Three little Glendronachs, perfectly cooked up


May 12, 2025

Three little Glendronachs,
perfectly cooked up

After recently tasting the 15-year-old, which has remained very pleasant, along with two rather fantastic ‘fill your own bottle’ editions, we stumbled upon three new releases that completely took us by surprise — NAS expressions that seem quite pushed-up, as is increasingly the trend everywhere. What really surprises us, in the end, is that no one has yet offered ‘do your own finishing’ editions, where you could fill mini-firkins of your choice and come back the next day to collect your bottles. Or even the very same evening…

Glendronach ‘Ode to the Valley’ (46.2%, OB, The Master's Anthology, sherry and Port casks, 2024)

It does seem a tad premature to be compiling an anthology of the charming Master Blender already, doesn’t it? I know, that’s not quite what they mean with the name, but still… Colour: gold, leaning slightly rosé. Nose: rather kirsch-like to begin with, the Port seeming fairly fresh (young), offering rosehip, raspberry, all wrapped around a lovely barley eau-de-vie, with some muesli, cassata, and a touch of blood orange. Comes across very young, but it’s bright and cheerful. Mouth: youthful, eau-de-vie-ish again, but with more lovely raspberries and blackcurrant liqueur, before the malt begins to express itself quite nicely, bringing along a rather likeable impression of an IPA. Finish: of medium length, very fruity, with strong echoes of the Port. Perhaps some ruby in there? Comments: I find this rather pleasant, really, a touch winesky but done in a lovely manner. It’s well controlled, within that increasingly prevalent style in Scotland.
SGP:631 - 83 points.

Glendronach ‘Ode to the Embers’ (48.4%, OB, The Master's Anthology, sherry and smoke, 2024)

Apparently, the smoke genuinely comes from the distillate itself, not from any sort of finishing in an ex-cask of… let’s say Laphroaig, as many tend to do. Colour: gold. Nose: a light smoke, nicely integrated into the sherry, with no clash. A faint whiff of exhaust fumes, which we rather enjoy, then some myrtle and cherries, pleasant touches of natural rubber, a hint of smoked meat (some kind of smoked beef jerky), followed by barbecue smoke and pine needles. Mouth: it’s a touch more dissonant for me, on rubber, pepper, bitter zest, sour cherries, and a faint note of prosecco, even Aperol Spritz. Finish: medium length and still rather marked by the Aperol. Aperol, that’s not owned by Brown-Forman, is it? Comments: I find it quite pleasant as well, with a few modern flavours and a slight cocktail edge. One must move with the times, I suppose.
SGP:633 - 82 points.

Glendronach ‘Ode to the Dark’ (50.8%, OB, The Master's Anthology, Pedro Ximenez sherry, 2024)

Someone once said that PX had become one of the preferred crutches of modern Scottish malts, though I can’t recall who that was. Not that it matters, there aren’t many Cream casks left anyway… Colour: amber. Nose: there we are, the classic Glendronach profile as seen since the early 2000s, heavily marked by the sherry but in an elegant manner, this time on tobacco, currants (the Andalusian kind), dates, candied cherry, fir honey, and a touch of fresh mint… I find it rather nice, actually, even if it feels a tad sweeter than your typical old-school GDs. With water: a bit of fresh oak pokes through. Not that it really needs water, to be honest. Mouth (neat): frankly, this is not bad at all, more peppery, drier than expected, yet displaying a lovely note of orange liqueur with pepper and honey inside. If such a thing existed… With water: again, the oak shows up, somewhat like freshly cut joinery wood. Finish: of good length, nicely balanced, with dates and orange marmalade. Comments: a nice drop, more on the classic side, shame we had to go and try it with water too.
SGP:551 - 84 points.

Check the index of all Glendronach we've tasted so far