GlenDronach 8 Year Old 2002 Whisky Festival Gent 2011

The Whisky Festival Ghent has, like every festival that respects itself, a festival bottling. In 2011 it was an 8 Year Old GlenDronach on Virgin Oak. In fact, it was a sistercask to the ‘Cask in a Van’ cask 4521. The festival bottled cask 4525, filled on 11th June 2006 and bottled in January 2011.

On the nose it is very similar to cask 4521. Crushed banana, but this time with candied sugar instead of brown sugar. A small nuance, but it’s there. And loads of vanilla, but a lot less on the spices. Sweeter still. Quite alcoholic too. And a touch of mint. The longer you leave it, the better it gets. After about 10 minutes, the nose is absolutely gorgeous. And another trump: it’s a swimmer.

Very creamy on the palate, but less punchy than cask 4521. Rounder. Softer. Wonderfully sweet at first, before the spices kick in from the virgin oak. A whole plethora of spices with nutmeg and white pepper in the lead. But also cinnamon and even a whiff of saffron. It doesn’t lose any strength when adding water. It becomes even sweeter.

The finish is very long on this one. No new aromas, but a continued crushed banana delight.

Again, I must confess that I really enjoyed this virgin oak finished young animal. This one is a touch more round and creamy that the previous bottling.

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