During many a weekend therapy session, whenever I offer a pour of The GlenDronach expression that you see in the above photo, Limpd ALWAYS says the following:
While I admit that Limpd's Panna Cotta taunts are getting kind of old (and they hurt my feelings!), there's no denying that the thought of a luscious dessert like a Panna Cotta paired with a heavily Sherried single malt whisky sounds incredibly delicious. The mere mention of this whisky/dessert pairing makes me drool. I know. Not a pretty visual. It's all Limpd's fault. GLOating bastard that he is!
Before we get to my review of the GlenDronach 15, I need to correct/clarify a few of the things that I said up above before Limpd rips me a new one in the comments section...
1. Limpd had a GlenDronach 12 alongside that Panna Cotta, NOT the 15 year old version.
2. This whisky/dessert pairing occurred in Roma, not Tuscany. I suppose that I could have made the correction, but then I wouldn't have been able to reference this...
3. As has been mentioned numerous times on this blog, I'm not Italian. I'm Sicilian. There's a difference.
Now that the nonsense and nonsensical fact checking is out of the way, we can finally start to talk about this whisky. This is usually where I cut and paste a bit of information about this whisky from the distillery's website, but apparently, The GlenDronach Revival 15 is no longer available. After a wee bit of Googling, I managed to find a bit of information on the Words of Whisky website. Here's what I found out:
The GlenDronach 15YO will indeed be discontinued from the range, for approx 3 years - the plan, at this stage, is that it will return at some point in 2018. This isn't something we would do lightly, as this is one of our best-selling and most popular whiskies, but we simply don't have the maturing stocks to continue to bottle and supply the GD 15YO over the next 3 years. The GD 15YO will be withdrawn from all markets, not just the UK. Based on current stocks and the average monthly rate of sale I would envisage there still being availability within UK retail through to Sep, maybe even Oct.On a more positive note...The GlenDronach 12YO, 18YO, 21YO, Cask Strength Series and Grandeur Series will continue, as will the bi-annual Single Cask batch releases. We have also recently added the new 8YO 'The Hielan' to the range, and this will be available on an ongoing basis. In addition to that, we are working on one or two new GlenDronach expressions that will be released later this year that we are pretty excited about. Watch this space...Ok. NOW we can get to my review...
- Appearance: Rich, burnished copper color.
- Aroma: There's a little alcohol sting when you first dip your beak into the glass, but that subsides pretty quickly. There's no denying that this whisky spent its time maturing in Oloroso Sherry casks. Deep dark sugars, dried fruit, cinnamon and other baking spices, and baked apple are all there. This whisky almost has a dark rum quality to it.
- Taste: Starts off really hot and spicy! Deep dark sugar and cinnamon take a commanding lead. At mid-palate, some dark dried fruit flavors come through, but the spices never let up. As you approach the finish, some sharp black pepper makes an appearance, but it never overpowers the spicy sweetness that's there from start to finish. The aftertaste is very astringent with a long lingering heat.
- ABV: 46%
The Verdict
We often end our reviews with the following words:
We'd love to try this at cask strength!With regards to the GlenDronach 15, I'm thinking that the bottling strength of 46% is just right, because there's plenty of rich flavors and intensity going on here. If you like heavily Sherried whisky, then the GlenDronach 15 is well worth trying. I really like it. That being said, I'd LOVE to try this at Cask Strength! Now if I only had some Panna Cotta...
Categories: Booze Review, GlenDronach
Tagged as: Boozeography, Dessert, Drinkwire, Food and Whisky Pairing, Panna Cotta, Review, Reviews, The GlenDronach, The GlenDronach Revival 15, Whiskey, Whisky
