Tag: The Glenlivet

Whisky and Words Number 101: The Glenlivet ‘Illicit Still’ 12-year

I suspect this tastes MUCH better than that old scotch moonshine!

Once again one of my friends comes through with a bottle of something I  have not tried and turns out a pleasant surprise. This Glenlivet is a special edition presumably in the style of the original pre-licensed operation, but apart from that we don’t know a whole lot about what goes into it. It is  12-year, bottled at a hefty 48%, and not chill-filtered. While their website alludes to ‘smaller’ copper stills being used for the original illicit whisky, they don’t exactly say if this whisky is distilled any differently than the standard expression. Given the fact it is available across the U.S., which implies a large production run, I’m guessing they used their usual production stills for this. The ‘learn more’ button on the page above takes you to an ordering page which does have tasting notes but no more on the  making of this dram.

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Whisky and Words Number 61: The Glenlivet 15

The Glenlivet 15. Nicely presented. Sorry for artificial light, so much smoke outside, no sun.

Welcome followers 50 & 51! Also, since I updated to a more mobile-friendly format, thanks all for a solid 2x increase in viewership in 2020. That is about the only part of 2020 that has not sucked (pandemic, massive worldwide recession, collapse of American democracy, you know, all that stuff…)

Here comes another Glenlivet, this time the 15, on a huge sale at my local Oregon bottle shop. At $65 it is a $12 discount to the usual tariff. I was going to wait a while to post again, but a combination of this compelling sale, and the fact that we are locked inside for a weekend due to the horrific fires in Oregon (and resulting smoke) and a little celebration for my 50th (and 51st) followers has resulted in a bonus mid-week update.

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Whisky and Words Number 60: The Glenlivet 21

Snazzy box…nice veneer.

Switching it up on you today! The last review was The Glenlivet 12, now we’re on to the Glenlivet 21.  As I mentioned in the previous post, with 14 stills, The Glenlivet produces 6 million bottles a year. They are consistent, I’ll give them that. But the 12 did not impress with depth or complexity. Today’s question: can they produce an outstanding whisky, given 9 more years?

The 21 is tagged ‘Archive’ and priced here in Oregon at $209 per bottle. For reference, our un-flashy benchmark Glenfarclas has a 21-year that retails for $145. I’m hoping there is some special mojo in the Glenlivet to make it worth that coin. Whiskyloot has a tidbit—the ‘Archive’ moniker is because there are whiskies up to 40 years in cask vatted with this expression. Now they have my attention. We had a dram from a 34-year cask at the Balvenie and that whisky had a thickness and depth that was transformational. Old whisky is different.

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Whisky and Words Number 59: The Glenlivet 12

The Glenlivet 12 in 375ml size.

You might be surprised I have not reviewed this before, as The Glenlivet, along with The Macallan and Glenfiddich (the other massive Speyside producers) are found just about everywhere. Even in biker bars, for the occasional effete sipper of single malt, you will find The Glenlivet. To attain such reach, these distilleries are truly huge. The Glenlivet, with 14 stills, is the baby of the bunch, producing 6 million bottles a year. You might ask, at such scale, what kind of whisky can they produce as a single malt?

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