Glendronach 28 Years Old 1993 Cask #7099 (LMDW)

La Maison du Whisky bottled this Glendronach, a 28 year old, distilled in 1993, from cask 7099, at 52.3%, one of the festival bottlings. Glendronach is a deep, dark Highland malt of dried fruit, chocolate and spice. It was mothballed in 1996 and lay silent until production resumed in 2002.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. An Oloroso sherry puncheon held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. Active first fill sherry wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Highland body. Maturation runs slow and even in the traditional dunnage warehouses on the Forgue site. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

Bottled at a cask strength 52.3%, it is deep and concentrated. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is full and fruity, the spirit carrying the cask. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a dark, fruity Highland single malt.