The Glenlivet 12yr old First Fill 43.2% abv.
The Glenlivet is often the go-to scotch when introducing someone to whisky for the first time. I’ve always enjoyed the standard 12yr old. The older age stated 16yr old Nadurra was one of the best values going for quite some time…unfortunately those days are gone. When I first came across this one I was pretty excited to see a new take on the 12yr old. It is age stated, matured only in first fill American oak casks and gets a small bump in abv. On top of that the price was around $40.
The smell is– bright fresh citrus fruit, vanilla, caramel, orange rind, floral and almond. Very nice.
The taste is quite good a lot of citrus and vanilla, sour citrus with some spice and more vanilla.
The finish is short mostly with the spicy orange rind.
I really enjoyed this one. It’s certainly an improvement over the standard 12yr old and the small bump in price is worth it. I would recommend this one all day. I think this plays well to both newbies and veterans of the whisky world.
Overall Grade: B
