Description:

You can see the year The Glenlivet was founded—1824—on the very top of the bottle. But that was only the year that George Smith, the company's creator, formally received a recognized license to distill. Smith was one of many distillers who worked late into the night, bringing barrels over the hills to sell covertly in order to avoid England's unreasonably high excise duty on alcoholic beverages. But a true nearly 200-year tradition results in a superb single malt whisky that is among the best examples of the Speyside style.

Every distillery makes independent decisions that, if done right, become the signature of their distilled spirits. You can identify the common thread among them all, regardless of the barrel finishes or additional embellishments added. The primary goal of the Glenlivet's mash procedure is to extract sugar from the malted barley, so don't expect a candy-like sweetness; instead, expect a mild richness, fruitiness, and soft cookie-like note that harmonizes well with the alcohol and tannin from barrel-aging. No of the age or preferred finish, it hums throughout all of the distillery's whiskies.

George Smith himself created the long necks on the copper stills, which catch the most delicate esters during distillation and are essential to the subtle, seductive notes you'll detect in the nose.

The 12 is quite simple to love: It has a smooth, supple mouthfeel, and all of its distinctive components—aromatics, alcohol, tannin, grain, barrel, and texture—are perfectly balanced. It is the reason why these whiskies have persisted for two centuries, both before and after single malts became popular.

A little Kavalan-like in feel. There are several tropical fruits here. The smells of pineapple, red currants, sapodilla, honeysuckle, and honeydew are immediately apparent to me. Other aromas' potency abruptly decreased. Dates, cloves, tannins, lemon and lime peel, and honey are all detectable in the background.

Very different from the nose: in the mouth. Additionally, the flavors are a mess. I simultaneously detect flavors of fruit and oak. It’s like they’re competing with each other for dominance. There are light tastes of honey, tannins, starfruit, honeydew, cloves, tea leaves, and citrus peels. There’s also an odd, astringent mouthfeel that prevents me from enjoying the other subtle tastes. The finish is more pleasant. I get less of the astringency. Light tastes of honey, honeysuckle, toffee, milk chocolate, cherries, and vanilla come out.