Glenlivet Nàdurra First Fill Selection (Travel Retail)

Nose: Apples, pears, apricot, peach, pineapple, musk sweets, honeycomb, milk chocolate, vanilla nougat with cherries and almonds. There are also deep honeyed floral notes wafting around in the glass. It’s a very fresh-fruit nose with spice and floral accents. However it’s the addition of a little water that really unfurls the aromas with buttery baked bananas and crème brûlée showing up. Palate: The arrival is drying and woody, then opening to a little spice (cinnamon). The development brings orange, weak coffee and some oak tannins. The texture is creamy. Reduction improves the palate as much as it did the nose, the whisky retaining its neat balance but gaining a soft blanketing warmth that perseveres. Finish: Medium. Nutty, herbal and spicy fading to grapefruit. Water softens the finish and adds welcome barley-sugar sweetness to balance the grapefruit. A very enjoyable whisky that is both warm and comforting but also curiously refreshing. Tasted neat, the nose is a whole fruit-shop of aromas and the palate is a spicy treat, but it’s only when it is reduced just a touch that this whisky displays its elegance. The old Nàdurra 16 year olds that were botted at around 55%abv or more were excellent whiskies, and while this Travel Retail 48%abv First-Fill expression captures some of their profile there is a depth of character that only 16 years of maturation can bring, and I miss it in this dram. The 16 year old has not been produced since 2014 and although there are cask strength editions of Nàdurra First-Fill Selection available it’s worth keeping an eye on the auctions in case a 16 year old comes up. It would be well worth the extra expense. Tasted from a 30ml sample “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

Batch FF0714. Interesting stuff. First fill American Oak. Yellow gold colour. Powerful and vivid with notes of carpentry, ichtyol and medicine. Alcohol is well pronounced. Needs a drop of water and some time to breathe.

Oaky notes on the nose with toffee. Flavors, first the oak then toffee, fruit, and a bit of floral notes. Nice long finish