If there is one thing we have had a lot of recently its Glengoyne reviews. At this stage I am pretty much done with the distillery for the rest of the year. However, once more into the breach we go for the new limited edition series which had recently been put on sale. No this isn’t batch 4 of the cask strength series which previous versions I wasn’t too impressed with but the Legacy Series. The Legacy series aims to leverage the history of the history and the people who worked their to push a new yearly limited edition release.

In the second instalment of the whisky Titans series we explored the life of Cochrane Cartwright. This first release from the series is dedicated to him and his life at the distillery. To get more information on him check out at Cochrane Cartwright

The Dram

The Chapter One bottle is a mix of casks which include first and second fill sherry casks using both butts and hogsheads using wood from America and Spain. I was actually lucky enough to try samples from each of the parcels used in this release and found that really fun and enjoyable. The big take away for me was something which was pretty obvious but I have never really considered it before. While blenders will talk about parcels of whisky which is to say they group together a set of casks which have shared a life. They are all the same barrels and all contain liquid distilled at the same time but they are all massively different colours after even decades of maturation. Of course this is to be expected with such a natural product being allowed to mature naturally but I didn’t consider it before now.

Back to the release and its bottled at 48% ABV and available quite widely just now at £55 a bottle in the UK. The whisky is unchill-filtered and is natural colour which again as we all know by now is standard practice at Glengoyne.

Tasting Notes

Colour – golden

Nose – Quite a prickly and spicy nose initially and immediately this seems completely different to Glengoyne house style. Lots of apples and pears but more and more pepper is developing.

Palate – The first fill casks are most obvious now with dried fruits and a thick syrup like texture. Digestive biscuits and cinnamon are the foundation here again with some chilli spice.

Finish – Again that drying finish reminds of sherry but it is long and lingers with cinnamon not sherried fruits.

Final Thoughts

The  honest opinion is I enjoyed the marketing story and researching about Cochrane more than I enjoyed the whisky. This is interesting whisky and a departure for the distillery but it just doesn’t connect with me. There is no killer blow in the blend I was left wanting a little more from it.