GlenDronach 1993 Cask #655 24yrs

Sherry Butt 59.4% - Specially bottled for The Green Welly Stop

The second part of the bolt out of the blue & 1993 shock and awe offer from The Green Welly Stop – namely their twin 1993 vintage GlenDroanch sherry bomb offering.

This is the sister cask to #654 and was a follow-up to the 1993 cask #653 that was offered in late 2017.

Appearance: Deep, red Mahogany. Long, thick and slow oily legs.

Nose: Sour cherries with old, refined sherry casks immediately present themselves to the drinker. Then there’s an unexpected and abrupt acidity. Dark chocolate and heavily roasted coffee beans now claw their way to the front, closely followed by some over-ripe grapes and light caramel. There’s more of a bitter woody and raw alcohol burn with this cask.

Overall, it feels more on the sour-side than its sister cask (#654). However, sourness isn’t always a bad thing.

Palate: Instant sweetness that becomes very dry and tart within a few seconds. The dryness really cleans and affects the whole palate. This powerful liquorice dryness joins forces with a lots of tannin action and woodiness. With this one, I think the cask influence has over-powered the liquid and maybe it’s been in it’s wooden home for too long.

It’s an absolute vintage sherry-bomb for sure, but I feel it’s erring too much on the dry and bitter side for me.

Finish: Very long with a mixed bag of thick, rich sherry, and a lot of burnt sugar and woody dryness. I can see where the “bonfire” description came from, as the dryness plays a part in the smoked and charred character.

Conclusion: Another muscular and heavyweight 1993 bottling. But for me it’s too dry & bitter on the palate and finish.

I think maybe this has spent too long in the cask. That said a lot of people with be crawling over each other to get their lips to some, but for me, I prefer a sweeter and more mellow vintage. But I wonder what this would have been like had it been bottled a couple of years ago…