Glenfiddich Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2015 20yo...

Glenfiddich Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2015 20yo (57.8%): Every year Glenfiddich Distillery chooses a cask to bottle to commemorate Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival of the same year and let the visitors bottle their own bottles at the distillery's visitor center. This first fill sherry cask with the inventory number 30318 that I have a sample of was chosen for the festival in 2015. The whisky in the cask is distilled in 1995 and bottled by Whisky Monster at cask strength carrying the bottle number 146 when he visited the distillery... The cask yielded 250 bottles.

Color: Dark amber, mahogany with a deep red hue... Very impressive color with long and thick legs.

Nose: Thick and chewy... Molasses, brown sugar and cooked prunes. Old leather upholstery, ground cloves and aged rum. You definitely don't feel the high cask strength abv on the nose. Fig paste and dried dates... A very proper old sherried whisky nose. Adding water makes it definitely more accessible but thins out the aromas a little. Woolen blanket, more prunes and rum again.

Palate: Sweet... Rum and raisin ice cream, moist fruit cake and cherry cola. Dropping a few drops of water opens it up: dried figs, dark Muscovado sugar, nutmeg and ground ginger. Creme caramel, lemon drops and Oloroso sherry. This is quite an amazing palate...

Finish: Long with candied ginger, fig paste and brown sugar.

Overall: It doesn't happen very often but once in a while when I sit at my desk with my glassware, water jug, notebook, etc. to taste some samples in a row all of a sudden one of the whiskies stops you the second after you pour it in your glass and take a sniff... It wants you to put your pen down, take your time, stretch the moment and appreciate it a little longer... This one was one of those whiskies. A well matured, layered and sweet nose followed by a textured, chewy and balanced palate and a long fading fully loaded finish. It changes and evolves in time with airing and with every drop of water you add. Beautiful dram... Another great example how well Glenfiddich spirit can handle long aging periods. I wish we could see more single cask Glenfiddich offerings at around this age and price range... Many thanks to Whisky Monster for sharing a sample of this cracker with me.

Price: £120

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