Glenlivet 33yo 1977-2010 50% Old Malt Cask cask#6537
Another Glenlivet, which to me exemplifies the perfect middle of the road whisky, but at this age can be superb. Old Malt Cask is fully spoken of already, needless to say, I have sometimes wondered when bottling whiskies at this age that probably have already dropped till 50-55%abv. before bottling, why not just leave it at cask strength? Smells wood and haystack, burning polyester and old used coffee filters. The taste strong, peppery with strong floral notes, lavender, lamp oil, rubber, garlic and toasted mushrooms. A strange mix, not to my distaste but really weird.
Glenlivet on a tyre?: 5
Glenlivet 26yo 46% Cadenhead's
A sherry matured Glenlivet, I don't believe they use casks like this anymore. Bourbon and French oak seems to be the path they're now following. Dark red color, beautiful, smells heavy oloroso. Sulphury, resinous, prunes, tannins, brown sugar, dry. The taste is not as sweet as anticipated, lots of oak influence, waxy, dry, oat meal, peppery, needs some water I think. Now it gets sweeter, with notes of herbs and weeds. Haystack and gunpowder in the garden? Not bad, just a very unsweet dark red oloroso matured whisky.
A rough and tough Glenlivet, better than current versions: 6.5
Glenlivet/Banffshire 16yo 56% R&J Brownlie
Another Glenlivet, now an older one at cask strength, although not too happy with the 16yo CS Nadurra I have much belief in this one. Extremely sweet on the nose, syrup, burnt sugar, figs, raisins, lots of good stuff, maybe just a little too much? The taste is much the same as the nose, and its hard to detect the high prof other than a slight dryness in the aftertaste. I have to say its hard to find anything wrong here obviously, and its as sweet as can be for a malt, even more so than many of the Glengoynes & Glenmorangies and so ons I've tried. Almost like a spirit proof moscatel. For all you peat-heads and fino-freaks, beware!
For a sweet-tooth like me: 7.5
Glenlivet NAS 43% OB for Baretto Import Milano
One flat bottle, perhaps a decade or two old? Glenlivet is to me the ultimate middle-of-the-road malt, maybe this will be different? Smells lots of vanilla and honey, raspberries, milky way filling, old style Glenlivet. The taste is more peppery, again some sweet vanilla notes, wax, oily, mustard and cream cheese. To be honest its just another clean, safe, good Glenlivet that won't raise any eyebrows.
Well composed: 5.5
Glenlivet 13yo 1996-2009 50% Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing
I´m doing two traditionally very popular, partly due to good commercial marketing I guess, malts today. This one from a sherry cask, hopefully this wood will bring back some good memories of Glenlivet, as I was pretty disappointed with the Nadurra last time. Smells surypy, heavy sweetness, along with some mint and coriander. A well leveled malt. Develops beautifully with time, becomes even rounder and mellows down a bit. The taste shows some milk chocolate, herbs, spices, sour notes of grapefruit and a slight bitterness. Some rubber on the finish puts me off a bit unfortunately. Other than that this was a pleasant surprise.
A perfectly balanced Glenlivet: 7
Glenlivet 16yo 1993-2009 54.2% OB Nadurra batch#161109
I tried the mass produced 48% Nadurra a while ago and was far from impressed, I believe it was the worst Glenlivet I've tried so far. Smells spirity, like some finer Vodkas, but far from what we usually find in whiskyland. The taste is dry and peppery, with small hints of soap and marcipan. With water it gets even more dry. It's better than the standard version, but the spirit is sort of out of shape.
An uninspiring malt: 3.5
Glenlivet 21yo 1973-1994 56% Signatory Vintage cask#3946 btl.530/860
An old sherried Glenlivet, deep dark amber colour, distilled in the days when the future of scotch whisky looked oh so much brighter than it was to become 10 years later. At this time I believe Glenlivet were the most sought after whisky in all of scotland. It smells fantastic, honey notes, sweets, oloroso, floral, raisins, delicious. The taste is slightly dry, chilli, thick, greasy, salty, not your typical sherry-maturation, but lots of phenols. I could've had this with a danish pastry and it'd be perfect. Anyway, it needs water. With water it opens up, gets even more phenolic, but also minty and earthy.
Old-fashioned sherry, I guess: 6.5
Glenlivet 8yo 40% Gordon and Macphail for George & J.G.Smiths
Recently I've tried mostly malts from distilleries easily available, so today I'll have two dinosaurs, but first this Glenlivet from the 80's. Actually there's a small piece of thread inside the bottle(?). It smells of poor spirit, some fino sherry, old newspapers and dust. The taste is the same but with a stronger fino impression. I'll dilute it down to about 20%abv. Suddenly it's like an underberg schnapps with liquorice. I bet some would like this but it doesn't taste much like single malt whisky.
And the thread certainly isn't a cask sediment: 2.5
Glenlivet 15yo 1977-1992 59.5% Cask Gordon & Macphail cask#11302-11303
A close to 60% cask strength from the very gentle Glenlivet should be a killer, but Glenlivet has shown to handle high strengths many a time before. The nose is dry, sherry, grape skin and lemon seeds. A very dark malt. The sweetness here is just too strong, sweet sherry, sugar, plums and white wine vinegar. With water it becomes a bit richer, but very two-dimensional, lots of sweetness at first, then very peppery in the aftertaste. It can take a lot of water.
Sorry, but the cask infuence is to heavy for this malt: 4.5
Glenlivet 11yo 43% OB for the Milano Whisky Festival btl. 491/500
One of only 500 bottles, I've never attended the Milano Whisky Festival, but I've heard good stuff about it. This one is a very pale glenlivet with some soft odors of vanilla and seaweed(?). Bourbon-matured I presume. The taste is very anonymous, even more so than the Glengoyne, perhaps some brown sugar and liquorice fudge. The aftertaste is just as anonymous. Another one to start off with, you have this on top of ice cream, only danger that it's gonna be overpowered by the ice cream flavour...
Too mild to score more, but it isn't bad though: 4.5
Glenlivet 15yo 40% G&M for George & J.G.Smiths
I have got no knowledge of how old this bottle might be, neither have I any clue about who George & J.G.Smiths are. It smells very light, some red apples, a bit fruity but very futile. Oh, the taste is horrendous, dry, papery, boring, bland and dusty. Like the air inside the vacuum cleaner. This I believe must be the worst Glenlivet I've had of today. With some water it gets worse, together with the bland style ther's also some alcoholic notes present now. Hopefully I'll never experience this again.
Like potato starch with Vodka: 1
Glenlivet 21yo 43% OB The Archive
For the last week I've been celebrating easter in france, cote d' azur, so no holiday without malt as far as I'm concerned. Although I'm a big fan of Glenlivet I've never bothered with this "archive" version until now as I always found it well overpriced. It has a very intense caramel nose, toffee-pudding, and some honey as well. The sweetness continous on the palate, but gets a bit interrupted by some strong mustard notes. It strikes me as a bit dry. Adding a bit of water compliments and some sweet woody notes and a peppery aftertaste emerges.
A decent malt, but pricewise there are better options out there: 7
Glenlivet 36yo 1972-2008 44.9% Alambic Classique cask 810251 96btls.
Finally I'll have a 36yo Glenlivet. This one is matured for 35years+ in a fino sherry cask, and then 10 months in a jamaican rum cask. It has some nice dry sherry odors, can't find much of the jamaican rum cask though. This is a pretty perfect dram, no flaws, sweet at first, then peppery and at last a semi dry sherry finish. That said, there's something just not right here, it states cask strength but the taste is much more like heavily diluted to me. For a fine sherry fan this should be just perfect as the aftertaste has some strong chili. For me it's just a bit too perfect, a bit boring maybe.
A nice malt that doesn't require much: 7
Glenlivet 17yo 1972-1990 55.7% Cadenhead's Cask Strength
This one has spent 18 years in the bottle, so I'll guess this gives me a chance to see if I can join mr. Valentin on his looks on bottle maturation. An amazing nose, smells of dark chocolate, armagnac, smoked salmon and freshly ripped thyme. This one is quite exceptional with three layers of different taste. At first very sweet, then very dry, and at last a pepper and hickory smoke ending. No water here, thanks. If I didn't know better I'd guess this was peated. One of the many wonderful expressions of Glenlivet.
Truly exceptional, I need to get my hands on a 70cl of this: 9
Glenlivet 15yo 43% OB French Oak Reserve
I don't know what's the difference between french oak and european oak, maybe I can find out now. A golden colour on this one. Beautiful, sweet and summery nose, takes me back to the riviera, no doubt. The taste is just a tad too watery, I wish they wouldn't dillute is as much. No wait a minute, it doesn't really taste of anything, but with water it becomes a bit like the 12yo, only less sweet.
French oak: 4
Glenlivet 16yo 48% OB Nadurra
A bourbon matured and unchill-filtered Glenlivet. Smells of seaweed, old fish, rotten squid and gelatin. The taste is sweet, pretty peppery, calm and kinda straight-forward. With some water it becomes somewhat dry, toasty, burnt bread, less enjoyable than my first impression. I'd take the standard OB over this any day.
I expected much more from this one: 3.5
Glenlivet 18yo 43% OB
Tried a bit under the influence, but I still managed to pick up some hints of vanilla on the nose, creamy caramell and vanilla milkshake (the homemade version). Fruity with some hints of freshly baked gingerbread and coconuts. On the palate it starts with some sweet and sour notes, bubble gum, boilt artichokes and an elegant finish with ripe dark berries and pepper.
Strange, with glimmers of excellence: 6
Glenlivet 12yo 43% OB
A 70s bottling this one. Very fragrant, mild, typical Glenlivet. Smells nicely of sugar, fine wheat flour, like a bakery. The taste is also very mild and nice, sweet, bakery. The finish brings it up a notch with some strong pepper that unfortunately too often is abscent in the newer bottlings.
Not too exciting: 4.5
Glenlivet 34yo 1968-2003 50.6% Hart Brothers
Lovely nice odor on this old malt, like a summer wind, at night, when out on the lake in an open boat. Or when you're getting home off the airport after a month in Beijing. I'm giving this some time, about 15 minutes due to it's age. I must say I was disappointed as on 50+% I'd expect something a little extra. I had too really use my sences to the fullest to get something on this, I do taste some dried pepper, coal, tame. It's somehow saved by a sweet finish with some pistachio, which is reinforced with a couple drops of water.
It's just to simple and plane: 5
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