry cask maturation in the mix. The only thing that probably comes close to something like this in terms of official releases, is Glengoyne’s recent ‘White Oak’ release. A whisky that’s been  fully matured in first fill bourbon and virgin oak barrels. And, I’m not going to lie, is on my ‘to try’ list as I’ve heard good things – , natural colour, non-chill filtered, a decent ABV of 48% and fairly priced around £50/€60.

So what can we learn from this? Knowing how ‘reluctant’ Glengoyne has been to cater to the indie market, seeing a few pop up left, right and center in recent months (this one, I believe, was released late 2025) might be an indication of them being more inclined to shift some stock and, (hope makes the fools live a joyous life as they say in my neck of the woods) possibly, maybe, an indication that their marketing strategy and pricing polices might become a bit more ‘sensible’ again? The vast majority of what’s produced at Glengoyne they tend to use themselves (for their single malt or blends from Iain Macleod the likes of Sheep Dip or Isle of Skye) or trade it with other distilleries or brokers to provide stock for the aforementioned blends. It’s not as if indie Glengoyne has suddenly  started to flood the market, but we do tend to see a few around these days. An unexpected bonus of the whisky loch? Possibly? Is it a ‘welcomed’ unexpected bonus though?

Glengoyne 10 yo (2014 – 2025) Murray McDavid for The Whisky Mercenary. Bourbon Barrel matured, 57.7% ABV, 250 bottles, app. €90 - €100 and still available

Nose

Lots and lots of fruit: a hint of green apple, unripe banana, a whiff of white fruit (melon) but above all a ton of citrus, with lemon zest, lemon cake and – meringue. Vanilla, obviously, and a subtle touch of oak as well. There’s a creamy – lactic vibe sitting on a mélange of grainy notes with gentle white pepper to close the deal. With a drop of water the fruit gets dialed up even further. This is nuanced, yet busy, in an almost understated sort of way. Very good!

Palate

A dash of pepper. This is almost 58% ABV from a bourbon barrel after all! Vanilla, and again that creamy – lactic and somewhat grainy character shines through. A bit less of the fruit and more of the oak, but it all sits on a pleasant velvety – creamy mouthfeel with a medium full texture. With the added water the vanilla, oak and pepper get accentuated.

Finish

Long and drying on that echo of pepper and oak.

Final thoughts

Overall, the nose beat the palate. But! Having said that, you need to bear in mind that the palate is quite good in its own right and comes with a very alluring texture. Also: the nose is rather excellent. For full disclosure: this sample was one of two little ‘bonusses’ provided to me by Jürgen himself when I recently bought some bottles from Dràm Mòr (one of them being THAT Glenlossie). Jürgen Vromans, for those not that familiar with the Belgian whisky scene, is a well-known and much welcomed face  (on account of him being a very nice person) pretty much wherever he shows up and he’s  the guy running The Whisky Mercenary, arguably one of Belgium’s longest operating indie bottlers. When first getting in touch with whisky in the 1990’s, it didn’t take him long to know where his future would lie. Since 2012 he’s been sourcing and  bottling a lot of quite interesting stuff under ‘The Whisky Mercenary’ brand, but (coincidence or not) around the time Brexit came into play has started shifting his focus a bit more towards importing and distributing for other indies the likes of Dràm Mòr, but also Murray McDavid, Lady of the Glen  and Claxton’s in Belgium and The Netherlands. This does give him the opportunity to pick a few casks from his partners now and again to ‘co-brand’ them like we see here today, and it needs to be said, this is a good one.

Bourbon cask matured Glengoyne: it may well be a bit of a ‘hiatus’ for quite a few of us, and while this is still easily €50 or more cheaper than some of the recent ‘special releases’ or the ‘fill your own’ they offer at the distillery, I will admit that this one isn’t particularly cheap. No deliberate premiumization as far as I can tell, but rather another reminder of how Brexit screwed many of us in the EU market over as we’re now paying a considerable amount of extra fees and taxes just to get our hands on some quality whisky made beyond the EU borders. Nonetheless, an interesting and quite engaging, very good whisky.