LeeEvolved
GlenDronach Peated Port Wood
Single Malt — Highland, Scotland
Reviewed
February 11, 2018 (edited March 28, 2018)
Every once in awhile a whisky grabs my focus while simultaneously causing me to lose the little bit of restraint I have. Back in November of 2017, Glendronach released this special NAS whisky over in the UK. I suppose they wanted to capitalize on the relative success of the GlenDronach Peated from 2015, by one-upping it with some port wine finishing. This is the result.
I am a huge fan of GlenDronach. I am a huge fan of peated whisky. I am a huge fan of port wine finishing. So, needless to say, I lost my flipping mind when I saw this. I have been patiently waiting for its USA release but I could never find any info on whether it was coming to our shores or not. Almost 3 months had passed and I still didn’t see it available here online so I bit the bullet and bought it from an online, UK-based seller for $72 a bottle. I had such high hopes I even ponied up for 3 bottles. I just knew...
This NAS GlenDronach comes in at a robust 46% ABV and it is NCF’d. The color is a nice pink gold and it makes some wonderful thick legs in the tasting glass. Then, it happened...
The initial pour had some slightly undesirable notes on the nose right from the start. There was a huge blast of butterscotch and overly sweet marshmallows that clouded anything and everything for well past the first 30-45 minutes in the glass. I flat out refused to even taste it until those notes became a bit more tamed. It took awhile. Much later on, the usual GlenDronach spice profile appeared, along with some milk chocolate and your typical sherry. The tiniest bit of smoke arrived well after the one hour mark. Holy hell that took way too long.
Finally, I allowed myself the first sip. There it is: oak and pepper spice, earthy peat moss, red berry and chocolaty sweetness arrive only to be ushered out the door by a stinging bit of astringency and hot alcohol. This must be the youthful base making its presence known and in a bit of a rude way. The oak and alcohol take what should’ve been a luscious mouthfeel and turn it on it’s head. This shouldn’t be happening with a 46% dram IMO.
The finish is long, lingering but ultimately warming with a bit of a campfire ash residue hanging around. Subsequent sips didn’t seem to make the total experience any more refined or complex. None of the flavors seem truly intertwined like I hoped. There wasn’t enough port wine flavor- heck, there isn’t enough peat here either (which makes the bottle of GD Peated I have a little more suspect now.)
Overall, not only do I feel let down I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach. This amalgam of my 3 favorite things shouldn’t end up this way. This was supposed to be my Disneyland. I have to say it’s definitely a serviceable dram and maybe my expectations were too high, but boy I feel like it missed the mark. I’m sending a few samples out to the guys in my tasting group and hopefully they’ll get something that I didn’t. I hope a little time and oxidation will do something, too. As it is- I can only muster up a 3.25-3.5 score for this one.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go ball up in the corner in the fetal position.
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Ok I got another bottle of the 18. I'm pretty sure its old stock as once the shops clear out their old stock their prices jump and this was very cheap.. $90USD. One for keeping one for drinking. Gotta stock up when things look like they're heading south!
No if you check out their website its now core range. Yeah I might have to try and get hold of older bottles of the 18. I think the 12 went down hill as well...it could be the direct fire or lack of but also Billy Walker released a lot of stuff that was much older and higher quality than the label due to lack of younger stock (the distillery was closed for a period). That era appears over!
@Soba45 - I thought the peated Dronach was a one time release back in 2015? Are their fresher batches coming out now? I would hope it that’s not the case there shouldn’t be much variation from bottle to bottle. Has this become a core bottle now?
It probably all stems from their decision to move away from direct fire stills. Changes the profile and now we are seeing the results
Oh and based on my latest sample of GD peated it seems to have gone down hill also...ominous signs!
I also have a bigger worry that now Billy Walker has moved on they have someone else in charge who isn't as good and is under pressure to pump out average stuff at expensive prices. Aka Macallan round 2! I see he's now bought Glenallinchie distillery so that will be one to follow :-)
I think tomorrow will be that day! I don't have too much thinking to do at work over the next two days...so I'll keep a low profile and zone out I think. I might be going for round 2 tomorrow however so see how it goes...I was reviewing all your compass box reviews. I might see if they have any of those i have yet to try lying around :-)
@Soba45 - I see you’re having one of those days when it all gets just a little too good to you. Cheers to that! There’s usually one day a month when I wake up and see the carnage on the bar, feel the drum line counting off in my head and I just smile through the pain and pop the Tylenol till it fades away. As for the Dronach Peated Port- well, since I have 2 more bottles I hope something was off with me or that specific bottle. Who knows? If it gets better I will try to update my review/comments to reflect that because I’m a big time Dronach fan and I hate that this is a let down.
Nòooooooooooooooo.....I've been talking endlessly about when this comes out I'll be breaking my new cardinal rule and buying a bottle without tasting.....now I am deflated but also elated I didn't chance it...and I'm 9 drams in and have drank 5 times my age in 2 hours so I'm still happy :-)
Oh no, this was one of my most anticipated whiskies to try in 2018. I thought Glendronach Peated was spectacular and it would only get better with port :( Sounds like this is actually a younger blend than that one.
Too bad it fell flat for you. You certainly were trying to make it work: waiting 45 minutes before even tasting. Damn! Do you think your mindset was thinking something different and the first wafts were really on a different course, thus the letdown? (Not sure if what I am trying to convey make sense here.)
@PBMichiganWolverine - yeah, I had visions of this cracking my Top 5, but alas it wasn’t to be. I hope the samples treat you guys better and hopefully the next bottle treats me better as well.
I’m putting you in timeout, @Generously_Paul. So just sit over there and be quiet for, like, 10 minutes or something. Dang.
Time to take you back to school Lee. Spanish port is a contradiction in terms. Port wine is from Portugal. Could have been Spanish oak, but the wine...not Spanish
@LeeEvolved so the sum of the parts in this case not equal to the individuals. Maybe just was expecting a lot?