Review 222: GlenDronach 17 Year PX Sherry Single Cask

Review 222

9/19/2014

GlenDronach 17 Year PX Sherry Single Cask: 53.2% abv

Background: Have we been on a sherried Scotch kick, or what? Well here we are, with a single cask review of Glendronach. We are very compelled by these whiskies, because Glendronach prices their Single Cask variants more competitively than their standard offerings, and it begs some really interesting questions. For example, this 17 Year was about $130, while the 18 Year standard runs as high as $150, is 5% lower in alcohol, and is only a year older. So is it really worth the money to buy the more expensive whisky? Well, let’s take a look at this one. This is a Pedro Ximenez Sherry whisky, with all the right figures. It is as dark as whisky gets, but offers up a natural color statement to put our worries to bed. PX sherry tends to be incredibly rich and sweet, and like always, there is the concern that this whisky will be unbalanced and overtly sweet.

Straight

Nose:  There is a lot of malt and molasses right off the bat, with some aromas of prominent nuttiness and vanilla bean. To go along with sweet vanilla bean is a custardy smell that is coupled with a rich, homemade caramel, brown sugar, and honey sweetness. To add to your grocery list of desserts, cut back to find some fudgy quality in the whisky. Succulent black currents, dates, raisons, and dark grape are all blended into the nose. There is some light cloves on the nose, but they aren’t terribly dominant.

Arrival: The arrival starts syrupy, with molasses, brown sugar and other rich flavors. There is some maltiness and raison-like sherry in the arrival as well. There is some noticeable oak in the arrival, which creeps into the body. Honey is also noticeable in the arrival, but it is masked slightly by a light green tea flavor in the arrival. There is a brief dark fruit flavor on the arrival, but it is hard to distinguish what is there.

Body: The body brings out notes of malt, with some enjoyable tangy citrus. There is molasses and complex fruit notes, but the character is dry and quick.

Finish: The finish has some dark flavors, with lush sherry notes and a compelling, fading tobacco note. The finish has some fruity cherry, slight mintiness, and herbal notes as well. The finish has a dry character, with black pepper, hot cinnamon, and allspice.

With Water

Nose: The nose brings out the sweetness in the malt a lot more. There is a more noticeable presence of oak in the nose, with a much more enjoyable balance. There is a little bit of red apple that comes out, with honey and caramel being very pronounced. There is a little more earthiness to the whisky as well.

Arrival: The arrival has an excellent balance of malt, honey, molasses, and earthiness. There is a hint of savory notes, with some gingerbread and sweet spice complimenting the sweetness. The blast of fruits is much improved from before. There is a lot of nuttiness in the whisky now.

Body: The nuttiness is big in the body, with brown sugar, oak, sherry and marmalade. The body is more definitive now, with a little bit more fruit flavor, citrus, and longevity.

Finish: The finish still has the oak and tobacco notes from previously, with the citrus lasting beyond the body and keeping the succulent fruits in the finish. The dryness is less extreme now, and there is a wonderful spiciness that lasts through the finish. The maltiness and a slight vegetal flavor is also present through the end of the whisky. There is an earthiness that couples with the whisky and makes the finish last.

Final Comments: Things did transform with this whisky over time. Besides having much more sweetness when the bottle was first opened, the whisky also had very different complexities. This isn’t a bottle of whisky you invest in if you’ll looking for next day dividends in satisfaction. This is a whisky you invest in for slow savoring. Despite this “conditionality” to the whisky, it is a fantastic statement of sherried complexity, and breaks the mundane pattern of Oloroso this and Oloroso that. It still lacks in complexity in certain areas, and it is highly recommended that water be put into this whisky to get any sort of appreciable experience. This is a whisky worth it’s dollar amount.

Why you’d buy it: You are looking for something that evolves, changes metaphorical colors, and offers up an engaging drinking experience with a sherry flavor.

                                                                                                          

Why you wouldn’t: The first time you open up a bottle is the last judgment you make on a whisky.

Score: 9.25/10

Review 221: GlenDronach 18 Year Allardice

Review 221

9/16/14

GlenDronach 18 Year Allardice: 46% abv

Background: Here we are, back at GlenDronach distillery in the Highlands of Scotland. After the 12 and 15 Year core offerings is the 18 Year Allardice. The 18 Year is non-chill filtered, natural color, and bottled at a perfectly respectable 46% abv. It is aged in exclusively Oloroso Sherry butts. GlenDronach then, is giving you another option in the world of sherry malts, which seems to be growing in accessibility. The challenge is, can producers like GlenDronach keep up with the demand for sherry whiskies without the ability to obtain good sherry casks due to the reduction in demand for sherry.

Straight

Nose:  In comes the sherry storm, with a torrent of deep, rich fruit aroma that overwhelms the senses. Red grape, raison and vanilla are big players in the nose right off the bat. Small spurts of malt smell become noticeable, but are really dominated by the other flavors. Dried fruits and cranberry are detectable in the nose, with the sense of old oak and floral notes of garden flowers. As the whisky starts to open up, more complexity of sweet honey, apples, and even slight amounts of caramel are present. The nose is definitely rich, but the initial alcohol intensity in the nose tempers down to a less brutish, complex blend of rich sherry malt flavors.

Arrival: As expected, sweet, syrupy arrival takes on the malt. The arrival doesn’t tend to last a long time, with some spiciness, malt, and sweet grapes noticeable. Sweet, candy like (maybe even bubblegum) sweetness is also ever present in the arrival, which makes for a bizarre transition into the intense palate of the whisky. There is an ample amount of vanilla in the arrival. In general, this arrival seems like it lacks the complexity expected, and could be described as sort of flat.

Body: Similar to the 15 Year, the 18 does have a nice, spicy body. The finish is fairly long and enjoyable. A quick dash of heat, with red wine and grapes makes the body more unique. There is something savory about the body, and despite its relative intensity, the fruit flavors are not as pronounced as we’d like.

Finish: Conclude with that semi-savory, scrumptious malty finish. Bitter, burnt oak will become noticeable as you sip on this whisky more. You’ll find a hot, almost thin grapy flavor that comes into the finish, almost in an artificial nature. There is more oak complexity, some slight pine-like flavors coming out in the finish, and just a tinge of cough medicine like flavor. You could argue there is a bit of saltiness in the finish as well, but it doesn’t at all define the whisky.

With Water

Nose: The nose is demonstrating much more floral and somewhat maltier. The sherry has subsided substantially, but some of the complexities are also not as prominent as before.

Arrival: The arrival shows off more complex, well rounded fruitiness, with apple and pear present. There is some soft spices and vegetal notes present. There is a dry woody flavor in the arrival that translates into the body.

Body: After adding water, a much more noticeable, succulent fruitiness is coming forward in the whisky. It isn’t hard to spot the tannins and grape sour flavor coming out of the body, plus allspice and nutmeg, but there is a strained emptiness halfway through the body.

Finish: There are much more manageable spices in this whisky now, with heavy tannins and bittersweet green tea notes. Unripened, tart fruit notes are easily found in the finish, which is sort of unique, but in some ways it actually detracts from the overall flavor of the whisky. There is still soft maltiness and some confectionary notes here. The finish ends up shorter and somewhat less pronounced than before, but does offer up more complexity with better flavors.

Final Comments: This is one interesting whisky. It seems to be battling to get the right things across, but never quite succeeds in doing it. I’m not sure exactly what holds this whisky back, but it just doesn’t have the complexity and balance it needs to be a true winner. The price doesn’t help the equation either. It is evident that there should be better flavors with better quality going on. It doesn’t make this bad by any means, but it does miss on a couple of key components. It seems as if better casks would make this a better whisky, but chances are that won’t be happening. There is something that makes this whisky really suffer, but I’m not sure what it is.

Why you’d buy it: You’re a patron of Glendronach

                                                                                                          

Why you wouldn’t: You can get their Single Cask whiskies for less, and with better quality and a higher  proof.

Score: 8.25/10

Review 202: Glendronach 15 Year Revival

Review 202

1/25/14

Glendronach 15 Year Revival: 46% abv

Background: This whisky just recently made it into Michigan. At a good price and a good presentation, KCM is more than excited to have this whisky in Michigan. Earlier last year, we reviewed Glendronach 12 Year (Review # 162, 5/25/13), and found it to be a decent alternative at a reasonable price. The 12 Year, as a reminder, is aged with PX and Oloroso sherry casks. The 15 Year, at 46%, is aged in Oloroso sherry casks exclusively. As a result, this is one of the darkest looking whiskies we’ve ever reviewed, but it is natural color. This whisky is rather pricy, so the question is: does this compete well with the other sherry Scotches we can buy on the shelf today, like Aberlour, Balvenie, and Macallan?  Let’s find out.

Straight

Nose: This whisky starts off with an unsurprising portion of sherry prominence and a healthy portion of raison smell, which is rich and flavorful right off of the bat. Contributing to the sweetness is a rich smell of vanilla and caramel, with a dry cocoa in the back. There is some woodiness in it, close to oak and catalpa. To add contrast, some floral aromas add overtones of bitterness to the nose. There is a little bit of rich cherry and apple flavor in the nose, with a subtlety of malt and wheat graininess helping contributing to the aroma. There is some sweet marmalade that accentuates the sweetness of the nose. There is a mild saltiness in the whisky, but it certainly doesn’t present itself as overly dominant. An additional spiciness of clove and cinnamon are noticeable. Finally, a small hint of earthiness is present in smell.            

Arrival: The arrival starts off with a really syrupy mouthfeel, a thick sherry taste, with a hot spiciness. There are rich fruits of apple and raisons, along with hot cinnamon and clove. There is a big presence of maple and molasses on the arrival. There is also a confectionary sweetness in the arrival, almost like cookie dough.

Body: The body is where the spiciness kicks into overdrive. There is a note of apple and sweet sherry, with tart huckleberry adding to the thickness. There is a lot of earthiness and greenness in the body. There is a taste of Angostura Bitters in the body.

Finish: The finish provides a blast of sherry after it resides from the body. There is a large amount of spiciness in the finish, with cinnamon, gingerbread and clove most prevalent. There is a very malty presence here in the finish. A fresh mintiness is noticeable as the whisky fades down. There is a surprising vegetal quality in the finish. The barrel really comes out in this whisky.

With Water

Nose: There is a lot more oakiness in the whisky from before. The spiciness is getting a lot bigger here than before, with clove being the distinguishing smell. A slightly more vegetal note is coming through, with a little bit of burning tobacco on the nose as well. In addition, there is a note of brown sugar available.

Arrival: The arrival is much more grain forward than before, with the maltiness being more forward than before. The spice is in perfect play with the sweetness, with the sherry being in perfect proportion.

Body: The body lends itself to a good blend of grain, spiciness, and sherry. This has a lot going on, and is in perfect distribution.

Finish: The finish is a perfect blend of different flavors, dialing in the medley of spiciness, grain, sherry and saltiness. This whole thing has become much more balanced. The dry spiciness is what tends to last through the finish the most.

Final Comments: This is absolutely what it should be. This is a beautiful blend of spiciness, maltiness, and the fantastic sherry flavor that contribute to a perfect balance. When you first see this spirit, you might be wary that this will be overly sweet and syrupy up front, but it is absolutely not that at all. This is one of the finest examples of sherried Scotch we have yet to try (there are still plenty to be tried, mind you). The complexity is there, and with just a little bit of water, it was hard for us to even focus on tasting notes. My recommendation is if you get a chance to try this Scotch, don’t hesitate. It is worth the money, and we will be trying to make this last.

 

Why you’d buy it: You don’t like the color green.

                                                                                                          

Why you wouldn’t: You don’t like sherried Scotch, and therefore you’re probably a bad person.

Score: 9.75 /10

Review 162: Glendronach 12 Year

Review 162

5/25/13

Glendronach 12 Year: 43% abv

Background: Well this is an exciting review to do for us. If you’re from Michigan, this is not something you can normally grab a hold of, and that goes for us too. It is also not common to find that many cheap, sherried whiskies of relatively good quality. To add to that, Glendronach Distillery, a Highland Malt producer, has recently just been reopened. The distillery was mothballed (mothballing is temporarily ceasing production, despite still having capability to produce) in 1996, and was reopened in 2001. What makes that so exciting is that we are seeing resurgence in their whisky’s popularity, and that extra life might keep their good quality whiskies on the market. You can’t actually get Glendronach in Michigan, but we made the trek to find it. The 12 Year standard offering by Glendronach is aged in exclusively sherry casks, being a mixture of PX casks and Oloroso casks. The Pedro Ximinez (PX) grape makes for a very rich, syrupy, sweet sherry, while the Oloroso is more nutty, tart, and balanced. You can tell that this is a dark whisky from the look of it, and that’s not coloring. Sherry casks add a lot of red color to Scotch. It should also be noted that as well as being 43% abv, the label will tell you that this single malt is non-chill filtered and natural color. Those are both pluses. Let us see how this turns out.

Straight

Nose:  You might expect what I’m about to say, but it is no surprise that you get a blast of malted barley and sherry right in the beginning of this whisky. There is a large prominence of stewed apple flavor in the nose. The sherry flavor can be broken down to the smell of brandy, the fortified part of the wine coming through. There is a sense of new make spirit here, so there should be no surprise that this is a young spirit, at only 12 years. Since sherry casks can tend to be larger, they also leave the freshness of the spirit in tact fairly well at older ages. This is still prominent among this 12 Year, almost to a fault. It isn’t quite mature enough from the nose. You do get some clove and cinnamon spiciness in the nose, followed by a small residual chocolate, fudgy richness finishing off the aroma. There is some smoothness contribution from vanilla in the nose, which only compliments the raison-like quality to the sherry nose. It also gives a hint of confectionary quality.

Arrival: The sweetness in the arrival is immediate and fairly consistent. It is certainly what you would expect from the sherry. But my lord is it a pleasant taste. There is a little bit of spicy tang that come in the arrival. The apple fruitiness, along with some cinnamon and custard, make a pleasant flavor contribution to the arrival. In contrast, there is still some hints of rough, young spirit that can be pulled through the arrival, in particular. This is not enough to turn one off, but it certainly is noticeable. There is also a suggestion of vanilla and chocolate that come through at the end of the arrival, and lead into the body.

Body:  When you get into the body, the Oloroso taste takes over, with some definite citrus tartness to compliment the rich raison texture at the forefront. This balance is a pleasant contrast, and amplifies the fresh, vegetal quality of the malted barley flavors. There is a fond nuttiness that can be picked from the body, and it complimented by a dry, floral flavor. The body has no shortage of personality, but there is a salty, briny flavor that can, depending on the swallow, become almost overbearing on the palate and ruin the finish.

           

Finish: The finish is dominated mostly by hot, spicy flavor with some peppery notes and some small acidity. There is a significant nuttiness that you’ll find right in the finish, and it is also noticeably dry and somewhat leathery. As noted before, there is a salty quality to the whisky that only comes out when agitated the right way. It can be a little bit overwhelming to the finish and mask the sweet, beautiful sherry notes. There is a note of the apple coming through again in the finish, with a minor earthiness that compliments the sweetness.

With Water

Nose: After adding some water, we start to see a maturity in the flavor, with the sherry backing off and being less of a stage hog. The nose becomes more balanced with spiciness, vegetal notes and much more grain character to it. There is more of a heather honey smell coming through, which balances nicely with the compressed spiciness. It smells more refined, less adolescent, and truly complex. Don’t be mistaken, though. There is still plenty of sherry involved. Another interesting evolution of this nose is the prominence of oaky wood character coming through.

Arrival: The arrival doesn’t hit you like a train this time. The sherry and spice creep up from afar, and then come in strong once you realize they’re on their way. There is a unique blend of caramel, fruitiness, spice and cereal grain coming through on the arrival. This is truly what a good arrival should be like. This is much livelier than without water, and it lasts.

Body: The body seems to be quite similar to before, with the addition of just a bit more tartness, almost akin to sour green apples now, and with some pear-like flavor contribution involved. The body doesn’t remain to be a very significant part of this malt, but it is still very much a player. The changes, although tangible, are small and don’t really highlight the potential of Glendronach.

           

Finish: This finish is also better with just a bit of water. It seems to reside longer, makes for a more engaging experience. The pear flavor dominates here, and the malt and grain character doesn’t shy away at this point. This is a memorable finis, and it really is worth savoring. The water also starts to amplify the confectionary notes more. It starts to make sense with some of the floral, modestly bitter notes that creep in at the end, how this is truly more complex than when you first start drinking it.

Final Comments:  At first, you might describe this as a classic sherried Scotch. Certainly it is just that from some perspective. You might say this competes almost exclusively from price and flavor to Macallan 12 Year. It is hard to compare the two from quality, because they’re both pretty respectable whiskies, although it can be noted that Macallan 12 TASTES a little older than Glendronach 12. That being said, Macallan 12 does age in bourbon barrels as well, and subsequently doesn’t give you as much of the sherry complexity that you get from the ‘dronach. The addition of water balances and amplifies the complexity of the whisky, and it is very much suggested. We tend to like it a little bit more this way, but in either case it is good. I think that is what makes this bottling of Glendronach shine. That being said, I don’t think this whisky has reached its maturity, and would truly benefit from more time in the casks. Surely enough, that bottle of Glendronach does exist; Glendronach 15 Year Revival is a statement to Glendronach’s “revival” from mothballing, and we have a bottle sitting dormant for a review in the future.

Why you’d buy it: You like sherried Scotch and don’t want to support stupid marketing by Macallan, plus this is a good, complex bottling of Scotch

Why you wouldn’t: You like stupid marketing and want an Oakley-designed flask…idiot.

Score: 8.5/10