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Glendronach cask strength batch 2

New kid on the block!

0 689

LReview by @Lifewaterforce

15th Oct 2013

0

Glendronach cask strength batch 2
  • Nose
    24
  • Taste
    23
  • Finish
    22
  • Balance
    20
  • Overall
    89

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

There's been some time now that Glenfarclas and Aberlour have had the young/NAS cask strength sherry-monster partition of the market practically all to themselves with their respective iconic bottlings: the 105 and A'bunadh. This isn't that surprising though, even though their isn't a lack of potential competitors, but the fact that the 105 and A'bunadh have both established themselves so forcefully is in part due to legendary batches and overall quality. Though it is the consistency from batch to batch that have made both legends of their craft and masters of their market.

Last year however they got two Speyside rivals joining in, the old-timer sherry from Macallan and the phoenix of resurrection that is Glendronach. It is the latter that i will be reviewing, the first batch was well received, let's look at the first successor.

Nose: Lovely sherry with a slight fustiness (old, musty, warehouse nature). Big figue note accompanied by sultanas, chocolate raisins and red delicious apples. The nose moves up a gear to show off some maple sirup, sweet almonds and cacao powder, that rounds this whole show off wonderfully.

Palate: Big but substantial oloroso sherry arrival with a superb, very juicy sweet&sour note, that almost puts your palate under a spell. Rum-cakes and raspberry tarts. Manuka honey, bitter caramel and creme brulée. A big red apple note then pushes the development through, some Red delicious apples to be precise. An intense spiciness constantly revolving round the whole.

Finish: Toffee with some vanilla come forward before leaving the scene to a cookie-dough and almond note&body that holds on for quite a while along with some slight tannins.

This is a very tasty, substantial, well balanced quality malt. It was time the two Sherry cask-strength kings got some competition, and boy does this deliver it to them. Haven't tried the Macallan cask-strength yet, but one things certain, there is now three heavy-weights to deal with.

A little weakness as part of the risk Glendronach took in order to get a grip on the market, is the price. It's well over 10 pounds above the excellent 15 year old sibling, and most importantly it's own rivals the 105 and A'bunadh. So would i recommend this over the 15 year old? No, how could i? But it makes a grand case for itself, a new alternative to the 105 and A'bunadh. Not better than the 15, just different. The same story with it's rivals, a third sherry musketeer has joined the ranks. En garde!

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6 comments

L
Lifewaterforce commented

One thing i left out was a faint barbecue note popping up on the nose after adding water, but now after having tasted it twice tonight i can put a finger on it.. Roasted chicken!

11 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

Thanks for this reivew! I like all the other elements, it is just the "intense spiciness" that I have a hard time with. Ouch! Where did my tongue go?

10 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

Having tasted Glendronach Cask Strength once, I'd love to get my hands on a bottle or three of it. It is pricey, though, and where I live it is also hard to find.

Unlike my friend @vanPelt 'intense spiciness' is one of those things I like best in a whisky.

10 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

True, sometimes I feel like a minority in that regard.... How can it be? It will remain a puzzle to me. Is nobody else disturbed by tongue numbness? By sizzling that distracts from deeper flavors? @Victor , we recently agreed on the Laddie 10 for example (and a good many other examples exist)-- but no biting spice to be found! So surely you don't need it, even if it's one of your best things.... Anyway, I decided to try GlenDronach's CS3, which is allegedly less spicy; but I could never get the water right. Always finished with tongue-drying hot wasabi (the fake kind), unless I took the tiniest of sips. Maybe I'm missing something....

10 years ago 0

@Victor
Victor commented

@vanPelt, I think that it was the Batch # 3 that I tried recently in Toronto. I would add water only for contrast. Do I have a numb tongue, compared to others? Perhaps, relatively speaking. I like that it is very rare that a whisky seems too strongly alcoholic to me.

Oddly, by contrast, @Pudge72 recently introduced me to a method of tasting which he loves involving putting the whisky between your lip and mandibular incisors for 15 seconds before tasting any of it. I could not do it. The alcohol burned me and was too much for me with almost every whisky. So my tongue is not too alcohol sensitive, but my labial oral mucosa is.

10 years ago 0

@vanPelt
vanPelt commented

Thanks @Victor, I am so happy to be part of a discussion involving labial oral mucosae! I've heard of this 15 second technique, and it doesn't jive with me. But I agree that the method of drinking can change the experience dramatically. I drink all cask strength whiskies in tiny sips-- taken in the region you mentioned-- and the sips can then get somewhat diluted around the tongue by salivation. That delivers the flavor explosion for me. Naturally, the degree of that effect depends on how scrumptious it is in the first place....

I did not mean that your tongue was numb-- I meant that MY tongue beCOMes numb! These GlenDronachs are wonderful for me, until after the peak of the palate... At that point and into the finish, the spices absolutely sizzle my tongue into numbness. So it's not flavorful, and it's even kind of painful! And the effect is not completely due to the ABV, because the same effect continues after I add water. But then again, if I take a good mouthful, then it is the ethanol content that burns and prevents any positive experience-- I suppose that would be true for anyone though....

10 years ago 0