The Glendronach Hand Filled, 12yo, Px Puncheon, cask #3173, vintage 2011

The most amazing thing about visiting the Glendronach distillery, is that you can taste and hand filled some single cask strength expressions, which usually are so powerfully sherried that the whisky itself is almost black. Everytime you book a Glendronach tasting at the distillery, a lovely lady called Vicky will pour you 5 drams and 2 sherry glasses; just for you to fully live this brand experience. Two of those drams will inevitably be the single cask strength expressions you can hand fill at the shop. I believe this is a proper strategy to get you a little "happy" before you step into the shop, which will have the consequence of you buying everything you can find. This was the case of a 12yo, hand filled "Glendro", drawn from a single Px Puncheon, bottled at 58%abv, distilled on the 25th of april of 2011 and bottled on May, 2023. On the nose you get this full Pedro Ximenez nose, which is fantastic. Herbal notes, hazelnut, maraschino cherries. Raisins bathed in chocolate. After a first sip, an aroma of red fruit jam appeared. Strawberries. Magnificent. In the palate it is almost perfect. Red fruit marmalade; red chilli, Chocolate. On the second sip i got raisins and a winey profile. Aftertaste is out of this world. It is absolutely rewarding. Lots of dark chocolate. Bitter in a marvelous way. (Here i thought: i am totally buying this). Whoa! It is superb; the overall feeling is incredible. In conclusion, i got to say that after a couple years, Glendronach has risen the prices of their distillery hand filled expressions, but for a 12yo to be this outstanding, the fee you pay for it, feels properly paid. An enormous single malt, with an spectacular aftertaste and a sherry madness, my score for this is a well deserved 97 over 100.