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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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May 21, 2026 |
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The Time Warp Sessions,
two top-level indie black Glenlivets, 35 years apart
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We shall begin with the older one, if that suits you, as it is much paler in colour and a little lower in strength… And besides, it does carry a certain reputation. |
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Glenlivet 18 yo 1972/1990 (54.9%, Cadenhead, black dumpy, 75cl) 
I have never had much luck with these 1972s, although I had never tasted this single cask before. Because it was indeed a ‘special individual cask bottling’, as the label proudly states. Colour: deep gold. Nose: utterly bonkers, in any case highly unusual, on some improbable combination of onion soup, petrol, leek, paraffin oil, and all of this lingers for quite some time before… mango eventually emerges, rather in the style of certain TDL rums. Frankly, blind, I would have said TDL, it really is bizarre. With water: it goes straight back to fresh mango salad. Mouth (neat): directly on mango once again, alongside heather honey and some curious orange-and-strawberry soup. Glenlivet, really? With water: fruit salad with honey and a drop of olive oil. Amusingly enough, traces of vegetables and paraffin reappear right in the background. Finish: fairly long, let us say on a mix of asparagus, mangoes and honey, certainly not your everyday profile. Comments: at first, especially on the nose, you rather fear an almost ammoniac disaster. And then, little by little, it becomes magnificently fruity. One very rarely witnesses this sort of transfiguration, even if a few charming flaws remain along the way. Quite possibly one of the maddest Glenlivets out there.
SGP:661 - 91 points. |
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Speyside (GL) 16 yo ‘Exceptional Cask #7’ (57.1%, Signatory Vintage, 100 Proof series, 1st fill oloroso hogshead, 2024) 
Most likely a 2007, they had quite a few of those. There remains a little controversy regarding the origin of these ‘GLs’, Glenlivet or Glenfarclas? Although the majority still seems to favour the former. Colour: red mahogany. Nose: precious woods, freshly sawn cherrywood, then incense, cedar, balsa wood, furniture polish, beeswax, kirsch, prunes, walnut wine, bière de garde… The sherry has done a splendid job here. With water: it simply becomes earthier. Mouth (neat): rum-and-raisin chocolate, alongside bitter orange, pepper, fortified wine, rather ratafia, and green tea, no doubt from the oak. A certain earthiness then makes the whole feel even more satisfying, almost filling. With water: back come the shoe polish, grey pepper and mandarins. Finish: long, more on tobacco and leather this time. Coffee grounds in the aftertaste. Comments: it emerged from the shadow of that thunderous Cadenhead remarkably well.
SGP:561 - 88 points. |
(Merci to the Absolutely Nuts!) |
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