The Glendronach is actually really well priced for a 21-year-old single malt these days, especially as it's non chill-filtered and not artificially coloured (and bottled at a good strength of 48%). The equivalent Macallan (the most popular "premium" Scotch brand) would set you back at least double. Admittedly, it's outwith the price I'd be happy to pay for a bottle because I'd feel guilty drinking it, but as a gift, it's a very nice gift.
The whisky marketplace is a bit nuts just now (and has been for a good few years), and it's interesting to see what's going on in the gulf between the kind of whiskies you can pick up in your local supermarket, and the more specialist stuff. The move to "no age statement" (NAS) bottlings is very apparent at the supermarket end. If a single malt whisky has an age statement on it, it is the age of the youngest cask* to go into the blend. If no age statement is given, anything over 3 years (the point at which stuff in the casks can legally be called whisky) can be used.
The marketing people will tell you that the move to NAS bottlings is because age isn't necessarily a signifier of quality, and that by blending casks of various ages, they can create a fuller and more consistent experience. The cynics will suggest that maybe it's more to do with the lack of older casks because production in the past can't match demand now, and that in order to flog a bottle in the £20-50 range, corners have to be cut - younger spirit watered down to 40% abv, filtered and coloured with E150 for that consistent caramel colour. Not to say the whiskies are necessarily /bad/, just not as good as what you'd get for your money a decade ago.
Meanwhile, at the higher end, they're very much aiming at the "luxury" market (bungs for high-ranking officials, a cynic might say), and anything interesting coming out of the big names is snapped up by collectors, prospectors, investors and flippers. Some of it might even get drunk.
This kind of leaves those of us who want to drink half-decent whisky without breaking the bank having to do a bit more work and veer away from the big names. Thankfully, there's a vast and bewildering infrastructure out there now, and certain distilleries/brands seem to be happy to cater for the enthusiast rather the collector, and for the last few years Glendronach's been one of them, sticking to a core range of sensible age statements (see footnote below), matured in good quality sherry casks, with decent bottling strengths, and the occasional special edition.
*Which led to an interesting situation a few years ago where, due to the mothballing of the distillery in the 90s, bottles of the core Glendronach 12-15-18 range actually had much older whisky in them. It's all sorted now, unfortunately.
Kenny |