Glendronach 26 Years Old 1992 Cask #847

A 26 year old Glendronach, a distillery bottling, from 1992, cask 847, at 59.8%, 585 bottles in all. Glendronach is a Highland single malt whose founder was an early champion of sherry cask maturation. It was bought in 2008 by Billy Walker's BenRiach company, who rebuilt it as a heavily sherried single malt. It passed to Brown Forman, owner of Jack Daniel's, in 2016 as part of a 285 million pound deal. It was bought in 1920 by Charles Grant, a son of the founder of Glenfiddich. It was the last distillery in Scotland to fire its stills with coal, converting to steam only in 2005.

Run slowly off the spirit still, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry butt, the wood working deep into the malt. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At its natural 59.8% it is rich and chewy. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is a dark, fruity Highland single malt.