October 7, 2025

Three Glenlivet plus two, including a prestigious last-minute guest

Three independents from Signatory and one official bottling, does that sound good to you? And how about we finish off with the oldest single malt in the world?

Let’s move on to the official bottling, after a long break due to the drop in bottling strength, not always the easiest to manage in a lineup...

A last-minute addition: the new oldest single malt in the world, and therefore, inevitably, the oldest Glenlivet. This new baby – though it's becoming rather difficult to call this sort of malt a 'baby' – has knocked last year’s 84-year-old Macallan off the top spot as the oldest single malt ever bottled. For the record, we never got to taste the latter. Letting people taste something like this is clearly a bold move, especially when it's being served to commentators who likely won’t be buying it, and who therefore won’t be going through the usual mental and/or vocal process of justifying their purchase decision. Perhaps it’s this kind of attitude that sets the braver houses apart from the less daring ones, or from those with less confidence in their products, or who prefer to put all their energy and budget into pedestalising said products. You know, the way many used to do back in 2015... Anyway, enough rambling. Hats off and thanks to G&M for letting us taste their most extraordinary whiskies, truly a class act...

Colour: deep gold. This relatively light hue is already, in itself, an excellent sign. Nose: the first clue arrives instantly, this cask housed several generations of sherry and has evidently rid itself, at least in part, of its most assertive tannins. The result is immediate notes of sweet almonds and fresh oil paint of great beauty. Think ex-Matisse studio, or better still, Paul Nash – the vintage fits. Then come marmalades and even fresh oranges, leading us to where all great aged spirits eventually converge: dried apricots, peaches in syrup, and old Sauternes, the whole accentuated by just a discreet flick of crème de menthe and fir bud liqueur. From the Vosges, naturally. And a whisper of liquorice. The freshness is astonishing, it’s almost a sprightly 85-year-old gentleman, the Harrison Ford of single malt. In truth, this nose is superb regardless of age; after all, 'age is just a number', isn’t it?

Mouth: once again, the freshness is remarkable. You do feel the age, please don’t put words in my mouth, age absolutely matters here. It’s just that there’s no fatigue, no weariness, no drying out, as is sometimes the case. Time, indeed, but without the ravages. Apple tart, candied oranges, reduced-sugar marmalade (really), a touch of English pipe tobacco, quince liqueur, pollen and honey, again that trace of fir liqueur, and even, would you believe, some perfectly ripe fresh cherries. That’s perhaps the most surprising and frankly extraordinary part. Finish: rather long, and now even more complex, with the emergence of various teas and herbal infusions, which might be responsible for the very faintest hint of tannin that, however, never becomes drying, not even in the slightest. And just the tiniest touches of cocoa and thyme in the aftertaste. Comments: to be honest, one almost doesn’t feel like assigning a score to this genuine work of art, but then again, that’s what we do. Still, we shall allow ourselves to include a very modest emotional factor in this final tally.
SGP:561 - 95 points.

At this rate, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that a 100-year-old — and I swear this is pure speculation on my part, because I haven’t the slightest hint of any information about the possibility of a 100-year-old in 2040 — might well score 100 points. At that point, we could shut down Whiskyfun for good… assuming that miserable little website is still around by then. After all, the Malt Maniacs' motto was, quite fittingly, ‘Quaestio Aqua Vitae Perfectum Per Ardua Ad Nauseam’.

Check the index of all Glenlivet we've tasted