Palate (20/25): Dark honey. Chocolate fudge. Fruit cake. Cinnamon. Very bold. Almost over the top. Treacle. Dtaes. Licorice. Lots and lots of tannins. Molasses. Overly sweet, far too big. It's not bad but it's just too loud. Glendronach 33 years old is launched. The distillery closes for six months to rebuild from coal to indirect firing by steam. Reopens in September. Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) becomes new owner through the acquisition of Allied Domecq. This expression is intended to accompany the 2021 release of The King’s Man, the latest movie in the Kingsman series. The whisky is a blend of six barrels that were matured in Oloroso and PX casks that were hand selected by GlenDronach’s Master Distiller Dr. Rachel Barrie and Kingsman series director Matthew Vaughn.

Overall: If you couldn’t tell from the over-the-top language in the above notes, this is an incredible whisky. One of the best, literally, that I have ever had. It strikes all of the bells for me: Sweet and fruity sherry without being overly resinous or sulfurous. Decadently full flavor without excessive alcohol burn. Mountains of chocolate, to degrees I’ve never experienced in a whisky. It starts confidently, strides across the palate without faltering and finishes with elegance, retaining its integrity. A whole, full, round, complete whisky. I had mixed positive experiences with the Parliament, at different times rating it from 85 to 94. I first tasted it from a superb 5cl mini (in 3 sessions) and then from a new bottle. At its “worst” (for me), it was more closed and strongly spiced (nearly as much as the 18yo) and the sweetness comes off like artificial sweeteners; but if you let it breath for PLENTY of time to evaporate those oaky sour and spice influences, then it becomes more balanced (softly spiced). At its best, I got more dates/cocoa/raspberry/vanilla/walnut— and less clove; but I have not been able to recreate that first experience that I had with the mini. I recommend just enough water to bring the ethanol content to 46-47% (10-20 drops to a 3cl pour). The company has a long history of producing sherried malts, maturing its whiskies either in Oloroso sherry butts or in a combination of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez (PX) casks.The following indicators should be taken as only a guide and not a set of hard and fast rules. Some "premium" whiskeys really are quite terrible, while some mass market products are good enough to pour into a decanter and serve to the Duke of Edinburgh. A+: A masterpiece and one of the ten best whiskeys of its type. Above five stars. We may, but are not under any obligation, to release new functionalities and tools or other features for the Service every now and then. Any new functionalities, tools and features shall be part of and governed by the Terms from the moment they are launched and/or available. Further, we reserve the right to modify, change, discontinue the Service, add or remove features, update the Service, change its appearance, temporarily and permanently, at any time, in whole or any part thereof. Cherry toffee. Cherry sauce drizzle on ice cream-van ice cream. Creamy vanilla jam, like clotted cream and jam on a scone. Grapey, more spice – a little more tingle on the tongue. Vague nuttiness, and cinnamon-dusted raisins.

Now I know that no chill filtration and 46% ABV isn’t the be-all and end-all in whisky. There are expressions out there that don’t meet these presentation standards but still deliver a great experience when tasting. The whisky has the characteristic viscosity and palate weight of a sherried whisky. That characteristic seems more pronounced in the older GlenDronach expressions. Like all the GlenDronach expressions the whisky has an oily, viscous character with a pronounced palate weight. The finish is long, with the lingering dried fruit sweetness characteristic of sherry matured whiskies, along with a slight balsamic note, with some bitterness and a bit of pepperiness.I feel the 40 minutes with water really brought out the more delicate flavors of the whisky. The sherry was cut through quite nicely and I could taste more of the base distillate if you like. The information and quotes for this blog post originally appeared in a Dutch article by Bert Rutkowski for Whisky Etc. His article was published in early 2014, mine followed shortly thereafter in February 11th 2014. The final update to this article is from October 14th 2021.

I have been saving this tiny little sample bottle. What better time than the week before Christmas – before everything gets crazy? GlenDronach is among my favorite distilleries, and may make my favorite sherried malt (for the price). The 18 was a mixed bag for me, but it is not every day that I get to taste a malt with over 20 years of maturation, let alone an official bottling. So the take-away for me is this: Glendronach 12 is the same whisky as it’s always been, produced in what can reasonably be assumed is the same way. It is simply exhibiting batch variation – much like every other batch-produced whisky out there. Consistency in whisky batches, for some, is a comfort; they know what they’re getting each time they buy a bottle, and that’s what they want. But for others, consistency is pedestrian. I’m a celebrant of variation – I want to see how a distillery progresses and morphs over the years. But the Glendronach 12 that you buy today is as near as – dammit –the same as the Glendronach 12 you bought a few years ago, just with a few subtle batch differences. GlenDronach offers an exceptional range of whiskies, which for a long time have represented among the best values for sherried single malts. Prices have been steadily going up over the last few years; a reflection of increasing demand as the brand gets discovered and a more aggressive pricing strategy. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect. On the palate, the whisky has the dried fruit sweetness typical of sherry matured whiskies. There are notes of raisin, prune and apple, candied orange and lemon zest, some peach and tropical fruit flavors, along with anise and spice notes of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. In addition, there are notes of fresh espresso coffee and walnut.Nose: Chocolate-covered cherries melting over double fudge chocolate cake. Decadent. Dense. Port wine reduction drizzled over ripe strawberries nestled into butterscotch pudding. This smells like I imagined the Everlasting Gobstobber tasted when I was a kid. I could smell this forever. Those words by Buchanan turned out to be pretty prophetic. Indeed, GlenDronach has become so popular that despite their best intentions, the distillery has had a very difficult time keeping up with demand. Even so much so that they had to discontinue the GlenDronach 15-years-old Revival in 2015, less than 18 months after the original publication date of this article. Our Service is an online platform which provides Members with information (e.g. bottle facts, market-indices, market values and prices) on (mostly) whisky and allows Members to add information to the platform. We do not sell, nor does the Service provide any option to buy, any alcoholic products.