Another blind tasting. Rich golden color and rather than legs a belt begins to migrate from the whisky laced glass. Odd. Dusty oak, fruit and Heather. Hey, honey and pear. Golden raisins, raw pistachio, leather, fig, oak, chocolate, light cigar wrapper. This immediately makes me think of Glenfarclas 25 and to a lesser degree Glendronach 15. Sweet caramel malt, chocolate, PX Sherry and then slight bitter walnut, a waxy and nutty profile that fades gently into one of tobacco and raisin. Tannic oak hangs around as well making me think some age is hiding in there. Shit. This is Glendronach 18. I asked Fox for a sample of GD 15 or 18 and forgot and ordered a sample... Reveal: GD 15 Well. I was close. But this is interesting - this sample is a good bit more tannic and slightly more bitter than the 2021 bottle I recently was able to find. I’ll spare the diatribe and refer back to my review of the 18 year GD. The question of older stock being better is one without a clear answer. I owe a big thanks to @Contemplativefox for sharing this with me but the 2021 bottle is more my profile. It goes to show that profile drift as a result of blending (or still upgrades, barrel sourcing, etc, etc) does have an impact.