Glenlivet Single Cask Edition, 17 years, Bottled 14/11/2011, Cask Edition Josie, Cask Number 4014, 57.5% abv.

This is the sherry cask version. Named after a well that supplies the distillery with water.

Nose: light sherry. After a long air time I get a much stronger aroma body, candy, caramelized brown sugar, red apple skin, red apple rind, after even more time a well bodied vanilla aroma develops, actually the aromas keep changing... quite complex.

Palate: oily, complex, initial palate is sweet and spicey, mid palate develops a viney sherry, a little vegetative, light dried fruit, becomes more meaty with time, cinnamon? back palate has strong vanilla, after a while there is more dried fruit, smokey. Not sure.

Finish: moderate, spicey.

I feel this is a very subtle sherry casked scotch, not strong on the sherry aspect, slightly fruity, but becomes complex. It takes a long time to open up, but when it does it offers a tasting that I can't easily find in other scotches, its not a strong sherry, has a few other flavors, and is actually oily in texture. Interestingly, after a long time, its more dried fruit and smokey at the end. The flavors take a long time to come out and when they do, they are very succinct and distinct. When compared to the "twin" Helios cask, its more complex, obviously more fruity, flavors actually require more focus to identify, and its not as unstable as Helios.

Grade: B+

Malt maniacs, 86 points from 5 reviews

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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