1978 Glendronach Single Cask No.1068 Cask Strength 33 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

After tasting and evaluating over 4500 whiskies worldwide for his “Whisky Bible 2012”, Jim Murray singled out Glendronach as the distillery “with the most consistently impressive output throughout 2011” and placed it “in the Grand Crus of Scottish Malt Distilleries”. He added: “If there was a Whisky Bible Scotch Malt Whisky Distillery of the Year, GlenDronach would be it.”

No doubt his praise was in part inspired by the amazing batches of Single Cask whiskies the distillery has been slowly sharing with the public. Now a miniscule selection has just arrived in Australia.

Each year Master Distiller, Billy Walker, selects a handful of single casks to be bottled at cask strength, without colour or chill filtration. These whiskies date back as far as 1968. While there is a vast selection of barrels, hogsheads, puncheons and butts to choose from, the trend has been towards impeccably clean Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso Sherry puncheons and butts, most of which share Glendronach’s typically luxurious profile. In some instances there is a fantasia of dates, orchestras of spices and explosions of honey, Demerara sugar, sweet molasses, mocha and even fruit cake.

As Murray himself has summed up, the collection is "Sulphurless, Sophisticated and Sensational". He has also pined over the sad reality that this sort of unblemished sherry purity is fast becoming a thing of the past. The latest batch is limited to between 300 and 600 bottles per expression.

Here is an opportunity to take advantage of some of the most hedonistic sherry classics ever produced. If you have enjoyed the likes of Glenfarclas, Tomintoul and old school Macallan, then these will be for you. What'smore, given the impressive quality/age ratios on most, the prices are fair. Very limited stocks of all vintages.

The 1978 Cask 1068 was an Oloroso Sherry puncheon, distilled in 1978 and bottled in 2012. Only 318 bottles were produced.

Other reviews... ...when this distillery gets it right, your taste buds don't stand a chance. Almost brain-explodingly complex... 52.9% Alc./Vol.
96 points - Jim Murrays Whisky Bible 2013size>