April 9, 2015

Glenfiddich 12, NAS and 1961

Our Glenfiddich section urgently needs an upgrade. Let’s hope that it wont, like at most software companies (Adobe, I’m looking at you), actually be a downgrade.

Glenfiddich 12 yo (40%, OB, +/-2014)

That’s right, the #1 malt whisky in the world, and with an age statement at that. In the past, it had tended to improve in my book (from WF 75 to 79) but I had last formally tasted it in… 2005. I know, ten years, but hey, I have no yearly book to feed. Colour: gold. Nose: extremely light, extremely gentle, extremely friendly. Apple juice, compote, very light honey, a touch of earl grey tea, some kind of sweet hay and then trademark pear liqueur. I find it delicate, and certainly not bland or too ‘all-purpose’. Mouth: it starts rather creamy, malty, a wee tad sugary, with good honey and maple syrup, then a half grassy, half citric profile. Orange zests in green tea? Tends to get dry. Finish: not too long, more on ripe apples and some tea. Not the best part, as often with ‘core-range’ malt whiskies, but that’s still very all right. Dry and grassy aftertaste. Comments: at the top end of the bracket. A fuller finish would have granted it with some solid 80 or 81 points. SGP:441 - 79 points.

Glenfiddich ‘Select Cask' (40%, OB, Cask Collection, travel retail, +/-2014)

As I understand it, this is from some kind of solera involving Californian red wine casks. Love California, love red wine, and love Californian reds (most), but arghh… NAS, naturally. As for the name ‘Select’, well… ;-) Colour: pale gold. Nose: a slightly harsher, less polished Glenfiddich at first nosing, with less of the aromatic gentleness that was in the 12, and certainly more vanilla and fresh nuts. Fairly nice, but modern. Tends to become rounder, all on butterscotch. Mouth: we’re closer to the 12, and styles are very similar, but this Select has got some vanilla-ed coating that may block the spirit’s fruity character. On the other hand, the mouth feel’s a little better. Hay and overripe apples. Finish: a tad longer than that of the 12, but I find a little too much sour/spicy oak. Comments: I did not get anything Opus One or Screaming Eagle, but there. It’s more than fair, but I did not like the finish too much. Yup, once again. SGP:451 - 77 points.

Good, let’s try to find an old glory… I think we have something at hand…

Glenfiddich 21 yo 1961/1984 (45%, Zenith, Italy)

I know, maths are not always our dear whisky bottlers’ stronger point. Colour: gold. Nose: great OBE in action, on some relatively fat and ‘inspired’ spirit. So that would be old leather jacket (in an old wardrobe in an old attic in an old house…), tin box, metal polish, tinned tropical fruits (papaya juice?), menthol cigarettes… Sadly, there’s also something too dryly herbal, I’d say. Grass juice and old damp cardboard? Could be a bad sign, but let’s see… Mouth: no no no, it’s very fine. Much bigger than contemporary Glenfiddich, starting with wheelbarrows of liquorice and sweet herbs and spicy sweets (there’s this ginger-based soft bonbon that they make in… Isn’t that Japan?), then salty mint, even high-strength tequila (that’s hard to find but it’s rather mind-blowing)… It even gets saltier and saltier, which really comes unexpected. Salty Glenfiddich?? Finish: very long, waxier, salty, rich, spicy… and endless. There’s also quite a lot of peat smoke, and had you claimed this was an old Islayer, I wouldn’t have cried wolf. Comments: the power and the fatness were a little disconcerting, given that this is Glenfiddich, but there, other whisky days, other ways. SGP:463 - 90 points.

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