Glenfiddich 15 Year Solera Reserve

Blending at home has become quite the sport of recent times; I throw blame at our favourite geeky whisk[e]y Youtubers, who all too often will offer good natured suggestions in the form of: "Try blending A with B, then half that C and drip a drop or three of D ... et voilà!". If it is not blending, then it's infinity bottles, also a form of blending but of a longer lasting duration depending on drinking habits. The truth is that the art of blending is anything but just mixing an arbitrary selection of whiskies using randomly reached-upon ratios (oh I know, mix three malts and use 1/3 of each, because it's three). More often than not, one ends up with ruining a goodly number of fine-as-they-were-why-did-you-have-to-go-ahead-and-mix-em single malts. Which brings us to Glenfiddich 15. An earthy, musty note greets the nose at first sniff. Ripe plums and an assortment of raisins and sultanas mixed together with slices of red apple, poured over with trails of thinned caramel and sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg. A nondescript mouthfeel gives way to an arrival of ethanol which very lightly burns the tongue as it travels its way from front to back of mouth. Candied apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, the sweet mustiness of the fermented grape, orange zest, honey and wood tannin notes make up the palate. A combination of ethanol, astringent oils and winter spices creates a short-lived impression of muted red hot chilli peppers - a disappointing finish for a 15-year old whisky. This dram is the result of a three-cask vatted (blended) whisky. Previously aged spirits from ex-bourbon, sherry and virgin oak casks are mixed together in a 37,000 litre solera tun which has always stayed half full of all the previous vattings since 1998. Knowing this and coupled with the fact that it is a 15-year old whisky, I expected this dram to impart either of two experiences: a full-bodied whisky presenting flavours that slowly change over time, allowing me to journey through the different casks and previous vattings, or two, a cohesive, well-integrated, rounded and rich whisky that might just possibly impart a new taste profile for me. Was my expectation met, one way or the other? There's a competition going on within this dram. The result is a jumbled up, confusing and rather muted drinking experience. The people at Glenfiddich are not, by any stretch of the imagination, home blenders. Really good, single malt whisky comes out of their distillery. And so the answer to the question is a soft no, I was expecting much more of this. Overall I'd give this whisky a mark of 2.75, add 0.25 because I'm sentimental about Glenfiddich, subtract 0.25 because it's Glenfiddich, I'm sentimental about it and the expectation has gone unmet, and add 0.25 for affordability.

Interesting single malt, solera style. Fruity, sweet. Raisins, dried orange, vanilla. Very smooth finish. I like it.

Smell is vanilla and spice. Palate was dark orange and dark chocolate Overall good for me not liking sherry cask

Started off promising, but didn't deliver in the end. Bright fruit in the Aroma. Fresh and bright. Vanilla and honey with some light fruit notes. Apple notes come to mind in the flavor, but didn't sense in the aroma. Some water really opens this with some spice on top of the fruit notes. Some moments of charcoal or very light smoke. (very light) The problem here is the lack of finish. It falls off so quickly. Any perusal of my Bourbon/Rye reviews will demonstrate the importance of a lingering finish to my total enjoyment of any whiskey. After all, this is key to the "savor" aspect of something wonderful. The journey continues...