Glendronach The Doric

A Glendronach, a distillery bottling, at 50%. Glendronach is a rich Highland malt from the Valley of Forgue, near Huntly. It was bought in 1920 by Charles Grant, a son of the founder of Glenfiddich. It was bought in 2008 by Billy Walker's BenRiach company, who rebuilt it as a heavily sherried single malt.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, for a weighty make built to take active Spanish oak. Ex-Bourbon oak and an Oloroso cask held it, layered over the full Glendronach make. With no age statement, vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over the rich, fruity spirit. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The casks are picked closely, the wood matched to the rich Glendronach make. Maturation runs slow and even in the traditional dunnage warehouses on the Forgue site. The full bodied spirit takes active wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At a hearty 50% it carries real weight. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is the sherry led malt of Forgue.