Glendronach 2004 Hand Filled Review

Hi everyone,

I am planning to open more bottles of whisky from my own collection. For no other reason than there’s no time like the present.

Some bottles I’ve bought I’ve stashed away for a special occasion, but no occasion ever feels special enough. So I’m opening them. And this is one such whisky.

I love distillery exclusives. And even better I love ‘bottle your own’ distillery exclusives. Partly because they’re very special and you really associate the whisky with the trip and the time you had at the distillery. Also partly because they’re usually awesome single casks actually selected by someone who actually knows what they are doing.

 

Glendronach 2004 Hand-Filled 55.2%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Not the Sherry monster that I expected. Quite a muted nose with golden raisin, orange, fresh tobacco, faded cigar smoke and some subtle earthy notes coming through. Dried mushroom perhaps? Quite a soft and subtle nose.

Water: More complex, darker and more earthy, dried tobacco, more leather, classy orange, caramel digestive biscuits, dark chocolate, some cherry at times too.

Taste: Soft arrival, golden raisin, golden syrup, barley and malt, very fresh for a Glendro, tobacco with some dark chocolate, then more malty with some fresher citrus coming in, orange, some tangy lime and then becoming more spirity with lemon peel and juniper.

Water: Soft but much better balance, orange oil, classy oak, none of that spirity hit, more earthy and dry with leather and chocolate, cherry, a little raspberry maybe, malt, golden raisin and then golden syrup into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. A little spirity and almost gin like with juniper and mint, quite atypical for the Glendro's I've tried so far. Interesting though!

Distilled 02/06/04, bottled 01/07/16 from a Puncheon. A shame about the finish, in that it goes in a very differnt direction and is a little spirity for my taste. Perhaps could have done with another few years in the cask to calm it down. Much better with water, really brings everything together and into a much better balance. Despite that, I probably should have bought a bottle of the 21yo based on price-to-pointage alone.

78/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #585

Whisky Network Review #690

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 12

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

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