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World Cup
memories kick off as GlenDronach rolls
out new single cask bottlings.
With worldwide football fever coming to
the boil in the next twenty-four hours,
there’s a strong World Cup link to the
seven vintages comprising the second
batch of GlenDronach’s single cask
bottlings released this month.
Amongst the seven single malt vintages
from the Aberdeenshire distillery, there
are two notorious World Cup years - 1978
and 1990.
GlenDronach’s Regional Sales Director
Alistair Walker said: "If you’re a Scot,
you shudder at the memory of 1978...and
then laugh uncontrollably at the
absurdity of the campaign. It’s
synonymous with euphoria, despair,
brilliance, incompetence, bad haircuts
and mad optimism.
Argentina were the hosts, Scotland was
the only home nation represented and the
squad left these shores with overblown
expectations. The effervescent manager
Ally McLeod said we were going to win
the World Cup.
And then disaster ensued, followed by
near-redemption - humiliation at the
hands of Peru and Iran followed by
Archie Gemmell’s wonder goal against
Holland in the final game.
Fast forward to 1990 when Italy were the
hosts and Scotland were back in the
competition. It was the year of Toto
Schilachi, Pavarotti, Gazza’s tears in
the semi-final, Roger Milla, and
Scotland’s further humiliation at the
hands of Costa Rica followed by an
amazing victory over Sweden."
Alistair quipped: "But there is some
good news; Scottish fans of GlenDronach
will be relieved to know we were unable
to find a 1966 vintage!
And in retrospect, maybe it was a
mistake not to release a 1986 vintage in
honour of Maradona’s “Hand of God” or
finding a 1982 to celebrate Dave Narey’s
25-yard toe-poke against Brazil!
The truth is we Scots have yet to
realise our true potential in
footballing terms, but we’re pretty good
at producing single malts like
GlenDronach. We hope that as our
customers raise a glass from this batch
to their lips, they’ll recall some of
the World Cup memories we’ve
highlighted...and it might help them
forget some of the tragedies!"
This is the second batch of single cask
bottlings to be released by GlenDronach
since the distillery changed ownership
in 2008.
The seven vintages are 1971, 1972, 1978,
1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993.
71, 72, 90 and 93 were matured in
Oloroso sherry butts, 78 in an Oloroso
sherry puncheon and 89 and 91 in Pedro
Ximinez sherry puncheons.
On the nose, they range from "a
fruit-laden basket containing brambles,
apples and candied orange peel" to
"bitter chocolate orange with balanced
earthy notes".
And on the palate, the taste sensations
range from "liquorice and cloves" to
"walnut, baked apples and sweet prunes".
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