GlenDronach 1978 33 Year old Sherry Puncheon

Nose: Very thick and heavily layered. It's brown-red sherry, raisiny, figs, and dates. It had a cinnamon and nutty quality that reminded me a bit of some Spanish brandies, though not quite as sweet, and it had just the lightest touch of clean salt. A hint of soft oak in the background, almost like the 'sawdusty' wood in a bourbon. Eventually the 'red' elements come out with cherries and other berries. Fine, rich coffee and creme du menthe as well. (with water) Sweeter, fine rich bourbon with vanilla - ultimately turns to more direct coffee grinds, cherries, cocoa powder, and typical sherry fruit. Soft wood. Grains of sea salt on a chocolate/cherry frosting cake.

Palate: Thick and deliciously sweet and bitter at the same time. Nuts, honey, sherry, gradually giving way to Turkish coffee with drop of cherry liqueur. Burned sugar (sans the sweetness) - more coffee. Bitter, but rich and superb date extract. (with water) Thinner on the palate, and the sweetness and fruit have more or less faded away. Mainly the drying off-sweet coffee bitterness. Honey+cherry pit residue from the press (cherry pomace?)

Finish: My notes here are awful "More of the same. Elegant and well-sherried." B+/A-

Ah, something of a classic sherry bomb. I really enjoyed this, and appreciated the very fine balance between the fruit and the more bitter coffee elements usually found in the older sherried whiskies. It wasn't terribly complicated, which is the bigger knock on it, but it does what it does very well. What can I say? I love sherry-bombs. Or ones like this, at least.

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