Glendronach’s Double Gold-Winning ‘Ultra-Premium Range’ is HERE: 21 Yr, 30 Yr, 40 Yr

GLENDRONACH 21 YEAR, 30 YEAR, & 40 YEAR
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY

HIGHLANDS, SCOTLAND
 

WHY BUY:
Glendronach made its reputation with its core range expressions, endearing itself to whisky geeks across the globe for the sherried complexity of its long-aged single malts, and now comes its "Ultra-Premium Range," which amounts to a major upping of the ante in the aging range game: a 21 Year, a 30 Year, and a 40 Year, the crown jewel, with just 300 bottles available worldwide (and only 70 in the U.S.). But each of these drams is an extraordinary statement of what long-casking — and for multiple decades — can do for a single malt, and stand as massive achievements … not just for this Highland vet, but for the whisky world, period.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:
For more than a decade, critics and competitions have showered Glendronach's expressions with the highest of accolades, with the 21 Year earning prestigious Double Golds at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2023 and 2024.

THE STORY:
Glendronach's journey reads like a Highland soap opera … but one with a surprisingly happy ending. Founded in 1826 by the flamboyant James Allardice, the distillery burned down within a decade, forcing a complete rebuild. Allardice  — colorful character that he was — supposedly secured Edinburgh's affection for his whisky through an accidental (and off-color) marketing campaign, and suddenly every pub along the Royal Mile wanted Glendronach. Fast-forward through bankruptcy, multiple ownerships, and a six-year mothballing from 1996 to 2002, and you arrive at the modern renaissance, when Billy Walker’s famed consortium acquired Glendronach in 2008. From the start, it eschewed marketing hype, clever bottling, and high-profile endorsements in favor of putting out high-quality sherried whisky with as little fanfare as possible. The approach has succeeded brilliantly. It didn’t hurt that Walker had a few surprises up his well-worn sleeve: vat 15-year-old spirit with casks that were 16, 17, even 18 years old, creating bottlings that exceeded their age statements and established Glendronach as a serious player in the single malt game. Today, under Brown-Forman's stewardship and Master Blender Rachel Barrie's expertise, Glendronach continues this tradition of over-delivering, with their Ultra-Premium Range representing the apex of what decades of sherry cask maturation can accomplish.

OUR TASTING NOTES:
* The 21 Year is like autumn on the nose, as it takes you from early fall to the edge of winter: now blackberries and red plums,  now candied orange, now spiced oatmeal and toasted oak. The palate deepens this theme, opening into notes of bitter chocolate sauce, nutmeg, and ginger-baked plum pudding, and along with these, and most memorably, that enveloping mouthfeel Glendronach that has become famous for. The finish is long and sustained.

* Step up to the 30 Year, and the complexity escalates dramatically. That dark cherry walnut color alerts you to serious time in wood, and the nose only confirms it: morello cherry, raisin, spiced Brazil nut toffee, layered with marzipan and medjool date caramel. The addition of Amontillado casks to the traditional Oloroso and PX combination creates aromatics that are as evocative as they are architectural. On the palate, it’s dessert time, a parade of treats that takes you from glazed cherry and sultana cake to cinnamon raisin-nut toffee to chocolate hazelnut café crème. A seductively smooth yet intricately complex single malt.

* The 40 Year is the glorious result of four decades of maturation in the finest Spanish oak. It transcends description, but allow me to try to convey the slow and sensual unfolding here: intense black currant and bramble compote on the nose, interwoven with velvety cinnamon-laced chocolate espresso. The palate brings luxurious black cherry, stewed plum, and blackberry, with, in the background, an unmistakable presence of sherry-soaked chocolate cake. If ever there were a perfect single malt ...

THE SPECS:
* The Glendronach 21 Year is matured in a combination of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry casks, and bottled at 48% ABV (96 proof) with only natural cask-imparted color. 
* The 30 Year introduces Amontillado sherry casks alongside the traditional Oloroso and PX, creating additional layers of complexity; it’s bottled at 46.8% ABV (93.6 proof).
* The 40 Year represents the pinnacle here, with only 300 bottles produced globally (and only 70 in the U.S.); matured exclusively in the finest Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez casks selected by Master Blender Rachel Barrie, it was bottled at 43.9% ABV (87.8 proof).

FUN FACT:
Master Blender Rachel Barrie estimates that in her three decades in the industry she has nosed approximately 150,000 cask samples; a number that will only continue to grow, as the indefatigable and brilliant Barrie has no intention of slowing down.

OUR GUARANTEE:
As always, we only buy and ship directly from the distillery itself, to ensure pristine provenance. Secure your bottles today!