@Soba45 probably both—-trying to replicate the previous hit, while getting 20 barrels the same as before. But it wasn’t even close to the first one. Why put out the label Glenfiddich XX if it’s not even close? If my armchair quarterback taste buds can tell the difference, I’m sure their pro tasters can.

It looks like we got hold of the first batch then as it was a collective hit for the 20 or so that were at our tasting. Pity it went down hill but I did think allowing that many various barrels in the one mix would be hard to sustain. Not sure if batch 2 was a completely new recipe or they were still trying to recreate the old.

Yeah, I heard very similar notes on a bottle of XX. It sounds like the first batch was to die for but the second one could be drop kicked. That kinda thing makes the hobby challenging indeed.

Very crushing when you want to relive that initial experience and your subsequent excursion becomes a disaster. Sorry to hear that @PBMichiganWolverine. You can just was that foul flavor with something from the treasure trove you so recently organized.

😪 I tried.

@LeeEvolved use it as a gift. The mere name Glenfiddich carries a certain ‘wow’ factor to many. I’m gonna use mine when family & friends come over. They’ll appreciate the ‘fiddich and wonder what the heck is a ‘76 Ardbeg. I love folks like that. Oh...and no...that ‘76 Ardbeg is staying right next to the Hanyu, the 3 Karuizawas, the 2 Broras, and a ‘64 St Magdalene 🤪

"@PBMichiganWolverine - well, I guess that also leaves me with a bottle of it I now have no desire to open. Just go ahead and open that 1976 Ardbeg as a replacement and I’m good with your decision. And to borrow from my buddy @Telex - the theme of this comment is “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” by The Temptations. 🙂🙃🙂🙃🙂

Thanks for not subjecting us to this swill @PBMichiganWolverine

Re-review on Jan 17, 2018: another day working from home because of the snow storm. A whole 2 inches and schools with delayed openings, offices with late starts, and everything out of whack. Bunch of wimps. Back when I was at Uof Michigan, we needed a full 3 feet before Ann Arbor shut down. Anyhow...another day working from home means a little afternoon Madmen style dram. I had to open up my bottle of Glenfiddich XX batch 2. I had batch 1 literally the day it was on shelves ( in London), and it was amazing. I only had a sample, so I went back the next day to buy a full bottle. Was sold out in minutes unfortunately. So when batch 2 arrived on US shores, I immediately purchased it. Glenfiddich...holy Jesus, Allah, Krishna, Yahweh and Buddha...WTF did you do????!!! This is horrible! It’s piss water compared to the original batch 1. It’s as if they took the first batch, and decided how to make a polar opposite. “ let’s take the worst distillates, the worst casks, mix about 20 of them up, and send them over to the States. That’ll teach them for that Independence War 300 years ago.” @LeeEvolved @Generously_Paul @Scott_E @Telex ...I’m gonna remove this from our bonus list. Wouldn’t dare do that do you guys.

On top of the that, if you order from MoM, there's a customs clearance charge, which guarantees your shipment will get to your door past US Customs. Other EU shops don't have that I think. Which makes online ordering from MoM that much more expensive. Personally, I wait till I have an int'l trip, and stock up...if you buy more than $500, you can get VAT free clearance

@ Modern- thanks, I see what you're saying now. A lot of times when I'm comparison shopping online and the US dollar price on MoM throws me off. Now I understand why.

@leeevolved you're looking at prices excluding tax. If you're buying in the UK, the tax typically adds a premium to US prices. So many bottles are in fact cheaper than in the UK, though it varies widely.

@ Pranay- prices in the U.K. are almost always significantly cheaper than over here. I look at prices (in dollars) on Master of Malt and they are usually $15-30 cheaper than the lowest price I can find stateside. Factor I shipping from the U.K. and it's close to the lowest US price I find. So, it's all relative I guess. So maybe that's why your $50 price is now $70 here. Who knows?

@Lee: that's interesting--was $45-50 in UK last year, but now that it's made it here, they seemed to have increased prices

I just found and purchased a bottle online for $70 alone with a few other goodies. I'm looking forward to trying this one.

Looks like this will be available in Michigan starting next week. $80

@Soba: I think it's still available in EU, not sure about NZ though. At US$45-50, definately a great buy

Sounds interesting. Not a Glenfiddich fan but I do like a good experiment..an outside the box whisky, wine or beer. Never even heard if this until your review. I'll look out for it in dramfest next year in ChCh if Glenfiddich turn up again and have on offer.

@Pranay: True! Having a brand ambassador who tried hard to convince us that this malt must is 'absolutely brilliant' certainly factors in here... They normally achieve the opposite, as I like to make my own opinion when tasting a new whisky!

@Slainte: That's the beauty of individuality coming into play. So much probably has to do with individual chemistry. I remember having this on a hot evening, after some spicy Thai. I'm sure that played a role in the chemistry.

@Paul: if you find one...let me know where.

I had this malt during a tasting session with the Glenfiddich brand ambassador, and I was thoroughly disappointed. I got the impression that 20 decent malts were simply blended together without having a greater picture in mind. A bit arbitrary, without any plan. However, Glenfiddich Original tasted much worse than this...

I will look for this one, sounds like a nice relaxing summer dram.