September 2, 2014

A whole basket of Glenlivet

No pre-WWII distillation this time, we’ll have old young ones, newish old ones and just anything that sits in the middle. Let’s see how far we’ll manage to go…

Glenlivet 12 yo (43%, OB, unblended all malt, 75cl, +/-1980)

Glenlivet 12 yo (43%, OB, unblended all malt, 75cl, +/-1978)

Could as well have been a little earlier, not too sure. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s a dry and rather smoky one at first nosing, as older Glenlivets could be. Gravel and soot, then overripe apples, hay, cigars and walnuts, with a metallic touch. Some OBE must have happened, because it’s rather earthier than other old young Glenlivets. Mouth: big stuff, much bigger than contemporary Glenlivet twelves. Sour and tart apples, grapefruit skin, candy sugar, plus these metallic touches again. Apple crumble and strong tea after a few minutes. Not too sure it’s clear that I like it… Finish: long and ample, almost heavy, with some liquorice and more tea. Comments: big spirit of high quality. And it’s still quite easy to find… SGP:462 – 85 points.

Glenlivet 12 yo (40%, OB, pure single malt, 75cl, +/-1985)

I believe this version is less old than the previous one, but I’m ready to be proven wrong. Colour: light gold. Nose: yes, it is a much lighter spirit and that’s not just the lower strength. More grains, toasted oak, roasted nuts, straight malt and honey cake. Easy, light and undemanding. Cornflakes. Mouth: a little wishy-washy, grainy, with some overripe apples and a buttery side. Premox in whisky? Some cardboard too, sawdust… Pass! Finish: short and grainy. And dusty. Comments: another, much lower world, but you never know with these old bottles, could have been bottle ageing gone wrong. It’s the dustiness that’s the main problem. SGP:331 - 65 points.

Another go…

Glenlivet 12 yo (43%, OB, pure malt, French import, 75cl, +/-1975)

Glenlivet 12 yo (43%, OB, pure malt, French import, 75cl, +/-1982)

This baby used to be imported by Barton & Guestier. Colour: full gold. Nose: back to the style of the first one, with some soot, gravel, ashes, hay, smoke and overripe fruits. It’s actually even nicer, with notes of beeswax, pollen, old wood polish and then more floral notes, dandelions and such. Great nose. Mouth: fantastic! Bold, firm, smoky and superbly raisiny, with marmalade and honey aplenty, as well as notes of baklavas (orange blossom) and marzipan. Perfect balance and mouth feel, hurray! Finish: astoundingly long, with more marmalade and baklavas. Comments: a great bottle! Sadly, this one’s hard to find but I doubt various European countries/importers were getting different batches. SGP:552 - 86 points.

Glenlivet 15 yo (43%, OB, pure single malt, 1l, +/-2000)

Colour: full gold. Nose: a much lighter spirit again, this session is really a rollercoaster. In fact, it’s pretty complex, but it hasn’t got the oomph and the stamina of the old 12s. Gently floral, I’d say, with a little honey and warm brioche. Plus other pastries, this is almost a breakfast malt. But there’s some elegance in there… Mouth: indeed, it is much lighter than, for example, the 12 for France. It’s also a little cardboardy, with also some toasted bread, cornflakes, a little chocolate, roasted chestnuts, overripe apples, raisins, honey… Everything is very okay, it’s just a little ‘simple’ for a 15yo malt whisky. Finish: rather short, a bit sugary, with some honey and cakes. Comments: I found this one a little too simple on the palate, but it was still honest and loyal malt whisky. SGP:441 - 78 points.

We aren’t quite done with the oldish OBs…

Glenlivet 18 yo (43%, OB, pure single malt, +/-2002)

Colour: full gold. Nose: we’ve got the drier style again, but there isn’t any smoke, nor soot, ashes and all that. It’s rather hay-like dry, and the whole’s rather more herbal this time. Touches of camphor, cough medicine, rhubarb pie, then the expected honeyed oranges, baklavas, roasted nuts, toasted oak and all that. A very fine nose, let’s only hope it’ll also deliver on the palate. Mouth: it’s certainly good, and certainly very Glenlivet, with this honeyed maltiness and all these overripe apples and pastries. Good body, good nuts (roasted of course) and good marmalade. Ultra classic malt whisky that’s made to please anyone. Who wouldn’t enjoy this? Finish: good length. More honey, pastries, raisins and overripe apples. Ueberclassic. Comments: it’s hard to disagree with this classic. Not very moving, but all very fine. Classic indeed. SGP:541 - 82 points.

Good, let’s have a few youngish indies, and then… Maybe old glories!

Glenlivet 16 yo 1986/2002 (58.2%, Glenscoma, sherry, cask #013469, 300 bottles)

As you may know, Scoma is one of the pioneering German bottlers. Colour: deep gold. Nose: narrow honeyness, I’d say. But if you like anything honeyed as much as I do, it’s just great. I also find a lot of mead, which isn’t that usual, then cider and even calvados. Fun stuff! With water: woof! It became simple and even narrow. Nosing a Mars bar. Mouth: punchy, very raisiny and very orangey. Cointreau and sultana juice (you may call that Sauternes, or Monbazillac), fifty-fifty. Oops, almost forgot to mention honey. With water: once again, water made it narrower. Sweet white wine and sultanas. Finish: good length, honeyed. That’s all, folks. Comments: it started well and I had high hopes, but beyond the lovely honeyed and raisiny notes, there wasn’t much. And water wouldn’t quite work. But it’s still a very solid malt whisky. SGP:541 - 83 points.

Glenlivet 1993/2006 (53.4%, Whisky-Fässle for Whiskymaniacs Süd-West, sherry)

Whisky Fässle’s bottlings are usually excellent, so I try to taste them as soon as I come across them, but this time this baby had wriggled out of my clutches. As for these Whiskymaniacs Süd-West, that’s the Southwest of Germany and no, nothing to do with the Malt Maniacs. Colour: pale gold. Nose: we’re now closer to the barley, which is something I always like. It’s almost bready, quite brioche-y (what?) and even croissant (excuse me?) Add some chocolate and you’ve got it. Nice, as they say. With water: same, nice, malty sweetness. Mouth (neat): more bread and pastries, with a firm body and a great maltiness. Also maple syrup, raisins as almost always, cornflakes… Another ultra classic Glenlivet that could have been an OB. With water: an OB indeed! Finish: good length, honeyed, malty, candied… Comments: me like mucho-mucho, even if it’s not quite ‘an alternative to the officials’ as some IBs would say. SGP:541 - 86 points.

Good, while we’re having punchy ones from the indies…

Glenlivet 14 yo 1980/1995 (57.3%, Cadenhead, sherrywood)

How many monsters have we seen within this old series? Tremble, mere mortals… Colour: amber/mahogany. Nose: oh this is totally unusual. Imagine a combination of tamarind, roses, muscatel, blood oranges, cassis jelly and iris. I’d swear it’s the first time I come across this association in whisky. Well not only in whisky. And I just love it! With water: that profile remains but there’s also more chocolate and prunes. The whole combination makes it a little armagnacky, all for the (even) better. Mouth (neat): totally in line with the nose. We’re eating some cassis jelly – or drinking a glass of crème de cassis de Dijon, as you like. How funny! With water: once again, the chocolate strikes back. Another one that swims like Mark Spitz. Finish: long, superb, smooth, cassissy (cut the crap, S.) Comments: a very great bottle. In my experience Glenlivet takes heavy sherry particularly well, maybe because its relatively light style does not contradict the brave Spaniard. SGP:651 - 91 points.

Cadenhead’s had utter beasts, but G&M had some too. Such as this one…

Glenlivet 1974 (57%, Gordon & MacPhail, CASK series, twist cap, +/-1993)

The 57% vol. look like it’s simply ‘100 proof’ but it’s well natural cask strength. Colour: full gold. Nose: it’s funny how this baby reminds of the strongest official 12s that we just had. Styles are similar, with whiffs of wood smoke on top of an honey-glazed apple pie, a bunch of various roasted nuts (rather almonds this time) plus the obligatory marmalade. Simple and straight. With water: a little hay coming out. Mouth (neat): big and all on honeyed raisins, brioche, baklavas and marmalade. Not much else to say, this isn’t really complex but it works pretty well, like a one-cylinder Ducati engine (right, make that Yamaha.) With water: no further changes. Finish: rather long but it remains simple. Honey cake. Comments: very good whisky, but I wouldn’t say there’s much happening in there. Hello? My exact definition of a 80-pointer. So… SGP:551 - 80 points.

So an older 1974 please…

Glenlivet 37 yo 1974/2012 (46%, Berry Bros & Rudd for Whisky.com.tw, cask #5247)

BBR have already got several great Glenlivets. High hopes here… Colour: deep gold. Nose: it’s a very floral one, all for the better. Pollen and nectar, dandelions and buttercups, then sultanas and touches of polished oak. Around an old humidor or ‘grandma’s wardrobe’. Add a few roasted, or rather toasted nuts. A wee earthiness arising over time, all for the better. Mouth: a bit narrow now, not exactly tired but it lacks stamina. Overripe apples, marmalade and glazed chestnuts. Then more and more black tea, that’s the oak speaking out. A touch of menthol too, most probably from the same origins. Finish: medium length. Same flavours, same balance. Comments: extremely good but just like with the G&M, it may lack more… presence? Having said that, it’s a different league and quality is high, as expected. Just not one that you’ll remember forever, perhaps. SGP:551 - 85 points.

Shall we have more luck with a 1973?...

Glenlivet 38 yo 1973/2012 (48.6%, John Milroy, Frisky Whisky, sherry wood, cask #1005)

I feel I should apologise because of the blitz on the picture. These golden labels are just very hard to photograph (right, to iPhonise.) Colour: gold. Nose: we’re very close to the BBR, although this one also has a welcome tropicalness, around mangos and maybe papayas. Add those notes to the expected honey and ripe apples and you get the kind of very beehive-y profile that we all loved so much in… Caperdonich 1972. So, all great so far, in spite of the very, and I mean very unlikely label. Mouth: just excellent. Oranges, honey, wax, mangos, more oranges, more honey and a touch of warm croissant. Just excellent indeed. Finish: quite long, zestier, without any obvious oakiness, candied… This is almost like orange blossom honey and it’s only in the aftertaste that more oak spices do show up, around cinnamon and white pepper. A touch of earth. Comments: okay, not mindbogglingly great (what?), but I find this baby just excellent. Drinks very very well. SGP:651 - 88 points.

Phew, eleven Glenlivets already, and only one 90+. Let’s push it harder, with an official again, and one of the rarest… (are you still with us?)

Glenlivet 21 yo 1963/1984 'For the Chairman' (43%, OB)

I won’t explain to you how rare this bottle is, but after all, this is Whisky ‘fun’. I’ll just add that apparently, the Chairman had it good, as this is bottle #837. Eight hundred and thirty seven - or more – bottles, only for the Chairman? Anyway, a superb label, can we have more of those please? Colour: amber. Nose: now I understand why this isn’t a bottle ‘For the Gardener’, or ‘For the Brewer’, or even ‘For the Stillman’. Indeed, this nose is extraordinarily Chairmanly (is that a word?) and extremely complex. You have to ‘deep-nose’ a bit because it’s well a whole, but then you’ll find Corinthian raisins, old cigars, manuka honey (I swear), all kinds of nuts, genuine artisan maple syrup, a touch of leather polish and many tinier elements, including old teas and whiffs of barbecue smoke. Old Glenlivet’s smokiness is back. Mouth: less emphatic, I’d say. Maybe it’s the old bottle, but I find it flattish, tea-ish and tired. It must be the old bottle. Come on, The Chairman! Finish: a little short, cardboardy. The maddening thing about it is that one can feel that it used to be great. Nicer nutty aftertaste, though. Comments: old bottles are always a gamble. This oldie had superb afterglows in the nose, but the palate was tired. Hard to score, let’s remain diplomatic – because you know, he was The Chairman. Disclaimer: other bottles may be fantastic, as always with old bottlings. SGP:351 - 78 points.

So, apparently, we failed again, but as nothing is impossible for a willing heart, let’s go on…

Glenlivet 1961 (57%, Gordon & MacPhail, licensed bottling, 75cl, +/-1990)

A big phat classic G&M, this should work. Sadly, no year of bottling tag on the neck or anywhere else on the label. Colour: red amber. Nose: isn’t this rather an old Demerara rum? Port Morant? Instant chocolaty pleasure, with exactly the right amount of tiny phenolic things that add so much depth, I’d even say relief. Liquorice, tar, pitch, lovage… But all those remains tiny, while both the chocolate and the prunes keep ruling this nose. Immediate and implacable. With water: yess! Engine oil and all that… So even more depth. Mouth (neat): s.u.p.e.r.b. Bags of prunes and buckets of liquid chocolate, plus quite a lot of Corinthian raisins (I’m often quoting those because in my experience, they’re very different, deeper and more flavourful than other, smoother ones.) Immediate, obvious, instant sherried pleasure. Well done again, G&M. With water: yess! Someone may have thrown a few litres of old Ardbeg into, the casks. Unless the filters… you know, the filters… Finish: long, on smoked prunes. And an superb touch of salt in the aftertaste. Salt in a Glenlivet? Comments: I know some chocolatiers who are adding a little salt to their blackest productions. We’re in similar territories here. SGP:462 - 91 points.

Good, we’ve found a second winner, time to call it a complete session!

(With many thanks to Benjamin, Konstantin, Lukas, Olivier and Philip)

Check the index of all Glenlivet I've tasted so far