Ah, remember those days when ordering from the UK was affordable? When whisky coming from across the North Sea didn’t cost another 60-ish Euros in taxes and fees?

Back in those days I ordered this GlenDronach. The distillery was all the hype when they started releasing amazing single casks going all the way back to the 1970s. I managed to get and go through a couple of them and this was the last one in my collection. I opened it some time ago, I think it was for a tasting. Yesterday afternoon, I finished it with a massive dram from the bottle.

Anyway, The Whisky Exchange’s bottling. Let’s dive in!

Sniff:
Full on old-fashioned GlenDronach. There is a LOT of sherry on this one. Massive notes of dried fruits. Raisins, plums, apricots. Date paste and milkshake, and oak behind all that. Notes of cinnamon and almond start popping up later.

Sip:
The palate packs a surprisingly dry punch. I know I say that a lot, but there was no heat on the nose and there is quite some on the palate. Generally those things match. As said, it’s dry. Notes of almond flour and the crust of pound cake. Dried fruits, with a bitter touch of fruit stones. Dates, plums, raisins, almonds, cherry stones.

Swallow:
The finish lingers with bitter notes, almonds, cherry stones, dates. There’s more oak than there was on the palate. Sawdust, roasted breadcrumbs.

Very old fashioned GlenDronach that I’ve not had for quite some years now. Great to have a couple of sips left, and I think this one tastes a bit older than its 17 years. Mostly because there is so much cask influence, even though there’s not too much oak. Great stuff, of which there isn’t enough affordable and available stuff nowadays.

90/100

I have no idea how much it set me back in those days, but I’m sure it was far less than the € 380 it’s going for now!