Glendronach 20 (Scotch Single Malt Circle) 1970

Today's tasting is in great anticipation and appreciation due to a very good friend James Phang who tried this at Auld Alliance and bought the reminder of the bottle the night he tried it. He has mentioned that this is the best Glendronach that he has ever tried (edging out the legendary 1972 Cask 718!). I have an extreme bias towards Glendronach as a beautiful iconic sherry expression and I feel the older vintages have brought my appreciation to a much higher level. Modern Glendronach are rich heavily sherried beautiful drams and this is in contrast to the old Glendronach bottlings that have exquisite refinement in the taste with more nuanced notes.

Initial Nose: Beautiful muskiness, citrus notes such as juicy lemons, orange, pineapple, figs, tea, dried twigs, slight ash

Nosing after time: marmite characteristics with apricot jam coming through, citrus notes prolonging

Palate: really dense and dark notes of dark chocolate, cigar tobacco, savouriness, earthy soil, dried herbs there's a large amount of umami but more on the earthy end with an interesting powdery texture

Finish: The palate retains a musky almost ash and flint like note that fades into umami. I wouldnt say the finish is extremely long but it's there and still pleasant

An extremely enjoyable experience totally different to what i am use to in a Glendronach. A stark contrast to rich heavily fruity sherry this is a much more musky, earthy expression which would be a great break from drinking modern sherry and bourbon cask whiskies. Although a great dram and 1 of a kind compared to all the other Glendronach whiskies I have tasted, 1972 Cask 718 still reigns supreme for me with the amazing fruit forward characteristics and extremely long finish. This also confirms my bias towards the more fruit forward expressions of Sherry cask whisky as compared to the savoury expression.

Glendronach 20 (SMOS) 1970

Glendronach (1970, 20 Years, Sherry, ABV 56%)