dpo12345
Reviewed
September 11, 2017 (edited September 12, 2017)
88/100
First off, I must note that this is not the Canadian edition but the American edition. The reason I have it here is because I could only find this one. I don't think this will make a difference because the whiskey was put into barrel after the "tour of dreams" in Canada and the states. It was also aged both completely in Scotland.
Nose: Honey sweetness with notes of Pear, apple, and fig on a cereal grain base. Dig a little deeper and you find subtle vanilla, butterscotch, and fresh cut grass and hay. Very sweet nose, more so than other releases from Glenfiddich I have tried.
Taste: First entry is full of the fruits, both the fruits that I found on the nose and darker fruits as well with a slight cereal grain note. On the midpalate....HOLY OAK! Not sure if they aged this in any new American oak but it sure is heavy on the new oak bourbon flavors. You get cinnamon spice, vanilla, and caramel with some barrel char.....no smoke, just typical barrel char found in some darker and longer aged bourbon. The finish is long with the oak tannins extending from the mid palette and some leather. Fresh roasted coffee and chicory comes on about 20 seconds into the finish and fades quickly. Very nice.
All and all: I'm a bourbon and scotch fan for different reasons. I typically look to a bourbon for sweet oaky goodness when I want that but to scotch for the complexity and subdued sweetness.....even savory smokiness. This is a good whisky, but for less than half the price of $110 US paid for this bottle, you could get a top notch bourbon to experience many of the same flavors. If this were a bourbon, the rating would be a few points higher.