Glengoyne: 15 years in the oak alone

Occasionally samples are nice. If you are not going boldy where your tongue has not gone before, you might want to test a sample of something new. If you are bold and feeling captainoush, you go for the full bottle blindly. In this case, the sample was chosen. And it should be of natural coloring, as described in the label.
Glengoyne is a new acquaintance of mine, despite them having a almost 200 years old history with the whisky production in Highlands region. You can read about them from their web pages: http://www.glengoyne.com/our-distillery/history/. They also managed to include Rob Roy into their history. Truth or not, it does not really matter since it makes a great story.
The dram. It is this one: http://www.glengoyne.com/our-whisky/bottle/15-year-old-highland-single-malt-scotch-whisky. The color is good, resembling a classic amber whisky. In the nose there is a nice mellow oak, a bit of vanilla and spice mixed up with lemon. A way better nose, than I was afraid of. Broad shouldered and witty, but not sharp and stingy.
The palate opens up with too sharp Shakespearian rhymes with Rob Royish attitude. There is the famous oak tree, spiced up pepper tongue and sharpened dagger of the night. But after the initial clash of arms, the smooth tongued Guybrush Threepwood emerges to exchange edges into witty and fun dialogues. The second round starts directly with words that turn into a poetry of love and lost souls. Oak and vanilla cease the stage and come forward to play their part, while the spiciness hums the tune in the background. The battle of different characters wages back and forth, but the result is not bad. The play ends with a long finish, leaving the spiced oak on display until the night falls.

This is a good, broad and full of joyful character dram, that is not smoky. There is enough complexity and story to make this one interesting. Not bad, not bad at all. I wish I had been more adventurous and had reached for the whole bottle, instead of a sample.