Released stateside in November 2020, The GlenDronach Port Wood is the latest whisky from the Highland distiller known for its sherry cask-aged single malts. Port Wood is aged in PX and Oloroso sherry casks, but also undergoes a second maturation in port barrels sourced from Portugal’s Douro valley. When all is said and done, the spirit is bottled at 10 years of age.
The GlenDronach Port Wood pours a rich reddish-gold in color and features brambles, gingerbread cake, and vanilla bean on the nose, alongside rich, dark notes of date oil and raisin. It proves surprisingly light and slick on the tongue but begins with deep, dark fruit flavors—primarily bramble—joined by a touch of ginger. By the middle of the palate that touch of ginger has turned to freshly baked gingerbread accompanied by a side of mild oak spice.
At the end, the dark fruit flavors that have been with us the whole ride mature into sweet, fatty dates swimming in their own juices. All that fruity darkness is wonderfully contrasted by a pop of sweet but spicy wild bramble note at the finale, which peters off into a dry finish that’s at once lightly spiced and delicate but protracted and deeply satisfying.
If you’ve enjoyed anything from The GlenDronach range in the past, there’s a high probability that you’ll like Port Wood, too. It features the maker’s hallmark flavors of bramble and raisin, and adds another layer that takes it to a darker, sweeter, and fruitier destination, making it a GlenDronach I’d love to have with dessert (or anytime, really).
★★★★
Stats:
— 46% ABV
— $89.99
