Glengoyne's Latest Whiskies Are a Departure from the Traditional House Style

Located near an extinct volcano named Dumgoyne just 14 miles north of Glasgow, Glengoyne Distillery occupies a fairly curious spot in scotch whisky—literally and figuratively. The town of Glengoyne straddles the Highland Boundary Fault, a tectonic fault line that serves as a natural border between the Highland and Lowland regions. While the distillery itself falls north of that line—thus qualifying its whisky as Highland single malt—historically Glengoyne has aged its stocks in warehouses in the Lowlands side of the line. That arrangement has sometimes led to confusion among whisky enthusiasts. Even today many drinkers associate its lighter flavor profile more with Lowland scotches than its Highland kin.

The distillery has been operating for over a century and a half—established in 1833 under the name Burnfoot Distillery—but never really emerged as a major player. The early years were fairly quiet, but in 1876 the distillery was sold to Lang Brothers—a Glasgow blending house run by brothers Alexander and Gavin Lang—who sought Burnfoot’s sherried single malts for use in its Lang’s blended scotch label. After the sale, the brothers rechristened the distillery as Glen Guin (“Valley of the Wild Geese” in Gaelic) after the area’s local goose population. The distillery was renamed Glengoyne in 1907, and remained in the Lang Brothers fold until 1965, when it was purchased by Robertson & Baxter Group, which later became Edrington in the late 1990s. Edrington hung on to Glengoyne for a few years before selling it in 2003 to Ian Macleod, which owns it today.

That sale marked a real turning point for Ian Macleod. The company was already established in the blending space, having stewarded the Isle of Skye blended scotch label since the 1930s. But before acquiring Glengoyne, the company hadn’t yet made its own single malt. It has since built upon its single malt production—tacking on Speyside-based Tamdhu in 2011 and the then-defunct Lowlands distillery Rosebank in 2017, while planning to open an Islay distillery called Laggan Bay this year. Over the years, things have more or less stayed fairly static at Glengoyne; the distillery hasn’t strayed very far from the sherry cask-forward and fruity house style established early in its history. Now Ian Macleod seeks to change that, debuting a new series of single malts that eschews sherry casks and attempts to move Glengoyne’s style in a new direction.

Oak Under a Microscope

These whiskies are part of the Oak Masters’ Series, Glengoyne’s new collection that spotlights different types of oak from around the world. Oak Masters’ whiskies will be predominantly aged in bourbon barrels, with a small portion of virgin casks also thrown into the mix. Each expression will use a different type of virgin oak, with the goal of examining how each one uniquely interacts with the distillery’s new make.

The collection is debuting with a pair of whiskies called the White Oak Range. It includes an ultra-aged 24 year old, a brand-new expression, and the non-age-stated Glengoyne White Oak, which launched in the UK a few months ago. As the name suggests, American white oak is the wood this time around, and both expressions follow roughly the same maturation blueprint— around 95% of each blend matured in bourbon barrels, and the remaining 5% aged entirely in new charred white oak. The key difference between these two whiskies is the age: the NAS expression is about half as old as the 24 year old, including liquid ranging in age from around 8–12 years old.

The project came about as a way for master blender John Glass to better showcase some of the flavors found in Glengoyne’s distillate, but at much higher age statements. The distillery’s new make is light and fruity, almost reminiscent of something you’d expect from the Lowlands. It certainly morphs into impressive whisky after an extended maturation in oloroso, but many of those lighter flavors can get lost in the shuffle amid much heavier sherry notes coming from the casks—especially with longer maturation. We’ve found that to be the case with some of Glengoyne’s older and most impressive bottlings during our blind tastings—particularly the 25 year old, 30 year old, and 40 year old, which showed heavy notes of raisins, chocolate, plum, and cigar, emblematic of sherry maturation.

The ball started rolling after the team tasted through some older stocks distilled during the Edrington days that were aged separately in bourbon barrels and new charred oak. Despite being on the older side, these whiskies showed a few of the same flavors found in Glengoyne’s new make. Inspired by the interplay between the light fruit notes of the spirit and some of the more bourbon-centric notes coming from the casks, Glass decided to produce his own stocks of virgin oak and bourbon barrel-aged single malt. Some of the Edrington-era barrels were blended to make the 24 year old White Oak, while the NAS version entirely uses whisky distilled under Ian Macleod’s ownership.

“I love the balance between the distillery character and the vanilla, coconut, and spice from the bourbon casks,” said Glass in a statement. “I’ve been eager to create expressions that showcase this style.”

Both White Oak bottlings are currently available primarily through Total Wine & More and in some specialty retailers nationwide. The 24 year old is a limited edition bottling, and it carries a suggested retail price of $400. On the other hand, the NAS White Oak will join the Glengoyne lineup as a permanent member, retailing at around $60 a bottle.

Glengoyne 24 year old White Oak Highland Single Malt Scotch

ABV: 47.8%
SRP: $400
Availability: Limited, primarily at Total Wine & More

Glengoyne White Oak Highland Single Malt Scotch

ABV: 48%
SRP: $60
Availability: Nationwide, primarily at Total Wine & More