Glendronach 19 Year Old Single Cask Whisky Review!

They're getting extremely expensive and scarce these days, but these Glendronach single casks are generally very, very good...

Glendronach are also one of the few distilleries that regularly bottle single casks for general release, not just exclusive or private bottlings, so amid the distillery's surging popularity the recent price increases are understandable. It has seemingly gotten to the point where each yearly batch release is now being immediately snapped up, much like the Ardbeg committee releases, Bowmore Feis Ile bottlings, or any Japanese whisky with an age statement... Unfortunately the most reliable source for these single cask bottlings is secondary market whisky auctions, at highly inflated prices of course, which then attract high freight costs and local duty, tax, fees and more tax depending on where you are in the world. And that is the situation with pretty much any highly collectable whisky in the current climate.

With that all said, if you're wanting a high quality, single cask, cask strength sherry bomb that is (sometimes) affordable for the average human, these Glendronachs are basically your safest option. For example, the "exceptional single cask" bottlings from Macallan are easily 10-times the price of a similarly-aged Glendronach single cask bottling, and are much harder to get a hold of, even if you have the Wall Street-level of disposable income that is required for entry. Although as a quick digression I must admit I recently had the honour of tasting one of those single cask Macallans, and it really was exceptional. Quite possibly the best younger Macallan I've ever tasted (and the nearest overall challengers were over 50-years old), and easily in the same league as some of the best single cask Glendronachs that I've come across, although very different in character.

Not to single out (pun intended) Macallan, but for a frame of reference Glendronach Distillery is also far smaller in terms of production and physical size, with a production capacity of around 1.5-million litres a year, compared to around 9-million litres per year from the previous iteration of Macallan Distillery. The new and recently opened-for-business Macallan Distillery is said to increase that capacity to around 15-million litres per year, from a whopping thirty-six stills. Yes, 36! Which makes Macallan the largest malt whisky distillery in Scotland, easily beating previous title-holder Glenfiddich. Glendronach is also surprisingly small in physical terms for such a revered distillery (more details here from my tour last year), with a small and very low-key visitor's centre, just two pairs of stills and six relatively small warehouses on site. But I'm still digressing, so let's get back on track...

I've reviewed a couple of these single cask Glendronachs before, an excellent 11-year old PX-finished general release, and a 20-year old PX-matured UK exclusive, both of which were extremely enjoyable. This particular single cask bottling, cask number 487, is another UK exclusive that was distilled in 1993 (said to be the best vintage for these single casks) and bottled back in 2012. It's a 19-year old whisky that was fully matured in a single first-fill Oloroso sherry butt (500-litre cask), which yielded 673 bottles at a cask strength of 54.2%, without any chill filtration or added colouring nasty-ness. Being distilled prior to the distillery's closure in 1996 means this whisky was made using the direct-fired stills which were converted to steam coils circa 2004, and it also means that some of the barley came from the distillery's tiny floor maltings, which were decommissioned in 1996. That little fact also means that some of that barley was originally very lightly peated, although it won't be at all detectable after 19 years in a first-fill sherry cask. The bottle that this sample came from was kindly donated by a fellow whisky nerd who purchased it at auction, which is never a cheap exercise with shipping and the ever-vigilant Australian Customs to contend with. Let's get to it!

Glendronach 19-year old single cask, 54.2%. Highlands, Scotland.

Cask 487, UK exclusive. Distilled 1993, matured in an Oloroso sherry butt, bottled 2012 at cask strength. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 673 bottles.

Colour: Very dark amber.

Nose: Rich and spicy. Pinch of aniseed which is surprising, and loads of creamy milk chocolate. Sweet juicy stone fruit baked in syrup - peaches in particular, and a little plum & apricot. Some warm X-mas spices, black forest cake and a little soft old leather.

Texture: Lovely. Medium weight, syrupy & fruity. A little spirit heat, but not at all unpleasant.

Taste: Loads of juicy baked stone fruit again, but sans the syrup here. More wood spice, and loads of chocolate again, but it's semi-sweet dark chocolate here. Some bitter oak comes through as well.

Finish: Medium length. That bitterness carries through and intensifies a little, and the aniseed returns, but both do fade, letting that sweet stone fruit come back through. Creamy milk chocolate comes around again as well, with a little walnut, licorice and dried herbs to finish.

Score: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Very, very tasty stuff! For a while there I was of the mind that I preferred the PX versions of these single sherry casks, but the last couple of Oloroso-matured bottlings that I've tried now have me thinking that it's even between the two styles. Obviously the PX versions do tend to be sweeter, while the Oloroso casks are more spicy and intense, but that's all part of the fun! They're all sherry bombs to varying degrees, but there's much, much more to them. Which is a big part of Glendronach's allure! I must have tried around ten of these single casks now, and there were only two that didn't quite live up to my expectations, although that's probably because of the performance of the other eight! And that's the beauty of single cask whiskies after all, they're all different! If you ask me, even with the recent price rises on these single cask releases, there's still value to be had if you can afford the buy-in.

The nose on this particular Oloroso cask is absolutely fantastic, although I must admit that aniseed note is surprising and a little strange, as is the bitterness on the finish, but both do add to the experience and keep things interesting and challenging. I can see why the 1993 vintage is so well regarded. Glendronach are still the kings of sherry-land if you ask me, and I don't see that changing any time soon. Especially once the long-awaited return of the 15-year old comes through, which is rumoured to be happening in 2019, and it rejoins its brilliant stable mates. Long live the king!

Cheers!