Glendronach 30 Years Old 1990 (Cadenhead’s)

Chosen by Cadenhead, Scotland's oldest independent bottler, Aberdeen born in 1842 and now in Campbeltown, this a 30 year old Glendronach, distilled in 1990, at 45.4%, one of the festival bottlings. Glendronach is a Highland single malt, founded in 1826 near Huntly in Aberdeenshire. It was mothballed in 1996 and lay silent until production resumed in 2002. It was the last distillery in Scotland to fire its stills with coal, converting to steam only in 2005.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, for a weighty make built to take active Spanish oak. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry hogshead, the wood working deep into the malt. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate.

At its natural 45.4% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is the sherry led malt of Forgue.