First revealed towards the end of 2014, the Founder's Reserve single malt Scotch whisky is now available in the UK and will be replacing The Glenlivet 12 year old in many of the mature markets despite initial indications that it would sit beside it, broadening the entry-level options. Named in tribute to distillery founder George Smith, it's packaged in Georgian blue.
Some dates then what at first appears to be a touch of salinity, but is better described as a slightly sharp plum and apricot wine note. There's orange zest, toffee, hints of struck match and chocolate raisins, but before this starts to sound 'Sherried' there's also pear drops, a dusting of sweet cinnamon, honeysuckle and sweet pea.
Fruity, then sweet, more toffee, a touch of anise, then into milk chocolate Flakes, banoffee pie and apple turnovers.
Creamy toffee to the fore now, a little oak and sweet barley sugar warmth too. Milk chocolate raisins linger.
Perhaps a little sweet, but it would work well with ice where the sweetness would be slightly suppressed - and before you shudder with disgust, Alan Winchester said that he liked his with a little ice sometimes too. And if it's good enough for the Master Distiller...
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This whisky is for me better than the 12 years old the smell is excellent full of pineapple and apple together with some honey and vanilla mouth apple and pineapple juice with really malty and some oranges in the after taste i found the finish to be long.
Miles too sweet, to the point that I struggle to identify any of the other flavours identified in these tasting notes. I really wish these great distilleries would stop producing supposedly more "approachable" versions of their whiskies, they are almost invariably inferior to the originals. I strongly suspect that very little of the whisky in this product is 12 years old, most of it will be much younger. So replacing the 12 year old with this is good economics for the distillery but very bad for the consumer.
Glad to hear that ice is not completely verboten. In the right place it’s a pleasant addition,especially on a hot day. All in all this whisky is another mellow addition to my malt whisky experience and thanks to Morrison’s I can get for around £25 ! Even better. David MCS. Penn Bucks
This gets a lot of bad reviews because it replaced the Glenlivet 12 year old in Europe (now available again) and many were butt hurt about that, so that probably clouded their opinions. I’m Scottish, don’t profess to be an expert, but I like this a lot. Very drinkable straight for the non whisky snob.
Probably one of the worst or the only one which was bad .... drink for a long lasting head ache ...
