Review #520 - Glengoyne Legacy Series Chapter 2
Glengoyne's Legacy Series celebrates pivotal historical moments and people which contributed to the heritage of the distillery. According to the brand's website, Cochran Cartwright innovated in several ways as the distillery in the late 19th century: he slowed the speed of their distillation, which they still claim is the slowest in Scotland, and he put a stronger emphasis on the use of sherry casks for their whisky maturation.
This second chapter of the Legacy Series uses those sherry casks, specifically refill sherry casks; we don't know the type of sherry that the casks previously held, but Oloroso is the most common type used in the industry. Those refill sherry casks are paired with first fill ex-bourbon barrels; Glengoyne doesn't give an age statement here, but we do get a slightly elevated strength of 48% ABV.
Glengoyne Legacy Series Chapter 2
Scotland/Highland - Single Malt
Price: USD 99 (2025)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 48% ABV
Cask Makeup: First fill ex-bourbon and refill sherry casks
Details: Bottled 2020
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 5 months; bottles at 100%, 70% (blind tasting), and 30% fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes
Nose: Light and dry at first - some oak, a bit of grapefruit, white pepper. It's malty and even a bit musty, and sweetness develops with time: honey, orchard fruits like apples and peach, pear. Blood orange, grapes, and cinnamon come with more air time, and there's the softest hint of old books.
Palate: A medium thickness mouthfeel; flavors of cinnamon, starch, and warming oak start us out. The soft musty book note from the nose returns, and we get some brown sugar, minerality, and blackcurrant. It grows more subtle later: hay, tannins, and a fizzy note at the end.
Finish: Oak tannins, vanilla, and malt - lots of classic ex-bourbon flavors for the most part. There is just a hint of red fruit, but we get a lot of sweetness and grassy flavor... lemons and sharp stone fruit, too. It's a medium length finish, quite mellow.
Final Note: This Glengoyne had an interesting range of flavors across our different tasting sessions - nice to explore and take some time with, though it's a softer, more subtle whisky, too, so we had to do some digging. Definitely a step up from their younger core range bottlings, although these Legacy Series bottles feel a bit pricey compared to the level of flavor you get, so value is mediocre.
Our Average Rating: 6.7 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 5.75
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Glengoyne reviews:
Review #505 - Glengoyne 12 Year
