Review 97 25th January 2021 (Burns Night)

As always for notable dates in the whisky calendar, we were thinking to ourselves, what Scottish Whisky, I has to be Scottish, would be suitable for Burns Night? After all, if your going to celebrate such an occasion that involves a feast of Haggis, neaps and Tatties, then you really need a dram of something a little special.

Having a decent sample collection to hand made the choice more difficult, however, recently we did a sample swap with a regular of the whisky community, Leejay. The splendid bloke that he is sent us the sample that we are reviewing tonight, so please visit Leejays socials and consider giving him a follow.

We are reviewing The Glendronach Revival 15 Year Old Single Malt Whisky. This particular botle was from the 2019 batch. A quick story; After dangerously low stocks of 15+ year old aged whisky, Glendronach ceased the 15 year old from their core range in 2015. However, in late 2018, they were able to re-release the 15 back into the market but in more limited numbers than previously. Hence 'Revival' in the products name. You see in 1996 the distillery was mothballed, but later in 2002 it reopened, the period it was closed would have a knock on for production.

The 15 year old is matured in both Ex-Oloroso Sherry casks and ex-Pedro Ximénez casks before vatting and bottling, making this very much a sherry bomb, as its bottled at 46%, non chill filtered and natural colour, nothing is stripped away. It retails for an average price of £62.97; we have decided for transparency we will give the prices and the retailers we have used to obtain prices (Correct at time of checking):
The Whisky Exchange £63.95
Master of Malt £61.95
House of Malt £63.99
Robbies Whisky Merchants £61.99
The Glendronach 15 year old achieves a value score of 95.80 out of 100.

On paper this Whisky would be a good card to have in Top Trumps, but how does it nose and taste?

On the nose, instantly it is sherry intense with rich dark and musty fruits. The nose is quite dry, we were expecting more sweetness on the nose, but the dry quality dominates any sweetness, which is coming from the fruit. Behind those sherried fruits sits a vanilla oak with some creaminess, this is very reminisent of a bourbon matured nose, however being wholey sherry matured, it was an unexpected twist which suggests some quality casks were used. Give it a bit of time and some herbal grassy notes appear and later some spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg. This nose is a Christmas Cake in a glass, this is one we could nose all night, it is fantastic.

On the palate, wow. The texture is oily, syrupy and luxurious. It coats the mouth with a blast of dark fruitcake and spice. There is cherry and orange peel. And as I recently realised by watching Stuart (Whisky Whims) recent review of a Daftmill, Orange Oil, Sherry matured whiskies have a note of orange oil. There is dark chocolate and dark brown sugar, very much christmas cake.
The whole palate experience takes you on a journey, the dram changes in the mouth allowing different flavours to peak and be replaced, no one note dominates for too long. As it is we wouldn't add water, however.

On the nose with water, it becomes more vegetal or herbal and brown sugar now makes an appearance, but the bourbon notes become stronger, bizarely.

On the palate with water, leaving it at 46%, for us, is how it should be enjoyed, but with water it becomes more bitter allowing more spice of the ginger to show with more dark chocolate. This is a fantastic dram that doesnt dissapoint on either the nose or the palate. It is very much a sherry bomb.

We would buy a bottle, however, we need to do a comparision with the Glenfarclas 15 year old, which is cheaper, but has very similar attributes. We haven't reviewed the Glenfarclas 15 yet, but it is a great dram, but on tasting the Glendronach 15, we feel that maybe the 'Farclas has been beaten here. Until the head to head.

For an over score we give this 90 out of 100. It would be higher if the price was lower.