Lately I keep hearing more and more positive things about David Stirk‘s Creative Whisky Company. More bottlings that are getting higher scores all over the place and this Glengoyne is a bottle that I heard very much about at club meetings and such.

Exclusive Malts is one of the three series of David Stirk with his high end bottlings. There is also the Exclusive Range with more standard independents at 45% (usually between 4 and 15 years old) and there is the Exclusive Cask range, where David finishes the casks he bought in different casks, varying from Bourbon to Gaia Barolo wine.

Nose:
It starts of with a lot of warm over ripe fruit, just on the brink of becoming moldy. I smell pineapple, tangerine and yellow kiwi. There is also a hint of chili pepper to make it a bit more exciting.

Taste:
Quite spicy with more of that chili pepper. Again, lots and lots of fruit and not too much wood influence of the sherry cask. There is some wood, but not the tannins and dried fruit you normally get. Again lots of yellow fruit, but also including some sweet citrus.

Finish:
Long. Longer. Longest. The fruit gets more overpowering, or just the other flavours dissipate more quickly. Then, at the moment you think its one, there is one more burst of fruits all around your mouth.

This is one hell of a dram. Usually I save half a sample to taste it again later, but that didn’t happen in this case. One of the best drams of the last couple of months, and the best Glengoyne I have ever had.

Glengoyne 37, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Malts, 1973, 48.7%, about 150 euros, I only found it available at Whizita in Germany.

Nose: 9
Taste: 9
Finish: 10
Overal experience: 10
Price/quality: +2

Total: 40 points

Sample supplied by Teun.