Slainte-Mhath
GlenDronach Allardice 18 Year
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
August 28, 2018 (edited June 26, 2021)
GlenDronach is a bit of a one-trick pony, but boy, they know how to make a great sherry malt! Recent batches of the 'Allardice' are much older than 18 years, and the age shows. Heavy sherry notes, oranges and rich spices bewitch the nose, intermingled with hazelnuts, roasted coffee and subdued herbal freshness. The taste is intense, full-bodied and very much in line with the aroma, culminating in a substantial, lasting and chocolaty bitter finish. Not quite as complex as the fantastic 15-year-old Revival, but who am I to criticize this superb whisky!
RATING: 4.4/5.0 stars ≙ 90 pts → SUPERB [-]
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@Slainte-Mhath Yup whiskey exchange gone now. I'm gonna get another next month when I'm back in NZ with my next order.
Looks like this malt is finally about to disappear: it has been sold out at Master of Malt for weeks, while whiskyexchange started to limit it to 1 bottle per customer. 2018 bottlings of GlenDronach Allardice contain 22-23 year-old whisky, as the distillery was closed 1995-2002. This might be your last chance to pick up a bottle or two before they are all gone!
@Slainte-Mhath You must be prophetic as they have just announced the release of the new 15 year :-). Not holding my breath though now Billy Walker has moved on
I tried this at whisky extravaganza and it was amazing. Regarding the 84 and biased ratings from my deleted comments, it doesn't help that Stephanie Moreno is the chief editor so she can do whatever she wants.
@MashtunMike What I like about GlenDronach is simply the fact, that in a time where NAS whiskies are flooding the market, they provide you with a 21-22 yo Single Malt saying 'we know it's much older than the label suggests, but hey, we are not taking advantage of it by increasing the price!'. You don't find this very often in these days.
Makes me thinnk of an old American TV show called MASH - One o fthe doctors was very arrogant - Charles Winchester III - He said "I do one hting at a time, I do it very well, and then I move on." I htink this fits GlenDronach very well. :-)
@Generously_Paul The 15yo Revival is outstanding, check your bottle code and the table below to calculate its age. GlenDronach could release a 'new' Revival anytime soon, but it will probably not be the same. I should have bought a few more bottle of this while they were still around...
Just got my hands on a bottle of Revival thanks to @LeeEvolved. Glad to hear it’s better than the 18, which was great
Great review :-). One of my all time favorites. I can still get older bottles here for around the $90USD mark which is outstanding value. I two bottles of this and 1 of the 21 tucked away :-).
@cascode You are absolutely right, there is no reason to buy the 21yo Parliament at this moment in time. It might become of interest in a couple of years, when it is approaching 25 years due to lack of casks: https://wordsofwhisky.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Grafiek-GlenDronach.pdf
Great summary. It's an excellent malt, and reasonably priced, too. It beats the more expensive 21 year old hands down.
... and yes, I do agree with several other reviewers that the Distiller score of '84' is way too low. Update your reviews, this juice is only getting better!
Additional comment: This review is for batch LL33780, bottled in 11/2017, which is a minimum of 21 years and 9 months old, as the distillery was mothballed from 2/1996 until 5/2002.