How old is the whisky in my bottle of Glendronach 12 year old Original?

retire55 · December 18 2015 at 3:27AM

I'm unable to remember in what year I purchased my bottle of Glendronack 12 year old Original. I recently found this bottle in the back of a cupboard and I suspect I purchased it 5 or 6 years ago. It was bottled at 40 % abv and the label on the bottle says “Double Cask Matured in Sherry Wood and Traditional Oak Barrels”. The following number is etched on the side of my bottle of Glendronach 12 year old Original LU31356 12:54 while 7 SF9 U8 is on the bottom of the bottle. I am unaware of whether these numbers can assist in determing age of whisky or year of bottling.

I recently watched Horst Luening's video (dated 31 May 2015) entitled Whisky Introduction: Glendronach Distillery. From that video I learned that there was no production of Glendronach 12 year old Original between 1996 and 2002. If I purchased my bottle 6 years ago in 2009, then the latest my Glendronach 12 year old Original could have been bottled was 1997. But there was no production between 1996 and 2002. Consequently, how old is the whisky in my bottle?

The newly released Glendronach 12 year old Original was bottled at 43% abv. The Glendronach web site states that this superb richly sherried single malt is matured for at least 12 years in a combination of the finest Spanish Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry casks.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Thank you Horst for your informative videos. I particularly enjoy how your body language doesn't hide your feelings about a whisky you enjoy.

horst_s_2 · January 4 2016 at 11:56AM

It is difficult to find out the true production and distilling dates of whisky bottles. First the codes on the bottles are not directed to the final customer and are well hidden secrets. They are intended to have a trace back to the production lot in case the whisky is poisonous. If you ask distilleries you will not get an answer.

The new Glendronach 12yrs 43% bottles come from the new owner. They used to print the exact dates in clear on the bottle. But knowing that the distillery was closed in that time it is also clear, that sometimes there are much older whiskies in those bottles.

E.g. Today the 15yrs and 18yrs bottles contain much older whiskies. Therefore the bottling of the 15yo is stopped in the moment for the next years. Scotch Whisky regulations only say that you are not allowed to state a too old age on the label. A too young indication is possible. The distilleries do that for a constant recognition in the market. If you look at the less numerous bottles of this distillery (e.g. Tawny Port) you can see, that they switched the age from 15yrs to 18yrs.

Quin · June 6 2016 at 2:47PM

Maybe this can help:

http://wordsofwhisky.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Grafiek-GlenDronach.jpg