skillerified
Glenfiddich 14 Year Bourbon Barrel Reserve
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
January 29, 2022 (edited September 18, 2022)
N: Cooked sour apple pie with delicate pie crust notes. Vanilla and caramel, as expected given the barrels. As it opens, you begin to get some lemon, peach, pear, and maybe some other orchard fruit. Bit of ethanol in it that is not overwhelming at any one nosing, but has a numbing effect eventually.
P: Sweet caramel and vanilla dipped apple slices. Flash of chocolate and light coffee. A non-distinct orchard fruit floods the palate along with a pumpkin pie spice along the edges of the tongue and little bit of cream in the corners. Woody oak notes lead into the finish which turns somewhat tannic and bitter almost immediately. When that fades out, the oak notes remain and linger. There is surprisingly little heat given the bourbon barrel and fresh char barrel treatment - it's not nothing, but you have to kinda hunt for the cinnamon and cayenne. There may be a dusting of dark chocolate in there, but the finish generally seems to lack dimension.
Like the 18 year, I found this to be inoffensive, but a bit lackluster. This one takes more chances than the 18 - the bourbon barrel influence really shows up and steps up - but the overall, walkaway impression for me is "meh." Maybe the Glenfiddich profile just doesn't work for me.
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@DjangoJohnson interesting observation, I don't recall noticing that the last time I tasted that, but I will be on the lookout for my next taste of it... maybe that will be later today...
@DjangoJohnson My friend had a bottle like that too. It was super soap-y and not good at all. Bought another one few months later and it wasnt even the same. It wasnt amazing but it was alright. I think there was a "batch" that probably got some problems.
@DjangoJohnson Interesting. I didn't pick that up, but I could see how that bitterness might go that way. I have maybe a pour and a half left, so might see if I get that when I finish it.
This one really didn’t do it for me. Soapy. My first pour I thought I hadn’t rinsed out my glass, dumped it and rinsed. Turned out it wasn’t residual dish detergent at all.