Glenkinchie 10 year old was the distillery’s core expression for many years until it was replaced by a 12 year old version in 2007. It’s bottled at 43% ABV.
Nose: Fresh and malty. Starting with herbal honey and a good dose of brass polish, this moves quickly into lemongrass, orange barley water and banana. Everything is held together by a particularly malty core which, after a short period of resting becomes sweeter and slightly more spicy with cinnamon.
Taste: A soft mouthfeel delivers malts and barley initially, and then reinforces itself with orange peels, polish, old sappy wood, cinnamon and ginger. Grassiness can be tasted throughout this whisky, evocative of the Lowland style – fresh, slightly sharp and quite ‘green’ in nature. It marries well in to the wood and spice notes, leading to a whisky which is part fruity, grassy and sweet, and part woody, oaky and dry.
Finish: Medium in length offering vanilla and oak dryness.
Whilst Glenkinchie 10 year old is quite a light whisky, its got plenty to recommend it as an aperitif or summer sipper. It’s well-rounded, well-seasoned and with a good helping of cask influence. Of course, as an entry-level bottling, complexity is not in abundance here, nevertheless, there’s a lot to like.