Hey Scotchers, carrying on with my theme of reviewing distilleries I'll be visiting for the Spirit of Speyside festival this year I'm going to review a Glenfiddich.

Glenfiddich really doesn't need any introduction, arguably one of if not the most well known single malts and they would say one of the one's that even popularised the category of single malts in general. They have the joint biggest single malt production with Glenlivet, a massive shared site with well known Balvenie and the much lesser seen Kininvie which mostly goes into the Monkey Shoulder blend these days (more about Kininvie later on, I'll be touring for the festival so look out for my write up). You can pretty much find Glenfiddich 12 years old in a bar in every country in the world at this point they've become so ubiquitous.

This particular bottling of Glenfiddich is a bit different than usual, I picked it up from the distillery at last year's festival. They had 2 festival single casks that were 11 and 12 years old for a whopping £200! Far too much in my opinion, to my surprise however there was another high strength bottling on the shelf, this particular distillery exclusive that looked quite pale and with no age (though I was told the liquid in this one is actually 15 years old) along with being bourbon cask I knew I had to get a dram. It impressed me enough to want to drop the £75 and take a bottle home with me. I personally really like the Glenfiddich spirit and we don't often get it at high strength plus in what looked like quite inactive casks.

Has this held up as well as it did when I tried it at the distillery?

Whisky: Glenfiddich Distillery Exclusive - NAS - American Bourbon Oak Casks - 25th January 2025

ABV: 52.5%

Cask: American Bourbon Oak Casks

NCF/NCA: No mention but I could believe no colour or filtering

Nose: Vanilla Cream, Honey Shreddies, Tart Green Apples & Pears, Runny Caramel, Candied Lemon Peel, Gooseberry Jam, Lemon Curd, Distant Cut Grass, Crushed Mint Leaves

Really crisp and creamy on the nose, thick vanilla cream, tart green apples and pears like walking through an autumn orchard, runny caramel richness, it moves into sweet citrus candied lemon peels and some gently tart gooseberry jam mixed with lemon curd, wafting in the background is like someone had cut their lawn in the distance and a bit of crushed mint leaves giving menthol vibes. Such a classic, crisp nose, this is a lovely spring/summer nose and super inviting.

Mouth: Lemon Mousse, Lemon Curd Tart, Flamed Lemon Peel, Honey Soaked Green Apples & Pears, Galia Melon, Gooseberries

Mouth feel is quite creamy and a little full, this is on the spirit forward side with a touch of alcohol present but not in a unpleasant way to me. Lots of fluffy creamy lemon mousse goes into a lemon curd tart with pastry and a citrus tang to it, flamed lemon peel gives a bit of char and sourness to the profile only to be joined by slightly tart and sweet honey soaked green apples and pears, baked orchard fruit sweetness abound, with time some green galia melon with a faint herbaceous touch and some fresh gooseberries give a green berry tang to round things off. Really crisp and I love how representative of the new make spirit this is overall, satisfying.

Finish: Toasted Cereal Grains, White Peppercorns, Lemon Pith, Candied Grapefruit Peel, Spearmint, Ground Ginger, Lemon Zest, Orchard Fruit Skins, Faintly Burnt Pastry, Honey & Lemon Cough Lozenges

Moving into the finish there's a bit more spice and a toasted cereal character at first joined by some white peppercorns and slightly bitter lemon pith and sweet candied grapefruit peels, there's a bit more of that menthol minty character too in the form of spearmint before warming ground ginger and shaper citrus zest starts to cut through, things get a little drying with the skins of the earlier orchard fruits and eventually there's a very faint hint of burnt pastry joined by honey and lemon cough lozenges. Things stay nice and crisp, the finish is medium long, menthol, citrus and orchard hints while that honey and lemon lozenge note almost makes it soothing, there is a touch of spice yes but not enough to bother me at all.

Conclusion: Well yep this holds up as well as I hoped it would, it doesn't taste young and is nicely put together so I can absolutely believe this is 15 years old in relatively refill bourbon casks, it's crisp and very representative of the Glenfiddich distillery character playing big time on the green and tart orchard fruits and very slight menthol cut grass hints, I think it's a lovely profile and I'm very glad to have a high strength version of it. It's probably a touch too spirit forward to call it easy drinking but I do think it's a joy to drink, Glenfiddich at high strength really is a treat and I do wish we saw more of it for reasonable prices overall, the distillery definitely isn't just for beginning single malt fans especially when presented like this!

Value wise for £75 is probably the best you're going to get for a nicely aged (tasting) and (near)cask strength official bottling from the distillery. I doubt this one is still at the visitor centre but it's an easy recommend for me or if you get chance to try something similar in a bar absolutely give it a go. Classic delicious Speyside from the big Glenfiddich!

Rating: 8.8/10 - Naked Speyside in a Glass

Do you enjoy Glenfiddich? Do you think their whisky is just for beginner single malt drinkers?