Finish: An anxious dream of eucalyptus and sulphur has us turning in our sleep, unable to lie still with the vivid and bitter mint taste, accompanied by nettle, lavender and bitter dark chocolate. A soothing sleeping pill of vanilla oak and lavender has us snoozing peacefully again.

Glendronach distillery and Glendronach 12-year-old (Original or otherwise) are very good examples of this simple truth, as a cursory examination of its character and history will show. In fact, Glendronach distillery has had something of a chimerical character for at least the last fifty years. It’s worth remembering that for a considerable time in the relatively recent past there was no agreement even on which region Glendronach was a part of. Can I tell these apart? Sure. But can I tell if one has been processed differently from the other? Of course not. Nose: Reminiscent of the Balvenie 15. I wasn't expecting that. Honey and butterscotch. Milk chocolate and jerk spices. Raisonettes. I like it a lot. To conclude, let’s agree that Glendronach 12 Year Old has stood the test of time. This is a whisky that has been full sherried, half sherried and unsherried, Speyside and Highland (more of that in another blog soon), 40% and 43%, chill-filtered and non-chill filtered, coloured and uncoloured. Almost without exception the results have been very good to spectacular single malt whiskies.

Recommendations

In all the current hoo-hah, it’s rarely mentioned that it’s actually extremely unusual for any whisky under 46% not to be chill filtered. The haze that chill filtration is designed to remove is caused by long chain fatty acids forming in the whisky in cold conditions (which frequently occur during transit). However, the magic 46% at which chill filtration is not required is just a rough guide - different whiskies will have fatty acids whose lipid tails clump together at slightly varying temperatures, so not all sub-46% whiskies exposed to low temperatures will automatically immediately go hazy.

Now I know that no chill filtration and 46% ABV isn’t the be-all and end-all in whisky. There are expressions out there that don’t meet these presentation standards but still deliver a great experience when tasting. So the take-away for me is this: Glendronach 12 is the same whisky as it’s always been, produced in what can reasonably be assumed is the same way. It is simply exhibiting batch variation – much like every other batch-produced whisky out there. Consistency in whisky batches, for some, is a comfort; they know what they’re getting each time they buy a bottle, and that’s what they want. But for others, consistency is pedestrian. I’m a celebrant of variation – I want to see how a distillery progresses and morphs over the years. But the Glendronach 12 that you buy today is as near as – dammit –the same as the Glendronach 12 you bought a few years ago, just with a few subtle batch differences. Glendronach 12 Year Old has survived the last forty-something years simply because Glendronach is a great distillery. In that time the 12 Year Old Glendronach has undergone all manner of changes - and we’ve not even mentioned the end of coal-fired distillation at Glendronach, which only happened in 2005 and will have had a hugely significant impact on the character of the spirit. Perhaps because that occurred before Billy Walker took over nobody cares?This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. We may sell, license, transfer, assign or in any other way dispose of the Service (including Members) to any third party without any notification to you, e.g. (but without limitation) in connection with any reorganization, restructuring, merger or sale, or other transfer of assets.