GlenDronach The Hielan 8

My brother invited me over to try this. From what I can gather it's a bit different than the regular GD house style in that it leans more on the bourbon barrels than Sherry. I'm not certain if it's mix of different barrels or a case secondary maturation, little details exist.

Don’t want to stir the pot but it’s nice to see 8 years on the front rather than one of those tired marketing tags (distiller’s … Founder’s… Rare… Select… much like masturbation It’s fun but not like sex). It reminds me of older scotch bottles that often had 6 or 8 years tags on them I don’t think anyone assumed they were swill.

Nice color not quite the sun yellow gold of bourbon so that must be the sherry casting a bit of rust into it.

Nose: Spirity, chewy toffee, vanilla, slight lemon pledge, after while it opens up into golden raisins, orange blossom/floral, a little orange oil, dried apricots (those jujube like Californian ones).

Taste: Spun sugar, grape gummy candy, mouth-watering, marshmallow and cocoa, buttery, malted milk balls.

w/ water brings out more of the citrus and malt, round and waxy with tangerines and digestive biscuits/Danish butter cookies

It’s spirity but not burning; the finish is not overlong but doesn’t drop off a cliff either. Reminds me a bit of adults at Christmas.

If it’s priced right I recommend it, especially if you like the old school spirit-style that walks the tight rope on sherry. It’s nothing like GD15, 18 or 21 though.

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