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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

'Fiddich Fever: Glenfiddich 15 year old


Yesterday I reviewed the Rich Oak 14 year old Glenfiddich.  Today, it's the 15 year old, formerly known as the Solera Reserve.  Inspired by a Spanish sherry producing technique, Glenfiddich began vatting some of its whisky in a solera system.  Here's an explanation of the process, from Roskrow's 1001 Whiskies volume:
The vat is filled with a mix of 70 percent refill bourbon casks, 20 percent European oak, and 10 percent virgin oak.  The liquid is then left to marry in the huge 700 [liter?] solera vat for three to six months, before half is emptied out and bottled.  The vat is then refilled to start the marrying process once more.
So, for the 15 year old Solera Reserve, which was first released in 1998, that's 15 year old whisky being dumped into the vat, joining a lot of older  earlier-distilled whisky from countless previous vattings, possibly some of which was distilled in 1983.

They also use a similar solera technique for their small batch 40 year old, but since I dumped all of my Glenfiddich 40 into a can of Sprite last Thursday, all I have available to review is the 15.


Brand: Glenfiddich
Region: Speyside (Dufftown)
Type: Single Malt Whisky
Maturation/Age: a 70/20/10 combination of refill bourbon / ex-sherry / virgin oak 15-year-old whiskies is vatted with earlier-distilled 15-year-old whiskies in a solera vat for 3 to 6 months; after that it is married further in a Portuguese oak tun 
Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Colored? Yes
Chillfiltered? Yes
(Many thanks to Florin for the sample!)

The color is a dark gold, the darkest of this week's Glenfiddichs.  At first blush, in the nose there's a very nutty oloroso, but then it vanishes quickly.  The familiar 'Fiddich pears are more reserved, but still present.  There are toasty grains, a rubber note, and a lot of toffee.  It smells woodier than the 14yo Rich Oak.  Like the 14, the 15's palate is not too sweet.  Mild dried fruit notes from the sherry meet some milk chocolate and black tea.  Then vanilla extract, dry grass, and cracked pepper.  The texture is a little thin.  The grasses and pepper hang around into the finish.  There's also caramel, some dry sherry, and a hint of tartness.

Artistically, it's a shame that they water this one down to 40% after all of that effort with the solera vat.  Some very nice notes show up, then vaporize.  (On a personal note, I was happy to realize that the sherry notes were not a turn off, and that I was actually searching for more.)  The whole thing oxidizes VERY quickly in the glass.  So you'd be best off not letting it sit alone for too long.

I like it about the same as the 14, though they are different whiskies.  Had the 15 had any stamina then I'd be happy to holler with glee about it.  But it doesn't, so I can't.  It's an easy drinker and, since it is available in the US, it's one of the best priced 15yos out here.  It is a step up from the 12, but not a leap.

Availability - Most liquor retailers
Pricing - $40-$45 West Coast; $50-$55 East Coast; was $33.99 at Trader Joe's a year ago but no longer :(
Rating - 84

21 comments:

  1. Here, have a glass of Macallan '64 and Coke.

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    1. I will serve it to you in the finest of red cups.

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    2. Make sure you add lots of ice. It must be very cold, refreshing, and smooth.

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    3. You whisky reviewers should use the word "smooth" more.

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  2. That would be such a winner at 46%. I had roughly the same feelings - there were good flavors present, but I wanted them to be more assertive.

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    1. Clearly they're going for quantity over quality. It's business and all. Plus the lower prices are appreciated by many. But the quality is there, hidden.

      This makes me wish even more that they'd release some casks from their grip to the indie market.

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    2. Looking at Whiskyfun, it seems many indie Glenfiddichs were filled into casks from the '50s to '80s. There are no indie bottles that Serge has tasted which have come from the '90s and later. This might be the time period William Grant decided on keeping all of the distillery's output for their use. The SMWS has numbers assigned for Glenfiddich and Balvenie (and maybe Kinivie) so it could be they are also wishing for a cask or two to fall into their hands.

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  3. Back in 2010, William Grant sent out a few bottles of cask strength Glenfiddich 15 (not the distillery edition but the solera reserve) to various online retailers as a marketing/publicity stunt. Now that is a bottle I would love to own. I also think I've read somewhere that the cask strength bottles are available now and then at the distillery store... at least I think they should be doing this.

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    1. Ah ha, found out Serge reviewed the cask strength and mentions it can be found at the distillery. However that post was written in 2007.

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    2. They also have a Rich Oak distillery-only version that he reviewed in 2012.

      The Solera Reserve cask strength one sounds fun. Not to provide any bad ideas here, but they could release that CS and charge $100 and people will buy it in droves. Though the Distillery Edition...

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  4. When I first tried Glenfiddich 15yo in early 2010 (I think), I really loved it. It tasted like chocolate milk, and drank like it too - it was hard to put down. This bottle, opened in Dec 2012, was a let down:

    "Not as good as I remember it. The nose is nice, with the Glenfiddich signature interplay of malt, fruit (soft apples and pears), and oak - well reminiscent of the 12yo. But it tastes "finished", manipulated, with too much bitter oak and too little sherry. Not well integrated. I would take the 12yo over this one any time of day or night! 2.5*"

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    1. Yeah, of all things I was searching for MORE sherry in this. And it did have more oak than the Rich Oak, curiously. I liked this a casual drink, but I kept wishing there was less water in there. If I ever see an older bottle I'd consider getting it.

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  5. Thanks for these reviews. Twice you mention vatting with older whiskies, but there's not much additional maturation taking place in a 700L vat, which is presumably made from neutral wood or even stainless steel, right? So while they may be from older distillations, other than the marrying and oxidation effects of the solera process, they're still closer to the 15yr age at which they entered the vat? Am I missing something?

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    1. Good question, Alex, thanks. You make a good point. Technically it's all 15 year old malt sitting in there. To the SWA, a 700L vat does not count as a maturation vessel. Plus, as you mentioned, the wood is pretty neutral at this point and there's not much wood contact being made anyway. I think it is done mostly for marrying purposes, inspired by the Spanish solera system.

      My opinion is that the romance about having the earlier distilled (and not officially older malt) is part of the marketing blab. I'm going to thusly adjust my wording in the post because I don't really want to add to the company's PR. Thanks for calling my attention to that.

      I do think that it's possible that Glenfiddich single malts distilled in 1983 taste different than those distilled in 1999, but I doubt that this can be discerned by this particular whisky. On the other hand, I do think this marrying technique is fun and I'm glad they haven't yet hoisted up the bottle price to pay for it.

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    2. Thanks for the reply. I agree.

      I haven't looked at the marketing but any implication by Glenfiddich of additional age shouldn't do much harm given that there is a prominent age statement on the bottle. It's an interesting whisky but, at $60 from my usual sources, it's too expensive for me. I lost interest in Glenfiddich and Glenlivet when they decided to "premiumize" their line to compete with other single malts.

      (I wasn't expecting any correction to your original post but, if you care, there still remains a mention of "older whisky" in the "Maturation/Age" summary section of your review.)

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    3. Oof, $60? Yes, those quotation marks definitely belong around "premiumize", as they didn't add anything new to the whiskies themselves. Part of the appeal of Glenfiddich was that it was a decent single malt priced the same or lower than many blends of its age. I like their 12 year, but when I saw it for $45 in New York last year, I realized I didn't like it THAT much.

      Thanks for catching what I'd missed in the Maturation/Age section. "Earlier distilled" is technically more accurate than "older", in my opinion.

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  6. Hi,

    I was just doing a bit of research on the 15 yr old Solera Vat for my blog (dihuli.blogspot.com) having just purchased one, and thought I'd let you know that this is the most interesting and informative post on the subject I've come across - the comments were particularly interesting too. I'm going to link to you on my blog, if you have no objections.

    Cheers.

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    1. No problem. Thanks, Neil! The Solera system seems to leave room for variation over time, but the big brands like Glenfiddich strive to create a consistent whisky. So I'm thinking, this 2012 probably won't vary too much from a 2014. If I ever find an older bottling of the 15, I may compare and contrast it with the current version to see if or how the quality has changed over the years. Cheers!

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  7. I decided to open the bottle I purchased earlier in the year. While Glenfiddich 15 isn't a complex whisky, I prefer it over the 12 year old. The sherry and new oak seem to be the bigger contributors to flavor in that the overall palate was sherry sweet but the finish turned a pleasant bitter due to the new oak notes. A very easy drinking whisky for the days you want something nice and basic.

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    1. Yeah, totally easy drinking. Glenfiddich is really good at fashioning easy drinking but not completely boring malts for excellent prices. I've been wondering what the fancy stuff tastes like. I'm still kicking myself for missing a local tasting that had a '77 cask.

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