Glenkinchie 10 year old

[Eightball]

All,
I have another tasting for you. Let me know what you think...

Name: Glenkinchie 10 year old
Lowlands
Color: Gold
Nose: delicate, butter, a citrus element
Body: thick, electric
Palate: salty, wheat crackers
Finish: full, very smooth, solid with a pulse
Comments: Excellent. I used the term electric for the body.
On my seconc sip I noticed a wonderful "current"

[Admiral]

I agree with most of your descriptors for the nose & palate, although I can't say I've found Glenkinchie to be salty.

Glenkinchie is a good example of an "atmosphere" or an "occasion" malt.

Depending on the mood, situation, & company, it can often shine. It's a great before-dinner malt, and it accompanies canapes like crackers with dips, etc.

However, it cannot stand up to heavy meals, or against heavier malts, and depending on what the palate has also experienced beforehand, it can sometimes come off quite weak.

It's always a fun exercise to compare it with other Lowland malts, and see where you think it fits in the hierarchy.

Cheers,
Admiral

[hpulley]

I find it nice and smooth but not exciting. I much prefer Bladnoch and Rosebank from the lowlands.

Harry

[Eightball]

Admiral,
Maybe it was something I ate earlier. Here is a malt that I visited last night with a definate sea salt element.

Name: Bowmore Legend
Islay
Color: gold, brownish
Nose: peat smoke, cooked vegetables, slightly medicinal, sweetly
dull
Body: slightly coating, scraping of the toung, raw malt
Palate: pronounced sea salt, seaweed, very medicinal, in the
middle of dull and sharp
Finish: very light, warming
Comments: Satisfatory. While I find this malt a tad dull, it made up for it with a medicinal Islay flavor.

[hpulley]

Never had Legend (not sure it has ever been available here) but was enjoying some 12yo Bowmore last night, the cheapest one we get here and one of the cheapest single malts overall here. It is a nice malt, some peat smoke, some medicinal elements, some vegetation, fairly light for an islay and seems smooth now which is funny as I found it a bit rough when I first had it years ago.

Harry

[Eightball]

Yeah, I've tried Bowmore 12 and loved it- it was very smooth. I also tasted bittersweet chocolate on the palate. The only problem with Bowmore Legend was how dull it was. There wasn't really anything excellent about it.

[hpulley]

Have you ever had an Ardmore east highland? It isn't too common as a single, mostly used in my favorite cheap blend, Teachers Highland Cream, but Signatory currently has some 10yo and 11yo 1992 bottlings. I have the 11yo unchillfiltered version and it is an excellent dram, one of the more full bodied highlanders out there. Give it a try if you can find some. Seems in many ways to me like a lightly peated Caol Ila, though without the islay peat in the smoke and without the peanut shell note I find in all CIs, more of a wood smoke note with some maple syrup in it. One of my favorite highland malts for sure. Ardmore used to employ a coal fired still but not any more.

Harry

[bond]

in an attempt to get the discussion back to the "original" I sampled glenkinchie 10 yr old recently and I must say it was rather disappointingly lacking in character.. the citrus in the finish is possibly the only positive note in the malt

Possibly a good introductory malt given that heavier malts do not go down well during initiation...

[SasquatchMan]

Boy, what a tough crowd. I had a bottle of GlenKinchie about 3 months ago and really liked it. I didn't find it weak or thin, and as for "standing up" (to other malts or to food) I think it does.

Pretty silly to compare Glenkinchie to a big Islay. Might as well compare it to Vodka and call it too brown.

I think a bunch of you guys have the idea the Islay malts are somehow generically (or specifically) superior to anything else. Certainly they are bolder, often they are smoother, and they may contain the largest palate spectrum, but I can't say that makes them "better". Good on you for enjoying them (God help me, I certainly enjoyed the Bowmore 12yr Islay I just got from my wife's grandmother, who drinks Grant's and 7up, and didn't like it).

Spend some time with the lighter malts, like Tamnavulin, and even silly old Glenmorangie - the beginners malt, and really study them, and one can find a pretty neat array of flavours and purposes for these drinks.

[Admiral]

Sasquatchman,

I don't think anyone is pushing the line that lighter malts are inferior, or that Islay malts are superior.

For example, you mention both Tamnavulin & Glenmorangie, and I (for one) happen to think both of those are very enjoyable whiskies. Glenmorangie in particular!!

But as a Classic Malt, Glenkinchie is marketed as supposedly being representative of the Lowlands, and it therefore attracts greater scrutiny. (Of course, the average Joe usually isn't aware that Diageo doesn't own any other distilleries in the Lowlands, and so Glenkinchie is in fact the only malt they have to represent the Lowlands!

And if the truth be told, I suspect most people would probably say that Glenkinchie isn't as good as some of its Lowland brothers. I believe this "negative" connotation then carries into some people's descriptions and/or opinions of the malt.

My comment about it not being able to stand up to heavier malts was in the context of what else you enjoy Glenkinchie with. If you're tasting a number of different malts, then Glenkinchie is great if you have it at the start of the tasting. But if you have it after other (heavier) malts, then you will not review it as favourably.

I guess it's the same as saying that you'd think a pretty awful Speyside malt was really good if you had it straight after a cheap, thin, and awful blend! Every malt can only be judged in the context in which it is tasted.

Cheers,
Admiral

[bond]

I couldn't have agreed with you more Admiral.

Whisky tastings are extremely subjective. I have known really serious whisky lovers opt for, say a glenfiddich-18 yr over laphroaig. (the "band-aid" apparently gets to them)

My palate has come to prefer the heavier malts and I somehow look forward to a full bodied character in my malt... that is in no way a reflection of "superiority" of any kind.

This probable comes out because most whisky handbooks recommend the lighter malts for "beginners" and I guess we have come to weave a connotation of superiority around that.

I invariably stock up on some of the lighter malts because lots of folks who visit my humble abode simply have never shared my love for the islays.

[Eightball]

All,
Speaking of the Highlands I got a chance to visit a wonderful whisky called Old Pulteney 12 year old. Has anyone tried it?

Color: brownish gold
Nose: floral, soft, fruity citrus, crisp, very clean and round,
wonderful
Palate: dry, very sharp, cooling, salty
Body: cooling, sharp
Finish: warming, long and light, fresh
Comments: Excellent. I noticed a cooling effect in the body and palate. Ironically, the finish was slightly warming.

[SasquatchMan]

Ahah... Old Pulteney 12 is terrific, isn't it? "My new favorite" quoth a buddy of mine.

It's really got a neat nip, both in the nose, and the finish, and a beautifully balanced but really full taste, and quite distinctive (unlike GlenKinchie, which tastes good, but doesn't really stand out... as Admiral mentioned, not even amongst Lowlands...).

Now, in context, a person comes into my house and asks to try a "good" scoth, I would surely present the GlenKinchie before the Pulteney, just to prevent the "Pfft blech what the hell was that?" reaction a non-scotch drinker would most likely have to such a strongly flavoured drink.

I've sort of come to the conclusion that I can only rate malts in terms of what I like or don't... Some really highly loved ones I can't stand (Talisker comes to mind, and RedBreast I thought was decent, but not to be raved about), and I like some that others don't seem to (Is Glenfiddich's Solera Reserve thin and weak or subtle and delicate?)

Cheers to all, I'm off to the cupboard for a dram

[Eightball]

LOL at SasquatchMan,
I had a good experience with Talisker once. I was with my cousin in Chicago and I had to have a dram. Whenever I smell Talisker I remember that evening. I see my cousin about once every two years.

As far as tastes go, I said earlier that I like Glenlivet 12 and was looking for a cask strength Glenlivet. I also cant get enough of Glenmorangie's rage of certain woods. The Port Wood Finish I like best. From Islay, I'll have to go with the peaty Ardbeg. Lowlands I like Three Wood from Auchentoshan....sorry about the spelling.

As far as lesser favorites, I'm not too fond with the lower end blends such as Lauder's or Red Label. I can only drink Black Label over ice. Havn't visited a Dewar's in a while but remember it not being so special. J&B was Ok.

As for the record, there is no such thing as bad whisky

[Admiral]

Sasquatchman,

Since you posed the question, I find Glenfiddich's Solera Reserve thin & weak!

Which is a little strange, because I actually enjoy all the other Glenfiddichs....the 12yo, the 18yo, the 15yo cask strength, and the 21yo Havana Reserve.

But the Solera Reserve just doesn't do it for me.

[SasquatchMan]

Admiral, I kind of agree... I haven't quite made up my mind. I haven't had the 18yr old, but I'll probably try it someday... There's just so many good whiskeys out there that I have a hard time buying the top end of a product that I only marginally enjoy... I'd way sooner buy A'bhunad (sp?), given that I like Aberlour 10 better than Glenfiddich.

[bamber]

Hi,

Actually had a glass of this in the pub last night. It is the only time I've drunk anything from the distillery.

Have to say the most notable thing about this whisky (imho) was the bitter oak finish and a general lack of complexity. Other than that I would generally agree with your notes.

Its ok but left me wishing I'd had a pint rather, or a Jack Daniel's or a friendly blend (it was last orders).

Not one I'll add to my collection.

[Lawrence]

I like Glenkinchie and I really like the double matured version. It seems to be the one that's on the shelf when the other DM's have been sold out, people are missing a treat with that one. I also think it suffers because it's a lowland and people don't understand it's delicate nature.