Glendronach Cask Strength (Batch 9)

A distillery release of Glendronach, at 59.4%. Glendronach is a Highland single malt whose founder was an early champion of sherry cask maturation. It joined William Teacher and Sons in 1960 and became a core malt of the Teacher's blend. It was bought in 2008 by Billy Walker's BenRiach company, who rebuilt it as a heavily sherried single malt.

It was distilled to a rich, generous cut, for the rich, sherried make Glendronach is known for. It was matured in Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks, the woods working into the full spirit. With no age statement, vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over the rich, fruity spirit. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Highland body. The casks are picked closely, the wood matched to the rich Glendronach make. Active first fill sherry wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At a natural 59.4% it is full and rich. A deep, dark sweetness, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is the sherry led malt of Forgue.