No, you’re not experiencing deja vu: this is my second review this year of a Glendronach Parliament from the early 2010s. Back in February, I reviewed my bottle from the 2012 release, which was the second year that Glendronach released the Parliament—a 21 yo named, if I remember correctly, for a parliament of crows that perched somewhere near the distillery. In the introduction to that review I’d noted that I had emptied a bottle of the original 2011 release a few months before launching the blog, and wondered if I might have put away a reference sample from the bottle—as used to be my practice at the time. Well, it turns out I did. Past me saved 4 oz for future me to drink. Future me is now present me and I have now enjoyed past Glendronach 21. I drank half of it yesterday to make sure it was still in good shape—it was/is—and here now are my notes on the remaining 2 oz.

Glendronach 21, Parliament (48%; 2011 Release; from a reference sample saved from my own bottle)

Nose: A big rich sherry nose with leather, figs, damp earth and a touch of apricot jam. On the second sniff there’s a fair bit of salt and a little ham. Continues in this general vein with a bit of pencil lead popping out as well. With a drop of water the fruit expands (plum and apricot and dried orange peel) and the ham turns to beef broth.

Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose but with the damp earth in the lead and the sweet and salty notes following. A good bite at 48% and the texture has survived the 12 years in the sample bottle surprisingly well. On the second sip there’s some plum. With time the gunpowder from the finish emerges earlier and there’s a bit of green bell pepper as well. Brighter with water here as well but the damp earth holds its own.

Finish: Long. Some savoury gunpowder develops and then the salt has the last word. As on the palate with time and water.

Comments: Well, re-reading my notes on the 2012 release, this is more or less the same whisky—with slight shifts in emphasis. Which makes sense. They were released just a year apart and Glendronach’s stocks of high quality old sherry cask whisky were probably still quite robust; and it’s not unlikely that some of the same spirit that went into this also went into the 2012 vatting. I don’t see any reason to give this a different score.

Rating: 89 points.