Glendronach Cask Strength (Batch 10)

A Glendronach, a distillery bottling, at 58.6%. 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 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.

It was taken gently through wash and spirit stills, shaping a rich Highland body with real weight. Maturation ran across Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks, layered over the Glendronach spirit. Without an age statement, a dark sugar and dried fruit point to good years in cask. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

At 58.6%, undiluted, it is dark and full. A deep, dark sweetness, with raisin, date and treacle from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a rich Highland malt of dried fruit and chocolate.