Even thought I've been on a relative hot streak picking out single malts of late, 4 of my last 5 were outside the box of where my interest lies. Haig Club was a single grain scotch. Yamazaki 12 was indeed a knockout single malt whisky, albeit from Japan. Highland Park Dark Origins and Glenlivet Nadurra are both alternative expressions from distilleries with whom I was already familiar. My Bunnahabhain experience was two months ago, and I was starting to feel the OCD itch to stick another thumbtack into the distillery map of Scotland. Enter Glendronach (glen-DRON-uck)...
I like Speyside malts, I just don't go ape over them. The delicacy and sophistication inherent in their style at its best doesn't really lend itself to fist pumping rhetoric. They are perhaps the most challenging malts to appreciate because of the nuance and complexity the best ones showcase. These are the ones you see in 18, 21, 25 year old expressions that would test the limits of your discretionary income and spousal understanding. Turns out there might be a way around that, though.
The Glendronach Distillery was mothballed from 1996 until May 14, 2002, when "the sleeping giant awoke" (their words). Beginning in April 2009, now owned by the BenRiach distillery, Glendronach once again released their core 12, 15, & 18 year old (aka Allardice) expressions to the drinking public, but with a fortuitous twist:
Anyone who can work a slide rule knows a 12 year old malt released in 2009 would have been distilled in 1997, a year after the janitor turned off the lights at Glendronach. The strict definition of an age-statement requires that the malt be no younger than its declaration, but it can be older. For the next 6 years, each of the Glendronach's core expressions were progressively older than advertised as there was no stock available from those lost years.
A 12 year old bottled in 2014 (before May 14) is actually an 18 year old malt for the price of a 12. The window is still ongoing for the 15 and the 18. If bottled today, you would actually be savoring at least a 19 year old whisky under either label. You have until 2017 to taste the 15 with the bonus aging (20 at that point), and until 2020 for the 18 (24 in reality). It is also worth noting, the malt reserves from pre-closure 1996 were malted on-site and peated to 14 ppm phenol. Since resuming distillation in 2002, the distillers now purchase their malt unpeated.
Too many numbers? Even mathletes need to hydrate, let's grab a drink...
My bottle of Glendronach 12 was bottled in 2015, so it is indeed 12 years old and unpeated. Pouring a dram, I found myself combing my memory for obscure Crayola colors to accurately describe it, finally settling on 'copper' (*note to self - remember to grab some of those paint color cards at Lowe's to help with more creative descriptors). Closer to brown than yellow at any rate, almost like herbal tea. This is one of the darkest malts I have yet encountered. Non-chill filtered haziness, syrupy consistency, legs like a Swede.
The color is a direct result of its cask aging. Two kinds of sherry casks in fact, the familiar oloroso and the much sweeter Pedro Ximenez. PX, as it is known on the street, is used for dessert sherry. The grapes are left to dry out in the sun, concentrating their sweetness, and turning them dark and sticky. Just like the raisins under your son's car seat (always spring for leather seats with kids).
Raisin is probably the primary aroma in fact. All sorts of autumnal dried and stewed fruit sweetness make for a potent bouquet when subjected to fresh nostrils. The musty oxidized hazelnutty character of the sherry hangs around a little longer, accompanied by a hint of ginger spice and smoke. Not peat or hardwood, but something I usually associated with bourbon - coal smoke. There's a story behind that as well...
In 2005, Glendronach again put the brakes on for a few months, this time for a major installation of some new equipment. Glenfarclas claims to be the last distillery in Scotland that uses direct heat for their stills. Glendronach was apparently the penultimate holdout, switching out direct coal firing for indirect steam heat apparati. My 2015 bottling was distilled in 2003 with the older method, hence the coal aroma infusion. Funny how that works even though the coal smoke doesn't come into contact with the distillate itself, only the copper pot stills. Wait, where were we?
"Hello, Daddy... Hello, Mom... I'm you're sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-SHERRY BOMB!" My apologies to the Runaways, as well as owners of the Dazed and Confused soundtrack, for my groan-worthy use of paraphrasing. Party at the moon tower.
I happen to like sherry bombs, and this is certainly no exception. The raisin flavor is akin to biting into a spoonful of piping hot oatmeal, four or five of them waiting inside, bloated like pufferfish, waiting to explode with flavor like sticky sweet depth charges. Sometimes the raisins present themselves as the hoisin/plum sauce that they never give you enough of when you order mu shu pork. The creamy, nutty richness sets in after another visit, like Nutella gelato. The spice reminds me of German Christmas wine. A blackstrap molasses flavor runs like a ribbon though the malt. Toffee showed up at the party at my last tasting. That Pedro Ximenez casking really does impart considerable depth of sweetness compared to another sherry casked pseudo-Speyside malt like Macallan 12. Not overpowering though, it gets away with a lack of salty notes, bitterness, or smoke without coming off as unbalanced.
I find the oak really shines through on the finish after the sweetness burns away. The finish is a bit drying and tannic to be honest. Maybe there is a substantial tannic element from the 12 years in sherry casks, maybe it's the leftover congeners by not going through chill filtration, but in each of five experiences with Glendronach so far, none more than 2 drams, I've had a nasty red wine type headache the next morning. I'll knock a couple points off for that reason, but it's a small price to pay for a damn good sherry casked Speysidesque Highland malt.
Overall Grade: 89/100, B+
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