DrRHCMadden
Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
November 24, 2022 (edited December 3, 2022)
Picked up a four pack of 50 ml Glenlivet samplers for AUD$30. Bargain. No expectations of grandeur but about time I knocked off a couple of common place bottom to 1st shelf bar offerings… now heading into number four I have been thoroughly underwhelmed by The Glenlivet. I’m hoping beyond hope that a NAS partially rum cask finished offering can somehow claw back some points…
N: Light and suggests a thin palate will follow. There is honey as the obvious note, a little banana (the dried chip variety), and pear/apple sweetness. Meh, unremarkable.
P: Didn’t see that coming. So so soft it feels like cool fresh water. Brown sugar, malty sweetness, some vanilla. Banana and coconut are barely present, but I do like the influence they have. I imagine if you really diluted some Malibu you might find a similar level of muted coconut. You could easily drink this by the glug, it is so soft and inoffensive as to be dangerous.
F: Medium. Brown sugar, a little spiced sweetness. Unremarkable again.
Right, maybe Glenlivet just isn’t for me. Maybe it is just a simple distillate that hits a middling ground of acceptability and tries to do no more? This Caribbean cask is as underwhelming as the 12 and offers barely a hint more novelty than the Founders Reserve. As for the other three Glenlivet offerings I have tried tonight there is nothing inherently wrong with this. I think the issue I have is that I want to drink good whisky. With a death in the family this week I am harshly reminded that life is too short for bad whisky.
[Pictured here with a 350-300 million year old Phonolite from Traprain Law in the East Lothians of Scotland. This rock is part of a volcanic plug, the choked up neck of an ancient volcano. The name phonolite is derived from the ancient greek word for ‘sounding stone’ because of the sound it makes if hit; and, gives rise to the English name ‘clinkstone’].
Distiller whisky taste #115
69.0
AUD
per
Bottle
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@DrRHCMadden 😂 😂 😂 Good luck!
@pkingmartin I’ve just pulled my black cloak and scythe out the wardrobe. I’m off to knock on the oracles door.
@cascode 😂 That certainly would be reason enough to propel me into combat to hopefully vanquish death from my door. If I should fail, I’d grab the bottle, raise it up and ask with my dying breath,”Want to have a drink of Brora with me?” Surely death would likely pause fate for a few drams of Brora.
@cascode we’ll be over shortly then, that fits with not planning for it!
@DrRHCMadden Possibly my retirement, possibly my 70th birthday, possible just a whim one day. I don't plan these things too much :-)
@cascode Whisky sir, is for drinking. And I suspect sharing. What time shall we all come over? 😅 30 years, that is some remarkable restraint. Do you have an occasion in mind?
@pkingmartin If I can't take my bottle of 1972 Connoisseurs Choice Brora that I've been guarding for almost 30 years with me I'm not going, and the reaper can kiss my (sherry) butt.
@Cornmuse I think my meagre following of people are amongst the most active people on distiller; all of them here more for my rocks than tastes! Cheers mister :D
Great tasting notes. I couldn't agree more, this (like the other Glenlivet expressions) is simply a boring pour. I really enjoyed your geology tie in! Thanks for that!
@DrRHCMadden All too true. The older I get the louder that drum beat of death’s march draws closer and on that fateful day that I greet the reapers gaze to pull me from this world, I’d better not have a Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve in my glass.
@pkingmartin thanks good Sir. 97 is a good innings. Sadly, a protracted five day departure. As cliched as it is, all the sayings about time ring true, and I’d rather not drink crap. But I guess the crap is what let’s you appreciate the gems. I’m back to whipper snapper on Saturday. Hopefully some good stuff coming up to share with the Distiller crowd.
Sorry to hear about the loss in your family. Hopefully your next dram is a colossal leap forward over any of these Glenlivets. Cheers!