GlenDronach Port Wood

This release is a departure from Glendronach’s signature sherry-cask aging. They are one of the best in that regard, but it’s nice to try something different. Port-aged Scotch tends be in a similar wheelhouse to its sherry counterparts, so Glendronach and Rachel Barrie should pull this one off nicely. Nose: Blackbery jam, fig, date, and raisin. Black currant. Toffee, vanilla, and honey. A vanilla custard sweetness. Butterscotch. Biscotti as well. Some white grape. Unripe banana and malt. Orchard fruit and floral notes. Cola. Oak wood but virtually no spice. It’s fruit and sweets for dessert. Palate: White grape, date, fig, and raisin. Blackberry and raspberry. Plum, prune, and cola. A cranberry/crossing note. Butterscotch, vanilla, and toffee. Almond. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak spice. It’s a bit of spicy and prickly than the nose suggests. Finish: Blackberry, fig, date, raisin, and plum. Chestnut. Graham cracker. Hey Malt, toffee, and. vanilla, Cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Moderate-long; impressive for 46%. Glendronach and Rachel Barrie nailed this. It’s very good. Reminds me a lot of Dalmore Port on paper. Port-aged whisky from a sherried-Scotch powerhouse. Dalmore was $100, this was $90 (I thought they were both $100 when I started writing this.) NAS. Even the ABV is only .5% different. The profile here is lighter. Not that it’s less full or rich, just that the dark fruit notes are more pronounced in the Dalmore. I think this can be said of Dalmore and Glendronach’s flavor profile in general. So while they’re similar in many ways, Glendronach’s effort here successfully carves out its own niche in the market. I mentioned that this was $90. I think it achieves its aim as far as VFM goes. $100 isn’t cheap, especially for an NAS malt. But it’s bottled at a respectable 46%, clearly has a good amount of aged juice in it—Glendronach is generally good about that—and uses some high quality port barrels. It’d be a hard sell for me if it cost $10 or $20 more, put it hits the mark at a C-Note. 4.25/5. The same score I gave the Dalmore Port if I remember correctly. A job well done. Hopefully the positive response to this one, assuming most reviewers agree with me that is, encourages Glendronach to try more experimental bottlings. As for this, it’s a damn good product.

향: 산지오베제. 산도를 동반한 레드와인향. 약간의 쿰쿰한 향도 있음. 건포도. 딸기잼. 초콜릿. 허브. 전반적으로 향이 산뜻함 맛: 드로낙 특유의 매운맛으로 시작하고, 진한 흑설탕의 단맛과 높은 산도가 느껴짐. 청사과. 사과잼. 캬라멜. 꾸덕한 단 맛에 산도가 더해진 복합적인 맛이 매력적임

Fragrant, rich, velvety, sweet, spicy, plums, raisins, orange zest, cocoa, malt, baking spices, sugar cookies and graham crackers. So many good notes. Delicious.

I grabbed this one on sale and was super impressed. Didn’t realize the sherry influence on this. It is rich and extremely tasty. Everything you want in a great sherried scotch. This is a must try!!

Nose: Plum jam, ripe strawberry, grape jelly, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and honey. It almost smells like a port wine trifle! Yum! Palate: Sweet, waxy and bursting with red berries on the entry. Apple crumble, cherry clafoutis (drool!), milk chocolate, sweet orange sauce, plums preserved in cognac and a hint of baking spices. Excellent chewy texture with huge heft. A very good palate. Finish: Medium/Long. Christmas cake, milk chocolate and sultanas. Towards the finale the finish is drying (dark chocolate) as oak is finally dominant. A lovely, luscious, relatively young GlenDronach that fairly oozes port wine, Christmas cake and pudding spices. This would be a perfect whisky to bring out following Christmas dinner. The youth of the distillate is not awkward at all but simply adds energy and verve to the profile, while the PX sherry and port cask maturation (which could be a disaster if done badly) contributes a blanketing warmth and cosiness. The maturation was very well managed. At the price this is one NAS that can be highly recommended, I think even for those who do not ordinarily enjoy heavily port-influenced whisky. It’s simply delicious and at the price it represents sound value. Tasted from a 30ml sample. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)