The Glenlivet 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 70 cl with Gift Box

Product Information

Finally, here it is - The Glenlivet 18 YO single malt from speyside. In 2011 Glenlivet 18 YO received a new bottle. Now it has become the same as The Glenlivet 21 YO and The Glenlivet XXV. Colorful rich liquid in bottle predicts an enjoyable journey to satisfying emotions by exploring the story of The Glenlivet 18 YO, which is matured in oak barrel. So let’s start it. The whisky matures for a set period: 12 years, 25 years or even more. This is when the whisky develops most of its flavour. Whiskybase B.V. is the Dutch private limited liability company, having its statutory seat in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and its office at Zwaanshals 530, 3035 KS Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Whiskybase B.V. is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under no. 52072819.

The experience wasn’t as technical as I had hoped it to be, but that was to be expected. The spiels I heard were nothing new. The tasting touched on the founder, George Smith, and on how there were way more illegal distillers before 1823, after which a law made it cheaper to apply for a distilling license. It went on to say that 1824 was the year he got licensed and could operate his distillery. There was mention of the then-King of England asking for his whisky before it even became legal, and of how they fought other Speyside whisky who sought to use the name “THE” Glenlivet in their bottlings. The tastes follow the nose. It's a ridiculously smooth, medium bodied dram with some wonderful complexity. White pepper, cinnamon, apples, pears, brown sugar, etc. Basically the body delivers on (almost) everything the nose promises. American oak comes in a bit later, weaving nicely in with the lingering spices. Great finish.

Strong and sweet, like STEEL MAGNOLIAS

Since that times when The Glenlivet 12 YO leaves very pleasant memories about it I wanted to get some older The Glenlivet for a taste. Glenlivet 18 year old was bit of an disappointment after my great experiences with the 12YO. It was surprisingly robust for its age, though that wasn't necessarily the key factor for disappointment. In stage two, we distil the low wines in the spirit still. Once cooled, the stillman ‘cuts’ the liquid, separating the heads (the high alcohol liquid that comes out first), the heart (the desirable liquid of appropriate strength and quality) and the tail (the unusable liquid that comes out last). We recycle the heads and tails, the heart goes into the spirit receiver. MATURATION Professional maltsters soak rich Scottish barley in water for several days, allowing it to germinate. Once the shoots have appeared, the barley is heated and dried, at which point it becomes known as ‘malt’. Glenlivet 18 yrs has won prizes and is one of the classic Speyside drams, so I do know that many people like it very much. I guess it just doesn't fit in my palate like the great ones (and of course, over 80 points isn't bad, I was just expecting a score closer to 90).

Taste: Surprisingly robust for a 18YO Speyside dram...oaky dry and fruity. Floral and sherry notes. It has a lovely little nose of fruit, apples and pears, cinnamon, toffee, honey, vanilla, oak, little floral and a very slight cocoa aroma that appears and disappears.Without prejudice to the section Liability below, the Service may be temporarily unavailable during maintenance, updates, etc. We shall make reasonable efforts to inform you of any unavailability due to maintenance or updates.

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Whisky reviews for Glenlivet 18-year-old

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On the nose: Tropical fruits in the first half. Earthy in the second half. Initially, this is similar to the 12-year-old. There are medium intense aromas of pineapple, dried apricot, sapodilla, and starfruit. After these come light aromas of Fuji apples, honey and coconut sugar syrup. The intensity turns up a bit. It allows me to smell honeydew, orange jam and orange peel. Subtle aromas of French oak characteristics come out. An assortment of mushrooms like dried shiitake and grounded chaga comes to mind. The Glenlivet 15 French Oak Reserve is aged for under a year in both new and charred Limousin French oak. The casks are then re-charred after each use. This is wasn’t mentioned in the tasting, but previous tastings have mentioned charring is said to reset a cask. I guess they want to keep the French oak influence as pure as they can. There is also some European oak/ex-sherry cask in this blend. Unlike at other distilleries, we don’t use peat during the drying process, so the barley’s natural flavours and aromas are retained. MILLING In the mouth: A tropical fruit salad with an intermission of French oak in the middle. Like on the nose, it’s initially tropical fruits. I get light and slightly lasting tastes of cantaloupe, pineapples, sapodilla, starfruit, Fuji apples, honey and dried apricots. There’s a sneaking, rising heat here too as I chew it. The French oak manifests in the form of mushrooms. Similar to the nose, I get subtle and brief tastes of dried shiitake mushrooms, chaga powder and leather. At the end are a subtle mix of more tropical fruit notes with something bitter. The bitterness makes me think of biting into a fresh coconut husk, as well as honeydew and different shades of orange. Conclusions:

Types of whisky

Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”). This dram is basically what you'd expect to get from a mature Glenlivet. It's got the smooth, inoffensive every-man qualities that makes the brand so popular, but with the wonderful mature complexity that comes with age. However, I may not buy this one again, at least not for a while. Where I live it is literally double the price of the 12. The 12 is certainly not as good. But is it worth paying double for? Don't get me wrong, it truly is considerably better than the twelve. I've yet to see how the 15 year old French oak measures up, but I digress... On the nose: Very different from the 12 and 15. The aromas of red fruits are more dominant: I get light, lasting and stable aromas of cherries, dates, and sultanas, as well as Thompson & muscatel grapes, coffee, chocolate, honey and blood orange. There are subtle bursts of pineapple, orange peel and starfruit in between these–then there’s a sudden fall-off. I was expecting this one to be decent, but I expected it to be completely eclipsed by the HP 18 year old. Don't get me wrong, I prefer the HP 18, but the HP 18 didn't quite reach my expectations whereas this one exceeded them, and it's more than capable of playing in the same sandbox. I tossed up between 8.5 and 9, I've decided on 8.5, but it was a close one. This is good whisky, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s better than the 12 or the 15. The dominant European oak/ex-oloroso sherry cask influence just makes it that much more different from the 12 and 15.