Another significant change in the production process took place in 1996 when
the floor maltings at Glendronach were decommissioned. Because they used a
combination of peat and coal to dry the malted barley, spirit that was distilled
before the distillery was mothballed was relatively peaty for a Speyside whisky.
At a peating level of up to 14 PPM it wasn't a 'peat monster' like Laphroaig or
Lagavulin, but the whisky was a little more potent than the stuff they produced
at nearby distilleries like Knockdhu. Nowadays Glendronach buys unpeated malt.

2005 was an important year for Glendronch in another respect as well; its owners Allied Domecq
were acquired by Pernod Ricard who became Scotland's second largest whisky producer this way. 

But now I'm getting side-tracked again - the topic was Glendronach. The distillery actually
was on my purely personal Top 10 for quite a few years, thanks to the excellent yet very
affordable 15yo '100% Sherry' bottling that was available in the 1990's. Most official
releases that are available these days are vattings of sherry and bourbon casks, although
sherry matured independent bottlings appear on the market as well now and again.
Pernod Ricard has only used bourbon casks since they re-opened Glendronach in 2005.
 
That means that it's not likely Glendronach will miraculously appear in my Top 10 again...
I'm a sucker for heavily sherried and/or peated malts with lots of character and the subtle
differences between the hundreds of different bourbon matured single malt whiskies that
are released every year don't excite me quite as much as they once did.

The Glendronach distillery was sold to William Teacher & Sons Ltd. - who themselves became part of
Allied in 1976. Teacher's expanded the number of stills from two to four In 1966 and '67. The (almost)
unique thing about those stills was the fact that they were all coal fired - as opposed to the 'indirect'
heating (often by steam) that is used at most other malt whisky distilleries. In fact, together with the
Glenfarclas and Springbank distilleries, Glendronach was one of the very last coal fired distilleries that
were operational in the third millennium. That's quite amazing, if you think about it - well at least to a
whisky nerd like myself. Until recently coal was used to dry the malted barley on Glendronach's own
floor maltings as well (along with peat), but those floors were decommissioned in 1996.

That was when the Glendronach distillery was mothballed for a few years by owners
Allied Distillers - formerly known as Allied Breweries and later as Allied Domecq. For-
tunately, the distillery went into full production again in 2002. Initially they resumed
the traditional coal firing of the stills, but in 2005 the distillery shut down for a few
months to be converted from direct coal firing to internal steam heating. So, one of
the very last coal fired distilleries that was operational in the third millennium didn't
actually use the technique for more than three years after the re-opening in 2002.
Just when the first of the '2002' spirit turned into whisky they abandoned coal.

And that was the end of this profile - at least until The Benriach Distillery Company Ltd. bought Glendronach in 2008.
When I write this (August 2008), we'll have to wait and see what will happen at Glendronach - but based on the great
job they did putting Benriach on the map again, I have hight hopes for some exciting new releases in the future.
 
Until then, please amuse yourself with some trivia and/or tasting notes...

The Glendronach distillery in the Deveron (Speyside) area of
Scotland was founded in 1826 by Glendronach Distillery Co.,
a partnership headed by one James Allardes (or Allardyce).
 
Just one decade after it was founded, Glendronach was
destroyed by a fire - a fate that was not that unusual for the
whisky distilleries at the time. After the disaster several people
from the whisky industry became involved, including Walter
Scott (from Teaninich), Alexander Ross and 'Captain' Charles
Grant (younger son of William Grant of Glenfiddich distillery).
Glendronach remained under control of that branch of the 
Grant family until 1960, when George Grey Grant sold it.

1) Sorry - trivia will be added later...
 

Glendronach 12yo 'Original' (43%, OB, Bottled 1990's).
(Available in the 1990's and since been replaced by the 12yo 'Traditional'.)
Nose: Malty. Much easier on the fruits than the Traditional or even the 15yo.
Grassy. Hardly any sherry first - then it picks op with raisins, wood & sulphur.
A nicely composed whisky, but I miss the expressiveness of the other versions.
Taste: Smooth and lightly sherried. Woody. Subtle fruity elements as well.
Tangerine? This is a good malt - just not quite sweet enough for my taste.
Score: 79 points - much more 'middel-of-the-road' than the 12yo 'Traditional'.
Given the wide variety of single malts available, I personally prefer my malts to show a little more spunk...

Glendronach 12yo 'Traditional' (43%, OB, Bottled +/- 1999).
Contrary to the 'old' 15yo I'll mention, this version is matured in both sherry and bourbon casks. This must have been one of my liquorist's more creative imports - the cork had a Cyrillic 'Oikonomicon' customs seal on it.
Nose: Not as powerful as the 15. Much less sherried, too. All in all OK.
Slightly spirity at first. Grows over time. Rotting hay? Hint of incense?
Taste: Pepper in the start? There's something I didn't expect!
Liquorice. A little peat. Dry finish, but not as extreme as the 15.
Score: 80 points - optimistically... It may improve after some breathing - the 15 certainly did.

Glendronach 13yo 1990/2003 (46%, Murray McDavid, MM579).
This came from a bourbon cask and once again the sample was provided by Olivier Humbrecht.
Nose: Very light and fruity at first - almost like a Lowlander. Oil? Very little character.
After some five minutes some faint organics emerge that (barely) lift it into the 70's.
Taste: Soft and dry at first, growing grittier. Very little to get really excited about.
Score: 70 points - once again this 'MurMac' appeals more to French palates than to mine.
Serge & Olivier both gave it 87 points, which I think is a little excessive, even by their standards...
Do they design whiskies especially for 'wine lovers' at Murray McDavid and Bruichladdich?

Glendronach 1990/2004 Port Finish (46%, Wilson & Morgan)
Nose: Grainy, veggy and a tad sour. Sorrel? There's something funky about this.
It sweetens out at first before it turns in an oilier, more coastal direction. Odd.
Second try: Hey, now it seems much sweeter in the nose. Old fruits and organics.
Dusty. Sorrel. Rhubarb? Mint. Herbs. Some smoke as well. Vegetables. Some subtle spices.
Weirdness isn't something I always appreciate, but in this case it works miraculously well.
Taste: Fairly weak at first. Bolder towards the centre, but not a pronounced taste.
Quite a renaissance on the palate as well; Big, sweet and fruity. Winey, woody finish.
Score: 84 points - this one did significantly better after some breathing. Good stuff.
The nose grows more complex; I'm not sure what to make of it, but it's a fun malt.
This is definitely a love-it or hate-it whisky, though - completely 'off the beaten track'.

Glendronach 15yo '100% Sherry Casks' (40%, OB, 100cl).
Nose: Stunningly rich! Very sherried. Big. Sweet & woody. A hint of smoke.
Oriental notes. A little spicy. Grows even wider and more complex over time.
Reminded me of Macallan - and the forest after an autumn shower.
Taste: Toffee and caramel. Very woody. Liquorice.
Liquorice in the finish as well, developing into very dry oak.
Interesting development but just too dry and woody towards the end.
Score: 86 points - the nose is right up there with the first bottles of 'old' Macallan 12 I tasted - maybe even slightly more complex. In a H2H, the GD15 managed to actually beat the Mac 12 currently on my top shelf on the nasal front. Sadly, it loses the extra points in the taste department.

Glendronach 20yo 1970/1990 (56%, Signatory, C#513-518, Distilled 2/70, Bottled 7/90, 2400 Bottles)
Nose: Very rich with sherry, organics, furniture wax, leather, prunes, plums, gravy and bouillon.
Cow stable, Shezuan sweet & sour sauce and even some rock salt. Absolutely stunning.
Taste: The palate wasn't quite as overwhelming, but after a relatively flat start it opened up.
Over time it developed into a long sherried centre. Woody finish. Great but not 'the greatest'.
Score: 95 points - and this score was even nudged upwards twice as I tried more and more malts.
When I tried it with some other maniacs in Scotland in 2003 I didn't fully realise how special it really was.

Glendronach 25yo 1968/1993  (43%, OB, 100% Sherry).
Nose: Aaaaaah... This is MUCH more like it. Kiwi fruits. Deep sherry. Good wood. Unique.
It has a 'light' and subtle fruitiness, despite the fact that it's obviously from a sherry cask.
This is really something - it has a combination of features I never found in any other malt.
Taste: Surprisingly soft start, developing into something medicinal with smoke and liquorice.
You can taste the age. Pink bubblegum. Dry, woody and distinctively 'winey' finish.
That might have lost it some points if it didn't keep surprising me at every corner.
Score: 94 points - it earns one or two extra points for uniqueness. Simply stunning.
That makes it the highest scoring malt at a 'normal' proof (40% or 43%) in my book..
Also, it's the highest scoring Speysider on the Hit List. Really amazing stuff.
But then again I guess I'm a sherry freak. This may be too much fun for some.

Glendronach 26yo 1974/2001 (47.5%, DL Old Malt Cask, 198 Btl.).
Nose: Sweet and grainy. Faint organics and a hint of smoke after a few seconds.
It's quite pleasant and mellow and grows more so over time, lifting it above average.
Taste: Chewy. Sweetish. Not a lot of substance at first. Hint of liquorice. Smoke?
Over time it grows quite dry and hot - a little bit too much so, if you ask me.
Score: 79 points - this 'bourbony' style of Glendronach doesn't really suit me.
Serge and Olivier were more impressed with scores in the mid-80's.

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Glendronach whisky I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made at this distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

Pernod Ricard isn't threatening Diageo's position as Scotland's largest
producer of malt whisky, but they managed to produce 2/3 of Diageo's
output with less than half the number of distilleries; 12 as opposed to 27.

But in that respect the #3 malt whisky producer is doing an even better job.
With only three distilleries (Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Kininvie) William Grant manages to
produce roughly half of the malt whisky that Pernod Ricard makes with its dozen distilleries.