GlenDronach cask 8558 is a 12-year-old single cask from the distillery's Batch 18 cask bottlings, matured in one Pedro Ximénez sherry puncheon and bottled at full strength. If you already love the GlenDronach 12 or 15, this shows the same richly sherried style in a denser, more concentrated form.
About This Whisky
The spirit was distilled on 11 June 2008 and filled into a Pedro Ximénez puncheon, a wide 500-litre cask. It was bottled in 2020 as part of Batch 18, a set of eighteen single casks from 1990 to 2009 chosen by Rachel Barrie. It went into the bottle at 59.4% ABV, without chill-filtration or added colour, and the cask gave 710 bottles.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Orange marmalade and nutty toffee, then roast chestnut, cranberry, clove and a trace of aniseed.
- Palate: Thick and sweet: raisin and malt first, then treacle, date and blackberry.
- Finish: Long, with fennel, liquorice root and a lingering sherry sweetness.
Serving & Food
At almost 60% this needs care: pour a small measure into a nosing glass, let it breathe, then add water a little at a time until the treacle and fruit open out. Serve with dark chocolate truffles, sticky toffee pudding or a mature cheddar.
How to Enjoy
GlenDronach followers and sherry-cask enthusiasts who like a powerful, full-strength dram.
Product Details
Distillery: GlenDronach
Vintage/Age: Distilled 2008, 12 years old
Bottled: 2020, Cask Bottling Batch 18
Cask: Single Cask #8558
Cask type: Pedro Ximénez sherry puncheon
Volume: 700mL
ABV: 59.4%
Outturn: 710 bottles
Origin: Scotland
Region: Highland
About the Distillery
GlenDronach lies in the Valley of Forgue near Huntly in Aberdeenshire. James Allardice, heading a group of local farmers, founded it as a licensed distillery in 1826. Walter Scott of Teaninich bought it in 1830, and by the 1860s it was paying more duty than any other Highland distillery.
The distillery was mothballed in 1996, restarted in 2002 and gave up its coal-fired stills for steam heating in 2005. The BenRiach Distillery Company took over in 2008 and revived the single cask programme, and Brown-Forman bought the business in 2016, appointing Dr Rachel Barrie as master blender. Maturation relies almost entirely on Spanish oak casks that held Pedro Ximénez or oloroso sherry.