The Glendronach Hand Filled, 12yo, Px Puncheon, cask #3173, vintage 2011

The most fantastic aspect of touring the Glendronach distillery is the opportunity to sample and personally fill bottles of some single cask strength expressions. These are typically intensely sherry-matured, giving the whisky a nearly black appearance. When you arrange a Glendronach tasting at the distillery, a kind woman will serve you five drams and two sherry glasses to fully immerse you in the brand experience. Two of these pours will invariably be the single cask strength bottlings available for you to fill yourself at the shop. I suspect this is a clever tactic to get you feeling cheerful before entering the store, inevitably leading to purchasing everything in sight. This was precisely my experience with a 12-year-old, hand-filled Glendronach, drawn from a single Pedro Ximenez puncheon, bottled at 58% ABV, distilled on April 25th, 2011, and bottled in May 2023. The nose presents a full Pedro Ximenez character, which is amazing. You'll find herbal notes, hazelnut, maraschino cherries, and raisins coated in chocolate. After the initial taste, an aroma of red fruit preserve emerged, specifically strawberries. It's magnificent. The palate is nearly flawless. It offers red fruit marmalade, red chili, and chocolate. Upon a second taste, I detected raisins and a wine-like profile. The aftertaste is extraordinary and incredibly satisfying, featuring abundant dark chocolate with a wonderful bitterness. (At this point, I decided I was definitely buying this.) Wow! It's superb, and the overall impression is incredible. In conclusion, while Glendronach has increased the prices of their distillery-exclusive hand-filled expressions over the past few years, the quality of this 12-year-old makes the cost feel justified. An immense single malt with a spectacular finish and an intense sherry character, earning a well-deserved score of 97 out of 100.

Fantastic pour.