GlenDronach Port Wood

A 10 year Glendronach, bottled at 46% ABV? Sign me up. Finished in port casks during its final three years of maturation, this is a dessert dram through and through. But with two years less maturation than the GD 12, is this worth the up charge? Read on to find out. Aromas of fresh cut, ripe plums, blackberries, and strawberry jam greet the nose. That jam note is best expressed after a second nosing. Subsequent dips in the glass offer blackberry confections, and fresh taffy just unwrapped from wax paper. A dense palate of purple grapes, bramble berries, strawberries, and black cherry unfolds. The body of intensity and ABV is felt in the mid-palate. It finishes with notes of grape candy, brown sugar, graham cracker crust, gingerbread, and wine-soaked oak. Delicious. At this point, I was sold. This expression was going to see a number of rotations in my liquor cabinet. But then, curiosity like a 'good idea fairie' had a say. How would this compare to another port-finished scotch in my collection, the Glenmorangie 14 Quinta Ruban? After all, the Glenmo had a good 4 more years of maturation while still bottled at the same ABV - but priced almost 40% less. Could it outclass this? My partner did the honors and poured a dram of each. The glasses were labeled and mixed up. Label A: aroma = berry and a tad more complex than B Label B: aroma = purple grapes and bit candy-like Label A: palate = berries, while follow on sips reveal a full malt-inflected scotch journey. Label B: palate = grape, almost wine-like with a shorter, more muted finish than A. Comparatively candy sweet with less complexity but, surprisingly, fewer wood notes than A. I didn't enjoy this exercise very much. It was sort of like having to analyze and pick your favorite of two puppies - when you'd rather sing the individual praises of each. A less than pleasant blow-up, but the evidence had been swallowed. There was a clear winner, and it was Label A. It was obviously more complex, and offered a deeper aroma and palate. I'm convinced it's the Glendronach and that, indeed, I had brought home a keeper. I was stunned when my partner revealed Label A was the Glenmo. That was a $50 bottle dancing circles around this $80 competitor like Canelo Alvarez in the ring. Incredulous, thoughts raced through my mind: 'exasperation', 'woke', 'infidelity', 'condo for sale'.... I grabbed the bottle of Glenmo with an open fist and drank from the neck.... It was indeed true. My partner was not being a mischievous scamp. Glenmo was the victor. I coughed and hurriedly explained to my partner that my throat had been tickling me. I will thoroughly enjoy this bottle. But once it's done with, it won't soon be replaced. The Glenmorangie 14 Quinta Ruban is simply a better spirit, and obtainable at a more reasonable cost. UPDATE: I recently revisited this expression and ran another comparison with the Glenmorangie 14. This bottle has been opened for over half a year, while the Glenmo 14 was a recent buy to replace my previous emptied one. And the results were confounding. I found myself preferring this to the newly opened Glenmo. The nose was degrees better with reserved notes of port and some brown sugar. The Glenmo, on the other hand, came across as harsher and also a menagerie of fortified wine notes, each striving against each other. The palate on the Glendronach was also superior this time around. It's obvious to me now that the Glenmo needs time to oxidize before gaining the results - and the advantage - of my previous review. Now that that's done with, time to get another bottle of this while I still can!

This release is a departure from Glendronach’s signature sherry-cask aging. They are one of the best in that regard, but it’s nice to try something different. Port-aged Scotch tends be in a similar wheelhouse to its sherry counterparts, so Glendronach and Rachel Barrie should pull this one off nicely. Nose: Blackbery jam, fig, date, and raisin. Black currant. Toffee, vanilla, and honey. A vanilla custard sweetness. Butterscotch. Biscotti as well. Some white grape. Unripe banana and malt. Orchard fruit and floral notes. Cola. Oak wood but virtually no spice. It’s fruit and sweets for dessert. Palate: White grape, date, fig, and raisin. Blackberry and raspberry. Plum, prune, and cola. A cranberry/crossing note. Butterscotch, vanilla, and toffee. Almond. Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and oak spice. It’s a bit of spicy and prickly than the nose suggests. Finish: Blackberry, fig, date, raisin, and plum. Chestnut. Graham cracker. Hey Malt, toffee, and. vanilla, Cinnamon, black pepper, clove, nutmeg, and oak. Moderate-long; impressive for 46%. Glendronach and Rachel Barrie nailed this. It’s very good. Reminds me a lot of Dalmore Port on paper. Port-aged whisky from a sherried-Scotch powerhouse. Dalmore was $100, this was $90 (I thought they were both $100 when I started writing this.) NAS. Even the ABV is only .5% different. The profile here is lighter. Not that it’s less full or rich, just that the dark fruit notes are more pronounced in the Dalmore. I think this can be said of Dalmore and Glendronach’s flavor profile in general. So while they’re similar in many ways, Glendronach’s effort here successfully carves out its own niche in the market. I mentioned that this was $90. I think it achieves its aim as far as VFM goes. $100 isn’t cheap, especially for an NAS malt. But it’s bottled at a respectable 46%, clearly has a good amount of aged juice in it—Glendronach is generally good about that—and uses some high quality port barrels. It’d be a hard sell for me if it cost $10 or $20 more, put it hits the mark at a C-Note. 4.25/5. The same score I gave the Dalmore Port if I remember correctly. A job well done. Hopefully the positive response to this one, assuming most reviewers agree with me that is, encourages Glendronach to try more experimental bottlings. As for this, it’s a damn good product.

Nose: Plum jam, ripe strawberry, grape jelly, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and honey. It almost smells like a port wine trifle! Yum! Palate: Sweet, waxy and bursting with red berries on the entry. Apple crumble, cherry clafoutis (drool!), milk chocolate, sweet orange sauce, plums preserved in cognac and a hint of baking spices. Excellent chewy texture with huge heft. A very good palate. Finish: Medium/Long. Christmas cake, milk chocolate and sultanas. Towards the finale the finish is drying (dark chocolate) as oak is finally dominant. A lovely, luscious, relatively young GlenDronach that fairly oozes port wine, Christmas cake and pudding spices. This would be a perfect whisky to bring out following Christmas dinner. The youth of the distillate is not awkward at all but simply adds energy and verve to the profile, while the PX sherry and port cask maturation (which could be a disaster if done badly) contributes a blanketing warmth and cosiness. The maturation was very well managed. At the price this is one NAS that can be highly recommended, I think even for those who do not ordinarily enjoy heavily port-influenced whisky. It’s simply delicious and at the price it represents sound value. Tasted from a 30ml sample. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)

It might sound crazy, but after 1200+ whisky reviews, i was checking my notes and i realized that i have never tasted the core range mainstream Glendronach Portwood. I have even sold this bottle to some friends because i was completely sure that i have had it before, being the "Glendro" super fan that i am. Well, good for me, i had the chance to rate one more single malt. Bottled at 46%abv, this one has been matured in Port casks. On the nose it is wonderful. Blackberries, school glue, dark fruits, purple fruits. Blueberries and moka. It smells absolutely incredible. After 4 minutes it started giving me port wine notes. Sawdust and bitter coffee beans. Burnt hay and tobacco. I also loved the palate. Red fruits, gooseberries. A powerful winey spirit. Mocaccino and oranges. Aftertaste lost one point in comparison to then great nose and palate. Tobacco, red fruits and tomato cherry. Dark chocolate 100% cocoa. Overall, this might be the best whisky ever if you consider price vs quality. It is not expensive at all and it is absolutely rewarding. Great single malt, very complex and full of flavor. Listen to me, go grab one now. Always have one in your house. Impressive, my score for it is 94 over 100.

NOSE Grapey sweet, brown sugar, malty graham, banana, vanilla taffy and some very light baking spice. Aroma carries a warm dessert-like profile that’s heavy on the dark grapey fruit notes but with a nice malty and lightly spiced backbone. PALATE Grapey dark fruit, malty graham, char, blackberry licorice, baking spice and a touch of citrus, nuts, char and metal. Not quite as warm as the aroma, and not quite as well integrated, but instead bold with the port notes punching through almost, but not quite, overshadowing that malty spicy backbone. FINISH Med-long -> Port sweetness, malty graham, nuts and char. The finish is a lovely fade from sweetness to a subtle char that, if I’m honest, is my favorite part of GlenDronach Port Wood. It makes me want to come back for more.

I’m a big fan of Glendronach. I’ve tried everything from the 12 up to the 21 and loved them all, so the Port Wood was a low risk purchase for me. It’s so complex with lovely spices, chocolate, dark fruits, toffee, and a touch of citrus to name a few of the tasting notes. A surprisingly long finish which tells me there’s probably some old whiskies in this. If you are a fan of Glendronach or just a fan of port finished scotch in general, go grab a bottle of this. You won’t regret it. Yes, $100 might seem expensive for a NAS whisky, but this is spectacular. Some people might say they can get the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban for less money (and that’s true) but this is head and shoulders above the Glenmo.