Review #7: Glendronach 12 Year

Distillery: Glendronach

Region: Highland

ABV: 43%

Age: 12

Price: $55

Color: 1.4 Tawny

Nose (according to the wife): This is a sweet one! You get the smell of over-ripe fruits (peaches, she said) along with some fresh wood and honey. A bit of an acetone like smell in the back as well. This one definitely prickles and dries the nose.

Palate: It is sweet, with a lot of sherry, but not overly so. Flavor palate is pretty straight forward, you get a lot of fruit (maybe some raisins?, no hints of peach) as well as some fresh oak. With a bit of water, you get a bit of vanilla as well.

Finish: I can’t believe how long the finish on this one is, far longer than anything in it’s age group. The finish is a bit nutty, you get even a bit of the bitterness from raw nuts, and dry. With some water, the nuttiness stays but the bitterness is toned down quite a bit.

Conclusion: Fantastic dram all around. For a 12 year old, it truly shines in comparison to other whiskies in the same age group (Aberlour 12, Macallan 10, Macallan 12). The flavor profile is exactly what you expect from a sherried whisky. It is a tad too straight forward, but I don’t think you can expect extremely complex flavor palates from something in this age/price range. Definitely worth it.

Final Score: 80

Scotch whisky review #7, Highland review #2, Whisky Network Review #8

Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection.
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.

Originally reviewed Mar. 08, 2018.