Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Glendronach

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Glendronach distillery
Glendronach Distillery
Forgue, by Huntly
Aberdeenshire AB5 6DB
+44 1466 730 202
Owner: Intra Trading
Creation date 1826

photos

An old song evokes Glendronach as: (free translation): "Current jam is good for the belly. Ginger and hazelnuts are good for the intestines. But Glendronach wine is good for stomach".
The Glendronach distillery was founded by James Allardice in 1826. The Duke of Gordon liked the whisky so much that he took James Allardice with him to London, to present him to the London's gentry. But the success went to Allardice head. He neglected his distillery until 1837, when it was destroyed by a fire. The licence and the ruins of the distillery were sold to Walter Scott, who worked at the Teaninich distillery.
The distillery closed in 1916 and was bought in 1920 by Charles Grant, one of the sons of William Grant. Glendronach remained in the Grant family until 1960 when it was sold to William Teacher & Sons by George Grant.
Teacher's has been acquired by Allied Breweries, currently under control of Allied Distillers Ltd.
The Glendronach distillery was mothballed since 1995, but production resumed in 2004.
The malt is used in the blends Ballantine and Teachers.
The Glendronach distillery is under control of Pernod-Ricard since the French Company purchased the activities of Allied Domecq in 2005.
In 2008, BenRiach distillery purchased Glendronach.

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

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 Glendronach:official bottlings
 

Glendronach
15 years
100% Sherry cask
Age
 15 years
Alcohol
 43%
Cask
 Sherry
Particularity
 The Malt Heritage Collection
=25 euros< 25 euros
 
 The colour is deep amber. The nose reveals grilled almonds and praline.
The palate confirms the nose and is powerful and refined at the time.

 A whisky characterized by its deep dark colour, probably due to its long stay in sherry casks. A nice whisky full of fragrances and aromas. The sporadic production of the distillery makes this whisky sometimes difficult to find.
17/20
A very pleasant smell, marked by sherry and very nice aromas of sweet citrus fruits (tangerine?) et nut. The taste is very fresh, refined, and the sweet notes dominate, while some slightly acid hints are perceptible. However, the whisky is not very complex, as the diversity of tastes is rather limited. A very warm and pleasant finish.
17/20
The nose is clearly marked by sherry, with a discrete woody flavour on the background. In the palate, a nice presence of sherry and a kind of complexity too, with some nut hints, the whole without any aggressiveness. A pleasant finish, still marked by sherry and the woody background reappears.
17/20.
Quite a sherry ocean streaming out of the glass at the first nosing. Fruits, plum, varnish, marshmallow, but first of all, sherry... then dried fruit, hazelnut.
The very first mouth is rather dry and then develops on sherry. The whole is quite smooth and the evolution goes on on slightly woody notes. Nice complexity. Probably that some additional degrees would even have enhanced the pleasant impressions.
The finish is very long, prolonging perfectly the mouth, with this slightly bitter woody notes and those remote chocolate hints.
18/20

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Glendronach
12 years
Original
Age
 12 years
Alcohol
 40%
Cask
 Sherry, then Bourbon
=25 euros< 25 euros
 Glendronach 12
 
The nose is exceptionally sweet. The first nosing is very discreet, but later a kind of diluted sherry smell becomes obvious. This comes from the special maturation process this bottle has had: long years in sherry casks, and bourbon as a finishing cask. The exact contrary of most of the sherry finish whiskies. The palate is discrete too, with a kind of bitter vanilla which is rather unique. A relatively short finish, with honey hints. An very interesting bottle.
17/20
A round and slightly maritime nose with discrete hints of sherry. In the palate, a great sweetness and discrete woody, vanilla and sherryish touches on a background of slightly salted malt. A peppery and slightly woody finish of average length.
18/20
The nose is pleasantly malted, with floral notes. It announces a great smoothness, without a lack of structure. A touch of hay and some ripe fruits. In the palate, the same sweetness, but a kind of watery feeling. Nice fruity notes, but nothing sensational. A rather plain whisky, even if a semblance of complexity appears with some bitter notes on the background. The finish is rather long, slightly bitter but remains quite unimpressive
17/20
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Glendronach
15 years
Revival
Age
 15 years
Alcohol
 46%
Cask
 Oloroso sherry
=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Glendronach revival
The first nose is marked by sherry but also by something between yeast and mushroom. This latest hints are quite dominant first, but fade quite quickly to make some room to an interesting mix of sherry and fruits.
In the palate, the first impression is some quite acid sherry which develops quickly on smoother notes of plum, moka or chocolate having amazingly lost any reference to the original acidity without having lost any of its freshness making this whisky an intense and pleasant dram.
Finish is rather long and the moka, chocolate and sherry notes from the mouth remain for long minutes.
18/20
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Glendronach
18 years
Allardice
Age
 18 years
Alcohol
 46%
Cask
 Oloroso sherry
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Glendronach Allardice
The first nose is rather discrete and sherry notes are clearly present followed by still discrete yeast or mushroom hints. Nice nose, without exuberance.
The very first mouth impression is a great smoothness, mixing sherry and honey, cashew nuts and plum jam before developing on more classic chocolate or moka notes.
The finish is lingering and first relatively discrete, but the memory of pleasant sensations in the palate do not fade, fortunately.
18/20
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Speyside

Speyside Map

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
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