After the remarkable Glenmorangie, next up in our exceptional evening of hand-filled cask strength whiskies was this Glenfiddich 15 year.

Glenfiddich is one of the classic single malts… a standard most have encountered and consumed at some point. Our host is particularly partial to the 15 year, hence this was his choice when selecting a whisky to hand fill at their distillery in Dufftown.

Glenfiddich 15 year (19 April 2012) Batch No 15, Bottle No 11/15, 55%

Here is what we found:

• Nose – Honey, light fruit, black pepper, a little spice, wood, musty, floral, dash of vanilla
• Palate – Plum, cherry sour, spice, warm, wood, sawdust, light sherry
• Finish – Tart sour cherry that sweetens out
• Water – Absolutely add it! Takes the acidity out and smoothes it.

This cask strength whisky is known as the “Distillery Edition” and we anticipated it to be “more” with greater complexity and character than the standard 15 year. It has been a long time since I had a Glenfiddich 15 year, so couldn’t add much to the debate on how they differ… however indeed felt privileged to sample a dram straight from the distillery.

The Glenfiddich tastings notes for this whisky:

• Colour – Rich and golden
• Nose – A complex aroma with sweet, fruity notes and delicate vanilla oakness. Addition of a little water releases a beautiful combination of heathery spiciness and rich fruit cake.
• Taste – Silky smooth and warming when tasted at full strength. With the addition of water it produces intriguing layers of spice, sherry oak, marzipan, dark chocolate and ginger.
• Finish – Long lasting with a lingering vanilla sweetness.

Also part of our cask strength hand-filled whisky evening:

• Glenmorangie 10 year (1995 / 9 Nov 2006) Cask No 13038, Bottle No 45, 59.3%
• Abelour 16 year (10 June 1995 / 6 Sept 2011) Cask No 2303 (1st fill sherry), Bottle No 180, 57.2%

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