Scotland Road Trip 2018 - Day Eight (Speyside)
Speyside is arguably the most famous region in the Scottish whisky industry, and it was there that we spent our eighth unforgettable day. By a week into our trip, our tolerance for drinking had risen quite high, but our desire for it was abating just a bit. In addition, my wife began to feel a little under the weather due to a mild cold, so we didn't do quite as many whisky tourism activities as we'd originally planned.
Instead, we started the day off with a visit to Cawdor Castle, a noble residence still occupied by the descendants of the Earls of Cawdor, currently the Campbell family. Some of you may recognize the name of the castle from Shakespeare's Macbeth, where the Scottish antihero is identified as the "Thane of Cawdor." However, Macbeth is set in the 11th century, well before the construction of this castle, which bears no real relationship -- aside from the marketing angle that they happily exploit -- to the Bard's famed tale of treason.
The castle has three separate gardens with different themes, including a labyrinth-like maze garden, featuring a minotaur sculpture in its center, a traditional flower garden, and a "wild" garden.
After spending about half the day there, and getting a sandwich, chips, a slice of quiche, and a scone at the cafe for a light lunch, we hit the long and winding road once more to reach GlenDronach Distillery, the home of my favorite Speyside whisky.
The tour at GlenDronach wasn't quite at the level of our tour of Laphroaig, in part because GlenDronach -- like almost all distilleries in the modern day -- does not conduct its own floor malting. As a result, there aren't that many active parts of the distillery to visit. The tour guide took us into the old room where they used to dry the barley, but it is solely a "museum piece," as he put it, meant to reflect on the distillery's history.
What remains now are the industrialized and more standard parts of the distillery, including the wash tubs and stills. For some reason, GlenDronach, unlike other distilleries we visited, did not allow pictures of all that equipment, although I can't imagine anything that's done there is "secret" in any meaningful way.
The outside of the building that houses the stills, which are barely visible in this photograph; couldn't do better since we couldn't take photos indoors!
After the tour, we indulged in a tasting of three GlenDronach expressions -- or, to be more precise, my wife did, since I was the designated driver and could only nose them and take a light sip or two. Nonetheless, from those quick tastes, I was able to develop a few notes.
GlenDronach 18 Allardice (46% ABV) - I find sherry-aged whisky to be a little lacking in flavor, and presenting more obvious flaws, at the middle-market age range of 10 to 12 years. However, I find well-matured sherry bombs to be some of the finest whiskies around. This 18-year old whisky, matured entirely in oloroso sherry butts, is a spectacular example of the type. Vanilla is immediately noticeable, along with the complexity typical of older sherry drams: figs, caramel, and rich, buttery sweetness that reminds me of cashews or a particularly creamy nut. Another great thing about older sherry-aged drams is that they develop a smokiness that doesn't come from peat, but makes for a lovely finish all the same. At $150 or so, this is an expensive bottle in the U.S., but it's a bargain compared to the $250 that Macallan 18 commands. It's a bargain in another significant way too. Because GlenDronach shut down entirely from 1996 to 2001, the current whiskies labeled "18" in fact contain whisky from right before 1996 (since none of the 2001 and later whisky is old enough yet). That makes this, in reality, a 21-year old whisky. Thus, this year and next may be the last change to grab this "special" Allardice that is in fact far more mature than its age statement suggests. A-
GlenDronach 21 Parliament (48%) - In contrast to the Allardice, Parliament adds in some PX sherry influence into the mix of casks that compose this venerable whisky. This whisky is pure, dense, rich fruitcake, raisins or dates, and sticky, caramelized fruit. The finish features that smoke again, but with an added bitterness that bears a startling resemblance to black coffee. At $200, I would recommend grabbing the Allardice at the moment, particularly due to the fact that it too is a 21-year old whisky masquerading as a younger one, and so provides the better value-for-money. Nonetheless, this is another cracker of a dram from GlenDronach. A-
GlenDronach 1993 Manager's Cask Distillery Exclusive (53.6%) - Holy mother of God, this is incredible juice. Distilled on December 2, 1993, and bottled on August 12, 2017, this 20-something GlenDronach is hands down the best sherried whisky I've ever tasted. At cask strength, it is so thick that it feels more like a milkshake at times than a whisky, and its flavors lean in that ice cream shop direction as well. Vanilla, chocolate brownie, malt, cherry, caramel, and cream all take a share of the limelight. Two of the members of our tour group hand-filled bottles of this one at the end, and it was a treat just to watch them. At 250£, it was out of reach for us for this trip, but this will become the ideal against which I judge all future sherried whiskies. A+
The visit to GlenDronach more or less concluded our day, at least its report-worthy components. Our hotel for the night, Ardoe House, was another hour away, close to Aberdeen. It might have been the prettiest hotel of our stay, as it was built out of an old castle.
Service there was excellent, and the food in their in-house restaurant was good and reasonably priced. For the second time on our trip, we enjoyed haggis (this time in the form of "haggis balls," small fried balls of haggis coated with breading). What can I say, there really is something to this stuffed sheep's stomach . . .