GlenDronach 8 Year Old 2002 Virgin Oak 'Cask In A Van' 2nd Ed.
Dark Sweet
0 281
Review by @markjedi1
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall81
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- Brand: GlenDronach
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Speyside
- ABV: 58%
I already tasted a ‘Virgin Oak’ finished GlenDronach, the 14 Year Old at a drinking strength of 46%. This one is bottled at cask strength as it’s a young single cask. GlenDronach drove around Belgium in their so-called ‘Cask in a Van’-tour, where whisky lovers could fill their bottle directly from the cask. In this case, it was cask 4521, that yieled 312 bottles. The ABV is a mighty 58% and the whisky is 8 years old. In the glass, I find little black particles from the cask. What doesn’t kill you…
On the nose, this one is feisty with white pepper and ginger. Very sweet, indeed. I make associations with vanilla and squashed banana with brown sugar on a fresh toast. Just as I had with the 14 Year Old, I get something of a chemical note in there as well… Adding water makes it sharper, not better. Don’t.
It’s creamy but scorching hot at first sip. After the initial alcohol burn, the sweetness returns. Dark sweet, I call this. Candied sugar, vanilla pudding with nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and toffee. With water, it’s less sweet but more spicy. It’s not an improvement.
The sweet finish offers nothing new and is of medium length.
I am pleasantly surprised with this young beast. I found it a bit better than the 14 Year Old, probably due to the higher ABV, that gives this one quite the punch. Adding water is a bad idea.
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Another excellent contribution, Mark.
Very interesting that adding water to a cask strength bottle would actually make it worse by accentuating the stronger flavours (i.e. spice). Is this a usual or normal occurrence? I always thought that adding water to a CS offering would either boost softer notes (i.e. fruits) or dull the existing profile of notes.
By the way, great marketing idea by GlenDronach!