Whisky Review: Glentauchers 16 (Gordon & MacPhail)
Glentauchers (pronounced “glen-tockers”) is a Speyside distillery originally founded in 1897 by James Buchanan (the famous whisky producer behind the Buchanan’s Blend, not the 15th President of the US). It’s not a very common single malt whisky—the vast majority of the whisky that Glentauchers produces goes into blended whisky. Luckily Gordon and MacPhail, an independent bottler of scotch whisky, has a fairly readily available and affordable bottling of Glentauchers, a 16 year old expression.
I’ve been wanting to try Glentauchers for a while now (of course, I want to try every Scottish distillery at some point), so when I saw this at a local store, I decided to grab a bottle and give it a shot. Previous bottles I’ve had from Gordon and MacPhail have been hit or miss, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this. Let’s see how it stacks up.
Glentauchers 16 (Gordon & MacPhail) Review
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Region: Speyside
ABV: 43%
Nose: Apricot. Strawberry jam. Rich malt. Barley sugar. White chocolate covered malt balls. Vanilla cookies. Mint.
Palate: Light fruits. Apricot. Simple syrup. Tired oak. Boring, with no real complexity.
Finish: Falls apart completely. Slowly drying and astringent. Sour mouthwash. Like some sort of green and minty mystery fluid served in a paper cup given to you by a stranger. Not very pleasant.
Overall: The nose is nice, but the palate is boring, and the finish is terrible. One of the worst finishes I’ve experienced in a whisky. I would guess that the quality of casks used to age this were not very good—refilled too many times and lacking in character. The back of the label says that there are “sherry influences,” but I detect no sherry here.
This was very disappointing. I was really hoping this would at least be a solid, middle of the road, everyday drinker, but it’s not. I’ve sat down and poured a glass of this to take tasting notes on four separate occasions now. Each time, I couldn’t finish the glass without pouring half of it down the drain. The only reason this gets as high of a score as I’m giving it (and this is the lowest score I’ve ever given so far) is that the nose is pretty nice. Smelling this whisky is fun and enjoyable. Drinking it is not.
Buy Again? No. Avoid this.
Score: 70/100
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