Glendronach 13 Year Old 2008 SMWS Single 1st Fill Bourbon Barrel 96.36 Night Time Nurse Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2021) 70cl
1 of 212 bottles produced from a single 1st fill bourbon cask.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004. In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!
TASTING NOTES
A startling and complex aroma that was initially medicinal but then opened up onto rosewater, sawn oak, new leather, wintergreen, apricot flapjacks, petrichor, freshly baled hay and heather flowers. Water brought out sandalwood, turmeric, nutmeg, coconut cream, rice pudding and lanolin. Altogether more fragrant and aromatic. The palate was wonderfully rich and syrupy sweet. Lots of ripe yellow fruits, lychee, eucalyptus resin, tiger balm, mint leaf and caramelised pineapple. Reduction brought out deeper notes of butter bean hummus, crushed aspirin, kumquat, caramelised cereals, sheep wool oils and sandalwood.
About Glendronach...
Nestled in the Valley of Forgue, deep in the East Highland Hills, is The GlenDronach Distillery, one of the oldest licensed distilleries in Scotland. They have been dedicated to creating the finest, richly-sherried Single Malts for almost 200 years. The GlenDronach’s past is rich with charismatic custodians, challenging setbacks and triumph through dedication. The GlenDronach was an early pioneer of sherry cask maturation and they are immensely proud of their distillery’s history.
The hallmark of their craft is the marriage of robust Highland spirit with the finest Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso sherry casks from Andalucía in Spain. The GlenDronach is a product of time-honoured traditions honed over many years. Their hallmark is to marry robust Highland spirit with the finest oak sherry casks; an exquisite duality that brings exceptional depth and character to the whiskies.
Inside the distillery are a traditional rake and plough mash tun, wooden washbacks and four stills which were coal fired until 2005, the last in Scotland to be heated in this way. Today there is just a quiet susurration of steam in the stillhouse, but the oddly shaped wash still and the plain sides of the spirit still cut back on reflux, helping to build weight in the spirit.
These days, ex-Sherry casks are the distillery’s signature style. Some is 100% Sherry matured, some is started in ex-Bourbon casks to pick up vanilla sweetness before being racked into ex-Sherry.
59.5% ABV
70cl
