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As a result retail prices have risen, sometimes quite dramatically. That’s partly due to pricing policy by the distillery, but also because retail outlets realised they could ask higher prices for GlenDronach that was bottled in certain years — a regretful side-effect of this article. Current State of GlenDronach Palate: Full, syrupy body. Restrained tongue burn considering its ABV. Rivers of molten dark chocolate greet the tongue, studded with plump figs and dried apricots. Oaky in a controlled, precise way, perfectly supporting the layers of fruit and sweet. In a word, perfect. The distillery converted from coal fired stills to steam heat in 2005. It was the last Scottish distiller to switch. Today, among major producers, only the Japanese distiller Yoichi still uses coal fired stills.
No partnership, joint venture, agency, or employment relationship is created as a result of your use of the Service. I can’t fault the distillery for raising prices, the brand has been underpriced. It’s still an exceptional value, just a little less so than before. Prices will likely continue to go up, however, so if you find the whisky to your liking you might want to put a bottle or two away. B and B-: Good and above average. The best of the mass market whiskeys fit in this category, as do the bulk of the premium brands. A B- is three stars. GlenDronach is known for long maturation periods in sherry casks. The GlenDronach 21 yo is no exception as it was aged in a combination of Spanish Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso casks from Andalucía. The core collection includes a 12 yo, 15 yo, 18 yo, and even a peated expression. Last year, the GlenDronach 18 yo whisky was one of the best drams I tried during the year. It will be interesting to see if how the additional time in the sherry casks matures the whisky.We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof.
On the palate, there are dried fruit notes of golden raisin and cooked fig, orange zest, and walnut along with some milk chocolate, coffee and a bit of toasted oak. The whisky shows the classic sherry matured “Christmas cake” profile as well as spice notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. A sip revealed an oily texture and a subtle character. There is no doubt it’s a Sherried whisky, and it has body to be sure, but it’s certainly no Sherry bomb. Once again, you need to step into this dance, because it’s not jumping out at you. It’s full of earthy, slightly bitter cocoa; dried cherries and figs; a little toffee; and a sliver of green oak. The finish opens with cake spices, but then turns curiously ashy, lingering on that note as it fades away. Glendronach distillery does incorporate a level of filtration. When the casks are vatted and brought together–either under Dr. Rachel Barrie or, previously, Billy Walker – every batch is going to contain some level of flocculation and, indeed, of turbidity. That vatted liquid is then sent down to the bottling line for further inspection by the quality control team, where it is then compared to a base sample of the 12 Year Old. (I’m using the 12-year-old expression as my example for this piece, although the same process is carried out by the team regardless of expression.) If the newly vatted liquid is deemed to have a ‘higher’ level of turbidity than the base sample, it is subjected to filtration. The company has a long history of producing sherried malts, maturing its whiskies either in Oloroso sherry butts or in a combination of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez (PX) casks. Nevertheless, the presentation of a whisky surely gives us an insight into the attitude and mindset of a producer when bottling an expression (be it a special release or a core range product). The distiller and blender are saying to us, “This is the best product we can deliver. This is our spirit, and we are proud.” With more and more new distilleries releasing inaugural bottlings and beginning to distribute their core range, we are seeing these three requirements met from almost all of them. They aren’t produced for blends: they are setting up their stall and proudly displaying their liquid in as natural a form as they can.Unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise, your use of and membership to the Service are exclusively governed by Dutch law. We shall first try to settle any dispute over a dram of whisky. Disputes that cannot be settled over multiple drams of whisky shall be solely submitted to the court of Amsterdam, The Netherlands unless mandatory applicable law provides otherwise. The whisky is bottled a bit stronger than usual for a Scotch whisky, at 48% ABV. It is not chill filtered and has seen no coloring added. Entering the discussion, I couldn’t help but focus on my preconceptions about what this new chill-filtration process entailed. My pre-emptive questions were about why the decision had been made to filter the liquid, who had made that decision, what Brown-Forman was trying to achieve by incorporating such a drastic step, how much it even cost to run one of these machines, and what the impact on the liquid itself would be– a liquid that had built its reputation on natural presentation and incredible taste. I had mixed positive experiences with the Parliament, at different times rating it from 85 to 94. I first tasted it from a superb 5cl mini (in 3 sessions) and then from a new bottle. At its “worst” (for me), it was more closed and strongly spiced (nearly as much as the 18yo) and the sweetness comes off like artificial sweeteners; but if you let it breath for PLENTY of time to evaporate those oaky sour and spice influences, then it becomes more balanced (softly spiced). At its best, I got more dates/cocoa/raspberry/vanilla/walnut— and less clove; but I have not been able to recreate that first experience that I had with the mini. I recommend just enough water to bring the ethanol content to 46-47% (10-20 drops to a 3cl pour). Now, in my career (not giving too much away about Hamish’s daily activities), I often ask my clients and customers: “If you were to wave a magic wand right now, what would you want delivered? What would deliver value and make you happy?” I ask this now, as a whisky drinker, of you and the wider enthusiast group. ‘Value’ is the word of 2022 when it comes to our whisky purchasing. What a lot of us expect from our precious brown liquid, for our hard-earned money –let’s wave that magic wand – is:
Regardless of whether the Service offers the functionality to contribute, you are solely responsible and liable for any content and information that you create, upload, post, publish, link to, duplicate, transmit, record, display or otherwise make available on the Service or to other Members, such as chat messages, text messages, videos, audio, audio recordings, music, pictures, photographs, text and any other information or materials, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted (“Contributions”). GlenDronach offers an exceptional range of whiskies, which for a long time have represented among the best values for sherried single malts. Prices have been steadily going up over the last few years; a reflection of increasing demand as the brand gets discovered and a more aggressive pricing strategy. NOSE: Red fruit sweetness, creamy oak with bits of dark roasted coffee, an underlying ginger note mixed with bits of vanilla and orange. Delicious and rich inviting you to savour slowly.Let’s just dive in immediately, shall we? There’s a causality between the mothballing of GlenDronach and the true age of their age statement whiskies. The distillery was closed from 1996 until 2001, and that gap of six years forces GlenDronach to use older whisky than necessary. Take a long hard look at the infographic below and see for yourself. Palate (20/25): Dark honey. Chocolate fudge. Fruit cake. Cinnamon. Very bold. Almost over the top. Treacle. Dtaes. Licorice. Lots and lots of tannins. Molasses. Overly sweet, far too big. It's not bad but it's just too loud. This GlenDronach expression is named after James Allardes, the distillery’s founder. It is matured exclusively in Oloroso sherry casks. So the take-away for me is this: Glendronach 12 is the same whisky as it’s always been, produced in what can reasonably be assumed is the same way. It is simply exhibiting batch variation – much like every other batch-produced whisky out there. Consistency in whisky batches, for some, is a comfort; they know what they’re getting each time they buy a bottle, and that’s what they want. But for others, consistency is pedestrian. I’m a celebrant of variation – I want to see how a distillery progresses and morphs over the years. But the Glendronach 12 that you buy today is as near as – dammit –the same as the Glendronach 12 you bought a few years ago, just with a few subtle batch differences.
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