Distillery/Brand: Glenfiddich
Region: Speyside
ABV: 40%
Colour: Deep Gold

Nose: 23
Taste: 21
Finish: 20
Balance: 21

Review
I think we all owe Glenfiddich a huge thanks! Not only for keeping the single malt flag flying so that it’s visible to all those rookies out there but also providing seasoned palates with gem after gem to satiate their need for quality.

This bottling of the Reserve Cask comes from a 13,000 liter Solera vat and is composed of 100% Spanish oak refill and first fill butts. It’s part two of three Solera vattings: Select Cask, Reserve Cask & Vintage cask.

Instead of all the casks being combined for a single, once-off vatting which is subsequently bottled, the Solera is a large vat which is continuously topped up with new malt each time a portion of it is drawn off for bottling. So at any one time, the Solera has a portion of whisky that has recently been added, combined with portions that have been in the vat for considerably longer – arguably a portion from the very first original filling should still be present.

Any questions? Good. Now on with the nose.

Nose: One word: gorgeous. Classic Glenfiddich. Full bodied and creamy and that’s just the nose. Strong sherry influence with lovely butterscotch and toasted almonds dipped in luscious dark chocolate garnished with red apples and sprinkled with a touch of salt.

Palate: Which makes the journey to the palate that much more painful. There is stale sponge cake, chocolate and cinnamon and a whole lot of confusion. It starts of promising but then fails to deliver any complexity choosing, instead, to float about aimlessly on your palate in a single layer of flavors.

Finish: The Houdini finish (and by that I mean makes a surprise disappearance) is a lemony limestone of disappointment.

Oh well, you can’t win ’em all, I suppose.

Rating: 85