2011 K&L Awards - Whisk(e)y of the Year

True, we haven't yet posted the Single Malt of the Year award, however both of us picked single malts for our overall Whisk(e)y of the Year award.  By that logic, our single malt choices should also have been the below whiskies:

David Othenin-Girard picks: 1994 Glendronach 16 Year Old K&L Exclusive Single Malt Whisky - I very much wanted to pick the 1998 Springbank Bourbon cask we imported as well, but the Glendronach was just too appealing.  Not just to me, but to everyone else too.  It's crazy to think we almost didn't visit the distillery.  We were trying to stick to producers we knew we wanted to buy from.  Neither of us imagined we'd ever be buying a gigantic sherry butt from Glendronach.  Now it's my favorite single malt of 2011.

David Driscoll picks: Glendronach 12 Year Old Single Malt Whisky - The story is this: David OG and I needed to find somewhere to stay after a long drive to the Highlands.  Glendronach offered us their guesthouse.  We accepted, but said to ourselves, "Does that mean we have to stick around and taste all their whisky?"  We had important things to be doing and Glendronach was not high on our priority list.  When we arrived we found a bottle of the 12 year sitting in our room so we cracked it.  After our first glass we said, "Wow, that's actually pretty good."  After our second we said, "Jeez.  I really, really like that."  After our third we were really excited, "Maybe we can find an older cask like that?"  That's how we ended up with the 16 year above.  Meanwhile, we've been selling the 12 year to everyone who comes in looking for a great whisky.  For the price, can you really tell me there's anything higher in quality?

-David Driscoll