01/12/2025 The GlenDronach

The GlenDronach 19yo 1994/2013 (58.4%, OB Single Cask, Oloroso Sherry Butt, C#101, 628b, b#396): nose: same distillery, bottler and supplier as yesterday's, yet it could hardly be more different a dram. This is full-on drinks cabinets, mahogany cases, teak chests, polished dashboards and walnut stain. It is an elegant Sherry maturation, to put it in other words. Behind all that are a pinch of quarry dust and a brush still wet with varnish for scale modelling. Whoever is building those plastic aircrafts is sipping flat cola and munching dried figs and oily chestnuts, from time to time. The second nose adds dark tree bark, mulch and beef-stock cubes. There is not enough camphor or liquorice to call cough syrup; instead, the lasting impression is that of Oloroso and coffee poured on potting soil and prunes. Further nosing unveils dark fruits and berries stored in a black plastic container. Mouth: coating, vinous in a fortified-wine way. Mushroom water, or water used to rehydrate dried mushrooms and raisins. It is dark and earthy, yet keeps a certain sweetness too, closer to currants than to prunes. A soft bitterness emerges (the earthy side, certainly), that could be associated with mocha, or a frying pan of mushrooms deglazed with a dash of Oloroso. The second sip welcomes dried dates in a cup of coffee, sultanas and dried apricots. The earthy coffee is thinned with a generous dose of plum liqueur. Then, we find pearl onions, poached and coated in tar-black honey. Oddly, it works. Finish: a big earthy kick of Oloroso, here. It is a tad overwhelming at first, cloying. Treacle, prune syrup, old Corinth raisins clustered together, mocha custard so thick one could plant a spoon in it and it would stand vertical, and a pinch of cocoa powder. The second gulp is earthier still; caffè corretto rectified with liqueur rather than grappa, pressed raisins augmented with a pinch of soot-y earth, ground cloves sprinkled on dried dates, and cocoa powder dusted on a bowl of beef stock. We find a similar dark-honey tinge as we did on the palate, towards the death. Black sesame seeds coated in dark amber honey round all that off. Wow! This is not necessarily my preferred profile, but it is very well made. I like it better than the first time. 8/10 (Thanks for the dram, OB)