A couple of weeks ago I reviewed the 2nd single malt (and single cask) release from Golan Heights Distillery, the brainchild of David Zibell. However, the bread and butter of the distillery is Golani, the two grain (wheat and malted barley) sour mash whisky offering. Golani releases were used to be a one year whisky offering but recently the line up was revamped and now consists of three different Golani products, all carrying a 3 year old age tag:

• Golani Black – matured for three years in new charred American
• Golani Vino – matured in European oak Cabernet cask (from Golan Heights Winery)
• Golani Double Wood – a vatting of part casks from the Black and Vino offerings

Let’s check them out!

Golan Heights Golani Black 3 Year Old Cask #18 (58.6%)

Nose: Sweet resin, pine needles and then a big bomb of liquorice. Haven’t felt that much liquorice since I last ate a liquorice candy, butterscotch, werther’s original candies, pencil shavings and a bit of glue.

Palate: Liquorice, liquorice  and pine needles. Acetone and varnish, sweet honey, butterscotch, pencil shavings, pine and mint freshness.

Finish: Short medium length, liquorice, sweet honey, pencil shavings and oak spices.

Golan Heights Golani Vino 3 Year Old Cask #15 (64.7%)

Nose: Different cask type, some different flavors. Sweet and herbal, oak spices, butterscotch lurking in the background. Slowly some wine sweetness develops, grains, malt, pencil shavings, glue and a bit of acetone, toffee, sweet menthol. After a few minutes, sweet red wine and tannins comes along with the malt and grain, still has menthol in supporting act.

Palate: Grains, menthol freshness, white pepper, glue, sweet sour red fruit, malt, oak wood spices and pencil shavings.

Finish: Medium length, lingering warm sweet fruit, menthol freshness, pencil shavings.

 

Golan Heights Golani Double Wood 3 Year Old (61.6%)

Nose: Liqourice, wine sweetness, pencil shavings, menthol, balanced between both casks impact, butterscotch and toffee too. We see here good balance between both casks.

Palate: Grain, glue, wine sweetness, mint and pine freshness, liqourice, pencil shavings,

Finish: Medium length, wine, butterscotch, liquorice, gentle pencil shavings.

Thoughts: The Golani black is really an interesting and franklyת also a very unique offering with the liqourice bomb and pine freshness notes. The Vino is a more mainstreamy offering, and the wine cask impact resembles the wine impact of the 1st single malt cask. The double wood, which is a vatting of both casks offers the best experience, combining the good from both casks. It has a great nose, although the palate leans to the grain side but overall it’s the best of the 3 whiskies.