Side by side: Four from GlenDronach

I can't remember the last time I reviewed a GlenDronach so here, to make up, are four cask strength bottlings.

Three single casks and the latest Cask Strength Batch.

Whisky 'machinery' - the Washback

Continuing the series looking at some of the 'machinery' used in a distillery to create whisky - this time the Washback or fermenting vessel.

I've covered the basic process of creating whisky here, but I'm going to explore the machinery a little more in this series.

Review of my whisky year - 2019

First of all thank you to all the people who have read my blog (c48,000 up from 29,000 last year) and followed me on Twitter (c2,600 up from 1,700 last year).

My highlights of 2019 were:

#BlindTasting Series 5 - Review

Series 5 of #BlindTasting has recently finished and as usual I'll post a summary. This ended up being our longest series due to Christmas and pressures of work - it extended over 4 months!
This one, like all the rest, has brought up a few surprised with the five of us trying to identify 15 mystery drams through smell and taste, having #NoPreconceivedIdeas to sway our opinions.

Drinking with a mate 200 miles away! GlenDronach 1995

Thanks to the generosity of a mutual friend, two mates living 200 miles apart sat at the same time looking at the same sample bottles thinking should I give this a try tonight?

A chance discussion on Twitter and John and I decided to have a dram together, an impromptu tasting then took place!

Side by side: Tomatin & GlenDronach Highland BYOs

Rather than review drams by themselves I'm doing a little series comparing some 'side by side'.

There may be two or more, they may be from the same or different distilleries, similar ages, ABVs and types or not as I decide!

This time we are reviewing two Highland 'Bottle Your Own' drams an Oloroso cask Tomatin and a PX cask GlenDronach - let's compare and contrast!

#BlindTasting Series 4 - Review

Series 4 of #BlindTasting has recently finished and as usual I'll post a summary. There had been a bit of a gap from Series 3 and this one extended longer than we thought it would - pressures of work!
This one, like all the rest, has brought up a few surprised with the five of us trying to identify 15 mystery drams through smell and taste, having #NoPreconceivedIdeas to sway our opinions.

#BlindTasting Series 5 - Part 1

Series 5

Who thought it would last this long - but it has and two years later the gang are starting out on Series 5 of #BlindTasting, we've also just booked out second #BlindTastingOnTour for next summer! If you haven't followed us before you can catch up with all the previous series here.

#BlindTasting Series 4 - Part 3

Delayed due to man flu the final part of Series 4 finally took place once @WhiskyWings had recovered! We've each send the others 3 #dramples, mine are labelled A10, A11 & A12, John's B, Alistair's C, Grimm's D & Mike's E. Tonight we'll #BlindTasting the number 12's : 🥃A12, 🥃B12, 🥃C12, 🥃D12 & 🥃E12 but what are they?

#BlindTasting Series 2 - Review

Series 2 of #BlindTasting finished just after Christmas! Following on from a fantastic Series 1 - this one was a huge amount of fun with the five of us trying to identify 15 mystery drams through smell and taste, having #NoPreconceivedIdeas or #MarketingBullshit to sway our opinions.

#BlindTasting Series 2 - part 3

And we finally get to the 3rd part of Series 2 of #BlindTasting, like all good bands and the search for the second album we had some issues - these were mainly down to prolonged episodes of severe Man Flu on the part of a couple of members of the team and of course Christmas.

GlenDronach Trio

I'm ashamed to admit that I've never tried a GlenDronach whisky before.... I can't explain why, they just never came on my radar. So in an effort to clear some space in my sample box I've put together three of their whiskies that I've swapped over the last few months.

Thanks to @MaltMan_Mike for the 12yo & 18yo and @Whisk_Whisk for the 15yo - so a nice range of #dramples, what can I tell you about them?

@GlenDronach is a Highland distillery founded in 1826 and now owned by the BenRiach Distillery Company Ltd under Brown-Forman.

So on to the whiskies!

All of these are natural colour and non-chill filtered, matured in ex-sherry casks and you can immediately tell the age difference (left to right) as the colour becomes darker.

On pouring the drams my room immediately filled with the aroma of sherry!

Whisky : 12yo Original
Characteristics : 700ml 43% ABV Not coloured & Non-chill filtered
Price : £40 many outlets
Distillery info : "This superb richly sherried single malt is matured for at least 12 years in a combination of the finest Spanish Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks. A sweet, creamy dram."

Colour : Deep Copper
In the Glass : Fast thin legs when swirled
Nose : Sweet sherry with orchard fruits and a little toffee. A bit of a burnt sugar note after a while.
Palate: Very smooth creamy, tongue coating little number! Lots of honey along with the apples and pears from the nose. This is joined by dried fruit and a little drying icing sugar. There is a little sweetness but not as much as expected. There's lovely spice notes and a hint of dark nutty chocolate.
Finish : A spicy drying finish with sherry tickling all the way down!

Whisky : 15yo Revival

Characteristics : 700ml 46% ABV Not coloured & Non-chill filtered
Price : Discontinued whilst stock matures
Distillery info : "Renowned amongst many whisky enthusiasts around the world, this remarkable and full bodied malt is matured for a minimum of 15 years in the finest Oloroso sherry casks. A truly excellent single malt."

Colour : Tawny
In the Glass : Slow thin legs when swirled
Nose : Quite different from the 12yo - there is hardly any sweetness but there is a distinct note of balsamic vinegar and again a little toffee but no apples or pears.
Palate: A much thicker mouthfeel than the 12yo, again honey but no orchard fruit - more dried raisins and sultanas, there's that drying icing sugar note and a loads of nuttiness. Some biscuit, chocolate and red berry notes but not much spice.
Finish : Again quite drying, the spice hits you now - a peppery chilli hit. again a hint of nuts along with the sherry. This is a much longer lingering spicy finish than the 12yo.

Whisky : 18yo Allardice

Characteristics : 700ml 46% ABV Not coloured & Non-chill filtered
Price : £75 many outlets
Distillery info : "Named after the renowned founder of the distillery, James Allardice. This exceptional sherried single malt is matured in the finest Spanish Oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 46%, this sublime richly sherried malt is truly unforgettable."

Colour : Mahogany
In the Glass : Gravity defying very slow thin legs when swirled
Nose : Again a quite different nose - plums, rich dark chocolate and a lots of toffee. This develops with a fruit and nuttiness reminiscent of that well known chocolate bar! This one is very complex - there's also some plump juicy raisins bursting out of the glass.
Palate: Like the 15yo a thick mouthfeel, smooth and creamy and like the 12yo has a little spice. Not as much sherry as the 15yo, the oak has had a longer influence and is coming through a little more. There is a nutty note alongside the drying icing sugar. The spice, like the 12yo, is a little more immediate than the 15yo but is more intense - they obviously used hotter chillies in the recipe!
Finish : Very spicy, drying, oaky finish with fading sherry notes and a nuttiness.



Overall : After these three drams I needed to go and get a drink of water - my mouth was bone dry, all three had similar icing sugar notes which stole the moisture from my mouth.
They all shared an obvious sherry influence but I think that mellowed as the age increased and the wood had more of an influence. It's interesting that I didn't get the Christmas cake mix impression from any of them - they were sherried but not huge sherry bombs.
Personally I think they are all great whiskies, the 12yo has some lovely orchard fruit notes which alongside the sweet honey makes for a great east drinking dram. The 18yo was slightly better, it's older age giving a more spicy plate but I think the 15yo hits the sweetspot and the spice holding until the finish really impressed me.