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After tasting last year a great Glendronach bottled too by Abbey Whisky ( that I bought right after the first sip touched my lips ), I got a few days ago a sample of their new single cask Glendronach. A 20 years old single cask whisky distilled in 1994 and aged in a Pedro Ximenez Puncheon.
As you know, I don’t like PX whiskies… I usually dislike how the sweetness and cocoa works on them… but as usual, I tasted this one blind. Let’s review it.
Ok, more Glendronach today… a 15 years old Tawny Port, a type of Portuguese Port wine.
This whisky is aged in bourbon barrels and then finished in Port Pipes, a huge kind of cask.
“It is a nice whisky with notes of fruits, spices and chocolate... but the Virgin Oak finish was so nice”
88
70cl / 46% / Distillery Bottling - Introduced to the Glendronach range in 2011 the 15 year old Tawny Port finish continued the distillery's new owner's plans of taking the bourbon matured whisky from the old owners and bringing it more into line with their idea of the traditional taste of Glendronach. This one has spent the last few years of its time in cask in Tawny Port casks, picking up lovely red fruit flavours.
This dram has a cooper-like color.
Nose (89): more than average.
honey, fruits, citrus, vanilla, apples, cinnamon, cocoa.
Finish (88): longer than average.
honey, citrus, cocoa.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Glendronach 15 Year Old Tawny Port Finish Speyside Whisky with 88 points over 100.
Miguel says…
Umm… still… I prefer the Revival or the Virgin Oak finish. Not my favorite… but I don’t really enjoy this kind of “experiments”. Whisky is for ageing in Oloroso sherry oaks ano nothing else :)
And to finish my review of finished Glendronach whiskies, today I review the 15 years old Moscatel finish dram. Moscatel is a kind of Spanish wine doing with grapes from the Moscatel variety. They are very sweet and most of them are half-grape, half raisin.
So let’s review this Glendronach 15yo Moscatel Finish.
“That's a pretty interesting whisky. Not as great as the 15yo Revival but quite quite drinkable. From a man that doesn't enjoy sweet wines finishes”
89
70cl / 46% / Distillery Bottling - This 15yo Glendronach was originally matured in European oak before a finishing period in Moscatel, the (normally) Iberian fortified sweet wine, which has added an extra layer of tropical fruit and marzipan aromas and flavours.
This dram has a gold-like color.
Nose (89): more than average.
honey, citrus, vanilla, raisins, wood, toffee.
So after reviewing the Virgin Oak finish, today I review the Sauternes finish. Sauternes is a sweet desert french wine made with grapes that have been infected by “noble rot” that partially turns the grape into a raisin.
So after a delicious Virgin (oak), my hopes on this one are high.
“Umm... I really don't like the finish. If you like PX Glendronach this one may be worth trying by yourself ”
87
70cl / 46% / Distillery Bottling - Released in summer 2010, this 14yo Glendronach has been finished in Premier Cru Sauternes barrels after initial maturation in European oak. Sauternes finishes can work very well (the 16yo version from Glendronach's sister distillery Benriach is a case in point), so high hopes for this.
This dram has a cooper-like color.
Nose (88): more than average.
honey, fruits, citrus, spices, plums, vanilla.
I am a big fan of Glendronach whiskies, I love their 15 years old whisky and their single casks, and I really love the fact they are not assholes rising and rising the price of their good stuff ( although the single casks are expensive ).
So today I review a Glendronach 14 years old finished in Virgin Oak. What the hell is Virgin oak? Let me explain it briefly… whisky is aged usually in oak casks, those casks that has contained before other liquids like wine, bourbon or cognacs, are usually charred in the inside to help them impart more flavour to the spirit… but virgin oak casks are just that casks that have never contained anything.
Enough smalltalk… the whisky
“Damn fantastic whisky! I love their sherried expressions but this one, being completely different, is even nicer!”
90
70cl / 46% / Distillery Bottling - A special edition Glendronach, matured initially in re-charred puncheons befroe finishing ina small batch of American virgin oak casks, which have imparted abundant toasty oak, coconut and tropical fruit aromas and flavours to the final blend.
This dram has a fino-like color.
Nose (90): more than average.
honey, malt, citrus, vanilla, spices, flowers.
I keep with my review of the malt whiskies that I tasted at The Whisky Show. I visited the stand that runs Glenglassaugh, Benriach and Glendronach. With so little time to taste I decided to really skip the Benriach whiskies as I have around 12 samples at home waiting to be tasted. So straight to Glenglassaugh.
I have mixed feelings with Glenglassaugh they are at the same time responsible of one of the best whiskies I have had and one that was quite bad. So after tasting Revival I really wanted to have a taste at Evolution.
Just two days ago it happened to me one of the strangest things I have done lately. I was doing with Steve Rush and other whisky chaps the #abbeywhisky Tweet tasting and then I tasted the #4 sample and definitively I knew I needed it. I bought the bottle on the very middle of the tasting ( Sorry Steve, I had to! ). Had I tasted it before I would have included on the Top 10 Whiskies to enjoy this Christmas.
I haven’t tasted any other Glendronach Oloroso single cask, but this one was fantastic. Oh, well, and we tasted other stuff… but really the Glendronach eclipsed everything else… and £89.95 a bottle isn’t much to think about it nowadays.
So you can understand my happiness when I read that they were releasing a cask strength NAS version of their whisky. I taste here the 1st batch but they are already on the 3rd.
“Good Glendronach whisky! Seems a blend of Oloroso and PX casks which works really well. One ordered.”
90
The first batch of no-age-statement cask strength whisky from Glendronach, bottled at 54.8% and originally released in December 2012. It's a vatting of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez matured whisky, shown in its colour and intense sherried flavour.
This dram has a tawny-like color.
Nose (90): more than average.
nuts, honey, toffee, citrus, figs, cocoa.
Finish (91): longer than average.
nuts, citrus, chocolate.
So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Glendronach Cask Strength / Batch 1 with 90 points over 100.
Although I don’t usually enjoy PX drams, and this one has more than a bit of it, I liked the Glendronach Cask Strength a lot. I am happy to have bought a bottled. Good whisky.
What the hell! July already?! Well, I was supposed to write about this WTS 2013-03 session almost two months ago, but as the poet says there is no harm on delaying if the whisky is good.
As usual, Whisky Tasting Sessions is a set of six whiskies that Jean Marie Putz chooses himself and tasted blindly by us. Just a number on each sample so you can identify it and most of the times they are not sorted in any proper way. But as always, it is a pleasure to test my senses against them.
This session has a great dram that I really love and it has been really fun to discover what it was. Usually between strange independent bottlings of bizarre distilleries there is a jewel or two, like a 38 years old Bunnahabhain that really surprise you. Such is the case…
The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2012 took place at October 6th and 7th and although it has been a great experience it has been a short one. With over 450 whiskies to taste and just barely six hours ahead it was impossible to taste them all.
What I couldn’t taste
This post is just a set of photos of what I couldn’t taste. Sorry, people… I can write about this because I get sad… so great stuff that I had to skip… *sniff*
I visited Compass Box stand for saying hi to Chris and I take a few photos with the people on the show.
Share your thoughts! 
