Last Sunday I shared my first tasting note from the December meeting for The Ladies’ Share: Lochlins Blended Scotch Whisky. Today I continue to another blended malt whisky from that evening. Glen Gyle 8 YO Fraser MacDonald Distillery came second place for me.
The name is a bit confusing for some of us. The Whiskey Jug explains it like this:
Glen Gyle 8 Years is a vatted (blended) malt whisky from the Loch Lomond Distillery Co. that used to be easily found, but has dwindled over the years. This bottling I believe comes from the 90s and has no connection with the Kilkerran whisky coming from the Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown. Confused? Hopefully this will clear it up a bit.
There was a distillery built by the Mitchells (built Springbank) in the 1800s called Glengyle that existed in the Campbeltown region until 1925. Then in 2002 the Springbank folks decided to revive the distillery by restoring the buildings and putting in new equipment. However, sometime between 1925 and 2002 the Loch Lomond Distillery Co. put out this whisky, Glen Gyle 8 years, and wouldn’t sell the name to Springbank so they couldn’t use it on bottle of whisky coming from the Glengyle distillery. This is why whisky from the Glengyle distillery is called Kilkerran today.
The whisky we tasted was bottled at 40 ABV. It was also released at 43 ABV.
Sweet, very sweet on the nose. Bananas, a lot of them. Something metallic. After nosing it for a while we ended up thinking of a metallic can of fruit cocktail. Quite sharp and alcoholic on the palate. Fresh with lemon and mint. Still a bit metallic. Spicy with chili and black pepper. Very dry on the finish and it suddenly disappears! Almost balanced.
My score: nose 19 / taste 18 / finish 17 / balance 19 = 73
– Tone
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