Glendronach 25 Years Old 1992 Cask #103

Glendronach from the distillery, a 25 year old, from 1992, cask 103, at 56.7%, 513 bottles in all. Glendronach is a Highland single malt, long a blending malt and now a sherry led name in its own right. By 1862 it had grown into the largest duty paying distillery in the Highlands. The distillery was an early champion of sherry cask maturation, its malt charming Edinburgh society from the start.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry butt, layered over the full Glendronach make. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At 56.7%, undiluted, it is dark and full. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a full bodied Highland single malt of real richness.