Glengoyne 12 Years Old

Six guiding principles rooted in nearly 200 years of our craft. An unwavering commitment to the environment. And a gathering of like-minded people. This is the Glengoyne Way.

The six guiding principles:

Unpeated- Our founders established this tradition through necessity: there is no peat in the soil around Dumgoyne. This means there is no smokiness in our whisky – and nowhere for coarse flavours or average casks to hide. That is why we take such care to craft our spirit, coaxing it through the slowest stills in Scotland – then maturing in fine sherry casks. We stay true to the taste of Glengoyne – creating bold fruits and rich sweetness.

Patience- Glengoyne’s bold flavours are the result of an equally bold pledge: to coax our spirit through the slowest whisky stills in Scotland. Our flavours build ounce-by-ounce – hour-by-hour – into the smooth, hugely complex spirit we’re famous for creating.

Oak casks- However, they weren’t always so hard to source. In the 1870s the sherry business was booming in London, and we took the ready supply of empty casks for our spirit. The sherry-soaked wood transformed the maturation – taking the flavour of Glengoyne to new heights, and the colour to rich new depths. Then the supply dwindled, and the price of each cask soared. We had a choice: switch to more plentiful alternatives, or stay true to the flavour of Glengoyne. Then, we chose the flavour, and went to the source. We took direct charge of the entire six-year journey our sherry casks take from oak forest to Highland Distillery. We’re involved at every stage, from selection to drying and seasoning.

Maturation- However, each one is protected from extreme swings in temperature by the stone walls and earth floors of our traditional warehouses. Each is given room to mature and stacked just three high by our warehousemen. This patient maturation allows the consistent evaporation we’re looking for – cask and spirit in perfect union.

Natural colour- However, there are two ways to give whisky a rich, appealing colour. One is absurdly time-consuming and expensive. The other is easy: add a few drops of caramel at bottling.

WE CHOOSE THE HARDER PATH

We start by selecting our own oak from the forests of northern Spain. Then, we insist it is dried naturally by sun and air for three years. Moreover, we fill each hand built cask with sherry in Jerez and left to absorb its rich colour and flavours for up to three years. Next, we empty the ready casks and deliver to our Highland distillery. In fact, some take six years after they started their journey. These casks are then filled and over the next 10, 15, 18 years, the clear spirit takes on the rich gold, amber and copper tones naturally from the wood.