Glenfiddich 15 Years Old Review

The blind taste test continues to show its worth with today’s selection: Glenfiddich 15, the bigger brother of the 12 reviewed a few days ago on this very blog. In that previous review I opined in a rather smug and self satisfied manner that my dislike of the 12 was confirmed with my blind review. But perhaps I should temper my celebrations. The 15 is one of my favorite whiskies in general. What kind of schmuck would I be if I trashed it? Preview of things to come, I did not, but I didn’t exactly give it glowing marks, and neither did anyone else. We thought it was just….well, just fine. Like, hey honey, how does this dress make me look? Just fine, dear. That kind of enthusiasm lights a fire, let me tell you.

This is our second time around on Glenfiddich 15. You can see our first write up here, but a few notes on makeup are worth a rewind: the 15 is not merely the 12 with an additional 3 years of aging, as intriguing as that may be. Composed of 70% refill ex-bourbon, 20% European oak, with the remainder aged in virgin oak for a small spell, the resulting mix is deposited into an Oregon pine vat for the famed Solera vatting process. You see friend, this vat holds the ambered distillate for a short time and is then drained of half of its contents, and then refilled with fresh 15 yr. Hence, over time, this magical vat can hold some fairly old whiskey, yet renews with undying hope from time to time. I’m serious, this is what the tour guide said. But not really. On to it.

SWC Review

Nose- Light, doughy biscuit at first. Hay-ish. With time, light honey and anise. Strawberry, dried apricot. Sherry sweet. Green apple candy and caramel.

Taste – Citrus, thyme. Simple syrup, little light. Tea like.

Finish – Medium. Barrel char (from those virgin casks?). Pastry. Dark Chocolate. Warm.

Comments – Classic and simple, with some depth over time if you look hard enough. Some thinness on the taste, but overall a nice expression of the classic scotch experience.

SWC Rating – 83/100