KinGlassie 8 Year Old Raw Edition & KinGlassie 8 Year Old Double Matured

KinGlassie 8 Year Old Raw Edition

Region: Lowlands

ABV: 46.3%

Price: £78.95

Distilled in 2017 and matured for the full eight years in refill American-oak ex-bourbon hogsheads, this heavily peated release was bottled in 2025 after those 8 years of maturation. The distillery has not disclosed the number of bottles released. 

Nose

The nose opens with acrylic paints, punchy yet sweet peat smoke, a little aniseed, soft sponge cake and lemon balm. It’s light on the nose, not in smoke but in overall composition, soft and gentle for a dram of this peating level. Opening up, we’re getting soft peach, barley sugars, peanut skins and something a little floral in the background too. It’s raw in the sense of more spirit forward than we’d usually get from 8 years of maturation, but there’s some cask influence here. 

Palate

The palate opens with grilled peach, slightly mushy and overdone, lots of lemon, slightly acrid smoke, and lingering cake-y flavours moving into a reasonable length finish. The smoke is more ashy in nature, slightly salty, perhaps salted caramel, and some bung cloth too. The youthfulness of the spirit isn’t as forward on the palate as it was on the nose, the peat covering some of that up, and there’s more wafer cone-like flavour coming through as it sits on our tongue. The alcohol is pleasantly subtle, but it doesn’t feel too thin overall. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has a nuttier aroma, smoked almonds, a handful of salted peanuts too. The dram definitely feels saltier now, a little savoury. We’re also getting some punchier orchard fruit aromas appearing from the background. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate loses a touch of texture, but unlocks a lot more sweetness, we’re finding lots of apple and pear sweeties, a few lemon drops too. The smoke is still left lingering for a while, soft and gentle. 

Conclusion

We appreciate a distillate driven dram, and this definitely falls into that category. The smokey spirit is nicely intertwined with the cask, although there’s not too much cask here overall. It’s well balanced though, and the finish takes on a very pleasant smokey journey. 

Score: 6.5/10

Value

Considering it’s only eight years old, it would have been nice to see this released at cask strength for the price.

KinGlassie 8 Year Old Double Matured

Region: Lowlands

ABV: 46.3%

Price: £78.95

Distilled in 2017 and matured for five years in refill American-oak ex-bourbon casks, then finished for three years in Amontillado sherry casks, this heavily peated single malt was bottled in 2025 after eight years of maturation. The distillery has not disclosed the number of bottles released. 

Nose

The nose opens with clove spice, a little brown sugar, gingerbread, grilled pork, tobacco smoke and lots of wood oils. There’s a savouriness here, balanced out quite nicely with a real dark sugary sweetness, and a herbal top note, maybe a hint of sage. It’s not jumping out the glass at us, we’re having to get quite deep into the dram however the alcohol is soft and gentle so this is no problem. Going back, there’s more nuttiness, walnuts, hazelnuts, maybe even a pistachio here and there. 

Palate

The palate opens with more upfront nuttiness, warm caramel, brown sugar, salt flakes, a little candied ginger and clove. The smoke is more subdued here, slightly ashy, it’s a supporting background note to the amontillado sherry, but in saying that, it’s not an overpowering sherry bomb, we’re still getting some of the malt and a biscuitiness from the spirit itself. The mouthfeel is nice, quite syrupy, and the finish lasts a decent length. Time and air brings a little cherry jam out too. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has a little more smoke coming through, still quite ashy, and there’s still roasted nuts, salt flakes, and cinnamon. It maintains the integration, and there’s something a little more sour coming through now. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate has more up front sweetness, simpler sugars, less richness, more lemon and caster sugar, alongside butter biscuits. It feels a little flatter now though, the texture has faded somewhat and it’s lost some complexity. We’d skip the water.

Conclusion

Well integrated, soft, salty, nutty sherried whisky, quite pleasant. The peat plays a backup role here, giving a bit more depth to the amontillado which has melded well with the Inchdarnie spirit.

Score: 7/10

Value

Like today’s other review, it would have been nice to see this released at cask strength for the price.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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