Glendronach 15 year old Revival & Glendronach 18 year old Allardice

So initially this was meant to be the battle of the 15 year olds, that is the pre 2015 release before the 15 year old expression was withdrawn due to stock management issues versus it's subsequent 'Revival' release of 2018. Sadly though I can't find my notes on the pre 2015 release I had and as I'm now down to my last bottle of it I can’t bring myself to open it just yet...maybe the 15 versus 15 review will see the light of day at some point in the future. In the mean time I'll bulk out this review with notes on the 18 year old Allardice bottle too.

Looking at my bottle of the 15 year old and checking the dates on the bottle it was from 2015 which meant, according to the graphic below that I’ve borrowed from Thijs of ‘Words of Whisky’ fame, that the youngest whisky in this bottle is actually 20 years old! 

I came across this bottle in a most unexpected and rewarding way. I was visiting friends in Calgary in 2017 for a wedding. A couple of nights before the nuptials I was encouraged to visit the Co-op World of Whiskey in the centre of town by a good friend from Ireland who was living in Canada at the time. As I browsed the store the first thing that caught my attention was the then discontinued Tobermory 15 year old which I immediately stuck under my arm for protection and to guarantee repatriation to European soils.

Further investigation unveiled quite a few Glendronach single casks but sadly they were out of my price range and were subsequently shunned. Doing an about turn I was greeted with a veritable wall of amber and green goodness. There was an entire shelf full of the Glendronach 15 year old which had by this time been discontinued for around 2 years and was only available at rather absurd secondary prices. It was an expression that I had regretted immensely not purchasing due to the hype around it. I don’t normally fall for the hyperbole in the whisky world but when Whisky Rover buys a case of the stuff on announcement of its withdrawal you know it’s good.

I walked away with both bottles for a combined price of around £140, the Glendronach costing £55 after currency conversion so pretty close to what it was going for before it was discontinued. Around half way through the bottle I was enjoying it so much that that familiar pang of regret appeared….why did i not buy another? I reached out to my friend in Calgary to ask if he could purchase a bottle and ship me one over. As it turned out, He had purchased about a dozen bottles after our visit because he was so impressed with it himself and he sent me my remaining bottle as a gift.

Upon it’s re-release in 2018 I had to buy the new expression that was now matured in both Oloroso and PX casks rather than just Oloroso casks in it’s previous incarnation and was also created under the stewardship of Rachael Barrie. It cost me £64 and the bottle dates it as filled on 13/08/2018. As this was 2018 it was bottled before they removed the non chill filtration labelling and is natural colour.

The 18 year old Allardice being reviewed today was filled in 26/05/16 and was bought for the price of £64 from The Whiskey Exchange in 2017 (yes it’s taken me this long to put these notes out). If that doesn’t highlight how whisky has inflated I don’t know what will. Currently the 15 year old is £82 on TWE and the 18 year old is a frankly nuts £180. I bought the 21 year old for £100 in 2018, it’s now well over £200 now. According to the graphic highlighted above this makes the youngest whisky in this bottle 21 years old!

Both bottles were bottled at 46% abv, are non chill filtered and natural colour.

Let’s taste.

Glendronach 15 year old Revival 46% abv

Nose: It’s definitely all about the sherry - some plasticine initially followed by sultanas, highland toffees, heather honey, plums and figs, dried orange peel, dark chocolate shavings, sawn oak, clove and cinnamon plus walnuts.

Palate: Oily and mouth coating - dark chocolate Terry’s orange, sultanas, apricots, crème brûlée, walnuts and marzipan. A nice cereal note plus cinnamon. Strawberry and blackberry preserve, white pepper and a hint of menthol. Leather and a nice level of oak.

Finish: Medium length with sherry, orange marmalade, dried dark fruit and a little baking spice.

Score: 7 out of 10

Glendronach 18 year old Allardice 46% abv

Nose: Copper swiftly moving to cedarwood, citrus peels, baking spices (cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and anise), ripe apricots, raisins, figs, Demerara sugar and new leather. Treacle toffee and danish pastries, cherry menthol, cigar leaf and some mocha.

Palate: Big, oily and clings to the palate - sweet black coffee, orange oil, figs, prunes and raisins. Ripe red apple and fresh apricots. Tobacco leaf, clotted cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and black licorice. Some ginger warmth with dark chocolate bitterness.

Finish: Medium to long with mint dark chocolate, baking spices and orchard fruit.

Score: 8 out of 10

Overall:

Two really decadent drams from Glendronach and both a big step up from the 12 year old expression which to be honest I’m still quite fond of.

The 15 year old is a really good dram that even at current prices I’d happily recommend especially if you are a Macallan 12 year old fan (it’s time to leave that brand behind guys!). The 15 year old balances the PX and Oloroso maturation really well and gives plenty of character, complexity and depth.

The 18 year old nearly made a 9 because of the price I paid but then my objectivity kicked in, so it’s an 8. That still means it’s a superb whisky but at current prices would I be prepared to pay £180 for it? Well I’m frankly not minded to pay £180 for pretty much any whisky these days because there is so much good stuff out there at much less and frankly with prices like these I can see why scotch sales are slowing.

I get that energy costs, raw materials etc have all shot up in since the pandemic but I often can’t quite get my head around some of the prices distilleries, especially established ones are charging for their products these days, especially in the face of most people being more cautious with how they spend their money in the first place.

Times are changing in the whisky world though with global demand cooling and so we’ve seen the likes of Waterford going into administration and Glenglassaugh putting a temporary hold on production. Even here in the States there’s a slight nervousness in the air with many producers starting to slow down production. Kentucky has a record number of barrels in bond and there’s a few worried brands out there wondering how to shift them all. Maybe the recent golden era of whisky consumption and production is coming to an end. Perhaps we’ll see prices starting to become a little more appetising in the near future.

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