Glenkinchie 12 Year Old
43% ABV
Available in the United States and Europe – $45 to $50
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What the distillery says:
Subtly sophisticated Lowland is a superb pre-dinner drink; try it taken straight from teh freezer. Pale gold in appearance. It has a light sweet nose with barley-malt, green grass and wispos of autumn smoke. The body is firm and light. The palate is slightly sweet yet fresh, late summer fruits and harvest fields, young wood and malted barley. A suprising dry finish with a smoky spiciness.
What Matt says:
Nose: Light, sweet (cereal and honey), fresh cut grass, with a trace of smoke.
Palate: Very floral, citrus, honey, over-ripe fruit
Finish: A little spice, some alcohol and sweetness.
Comments: More complex and interesting than your average lowland malt, this is an everyday kind of malt. While none of the flavors are terribly bold, this is a good dram. A great intro into single malt Scotch.
Rating: Stands Out (among Lowlands)
What Richard says:
Nose: Grassy with light hints of fruity sweetness.
Palate: Mellowed and muted flavor. Slight hint of iodine on the rear of the palate. As the flavor begins to clear it leave a malted barley after taste that’s very beer like. Almost like an IPA.
Finish: Smooth, mellow, little about the finish stands out.
Comments: Glenkinchie is a lowland malt. As such you expect the category to be mellowed with a less drastic flavor profile than malts from other areas of Scotland. Glenkinchie holds true to this. Nothing really stands out. When you’re done with the dram it’s almost like it was never there. Nothing offensive in this whisky but nothing to write home about either. That being said, the 12 Year Old is Diageo’s replacement to the 10 Year Old in the Classic Malts range and I do note improvement from the additional years.
Rating: Average
Overall Rating: Average