How The Glendronach is winning over sherry lovers

The Glendronach makes sherried whisky. The kind that’s dark, rich, fruity and nutty. Drink it and think of Christmas. Sip it and you sing C(S)herry Bomb by The Runaways in your head.

It’s not the only one. There are several Scotch whisky distilleries across Speyside and The Highlands that specialise in this style: Aberlour, Edradour, GlenAllachie, Glenfarclas, Glengoyne, Glenrothes, Tamdhu, The Dalmore, The Macallan… To name a few.

It’s a busy, crowded space with increasing competition from home and abroad. But this distillery isn’t just holding its own. The Glendronach is winning over sherry lovers. Here’s how.

Introducing: The Glendronach Distillery 

First, the basics. The Glendronach is pronounced glen-dron-ack. The ‘D’ is now small case. It was a capital ‘D’ during the Billy Walker days. We’ll get to Walker later. Instead, under current ownership the distillery became one of those that emphasizes a “the” before its name. So we lost the capital ‘D’ but gained a ‘The’*. 

The Glendronach. Clear?

The distillery is located in a category-B listed building near Forgue, by Huntly, Aberdeenshire, in the Highlands. The name ‘Glendronach’ derives from the Scottish Gaelic Gleann Dronach which means “valley of the brambles” or “valley of the blackberries”.

The history of Glendronach Distillery 

Early days

The building dates back to 1771 when Glen House, formally known as Boynesmill, was built on the Boynesmill Estate by James ‘Cobbie’ Allardice. After acquiring farmland in 1775, he formed a consortium of local farmers and businessmen to found The Glendronach Distillery in 1826. 

It was just the second distillery to apply for a licence to produce whisky legally following the Excise Act of 1823, although evidence suggests Allardice’s experience was comprehensive at this point. According to scotchwhisky.com, he helped establish a quick reputation for his whisky in Edinburgh, by “offering drams to the ‘ladies of the night’ of Cannongate”. Maybe there’s legs to this. OnlyDrams?

After a strong start, a fire in 1837 virtually destroyed the distillery and then Allardice went bankrupt in 1842. But The Glendronach rallied. Walter Scott (who learnt to distil at Teaninich) bought the distillery in 1852 and rebuilt it. By 1862, it had become the largest duty-paying distillery in The Highlands. John Somerville & Co. acquired the distillery in 1887 after Scott’s death before it then fell into government ownership during the Great War. Captain Charles Grant (youngest son of William, founder of the Glenfiddich and Balvenie distilleries) bought it in 1920 and subsequently incorporated the Glendronach Distillery Company in 1927. 

Teacher’s and mothballed

The Glendronach was purchased by William Teacher & Sons in 1960, which formalised a long-standing relationship between the two companies. Since the late 1800s, if you drank Teacher’s, you were drinking Glendronach. Teacher’s removed the dubious blue “most suitable for medicinal purposes” tag and pulled several brands like Glenronach Liqueur, Huntly Royal, Old Vatted Glendronach and Sir Walker, instead focusing output on its Highland Cream, which boasted about its high proportion of expensive malt whiskies. To accommodate demand, capacity was doubled from two stills to four.

In the 1970s, Teacher’s began marketing The Glendronach as a standalone brand, with an 8 and 12-year-old single malt, the former described as “bright, fresh with a sharpish flavour” and the latter as “richer and mellower” by Philip Morrice in The Schweppes Guide to Scotch (1983). 

In 1976 Allied Distillers purchased William Teacher & Sons. Twenty years later the distillery was mothballed by the new owners. After six years of dormancy, the distillery reopened to full production in 2002. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the distillery passed into the hands of Chivas Brothers Ltd (part of the Pernod Ricard group) in 2005, which quickly moved Glendronach on to the BenRiach Distillery Company for £15 million in 2008. 

Billy Walker, Brown-Forman, and The Glendronach

This is the chapter of the story most whisky fans today will know. The BenRiach Distillery Company, led by Billy Walker, invested £7 million in the distillery in 2009 and relaunched the whole old core range of 12-year-old, 15-year-old and 18-year-old whiskies. A  new visitor centre was also opened in 2010. Our GlenAllachie blog has more info on Walker and the impact he has on a distillery and a lot of that you can apply to the Glendronach. 

That period was one of revitalisation for Glendronach with far more attention and plaudits than it previously had. The success it, Benriach, and to a lesser extent Glenglassaugh had then caught the attention of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey producer Brown-Forman who entered the Scotch whisky market by splashing £285 million to acquire the BenRiach Distillery Company. Now Glendronach had even more resources to count on, a truly global marketing and distribution network, and the expertise of Dr Rachel Barrie, recruited from Morrison Bowmore Distillers to head up whisky creation at the three distilleries. 

Significant investment in the distillery’s infrastructure followed, such as renovations of  The Glendronach Visitors’ Centre in 2020 (now with a shiny tasting room, whisky bar, lounge, and retail space!) and over £30m in 2022 to increase production facilities and restore Boynsmill House and the grounds. The plan is to convert it into a luxury space for guests. The renovation is due for completion in 2026, which will be Glendronach’s 200th anniversary. In 2024 the core range also got a smart new look.

How is The Glendronach so sherried?

That brings us to The Glendronach today, which makes very sherried whisky. How? To understand that we need to break down The Glendronach production process.

How The Glendronach makes whisky: mashing, milling, fermenting

In 2024, Glendronach was producing 1.95m litres of alcohol per year. The distillery draws its soft Highland water from underwater springs from the Dronac burn within the distillery grounds. Scottish malted barley is milled in a traditional Porteus malt mill, and some peating occurs. A total of 3.76 tonnes of grist (ground malted barley) is held in the hopper before it’s sent to the mash tun. 

The distillery runs 28 mashes per week, three water mashes with a low water-to-barley ratio to create a heavy, stewed barley. One mash takes around six hours to complete. The first is 15,400 litres of water at 65.5°C, which gets drained through a perforated floor to the underback. The second is 5,000 litres at 68°C follows, also drained. The mash tun is old school, pulling the mash around its 3.7-tonne cast iron body with a rake and plough, gently agitating the wort to break down the grain starch into fermentable sugars. 

These sugary first and second waters, or wort, are passed through a heat exchanger, cooled to 18°C, and sent to a washback. The third water is 12,000 litres at 94°C, in which there is very little sugar once it’s processed (this dilute sugary water is called the sparge) so it’s kept back and used for the next mash. The old rake and plough remain a reliable method to attain a clear wort (meaning minimal solid residues) for the patient whisky maker. It’s not crystal clear, but enough to generate bright, floral, fruity flavours. 

Just 18,000 litres (a small volume of wort) goes into nine traditional wooden washbacks made from Scottish Larchwood. Fermentation runs for 55-60 hours, enough time to develop the fruity, estery notes but short enough to retain the deep, dark and almost stout character of the wash.

How The Glendronach makes whisky: distilling in unique pot stills 

Distillation begins with 9,000 litres of wash pumped from the wash charger, which is boiled in the still to separate the alcohol vapour from the water. It travels up the unique neck shape over and down the lyne arm to the condenser, where it is cooled and returned to the liquid state. This liquid (the low wines) is about 22% ABV and is collected in the spirit safe and charged for the second distillation. 

People disregard the first distillation, thinking it’s all about the cut in the second distillation. But in the first distillation, you’re driving character too because it’s here you get to decide if you want lighter or heavier tones. He describes it as taking that base tone created in the mash and then driving it even deeper.

There are four pot stills in total: two wash and two spirit, which are steam heated. Arguably the most iconic image of GlenDronach Distillery is its saxophone-shaped stills, complete with a gooseneck lyne arm and a boil ball (reflux ogee) to increase the copper contact with the spirit. This is interesting because usually stills that drive copper contact do so to create a lighter spirit. The saxophone shape actually cuts back in reflux and this, along with the slow distillation time and the length of the ‘middle cut’, optimises the robust, rich complexity of the new make and helps to build weight in the spirit. 

The stills have relics underneath, cold coal fire pits that last heated the great whisky kettles back in 2005. The distillery was one of the last to still use this method and had to close for months to convert from coal to steam to heat the stills. Direct, coal-fired heating isn’t very green and it doesn’t distribute the heat evenly, but this creates hotspots that generate richer, toffee-sweet elements. Steam indirectly heats evenly, but this caramelisation doesn’t occur. 

How The Glendronach makes whisky: ageing 

The Glendronach creates a very fruity, burly new make which can stand up to the complexity and impact of sherry casks and European oak. When you nose the new make, you think bramble berries. It’s all blackberry, blueberry, and a little bit of sweeter apricot with contrasting aromas of sandalwood, and cigar box. It has an almost leathery weight lengthened by an oily viscosity (generated by that gooseneck lyne arm and forms at the top of the still).

Maturation occurs mainly in Pedro Ximénez and oloroso sherry casks from Jerez de la Frontera in Southern Spain here, although some of the whisky starts in bourbon casks to pick up vanilla sweetness before being racked into sherry. Pedro Ximénez casks impart rich, deep fruit flavours and an intensely dark, natural colour, while dry and nutty tones from the oloroso casks transform and develop this robust Highland spirit with opulent Spanish influence. 

All the magic happens in six traditional dunnage warehouses, arranged no more than three barrels high, and three racked. GlenDronach is nestled in the Valley of Forgue, deep in the East Highland Hills, where it is bloody cold. That means it’s a slow, steady, and long maturation environment, great for old whisky and driving a heavy spirit character. 

How The Glendronach makes whisky: Dr Rachel Barrie and Kirsten Ainslie

Seeing over the process is Dr Rachel Barrie, master blender and whisky industry veteran of over three decades. Having worked with the Scotch Whisky Research Institute and distilleries from all the regions of Scotland, Dr Barrie’s CV is not to be sniffed at. Sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Scotch, she holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, was the first woman to be inducted into the Whisky Hall of Fame, and has been inducted as a Keeper of the Quaich. 

She is in charge of whisky making at all three Benriach Company distilleries, but at The Glendronach the talented Kirsten Ainslie assists her, working as an assistant blender. Product development and innovation, cask selection, whisky and wood management all fall under her purview, as well as making sure The Glendronach is dead tasty and sherried. Ainslie moved into blending after building her foundations in whisky and gin production in Glasgow, and Leith, Edinburgh.

The Glendronach and chill-filtration 

One thing you may know about The Glendronach is that it’s now chill-filtered. Right? We’re sure the whisky nerds here remember the controversy from 2021 when the brand announced it was removing the words “non-chill-filtered” from its label. 

Well, it turns out the truth is more complicated, a story uncovered by some excellent investigative work by many within the wider industry. 

The Glendronach, the SWA, and filtration

Before Brown-Forman, The Glendronach was owned by Benriach Distilling Ltd. and wasn’t part of the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). Distilleries in Scotland are not part of the SWA automatically. You have to opt in, and if you do, play by the rules. Before joining, The Glendronach could claim its whisky was non-chill-filtered but no independent party was regulating that. 

In fact, it was always operating with a very light, occasional filtering. It’s natural for batches of whisky to have some level of flocculation and/or turbidity. The quality control team at The Glendronach assesses the liquid compared to a base sample, operating a 1 to 5-scale flocculation level. If the liquid falls on the lower end of the scale (a 1 or a 2), it can be bottled, but if it’s a 4 or 5 then the liquid will need to be filtered and next comes an assessment of what filtration. It could be one, five or nine sheets of filter at varying set temperatures to bring its flocculation down. A randomly selected team to blind taste samples ensures another layer of quality control. 

Back in 2021, when it announced that it was removing chill-filtration from the label, the distillery’s official quote was that the decision gave them “the flexibility to optimise consistently exceptional quality, flavour, clarity, and stability”. But the distillery had also joined the SWA and wanted to avoid any confusion or trouble around its filtering methods and how they could be defined. As far as we can tell, the filtering is the same now as it was five or ten years ago. 

Chill-filtration: what does it all mean anyway?

If people have noticed a difference in profile, there’s likely more obvious reasons. The Glendronach was mothballed for a period in the 90s and so had a lot of old stock to use when Walker took over. Dr Barrie had much less by the time she got there. It was also no secret that the age-statement bottlings often contained some stock considerably older than the number of years on the bottle and that older whisky can’t just be replaced overnight. Then there’s production changes. Whisky distilled pre-’05 would be from coal-fired stills. The cask profile also used to be 100% oloroso, now it’s a mix of PX and oloroso, with a larger proportion of refill casks. Whisky evolves. So do we. Things don’t taste the same forever. 

Chill-filtration is one of those emotive issues that tend to be more representative of what people want from whisky as an ideal, as much as what’s in the glass. A producer that lacks transparency, that cuts corners, that prioritises volume and cost over quality isn’t going to make a good whisky. Those producers will often chill-filter, add colour, and bottle as low as possible (40% ABV), so chill-filtration becomes an indicator of a type of approach. If a brand doesn’t chill-filter, then it must be a truth seeker. A flavour-first whisky maker. One of the good guys.

But that discounts how much nuance there is in filtration. Look at Michter’s and its process. There’s great whisky that’s filtered and bad whisky that isn’t. The Glendronach became a bit of an unfair mascot in the crusade against ‘dishonest’ whisky, however nobly undertaken. But it certainly doesn’t make a product that could be confused with mass-market filler whisky. Sherry casks, for example, are expensive, and it spends a lot of money getting good ones. And it would appear nothing even really changed from a filtration standpoint anyway. The whole saga is a good lesson that it’s better to taste test than to immediately dismiss a whisky based on headlines and speculation. 

How The Glendronach is winning over sherry lovers

The quality of the whisky remains high at The Glendronach. It’s crafted by experienced whisky makers, it has a production process that creates an interesting spirit, and it’s filled with very good Pedro Ximénez and oloroso sherry casks. Ultimately that’s going to attract sherry lovers. 

The deep fruity, nutty, and spicy flavours aren’t the whole story, though. People appreciate The Glendronach as a whisky maker with real heritage, a DNA, a name that isn’t constantly splashed across headlines. People can make a distillery like this on their own. 

The core range is competitively priced and shows a real progression with age. While the annual Cask Strength 12 Year Old releases are barnstorming bargains we’ve raved about before. Sherried whisky fans know The Glendronach reputation as a leader in the category is also increasing. 

The Glendronach vs Macallan

As a bonus bit of content, we’ll answer a question asked by some in good faith looking for alternatives driven either by cost or curiosity and asked by others looking to stick it to The Man(allan). There’s only so many times we can say “taste is subjective” before our own eyes roll into our pre-frontal cortex. I don’t know you. Or what you like.

But let’s put it like this, I’m sure you’ll enjoy The Glendronach’s whisky if you like The Macallan’s. Assuming you’re basically in it for the sherry. If you like those purple, black, and red flavours, like a fruit roll-up stuck to a fresh Cinnabon cooked on hazelnut shells. If you’re in it for the prestige, and how a single malt looks on you darling, then The Glendronach is suitably swish too. 

You can buy The Glendronach whisky from Master of Malt. Shop here. 

*Some of our bottles have the capital ‘D’ as that is what was on the label when the whisky was released.

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