Glenfiddich: A Masterclass

Glenfiddich Distillery

I am a huge fan of Glenfiddich. Yes, they are the world's best selling single malt whisky. Yes, they are available in pretty much every pub, supermarket and off-licence from Scunthorpe through to Kensington. And yes, they are available worldwide. BUT! I argue. They are vastly misrepresented because of this proliferation. After being introduced to whisky by drinking Talisker and Laphroaig with my Dad, I drank Glenfiddich with mates in a variety of pubs. My point? I drink such a wide range of whiskies now, but it wouldn't be without the Glenfiddich 12 year old that I could have begun to afford to do this.

Stage One. Glenfiddich 12 year old with friends in rural pubs in sleepy but largely drunk Shropshire. Stage Two. I'm nineteen in a whisky bar in Edinburgh with limited funds and I try my first highly aged whisky. It's the Glenfiddich 30 year old; I begin to appreciate 'fine' whisky. Stage Three. I work in the whisky trade I sample the Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix... life is perfect. Glenfiddich for all its availability remains for me a motorway to whisky appreciation. So, yes, I will continue to drink whiskies from small, exciting distilleries. Yes, I will continue to drink obscure cask-strength bottlings. And, yes, I will continue to drink Glenfiddich because it represents two important facets of whiskies. One, it is accessible and affordable which invites new acolytes into our glorious world. Two, as demonstrated with bottlings like the Age of Discovery and the Snow Phoenix, it's rather damn good.

A selection of the stills
at Glenfiddich

Glenfiddich is a rather large distillery, boasting twenty-eight stills of three different shapes. It is still family owned which is something of a triumph for the world's number one single malt. To cap it off the family's blend, the renowned Grant's, is the third largest blend in the world. Despite all of this there is ingenuity within the company, demonstrated with the superb Solera Vat and Rich Oak bottlings. The first using the Spanish/Portugese system that means the vat is always left at least half full (potentially some whisky from the first dosage is still in there; fast forward fifteen years...); the latter uses virgin American and Spanish oak for excellent results. So yes we've all tried an array of delights from casks from Islay to Japan but where would we be without that Glenfiddich 12 year old in that pub smelling discreetly of cabbage and pumping power ballads out of the jukebox; I'd argue not here. Not in a world of singe casks and a whsky boom. So here's to Glenfiddich - the beginning!

I was lucky... quite a while back. Steve Rush of that there Whisky Wire invited me to a Twitter Twasting to try not one.. not two.. not even three.. but four Glenfiddich whiskies. I was happy to join, but curse my luck I had to host another tasting elsewhere and could not participate. Still, I am armed with the whiskies so a tasting is well in order! To top off my good luck, Jamie Milne of that there Glenfiddich kindly invited me to my Almer Mater's big brother, Boisdale of Canary Wharf, to taste a few more of this Speyside distillery's delights. So here follows a lot of tasting notes...

Firstly the Twitter Tasting samples:

Glenfiddich 12 Year Old
40% - Distillery Bottled
Nose: Nutty caramel at first, becoming vinous with stewed pears to compliment. With time a gooseberry element appears.
Palate: Soft and sweet with a slight bite. Biscuit and spice pleasantly massage the palate.
Finish: Malty with oaky vanilla and spice.
Overall: This is a whisky that has so much going for it, and is as great a Scotch for beginners as it is for the veteran wanting a relaxing dram.

Glenfiddich Solera Vat
40% - 15 Years Old - Distillery Bottled
Nose: Orange rind, raisins and currants, vanilla pods, mixed spice. After this Christmas cake fanfare there are pleasing notes of cider.
Palate: A burst of spice and fruitcake, very sweet, very rich. Then I get a suggestion of smoke?
Finish: Gentle oak, Christmas cake dough, stewed apples and dark brown sugar. A long finish becoming creamy and spicier with time.
Overall: I think this long tasting note says it all, a great whisky. Plus the use of the Solera system promises plenty for the future!

Glenfiddich 18 Year Old
40% - Distillery Bottled
Nose: Chocolate cake topped with fudge, on a bed of stewed pears scattered with mincemeat.
Palate: Rich Christmas pudding notes followed with plain chocolate and ground coffee. Finally some of that pear from the nose spins in.
Finish: Very gentle but lengthy with light spice, cinnamon maybe.
Overall: This whisky is more elegant than the above and arguably more refined. A pleasing dram that presents its age nicely but not as exciting as the Solera Vat.

Glenfiddich Age of Discovery
40% - 19 Years Old - Madeira Casks
Nose: In the nicest possible way; cheap dark chocolate. Then there is a storm of nutmeg, stewing Bramley apples metamorphing into Granny Smith's, and a dusting of cinnamon.
Palate: Intense rich stewed fruits with a fair dollop of wood spice. On top of this there is orange zest and essence of a sweet shop.
Finish: Chocolatey, with light fleshy fruit and in time sour sweets provide a fantastic encore.
Overall: A really interesting whisky here, I don't usually appreciate Madeira finishes, but the Age of Discovery demonstrates their use excellently. If I was nitpicking I'd argue for a higher ABV to give this great whisky more weight, but I quite like that Glenfiddich flys the bottle-strength flag proudly!

And the ones Jamie Milne kindly allowed me to try:

Glenfiddich Rich Oak
40% - 14 Years Old - Virgin American and Spanish Oak
Nose: Clear new oak influence, fresh orange juice and peel, leading to dominant vanilla and dried apple. With time - oat cake notes develop.
Palate: Very creamy, focussing on vanilla and lime zest flavours; with the oak perpetuating throughout.
Finish: Masses of oak here, with tempting hazelnut nuances on top.
Overall: The new make spirit really comes through. This dram is evidently oaky but the virgin wood influence never destroys the balance of the palate.

Glenfiddich Distillery Edition
51% - 15 Years Old
Nose: Grapes and gooseberries join a floral nose with strong yet clean vanilla notes.
Palate: Ginger and black pepper immersed in blackberries.
Finish: Ashy at first but followed by blackcurrant jelly and dried berry fruits.
Overall: The unusually high ABV is excellently disguised. This whisky tastes very different from the distillery norm but is very good for it.

Glenfiddich Gran Reserva
40% - 21 Years Old - Rum Cask
Nose: Banana with light heathery floral notes doused in brown sugar and heaps of figs and dates.
Palate: Fruity and peppery; with lime highlights and hints of anise and spearmint.
Finish: Citrus limes notes dominate with cardamon spice and a distinct fruitiness.
Overall: Intriguing; this Glenfiddich offers something different again, like the Distillery Edition. This whisky adds something once again to the Glenfiidich range.

Shipwrecked with Poit Dhubh 12 Year Old

The slow and horrific realisation that you have made a mistake is deeply unpleasant. It begins in the pit of your stomach and turns into a fireball of dread before travelling upwards. It spreads out down your arms in a cold shudder and constricts your chest and then your throat. Finally your eyes bulge as your brain explodes. This is what I imagine the Captain of the Costa Concordia felt like when he heard the terrible crunch, as the rocks tore along the hull of his cruise ship. This sinking feeling aside, it is the mother of all mistakes. The cost involved is immense, the insurance underwriters are all going into cardiac arrest, governments will get involved and the press is enjoying a titanic extravaganza.

So, today I suggest a medicine for this feeling and that medicine is the Poit Dhubh 12 Year Old. Pronounced 'potch ghoo' and meaning 'black pot' or an illicit still, it is a blended malt whisky from the Isle of Skye. The guys making it are also planning to open Skye's second distillery, joining the already incredible Talisker. So without further ado...

Poit Dhubh 12 Year Old
43% - Blended Malt Whisky
Nose: A thick sweet combination of toffee and peatbog with malty orange foundations. Finally there is the smell of sea surf rolling over a stony beach.
Palate: Maritime with salty grape flavours but with caramel lending this whisky a very sweet character.
Finish: Malt biscuits and the faintest whiff of smoke; notable length.
Overall: A great blended malt from a company that have much promise for the future. I'm excited to try Skye's second single malt whisky!

Let The Battle Commence... Aberlour 12 Year & Cadenhead’s Aberlour 21 Year

Well it was inevitably going to happen; this blog-post is my first bourbon versus sherry wood comparison. For the uninitiated, whisky is matured in oak casks for a minimum of three years. The majority of a whisky’s flavour and its entire colour come from the time in the cask. The more you immerse yourself in the world of whisky the more different types of cask you will hear about; from Madeira to Amarone, from hogsheads to puncheons – there are a lot. However two types of cask are most widely used to apply flavour to a whisky. The first are ex-bourbon barrels from the United States, these give vanilla flavours to a whisky and the other are sherry barrels from Spain that can give an array of flavours but dried fruits and spices are classic examples. Originally sherry casks were the dominant cask type as they were more accessible than bourbon casks, but with better transport links bourbon has overtaken sherry in the race to supply the Scottish whisky industry. I have been told that a bourbon cask is about the fifth of the price of a sherry cask, hence why they now dominate the industry (although a revival of the sherry cask is well underway). In fact, George Grant of Glenfarclas told an audience of a tasting I was at that the sherry industry now exists solely to provide barrels for the whisky industry, as in this day-and-age fewer people are drinking sherry. Commonly a combination of each cask is used to get the right balance of flavour. Today I will be reviewing a sherry cask and a bourbon cask and comparing the two.

Aberlour 12 Year Old
48% - Predominately Sherry Cask – Exclusive French Bottling
Nose: Toffee and red apple (toffee apple?) with rich spices tingling.
Palate: Rich and dry with raisins, cinnamon and that recurring toffee flavour.
Finish: Slight off-wood I sometimes get with sherry cask whiskies, but rescued with ample amounts of wood spice.
Overall: A good whisky, classic sherry flavours, a little uncomplex but would be a good whisky to have if you don’t want to consider it too deeply.

Cadenhead’s Aberlour 21 Year Old
57.5% - Bottled by Cadenhead’s – Bourbon Hogshead – 282 Bottles Produced
Nose: A buttery’s worth of butter, spiced with nutmeg and vanilla, with hints of that classic Aberlour red apple.
Palate: Creamy with all that butter from the nose, heavy on the vanilla and spice.
Finish: Long but hot thanks to the high ABV, tobacco concludes this boisterous dram.
Overall: The rich butter and vanilla qualities offset with the spice lead to an intriguing and questioning whisky. The 12 year old was pleasant but this whisky is the winner. Probably the biggest unpeated bourbon cask whisky I’ve tried.

Grant's Twitter Tasting

Last Wednesday evening I was in a hurry. My heart was pounding and my adrenaline soaring as I crashed down the escalators at Tottenham Court Road, knocking tourists and business people to the floor in my mental haste. I tore through the ticket barriers, sidestepped a police officer and leaped onto my train. As soon as the train pulled into my home station I threw myself out of the doors almost bludgeoning an innocent bystander with my bag and I scattered down the stairs executing a combat roll at the bottom purely for style. You may ask why I was making this Jason Bourne-eske effort to get home. The reason for this mad-dash rush was that I was meant to be participating in a Twitter Tasting courtesy of The Whisky Wire and Grant’s Whisky but thanks to an emergency I was leaving work an hour later than planned. While I was on the train I stewed in silence as I realised the world was against me taking part in Twitter Tastings. Last time my computer wouldn’t play cricket so I had to strap two Blackberry’s together and this time I was running late, I think next time I will be staying at home, rigging a Moon Mission array of computers up in my flat and won’t answer the phone until every whisky has been tasted and tweeted. Anyway… Thankfully my girlfriend had Twitter up and running as soon as I got in and had my whisky poured ready so I only missed the first half and was able to jump straight in and taste the eighteen and twenty-five year old Grant’s blends. I was in for quite a treat as these whiskies were well worth a sprint home. For the sake of continuity I will write my notes in the order I should have tasted them starting with the Ale Cask then moving from the twelve to the eighteen to the twenty-five year old. Thanks to everyone who took part and to Steve at The Whisky Wire and Ludo of Grant’s Whisky!

Grant’s Ale Cask Finish 
40% - No Age Statement – Scotch Blend 
Nose: There is the instant suggestion of the influence of hops creating a cereal forward nose with sponge cake and honeyed cream. With time a grassy quality emerges becoming more and more gorse like.
Palate: Creamy with malt biscuit flavours with a bitterness I would associate with beer. Usually this would put me off a whisky but I thought it played nicely with its cask finish.
Finish: A little sharp but refreshing and malty.
Overall: This is the first ale cask finish I have ever tried and I like new approaches. The whisky didn’t have much depth but compensated with it’s beery character.

Grant’s 12 Year Old 
40% - Scotch Blend 
Nose: Heavy on the cinnamon with plenty of vanilla and a hint of lemon curd. Most interestingly there is a charcoal element that is quite intriguing.
Palate: Very light and delicate with wood spice and an earthy quality that draws on the charcoal notes from the nose.
Finish: Brief with notes of spice and vanilla pods.
Overall: Great nose with lots going on, this blend really requires a longer finish to gain the favour it should deserve.

Grant’s 18 Year Old 
40% - Scotch Blend – Port Cask Finish 
Nose: Port leaps out of the glass first with rich cake notes smothered in marzipan and candied orange peel. With time conifer forest notes appear with a hint of peat.
Palate: Very earthy, with rich fruitcake and warming peat adding depth and a satisfying aftertaste.
Finish: Spice and jam go hand in hand here in what I like to call a chutney finish.
Overall: So much more going on here than in the previous two whiskies. The port finish gives the nose delicious fortified wine notes, and the palate is beautifully rich and luxurious. A blend done good!

Grant’s 25 Year Old 
40% - Scotch Blend – Rare malts and early Girvan in the mix. 
Nose: Peaches and ginger in a soft but spicy tango followed by rich brandy sauce and Christmas pudding. The Whisky Review noted cola sweets and I have to heartily agree here.
Palate: A creamy palate once again here but with plain chocolate stirred through. This leads to pulpy dried fruits, notably dates and prunes with an alcoholic cherry flavour following.
Finish: Long and spicy with almonds sprinkled over. Beyond this there is coffee and an essence of wood smoke.
Overall: Packed with interesting flavours that compliment and enhance one another, complexity is the word here. I couldn’t decide between this and the eighteen year old… although in hindsight it had to be the twenty-five, it makes me want to pour another glass.

Diageo Special Releases - Caol Ila Unpeated 1990

This is the first of the Diageo special releases that swept me off my feet this year. I tried my first Rosebank that I rated highly, my first Port Dundas that opened up the gates of grain whisky and anyone who read yesterday's review would have seen my opinion on the unimpressive Knockando. However, it was the Caol Ila that was the first that truly impressed me this year. For a while now I have seen the range of unpeated Caol Ilas, however having never tried them I had no opinion on them. Recently I tried the incredible Ardbeg Blasda, a lightly peated Ardbeg that was a beautiful demonstration of the complexity behind the smoky veil of peat so I was very excited to try a Caol Ila that was entirely unpeated...

Caol Ila 1999
64% - 12 Years Old - Unpeated
Nose: So distinctly Islay without being peated. Chlorine without phenol, citrus fruits notably lime. Also with green apple extract and green grapes with a hint of nectarine.
Palate: Fresh green fruits with vanilla essence, creamy and mouth-wateringly drinkable.
Finish: Creamy with chocolate notes, becomes soft and elegant with water.
Overall: Despite no peating, this 'Highland' style malt is clearly Islay born. Drinkable with layers of earthy Islay flavour. A champion of this year's Special Releases.

An Exception To The Rule... BenRiach Arumaticus Fumosus

The world is full of exceptions to rules. The English language is positively riddled with them, "'I' before 'E' except after 'C'" being a flawed classic. Laws, especially when applied to those who make them, are diseased with exceptions and I am sure any game ever invented has a few thrown in for good measure (except perhaps connect four). Although exceptions make the world a more interesting and intriguing place they are also a major annoyance. For example: explaining a relatively simple concept to someone and, just when you think they've finally understood it, having to say "however there is an exception...". The whisky world is rife with exceptions. Quite often through my work I have to teach people the ins and outs of whisky. To keep it simple I work around the whisky regions of Scotland but of course every region has its exceptions. Islay has Bunnahabhain, the Islands have Arran, and Speyside has BenRiach. I usually skip over exceptions to keep things simple however it also means I forget about them. So recently I thought I'd pay more attention to these anomalies. The distillery I chose to explore was BenRiach, the peated Speyside. It was a distillery that I was dubious of, partly because I hadn't heard much about it but also because I had my doubts that Speyside could match the peaty passion of Islay - having previously tried the Benromach Peat Smoke I should have known better...

BenRiach Arumaticus Fumosus
46% - 12 Year Old - Dark Rum Finish
Nose: This whisky is meaty; smoke infusing itself in a hog roast lathered with sweet barbecue sauce.
Palate: Reminds me of punch, a rum kick from the cask finish with barley sweet flavours and some peat to boot.
Finish: Heathery and floral at first but then spicy and smoky with coffee following.
Overall: Arumaticus Fumosus is apparently Latin for 'smoky rum', for all that rum that was drunk in Roman times. That aside, I was impressed with this dram. It had layers of flavour that complimented its peating. BenRiach do a lot of different finishes so I couldn't say if this was comparatively under par or high quality, but it has intrigued me to find out. It is an exception to the rule I can live with, and I am curious to try more!

Welcome to Speyside - Strathisla 12 & 30 Year Olds

The location of my favourite
distillery tour (to date).

Of the limited number of distillery tours I have had the pleasure of joining, one has stood out as a favourite. Not because it was the most in-depth or the most wide-ranging but because it was the most charming. This tour was at the much-underated Speyside distillery of Strathisla, whose product principally goes into Chivas Regal and the excellent Royal Salute. The distillery is located to the east of Speyside and claims to be one of the oldest Highland Distilleries. It is certainly picturesque enough with cobbled pathways cherry trees, pogoda roofs and a waterwheel, but it was the tour that made it. The chap leading us around had worked in various roles at the distillery and had taken on the tour in retirement. He gave us a brilliant impression of what a working distillery was really like. Furthermore he let us try the malt that would open my eyes to the potential of Speyside. Strathisla is ever so lightly peated and it was this trace of smoke that appealed to my then peat-obsessed taste buds. So here's to Strathisla!

Strathisla 12 Year Old
43% - Distillery Bottled
Nose: Raisins, stewed pears, malt and fresh-cut grass play with a subtle smokiness, like burning hay with a phenolic chlorine edge giving another dimension to this dram.
Palate: Viscous malty aniseed with a touch of spicy smoke.
Finish: Full and wonderful; licquorish and burnt raisins with medium length.
Overall: A dram I link to a place and time so I am a little biased, but for me it is a great whisky to sit and relax with. Happy days!

Strathisla 30 Year Old
43% - Bottle by Gordon & MacPhail
Nose: Raisins and drifting wood smoke leading to pear and rum. Beyond this rich fruity nose there is chocolate and coffee cake with echoes of cumin and anise.
Palate: Sweet oily pear, smoke, malt and mocha in a lip-smackingly delicious combination.
Finish: Raisiny wood notes with a burst of pear drops with superb duration.
Overall: Fantastic: Complex, long, balanced, where can I buy more of this old bastard?

A dram to please all drammers... Highland Park and Hakushu 12 Year Old

Well, it was going to happen eventually. A review of a Highland Park. For me Highland Park is a masterclass in whisky making. They hit the all the right places virtually all the time. The Highland Park 12 year old is an incredibly accessible dram, it gives you a bit of everything but not so much as to spoil other whiskies for you. It has been described as the 'all-rounder' whisky and with good reason. It isn't too smoky, too fruity, too sweet, too strong, too weak - it is simply delicious. If I wanted to recommend a whisky that wouldn't blinker the subject's future whisky taste it would be the Highland Park, it defines good whisky but doesn't boast.

So with all that in mind, there must be other whiskies that do that. The MacAllan 18 year old is often tooted as a great, although for me it states the minimum a whisky should be rather than the maximum. I think the Dalwhinnie 15 year old is a fantastic introductory whisky for those with a more cautious palate. Or there is my Dad's approach to whisky, "This is Laphroaig, drink it 'til you like it." I think this explains my eternal struggle with Speyside and ease with the peat smoke. So, there is one whisky that for me hits all the right notes albeit differently from the Highland Park 12 and that is from the other side of the world. This whisky, and I believe this is my first Japanese review, is the Hakushu 12 year old. Despite tasting very different to the Highland Park this co-12 year old demonstrates exactly how whisky should taste. It may not be an eye-opener but it tastes like whisky should, great and with structure. Now here's the comparison:

Highland Park 12 Year Old
40%
Nose: Honey and pear waltz in together through a trial of light smoke, onto a grassy dance floor edged with heather.
Palate: A silky mix of stewed pears, smoke and ripe fruits with a pleasing sweetness.
Finish: Banana, and that recurring smoke and Autumnal breeze with a hint of spice.
Overall: As I have already said, everything but none too much, an accessible whisky you don't have to be ashamed of. Recommend at will!

Hakushu 12 Year Old
43%
Nose: Initially floral with sawdust from a pine workshop arriving next, followed by sticky toffee and citrus undertones.
Palate: Smooth and dominated by toffee, with other confectionary adding bulk to this full-flavoured whisky.
Finish: Marmalade at first but becoming creamier towards the finish, also fairly punchy.
Overall: A 12 year old whisky standing triumphant; strong with full mouth-filling flavours. An execution in whisky making and perfect structure.