The GlenDronach Original Aged 12 Years Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 70cl

Product Information

You are responsible for all activities through your account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide to us in relation to your account, and for updating it where necessary. You are not allowed to create multiple accounts. We may terminate or temporarily suspend your account to protect you, ourselves or our partners from (suspected) identity theft or other (suspected) fraudulent (e.g. false, misleading, deceptive) activity. You have the obligation to keep your login credentials confidential. You shall not authorize any others to use or access your account. Thereafter, however, the picture gets rather more complicated. After the vintage statements were dropped various non-vintage Glendronach 12 year olds were bottled, still in the original dumpy green glass bottles. However, at some point in the late 1970s, after Glendronach’s parent company Teacher’s had been bought by Allied Breweries, the UK bottlings switched to 70 proof (40%). Italian and Spanish bottlings of the 12 year old remained at 43% for a little longer. Glendronach has also incorporated a randomly selected team to blind taste samples on occasion. This team is ever-changing and can involve anyone from the production team, members of the bottling line, and gift shop workers. This means there is an additional level of quality control incorporated in the process– a bit more due diligence to ensure the liquid remains as it should. 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. In any case, I’m off to buy a 12yo Glendronach. That’s something I didn’t expect to say anytime soon. Thanks, Hamish and Dougie– this deep dive was needed.

Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie. My experience with Glendronach thus far is tasting the 15 and the 18 (I preferred the 15), one or 2 CS releases, and 2 single casks in their late teens (one of which was really good and my bottle of it will be opened when I retire from Medicine - it was distilled a month after I started Medical school). Matured solely in sherry casks, I was expecting a humdinger of a sherry bomb here. Surprisingly, I got something somewhat different. Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us.

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Nose: A deep sherried pillow, stuffed with honey-soaked bananas and vanilla-poached peach skins, a duvet of sweetened carrots and lemon cake, and a marshmallow comforter blanket makes this a comfortable, warm and sleepy experience.

You've gotta bloody right to say . . . Glendronach 12 is a rich, creamy sherry bomb that radiates flavor in your mouth even, though its strength registers at a mellow 43% ABV. But, hey, that's more than Highland Park 12's frugal 40%. 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”). Each and every Member must be of legal drinking age in its country of residence to be allowed to use the Service. If no such law exists in a Member’s country of residence, the Member has to be over 21 years old to use the Service. We have the right to ask you to provide proof of your age and/or to provide further identification to prevent underage usage and/or for any other legal or legitimate purpose. By using the Service, and by creating an account you represent, warrant and confirm that you are of legal age.Over the past 2-3 year I’ve gained an appreciation for some lower proof whiskies. It started with some of the Canadian offerings, but then I tasted a few sherry cask matured whiskies at 43%, and I noticed they were enjoyable. I still really enjoy cask strength bruisers, but it’s nice to know that a well-made lower proof expression can satisfy. I have praised the folks at Glendronach before because of their commitment to quality, sherried whiskies that provide an unadulterated view into the impressive influence of sherry casks and don’t break the bank. But there is word that Brown Forman – the company that owns Glendronach – may be implementing major changes moving forward. There have been reports of Glendronach losing their “Non-Chill Filtration” labeling, and even some wondering if they will eventually lose their age statements altogether. It seems odd that such a cult brand would move away from some of the things that have made them so beloved but I will try and maintain an open mind. The Master Distiller Rachel Barrie has created some incredible products over the year, so we should have a little faith, right? If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect. Nose: The nose starts off inviting with fresh cut fruit, raisins, melon, and green grass. There is a sweet, syrupy quality like a great dark sugar, but it’s not overpowering. There’s a touch of grape soda and a whole lot of sherry goodness. Not the strongest nose, this is more understated than I had expected but settles down nicely in the glass. Development: Again, mild on my palate, but in an interesting and subtle way. I taste the sherry influence mostly at this point. Honey and syrup dominate, with some ginger and pepper sneaking through. Let this one linger on the middle of your tongue for a while -- mmmmm!

Finish: Now this is the part that surprised me a bit... In a good way because its quite long and interesting. The finish turns out to be quite dry with bittersweet blood orange, dry oak, creamy nuts, milk chocolate and the red fruits return too. Malt fans who weren’t active in the 1990s may find it surprising that Glendronach was not always a sherry monster. In fact, as we have seen, the real ‘original’ batches of Glendronach 12 year-old frequently showed no sherry influence at all and furthermore the presence or absence of sherry casks was an entirely incidental feature of Glendronach 12 year old bottlings until the mid-1980s. It’s also undeniable that a great many of the previous bottlings from the 1980s and 1990s, while different to the Walker Glendronachs, are absolutely fantastic whiskies in their own right, however uninterested the paying public were at the time - and those are the whiskies that were almost certainly both chill filtered and coloured. The colour is a dark reddish amber. On the nose, very fruity with plums, rum-raisin, baking spices and lots of oak; this noses older than 12 years. Lots of red berries - and red grapes. Water brings out the malt and spice. Oaky, spicy and well-sherried. While “richly sherried” is a perfectly apt description, it’s not as sharp with citrus as many sherry-heavy Scotch expressions. Instead, GlenDronach finds honey riding heavy on its aromatic profile, with austere, oily wood notes, walnut, and toffee rounding things out on the nose. The palate is quite rich and seductive, those nutty walnut and polished wood notes really driving the agenda, which ultimately leads you down a road to creme brulee, more toffee, toasted marshmallow, and hits of clove-studded orange, a citrusy overtone which lingers on the finish for quite some time.

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It may be that future chill filtered batches of Glendronach 12 Year Old will suffer by comparison to previous batches. Or they may be better. The influence of chill filtration on those changes is sadly unmeasurable, but is likely to be way down the list of contributing factors to any perceived difference in quality. The only certainty is that any new batches will be slightly different to each other, and that will always be the case whether they are chill filtered or not. Taste: This is neat by the way. I rarely add water to my scotch. I tried in the beginning, but it really doesn't do anything for me. Mild honey. Burn comes on very very slowly and never gets intense. Finish is honey and chocolate. Toblerone? Butterfinger? The last 10 years have seen Glendronach concertedly reinforce its reputation for producing heavily sherried Speyside whiskies – barring the release of the 8 year old Hielan I’ve rarely seen an expression from the distillery in recent years that has not played entirely to its sherry matured DNA. This has become even more the case since the distillery’s sale (in April 2016) to Brown-Forman which has resulted in the ending of peated runs at the Huntly-based distillery – you’ll still find Glenronach Peated on the shelves, but don’t be expecting any more to be produced once that consignment has been and gone. Glendronach has carved out a popular niche in the whisky market and its owners are keen to exploit that positioning. Rightfully so – reputations are not formed overnight and every oddly finished or contrarily peated expression fails to provide the underpinning that Dronach is the place to go for big sherry. As such, it seems these variants of Glendronach have been consigned to the dustbin of history (all of the wood finishes are now listed under ‘ Archive’) – at least for now.