A 15 year old single malt Scotch from Glenfiddich Distillery, made up of whiskies matured in American bourbon, sherry, and virgin oak. Inspired by the classic sherry-making bodegas of Spain and Portugal, the 15-year-old whiskies are left to mellow and intensify in a solera vat, a large oak vat that hasn't been emptied since 1998.
Sherry, citrus - orange in particular, dry wood. Slight suggestion of smoke?
Medium, Sherry, raisins. Fruitcake, spices, sweetness.
Candied fruits, raisins, spices, Christmas pudding, oak takes over.
Smooth, spicy and sweet - this is a great whisky that is hard to find fault with. Especially considering the price. As good as the 18? No, but for the price difference it's pretty darn equal. Fill a Glencairn Glass to the widest point, add a sliver of ice, and let it melt and cool the whisky a touch. The splash of water really opens this one up. Pick up a bottle and enjoy it.
In my 60 years of sampling and enjoying a vast offering of whisk(e)ys, I have settled on the Glenfiddich 15. It embodies a lot of sweetness of fruit with a lazy bite on the palate. Best served in modern heavy bottomed but non-round glasses pre chilled and washed by three ice cubes. Battles won were celebrate with this.
There are times when I go at my bottle and it is lovely - rich, florid, honeyed sweetness with a long, pleasant finish. Inexplicably, there are other times when I give it a go that the finish isn't nice at all (like right now). Like the reviewer below, I get an unpleasant bitterness on the finish, or what might even be described as a chemical saccharine over-sweetness that coats my mouth and that's just not pleasant at all. I can't explain it.
The Glenfiddich 12 was for a long time the most accessible single malt as it was in amongst the blends and so when you know nothing, you see single malt and pick that one up. It's OK and I like the sherry cask varieties with minimal peat-smoke so the 15 year old is a great next offering. I get the bourbon and sherry notes for sure. A nice one.
I just tried my first single malt last week and it was the Glenfiddich 15 Solera. I enjoyed it a great deal, I also had a chance to try the Macallan 12 which I really liked. Looking forward to learning more and enjoying more single malts.
