The GlenDronach 24 Years Old 1991 Cask #2683 (49.2%, OB, Batch 14, 456 Bottles, 2016)

• Category: Highland single malt scotch whisky
• Origin: GlenDronach Distillery
• Bottling: Benriach Distillery Company
• ABV: 49.2%
• Cost: £153.81

What they say:

This is a single cask bottling of 24 year old GlenDronach, aged in an Oloroso Sherry butt from November 1991 to September 2016. It was released as part of the fourteenth batch of GlenDronach single cask bottlings, with an outturn of 456 bottles.

Nose:

Runny caramel and honey. Peanut brittle continues upon that theme, before a burst of red grape notes comes along.

Palate:

Mixed peels, cinnamon spice and milk chocolate-covered peanuts.

Finish:

Red apples, yellow plums and a slight touch of charred oak.

What I say:

Dramvent Calender Day 19

This December I am attempting to sample and review a whisky everyday for the 24 days of Advent in the run up to Christmas. My very basic criteria as I sorted through my masses of whisky and samples were these:

1. Single malt scotch only and should be (or have been) generally/easily available
2. Each day must be from a different distillery
3. Each day must be equivalent in age or older than the previous

Distilled at the GlenDronach Distillery in the Highlands (or Speyside depending on where the line is drawn according to some!) in 1991 and matured for 24 years before bottling as part of the 2016 release single cask batch 14 from GlenDronach. Another sherry monster in their collection of so many!

Colour:

Dark old brown sherry (18/20), medium-fine tears with medium legs

Nose:

Christmas mulling spices, leather and chocolate, dark & rich cocoa, dried fruits; raisin, prune, malty cereal barley, dusty vanilla icing sugar, oak wood, toffee, caramel, nutty walnut, fruit & nut chocolate bars

Taste:

Rich & dark chocolate with hints of red & dried fruits ( a little like some good oaky red wines) red grape, raisin, a maltiness grows taking this from medium to full bodied, oaky wood, vanilla icing sugar dusting, a hint of chocolate balsamic vinegar and a suggestion of some dried rubber, more raisins accompany espresso coffee and some coffee grounds

Finish:

Long, chocolate with a little clove and eucalyptus oils which builds to Fishermen’s Friends proportions briefly revealing the age of this dram before it descends into herbality

Overall:

Delicious with lots of dark chocolate & bitter coffee and just a sprinkling of rich red and dark fruit whose sweetness adds a counterfoil to the bitter. I enjoyed this one massively, it is not an everyday dram, more for after-dinner especially powerful foods, making a great digestif.

Score: 90/100

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