I've long been a big fan of Glendronach, particularly the increasingly scarce 18-year old Allardice expression (named after the distillery founder), the old 15-year old Revival, and their single cask releases which thankfully haven't skipped a beat since the distillery changed hands and brought on a new master blender. In fact since both Ms. Rachel Barrie and American corporation Brown Forman took the reigns the distillery hasn't shown a single sign of anything slowing down, or any obvious change of direction. Which is a good thing, and a bit of a relief, although it's easy to see that Billy Walker took excellent care of Glendronach after rescuing it from Pernod Ricard in 2008, along with sister distilleries Benriach and Glenglassaugh, and the new owners merely had to keep riding the same wave. They have kept up with the pace too, since aside from the re-launch of the 15-year old Revival (albeit with a new cask recipe and a change in character), they've released a few new limited release whiskies - although quite a few have yet to appear on the shelves in Australia - and the yearly single cask release program has only gotten stronger, despite drastic price increases. They do still fare quite well against some of the ridiculously overpriced single cask offerings from a few "luxury whisky" distilleries. I won't single any out here, but there are plenty of examples out there - even some that are closer to home...
For those lucky enough to visit and tour Glendronach in the flesh, there are usually a couple of special treats on hand when they arrive. That's not such an easy thing to do either, because despite being well worth the effort the distillery is a little way off the beaten track. In fact unlike the Speyside distilleries Glendronach is closer to Aberdeen than it is to Elgin, let alone Inverness, so most of the typical tourist crowd will skip it, if they're even aware of it in the first place. It's mostly the enthusiasts and diehard fans that will take that extra step to the Eastern Highlands, but it's more of a pilgrimage for them, really. And when they complete that pilgrimage, the aforementioned treats should be waiting for them. I say should, because there are no guarantees. All going to plan, there'll be a hand-filled single cask available, which you fill yourself from a cask in the visitor's centre, and also a distillery exclusive single cask bottling. If you're unlucky, and commonly during peak season, there'll only be the hand-filled single cask available during your visit, but not all is lost - those hand-fills tend to be excellent! During my first and (so far) only visit to the distillery back in September of 2017 there was no Distillery Exclusive single cask available to taste or to purchase. They were also out of engraved Glencairn glasses at the time, which personally I found even more disappointing. Thankfully I had a PX-matured and freshly hand-filled single cask bottling to help wipe away my tears! It would be much worse at the moment though, since they've closed their visitor's centre completely due to this bloody virus. I can't even imagine the heartbreak of planning a trip / pilgrimage for months, if not years, and then finding out days in advance that it's not going to happen. But I can certainly understand their reasoning.
I've reviewed a few of Glendronach's single cask bottlings over the years, but I have to say (spoiler alert), this one is right up there with the best that I've tasted. This distillery exclusive single cask was distilled in 1994, putting it close to the legendary 1993 vintage that the distillery's hardcore fans go crazy for, although none can really explain why that particular year was so special. There are a few things that certainly help though, such as the four stills being direct-fired at the time (they were converted to indirect steam heating in 2005), and the distillery's floor maltings still being in operation - they were decommissioned in 1996 when the distillery was mothballed. This single cask bottling was fully-matured in a Pedro Ximinez (a.k.a. PX) sherry cask, specifically a puncheon - a 500-litre cask that is shorter and squatter in shape than a sherry butt. I do seem to prefer the PX cask bottlings myself, rather than the Oloroso cask variants, although the very nature of single cask bottlings does make it difficult to pin down a particular preference. This particular single cask was bottled in 2016, making it 21-years old, and coming in at a cask strength of 53.2% ABV. All Glendronach single casks are bottled at cask strength, non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, and many are presented in some of the best packaging to ever hold a bottle of whisky - the famous brown "coffin boxes", including this one. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd who was lucky enough to pick up this bottled from overseas auction. Here comes the sherry train!
Distilled 09/1994, fully matured in a single PX sherry puncheon, bottled 05/2016. Cask #3399, 627 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: Very dark brown / mahogany - the above picture doesn't quite do it justice.
Nose: Oh, hello! This is beautiful. Soft, rich & sweet. Orange-scented furniture polish, oily varnish, tinned peaches in syrup, and rich chocolate mousse. Dried apricots, spun sugar toffee, sweet sultanas and date syrup. More peaches and chocolate shavings further in.
Texture: Medium-heavy weight, rich & decadent. No heat at all. Lovely.
Taste: Again, beautiful, rich & sweet. More date syrup, furniture polish, sweet sultanas, velvety chocolate fondant icing, dried apricot and black pepper. A little more wood-forward here too, but not in an obtrusive way.
Finish: Long length. More chocolate mousse and tinned peaches in syrup, more sultanas and dates, a few currants as well. Some orange rind, more furniture polish and some oily putty. Chocolate, peaches and dried apricots to the end.
Score: 4.5 out of 5.
Notes: Excellent. I can certainly see why this single cask made the cut as a distillery exclusive. This would have to be the best older Glendronach (20yo+) single cask that I've tasted to date. Which if memory serves also makes it the best older Glendronach that I've tasted to date. I do tend to prefer the younger / teenage examples myself (e.g. this one), but this is a very worthy exception. So rich, sweet and decadent. The ultimate dessert dram that is just packed with flavour. It's not ridiculously PX-heavy either, I'd say it's showing just about the perfect level of cask influence & sherry influence for its age. If you were lucky enough to get one of these from the distillery, or from an auction (in which case the seller should be kicking themselves), you've certainly bagged yourself a winner. I'm very lucky to have tasted it without having to do either - a huge thanks to the generous donour for the sample of this one!
It's unfortunate that these older single cask Glendronachs are so expensive these days, because they can be absolute magic. They still sell out at the higher prices of course, but I feel that the buyers will have changed - and I'd have to assume that less are getting opened and enjoyed when compared with a few years ago. But we can't really blame the distillery for doing so in the current market, especially when this level of quality is involved. Great stuff!
Cheers!
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