Glendronach Single Cask 1993 (cask 658)

Glendronach 1/15/93 23 year cask #41 Nose- Rich, thick dark fruits (plums, cherries, pomegranates); cinnamon; raisins; tobacco leaf; dark chocolate; cedar wood Palate- Initial wave of baking spices; walnuts; dark chocolate; rum soaked raisins; juicy dark plums; wood spice Finish- Long, juicy finish; cedar wood; dark chocolate; tobacco Nice heavily sherried glendronach. Good stuff overall, but doesn’t quite live up to the hype the 1993 release gets. Lovely sherry influence on the nose (dark fruits, raisins, dark chocolate), along with baking spice and oak. The palate starts off with a wave of spice, which is quickly overtaken by a nutty walnut influence. The sherry then arrives on the palate in full force, leading to a long, juicy finish. More dark chocolate, along with more cedar wood and tobacco rounds it out. Believe me, this is a fantastic pour. One that any scotch aficionado would be lucky to have, but the hype it receives is a little overwhelming.

$50 for one ounce at Jack Rose 1990s Glendronach is like 1980s Macallan; perhaps equal in quality, but definitely cheaper. Even at an arm and a leg, it is undervalued by an arm and a leg in today’s market. If you are sick of finishes in seasoned Pedro Sulfurfuck caks, and just need a sherry masterpiece that will only cost one arm and one leg, you buy a Glendronach 1990s vintage now. This one gets a star taken off for tasting like cough syrup on the first encounter. Bitter wood, cherries, and figs. Water and time is like saliva with this whisky. Things start digesting and the simple sugars are released from the polysacchar… fuck if I know the chemistry. It gets sweeter. It gets betterer. Macerated dark fruits, leather, tobacco. This is a sherried wet dream that I probably consumed too fast because it kept getting better and better, revealing ever richer details, up until the last sip. This definitely ended in three star territory, but I am giving it two because it comes out of the bottle like a bastard. I had this side by side with a 1994 Glendronach that was a 22 year old from a single PX sherry cask. Both bottles were freshly opened. That PX one, however, can curl toes from the first moment outside the bottle. Score: ** (unimaginably good) How much does a bottle cost: I don’t know. How much do I think a bottle is worth: $500