Clydeside Stobcross is a Glasgow malt made on the riverbank, and it tastes like a good apple pie that has been told to behave. This Clydeside Stobcross review is about a 46% Lowland single malt that costs about £39, tastes of vanilla, honey and apple with a faint cereal sweetness, and is a soft, creamy and very easy dram.
I like it a good deal. It is a young malt with real character for the price, and the strength gives it a lovely texture. It is not a bottle that will change your life, and it is one that makes a new city distillery easy to like.
Clydeside is a distillery on the north bank of the Clyde in Glasgow, in the old Queen’s Dock, and it opened in 2017. The Clydeside distillery is the first single malt distillery in the city in over a century, and it has a visitor centre in the old pump house that makes it a good place to spend an afternoon.
Stobcross is the core bottle, a Lowland single malt at 46% with no age statement, matured in ex-bourbon casks. UK prices I found ran from about £38 to £41 at most shops, with a few at £47 to £51, so I use about £39. Age statements versus NAS explains the missing number, and the Auchentoshan 12 is the established Lowland malt to compare.
A warm apple pie with a drizzle of honey, a vanilla pod and a handful of malted barley.
The nose is sweet and gentle, with vanilla, honey and apple, then a faint cereal sweetness, a hint of citrus and a trace of oak. It smells soft, clean and young, with nothing sharp.
On the palate it is soft and creamy, with apple, vanilla and malt, then a gentle spice, a hint of honey and a soft oak. The 46% gives it a good body, and the texture is silky and slightly oily. It is easy to drink, and it has real charm for a young malt.
The finish is medium, with oak, honey and a trace of malt. It is warm, clean and pleasant.
A few drops of water bring out the apple and soften the spice, and I think it is a little better for it. It also gets sweeter as it sits, and the honey comes forward. At 46% it takes water well, and a patient pour pays off.
Neat, with a few drops of water, in a small glass. It is a very good sipper and a good everyday malt. It makes a pleasant Old Fashioned, where the honey and the vanilla work with the bitters.
It goes well with a mild cheese, shortbread and a quiet evening. It is a very good gift for somebody who likes soft, creamy whisky and is curious about the new Glasgow distillery.
At about £39 it scores 74. Glengoyne 12 scores 79 at about £38, which is five points better for £1 less. Auchentoshan 12 scores 79 at about £38, five points better for £1 less. Glen Scotia Double Cask scores 78 at about £36, and Bladnoch 11 scores 76 at about £50.
So Stobcross is a good young malt at a fair price, and the established Lowland and Campbeltown names beat it for slightly less. The Bladnoch 11 beats it by two points for £11 more. I would buy it to try the new distillery, and I would take the Glengoyne for the money.
Glasgow made whisky for centuries before the industry moved elsewhere, and Clydeside brought it back to the river. The stills sit in a Victorian pump house beside the water, and the whole thing is run on a modest scale.
That makes the whisky interesting beyond the glass. A young malt from a new distillery has less depth than a long-established one, and it makes up for it with freshness and a clean, fruity style. It also shows promise, and I would expect the older releases to be worth waiting for.
If you want to support a new distillery and enjoy a soft, easy malt in the process, this is a good way to do it.
Four more bottles, from the better buys to the neighbours.
A slow-distilled, nutty malt that scores five points higher for £1 less.
A creamy triple-distilled malt that scores five points higher for £1 less.
A creamy, fruity malt that scores four points higher for £3 less.
A soft, floral Lowland malt that scores two points higher for £11 more.
Clydeside Stobcross is soft, creamy, appley and young, a Glasgow malt with real charm for the price. It is a good bottle at a fair price, and the Glengoyne 12 is the better buy.
Caskable score: 74 out of 100.
Vanilla, honey, apple and a faint cereal sweetness
Soft and creamy, with apple, vanilla, malt and a gentle spice
Medium, with oak, honey and a trace of malt
A soft, creamy, young Lowland malt from a Glasgow distillery that is good and fairly priced.
Thomas Grønvold is the founder of Caskable and a whisky enthusiast who believes the best way to learn about whisky is simply to drink it, compare it, and stay curious. From supermarket favourites to bottles from distilleries around the world, he writes about what he actually tastes and experiences, without pretending you need to be an expert to enjoy a good dram.
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