1968 was many, many moons ago, though in the annals of Scotch whisky lore it is just a drop in the bucket compared to the age of some distilleries. It was in this year that Glendronach, located in the Highlands region of Scotland, laid down what is now the oldest remaining whisky stock the distillery has. Some of this has now been bottled as part of a range of new single cask releases.Glendronach 1968, cask #5837, is an approximately 47 year old expression which was aged in a Pedro Ximenez sherry hogshead before being bottled at 45.9% ABV. It is a gorgeous looking whisky in the bottle, and only 301 bottles of it were made available to those looking to drink a Scotch nearly half a century old.
“This marvel is an amazing, venerable and exceptionally rare whisky,” said Glendronach Master Blender Billy Walker in a statement, “and it is sure to become one of our most sought-after bottlings. We only have a few casks of the legendary 1968 vintage left in our inventory and they are extraordinary survivors from a golden, bygone age of whisky production.”
For the curious, here are the official tasting notes for the 1968 from Glendronach:
On the nose, intense, full-bodied aromas of dark treacle, sour plums and rich prune syrup combine with fragrant herbal notes and faint cigar smoke. On the palate, an impactful sherried character is laden with dark prunes and molasses while a torrent of vibrant orange bitters and dark espresso holds hints of eucalyptus and pine needles.
As this was a batch release, there are other single cask bottlings as well to consider. Here, again, is official information from the distillery on those:
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- 1991 cask # 2361 / 24 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / 53.1% vol.
- 1992 cask # 76 / 23 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / 52.0% vol.
- 1993 cask # 40 / 23 years old / Oloroso Sherry Butt / 58.5% vol.
- 1994 cask # 3274 / 21 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.1% vol.
- 1995 cask # 3047 / 20 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 48.6% vol.
- 2002 cask # 4651 / 13 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 54.8% vol.
- 2003 cask # 930 / 12 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 53.4% vol.
- 2004 cask # 5521 / 12 years old / Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon / 57.3% vol.
