Innis & Gun Golden Beer / PX Finish Batch 2 | 58% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
The beer is the headline, but it’s all about the PX
My two drinks of choice combined
I only drink two types of alcoholic drinks on a regular basis; beer and whisky. I may have the occasional rum, or a glass of wine at a function where it is provided gratis, but generally speaking I stick to my two favourites when it comes to alcohol. Some people have a desire to explore a vast array of alcoholic beverages, but whisky is so vast I feel like I have still barely scratched the surface, so it’s the lane I am happy to stay in for now.
When it comes to beer, I tend to go for IPA’s and golden ales that are available in the supermarket when I do the weekly grocery shop. Something light, fresh, fruity and hoppy works well for me, but it has to be said, I am a casual consumer rather than an enthusiast. I find it unfathomable when I see a single can of beer in specialist retailers for several pounds, which is quite a statement for somebody willing to spend the best part of £100 on a bottle of whisky. They are usually found in whacky coloured cans, with labelling that appears to come from the same agency recruited for Ardbeg’s committee releases. I always go for the less flamboyant bottles in the £2 region. No doubt the beer equivalent of a pleasant easy sipper whisky.
I haven’t explored a great deal of beer cask finished whiskies up to now, but I have taken part in a blind tasting where beer cask finished whiskies were later revealed to be the theme. I have to admit that at no point in the tasting did I pick up the flavour of beer in any of them, but my favourite was a Bimber Klub Edition Number 3 Imperial Stout Cask. This, in a tasting which also included a Fettercairn Warehouse 14, Benriach SMWS 12.48 IPA Barrel Finish, Murray McDavid 13yo Ardmore Moor Beer Stout Cask Finish and… Batch 1 of the Golden Beer Cask Finish from Glasgow Distillery.
Batch one was, just like this second batch, finished in a PX cask that previously held Innis and Gunn’s original golden beer. The big difference being the finish was just 3 months, rather than the full year that this one has. My completely blind notes were;
Nose : This is lovely. Tropical fruits immediately, followed by rich salted toffee, wood polishes and a little aniseed. There’s some aromatic spices I can’t quite put my finger on.
Palate : High ABV. Sweet icing sugar and applewood, with an oakiness that suggests it’s a bourbon, or there is virgin oak maturation. Aniseed in there too. Not as wowing as the nose was, but still pleasant.
Looking back further at my notes collected from various tastings, I realise I had tried batch 1 beforehand in a non-blind tasting. These were my notes on that occasion;
Nose : Wood polishes. Pineapple, apple and honey notes, along with raisins and floral meadow flowers.
Palate : Very sweet, with an almost artificial sweetness initially, along with pineapple cubes, and a maltiness running throughout. Next comes deep, rich, dark chocolate and coffee, with dried fruits and a slightly burnt caramel, followed by a gingery spice.
There’s similarities between the two sets of notes, but it’s clear I was getting more of the cask notes on the palate when it wasn’t blind. Maybe the drams I had prior to it, or the way I was feeling one those days had a part to play, but isn’t it more likely the power of suggestion knowing what I was tasting that contributed the most? It’s going to be interesting to see how this second batch, with its much longer finish, compares.
Whilst thinking about Glasgow and other new distilleries that have started distilling in the past decade, one thing strikes me; I have purchased very few bottles from any of them. I have tried many at various tastings and dram swaps, but rarely jumped in with a full bottle.
In terms of Scotch, I have bought just two bottles, one of which was the second Ardnamurchan AD release back in early 2021. I’m not really sure why I have left it there with Ardnamurchan, as that was a decent bottle of whisky; the community – and our Dougie – are telling me I should be paying more attention. Astonishingly, at time of writing, they are comfortably inside the Top 5 in our top 40 distilleries poll, which you should definitely participate in if you haven’t already done so. They were a bit of an outlier, with no other new distillery making the top 40, unless you included Daftmill, who have been distilling for more than 18 years now. I don’t. However, there’s change afoot with the new results coming out this week! Anyway, my other bottle was a single cask Annandale bottled by The Whisky Barrel. You could argue they aren’t a new distillery, but they were closed for nearly 100 years and the equipment is new, so I’d say they most definitely are.
Outside of Scotch, I’ve had a couple of new English whiskies from Henstone and The Cheshire. I also had a bottle of the inaugural release from Aber Falls in north Wales, before they decided cheap 40% supermarket fodder was to be their main aim. A real shame, as that 46% inaugural release was good. The main reason for buying these three were that they are fairly local to where I am located in North East Wales, which added an extra dimension of interest that may not have drawn me in otherwise. I haven’t been back for a repeat purchase as yet.
Not quite believing my own recollections, I scroll back into the depths of my Instagram, where pretty much every bottle I buy will be featured, and it confirms these are the only five bottles from what I would class as new distilleries. Even though I’m slightly shocked, I shouldn’t be, as I know the reason.
I have taken a conscious decision to step back and see how things develop over time, and wait for the new distilleries to find their stride, all while continuing to taste as much as I am able to. I still struggle to get age statements out of my head, and with more established distilleries offering 10 to 12 year old whiskies for less than £50, I have been going for those rather than the core range offerings from the newbies that are often the same price, if not more.
I’ve tasted some lovely single casks from Kingsbarns, Raasay and Ardnamurchan, but they tend to be price prohibitive, with £90 appearing to be the going rate. They’ve no doubt been plucked out from the warehouse because of their quality. When it comes to the core offerings, I’ve felt a little indifferent towards many from the new distilleries I have tried. Young fruity spirit designed to be drinkable young, but often quite uneventful, a bit like the Nc’Nean I reviewed recently. Most of these whiskies need more time, but understandably they require money in the kitty to keep operating in the meantime.
At least I hope time is what they need. Nc’Nean are producing a second type of spirit designed to be kept in casks for a longer period, but I suspect many are only producing a whisky designed to be drunk when young, which could stunt their growth if they haven’t been more forward thinking.
Having said that, it does feel to me that the newer distilleries are going to have an even bigger role in the future of whisky, whether it be Scotch or otherwise. Even more so now the bigger age statements the old guard are able to offer us are being inflated to prices we can no longer afford. The unique selling point of maturity that differentiates them from what the young upstarts could bring to the party is being eroded away with each year that passes.
These new distilleries are often more engaging with their customers, with many owned and run by people who share our passion for whisky. They tend to be more innovative than the established distilleries owned by big corporations who tend to stick to tried and tested formulas. The top 40 distilleries poll confirms my view that most still have some way to go before they become our favourites, but I’m confident they’ll feature on my shelf a lot more in the next few years than they have in the past, and start to climb up that list.
Review
Glasgow Distillery, 1770 Golden Beer Cask Finish, Special Edition, Batch 2, 58% ABV
£64 still available.
Glasgow will have been distilling for ten years in March next year, so the whisky should have a decent level of maturity at this stage, but having tried their unpeated 46% “The Original” a couple of times recently, I have to say it falls into the same pleasant easy sipper camp I have had with many of the newer distilleries. I like it, but don’t love it enough to rush out and buy a bottle. Although priced fairly at around £50, it struggles to go toe to toe with the likes of Arran 10, Glencadam 10 and Loch Lomond 12 Inchmurrin, which I can buy for less and would say are direct competitors in terms of a light, fruity style of whisky. I’m not sure if Glasgow are using much of their older stock in the cask make-up at this stage, but I would guess not. The peated is the more engaging of their core releases at this stage, which is often the way with young whisky. The use of 1770 in the branding refers to the original Glasgow distillery which was founded that year. Its use front and centre on the packaging has vibes akin to a child drawing on a fake moustache to try and look older.
Looking at the prices, however, I can see Glasgow is a new distillery playing a fair game. All of their 46% core range unpeated, peated and triple distilled whiskies are around £50, and their cask strength versions are only around £15 more. I love the art deco design of the bottle too, and its convex shape feels really good in the hand when you pour it. Good pricing and presentation I like bodes well for the future. I do worry about some of the new distilleries charging prices way beyond that, which may struggle to compete in a whisky environment where choice has never been greater. The current economic situation won’t help either. It’s the hard working people on the ground that will no doubt suffer most if the owners can no longer afford to keep the stills running.
This second batch of golden beer finished whisky was put into first-fill ex-bourbon casks on 17th April 2019 and left for 3 years and 1 month, before being transferred into a Pedro Ximenez sherry cask for one 1 year that previously held Edinburgh based brewery Innis and Gunn’s Golden Beer. It was bottled on 12th June 2023 at 58% ABV, without any chill filtration or added colour. As a special edition, it’s available online directly from Glasgow distillery for £64.
Nose
Bold and fruity – super fruity in fact. Lots of jammy blackcurrant and cherry aromas providing the headline notes. Nosing it further, I am getting polished oak, chocolate and leather.
Palate
The palate follows the bold and fruity theme. Lots of juicy, fruity flavour, with strawberry jam, raisins and menthol cherry lozenges. There’s a nice fiery ginger beer complete with the fizz, and a hoppy bitterness from the beer that comes in later. Maybe I am looking for the beer element, but I believe it to be there in the background. Towards the finish I get milk chocolate, coffee, leather and coconut.
The Dregs
The PX from the original cask contents is the dominant flavour, with the golden beer very much playing second fiddle. That said, it does show itself, which is reinforced by having a bottle of the beer from the cask included with the whisky. It’s a brilliant idea.
The beer itself is a powerful 7.1%, but I would describe it as seriously dangerous. It goes down like a 3 or 4% session beer, with the dark fruit flavours of the PX very much echoing what I am finding in the whisky. I could get through plenty of that given the opportunity, but it doesn’t appear to be available to buy from Innis and Gunn. My liver may be thankful.
I feel if you really wanted to get a sense of how the beer itself interacts with the whisky, then a cask that didn’t previously hold something as bold as Pedro Ximenez sherry might have been better, but it has to be said the PX cask has made for a good whisky. It also drinks really well at cask strength for a four year old whisky.
I teetered between a 5 and a 6 score with this second batch, but this is undeniably good stuff and priced correctly for what it is. Robust and full flavoured, there certainly isn’t anything delicate about it, but it lacks complexity or wow factors to take it beyond a 6. If you love your sweet sherry flavours, it’ll be right up your street.
Score: 6/10
