The GlenDronach 2007 Pedro Ximenez Cask

Widely credited as making some of the world’s finest examples of 100% sherry matured whisky, The GlenDronach is synonymous with big, bold, heavily sherried, old-style malt whisky and is one of only a very small number of Scotch distilleries truly specialising in traditional sherry cask maturation. In the very early days, many distilleries used Spanish sherry casks for maturation, but nowadays these casks are up to 10 times more expensive than American Oak ex-Bourbon casks, hence the ubiquitous bourbon matured malt whisky that we see on the market today and the dwindling number of true sherry cask specialists.

Fortunately for us, stalwarts like The GlenDronach, Glenfarclas, Aberlour and more recently, Tamdhu, continue to put out the dark, raisiny goodness that we love, and this month is no exception! To celebrate our momentous Fifth Birthday, GlenDronach Master Blender Dr Rachel Barrie has hand selected and bottled a very special GlenDronach just for us, and this one’s going straight to the pool room.

Chosen from a run of exceptional sherry casks, all laid down in 2007, our Fifth Birthday Edition is a spectacular and very rare example of a 100% ex-Pedro Ximénez Sherry cask vatting from The GlenDronach. Heavy, beautifully rich, and complex – this is old-school GD at its sherry best with loads of chocolate raisin and hazelnuts, baked nectarine, apple strudel and hints of arabica coffee… all topped with lashings of cherry and plum pie, toasted almonds, dark chocolate and a touch of ginger. Bottled at a perfect 46% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour – it’s better than birthday cake!

Everyone who follows The GlenDronach knows their World Exclusive releases are as rare as hen’s teeth and are keenly sought out by collectors – needless to say, this is a must-have for your top shelf. As such, we’d strongly suggest you Double-Up this month, because who wants to have to choose between drinking it, and keeping it for the collection? You’ll be thanking us later!