The GlenDronach Allardice Aged 18 Years, Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 70cl

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The GlenDronach 18-year is named after the 1826 founder of the distillery, James Allardes. It is aged for 18 years exclusively in Spanish oloroso sherry casks, and bottled at 46% ABV without chill-filtration or added coloring. On the palate, there are dried fruit notes of golden raisin and cooked fig, orange zest, and walnut along with some milk chocolate, coffee and a bit of toasted oak. The whisky shows the classic sherry matured “Christmas cake” profile as well as spice notes of cinnamon and nutmeg. The finish is long, with the lingering dried fruit sweetness characteristic of sherry matured whiskies, along with a slight balsamic note, with some bitterness and a bit of pepperiness. Over the last several years, GlenDronach has emerged as one of the most exciting and best valued Scotch whiskies and has become a consistent medal winner in international competitions. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.

I loved the GlenDronach 12 yo release. I think the GlenDonrach 21 yo whisky should also make an appearance on my tasting lists quite soon. In South Africa the GlenDronach 18 yo whisky retails for around R1 600. With Water: A few drops of water add a ton of vanilla and a port wine-like sweetness. It also evens-out the palate, providing a little more fresh fruit to offset the prunes. Water is an excellent idea here. Palate: Thin body. Prune up front, with more sherry resin, tobacco (shisha), and raw apple cider vinegar. Dry, really, without much of the sugar one would associate with sherry bombs. Raisiny in the extreme. I can’t fault the distillery for raising prices, the brand has been underpriced. It’s still an exceptional value, just a little less so than before. Prices will likely continue to go up, however, so if you find the whisky to your liking you might want to put a bottle or two away.

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Palate - Rich dark and seductive. Remarkable flavours of stewed fruits and all-spice marry together with classic aged Oloroso sherry and toasted walnut bread combined with chocolate No, this is not the whisky they serve at the Member’s Bar at Westminster. Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords have their own custom whisky, as does the Speaker of the Commons, but this whisky isn’t it. Billy even wanted to add new expressions, which we did. I expect that the new generation of whiskies will be mostly NAS with fancy names, but we hope to be able to sustain a core range of top quality whiskies with age statements. Especially because we feel like that’s the way we can keep up the delicate and unique character of our distillery, whereas with NAS-whiskies the influence of the casks will weaken that character.” Keeping the philosophy alive

B and B-: Good and above average. The best of the mass market whiskeys fit in this category, as do the bulk of the premium brands. A B- is three stars. The last time I reviewed the GlenDronach 18 Years Allardice, it was from a batch bottled in 2013. But now I’ve secured a sample of a release that was bottled on October 15th in 2019. That means this particular GlenDronach 18 Years Allardice I’m reviewing is actually a lot older than you might think, maybe even 23 or 24 years old. The result is a range of whiskies that feature a deep amber color and a rich complex flavor profile that brilliantly joins a deeply favored, robust whisky character with the sweet, dried dark fruit notes of PX sherry cask maturation, along with the drier, citrus zest and fruity and nutty notes contributed from Oloroso sherry butts. All the whiskies are bottled without any chill filtration and with natural color. The distillery converted from coal fired stills to steam heat in 2005. It was the last Scottish distiller to switch. Today, among major producers, only the Japanese distiller Yoichi still uses coal fired stills.If anyone out there is ever looking to gift me a whisky I will always be happy to see this one show up. It’s the best in the core range and delivers a wonderful experience across the senses. The aroma is sweet and complex with balancing touches of spice. The palate is the same but deeper with some nice cocoa notes and the finish pulls it home. The following indicators should be taken as only a guide and not a set of hard and fast rules. Some "premium" whiskeys really are quite terrible, while some mass market products are good enough to pour into a decanter and serve to the Duke of Edinburgh. A+: A masterpiece and one of the ten best whiskeys of its type. Above five stars.

The information and quotes for this blog post originally appeared in a Dutch article by Bert Rutkowski for Whisky Etc. His article was published in early 2014, mine followed shortly thereafter in February 11th 2014. The final update to this article is from October 14th 2021. GlenDronach offers an exceptional range of whiskies, which for a long time have represented among the best values for sherried single malts. Prices have been steadily going up over the last few years; a reflection of increasing demand as the brand gets discovered and a more aggressive pricing strategy. The whisky has the characteristic viscosity and palate weight of a sherried whisky. That characteristic seems more pronounced in the older GlenDronach expressions. On the nose, the whisky is sweet with notes of creamy crepe brûlée, along with notes of dried apple and pear, raisins, a bit of fig and a hint of anise. There are spice notes of cinnamon and raw ginger and a vermouth-like character with just a hint of clove and nutmeg. Distinctive cooked cereal notes emerge as the whisky opens up.

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The palate features a pronounced sherry sweetness with a smooth velvet character and a pronounced palate weight. There are dried fruit flavors, especially raisin and fig, red fruit notes of cherry, strawberry and raspberry, along with some citrus zest, and almond. There are also some notes of milk chocolate and buttery croissant, think pain au chocolat, that emerge with a little time.

Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us. Like its siblings, this is an oily, viscous whisky with a pronounced palate weight, although it is a little drier than the 12 YO and 15 YO expressions. This GlenDronach expression is named after James Allardes, the distillery’s founder. It is matured exclusively in Oloroso sherry casks. Our Service is an online platform which provides Members with information (e.g. bottle facts, market-indices, market values and prices) on (mostly) whisky and allows Members to add information to the platform. We do not sell, nor does the Service provide any option to buy, any alcoholic products.This expression is intended to accompany the 2021 release of The King’s Man, the latest movie in the Kingsman series. The whisky is a blend of six barrels that were matured in Oloroso and PX casks that were hand selected by GlenDronach’s Master Distiller Dr. Rachel Barrie and Kingsman series director Matthew Vaughn. For example, the 12-year-old Original was first released in 2009, so should’ve been at least partly distilled in 1997. Except even the first batch of the Original was already actually at least 13 or 14 years old. If you bought a 12-year-old in 2013, you actually were awarded an 18-year-old whisky. Key is the closure of GlenDronach between 1996 and 2002. That gap of six years forces GlenDronach to use older whisky than necessary, because when Billy Walker acquired the distillery in 2008, he decided upon an extensive core range with age statements.