Glenfiddich 15 Solera - a rich seductive slice of classic well aged fruit basket

Old gold with a hint of amber

I have a complex relationship with Glenfiddich, but I recently had several experiences that helped me understand and appreciate the beauty and iconic nature of Glenfiddich's floral fruity Speyside flavor profile.  The first was at Whisky Live NY 2012 when Glenfiddich brand ambassador David Allardice poured me a dram of the 15 Solera and very congenially explained the flavor profile to me (and let me take a 50ml sample used in this review).  The second, more convincing, happened when I was trying to figure out what the "yellow" whisky was in the Dramming Scotch blind tasting.  I detected an aroma that I described as "green pear, green apple, banana, green melon, butter, mineral, honey, honeysuckle".  I tasted a number of options including: Ben Nevis 1974/2000 56.4%,  Glen Elgin 1975/2011 46.8% and a Dailuaine 39 1971/2010 46.6%.  Those are some pretty special and august drams.

I decided:  "This (the yellow sample - which ended up being a 1966 Loch Lomond) is most likely a 35 year old Glen Elgin at 45%.  But, wait, the Glen Elgin 1975 in my glass is a bit more honeyed, and a bit less mineral. Mineral - that sounds like Glenfiddich. Vs. Glenfiddich 15 Solera 40%: similar green pear, green apple, honey and honeysuckle and mineral, but more mellow and less phenolic and dynamic. Tasting the Yellow one, the Glenfiddich 15 Solera, the Glen Elgin 1975/2011 Malts of Scotland "Angel's Choice", and the Dailuaine 1971/2010 Perfect Dram head to head is a dizzying experience. They are all so close. Green pear, honeydew melon, butter, honeysuckle and some mineral in each and every one."

The Glenfiddich 15 Solera wasn't quite the equal of the Loch Lomond 1966 or the Glen Elgin 1975 - but it was strikingly close.  Suddenly I understood that this floral fruit basket flavor profile is a classic old style Highland and Speyside flavor profile of mature august whiskies.  Solera 15 has a mature and august aspect.  I wonder how much of this emerges from the Solera method - where a marrying cask is perpetually kept at least half full and new whiskies are added from a series of aging casks.  That means that some portion of the cask is very old whisky - some tiny bit going back to the very first whiskies that were ever put in there.  You might not want to spring for a 35-40 year old Highland classic for everyday sipping, but you certainly might for Glenfiddich Solera 15, which runs from the $40s to the $50s ($55.99 at Shopper's Vineyard, $39.99 at K&L).  If you love this particular classic flavor profile, Glenfiddich 15 Solera is the most cost effective way to get it.

Glenfiddich 15 Solera 40%abv

Color: old gold with a hint of light amber

Nose: green pear, honeysuckle or cherry blossom, honeydew melon, chalk mineral, Jucyfruit gum. A wonderfully rich characteristically Spey aroma profile.

Entry is rich and sweet after extended air with honeyed fruits and green melon, green pear, sweet butter and a profuse floral filigree. Meadow grass with wildflowers. Mid-palate expansion brings spirit and a light breezy malt and a jazzy medley of juicyfruit flavors. The mouth feel is light and a bit thin - I suspect chill filtering.  The turn to the finish is marked by a lovely lean and drying sensation and marked by the hand off from the sweet malt fruity and floral to the mineral and wood end of the spectrum.  Finish is medium long with gentle mineral notes, light oak tannins and a hint of oak.  You're left with a clean slightly sweet malty fruity glow, as if you had just finished chewing juicyfruit gum.

This is leaps and bounds ahead of the Glenfiddich 12 expression for a pretty modest additional outlay of funds.  Glenfiddich 15 Solera gets within shouting distance of very high end single malt for a bargain price.

****

Glenfiddich 12 On Demand Re-Review: A Recent Bottling. Has It Changed?

The new stuff at Gurinder's generous table.

A month ago I wrote a negative review of Glenfiddich 12. I tarred it with my bad memories of a previous no-age-statement version called "Glenfiddich Pure Malt Special Reserve".  Then I wrote up  tasting notes from  a 50ml bottle (which I had purchased for $10 at a local midtown Manhattan store in order to do a full review).  UK Brand Ambassador for Glenfiddich Jamie Milne surprised the heck out of me (primarily because I was shocked that anyone was actually reading this blog at that time) when he wrote:

"...you should also seek out another sample of the 12yo. Why? Because the miniature in your picture was bottled (I'd guess) around 5-10 years ago. The label has changed at least twice since then (check our website for the current labelling, so you know what you're looking for) and the whisky itself has been on a gradual journey since that no-age-statement bottle you remember so vividly."

The old edition 50ml

In other words, 'try the new stuff because Glenfiddich 12 has changed'.  I wasted no time lambasting Glenfiddich some more for having disappointed me in the past.  But, really, shouldn't a product be permitted to change - if the change is for the better?  Better educated whisky drinkers will choose better whisky to drink and the marketplace will adapt with better whisky.  Savvy distillers should be praised for getting ahead of the game and coming up with better whisky.  Why not upgrade the flavor profile of the top sellers?  The problem is that big brands acquire an inertia.  No one liked New Coke.  "Don't mess with success" and all that.  I didn't, in my heart, believe that Glenfiddich really had changed its flavor profile.   "Gradual journeys" for top marks like Glenfiddich 12 seemed a bit too much to be believed.  But, as always, the proof is in the glass.

My friend Gurinder (who had poured me a dram of Glenfiddich 12 at a lovely soire back in February - the original inspiration to write about Glendfiddich 12) was nice enough to pour me a generous dram yesterday and allow me the antisocial splendor of a slow meditative critical tasting session.

Glenfiddich 12 bottle from the 2011 holiday gift set 40% abv, 750ml.

(The gift set included a Glencairn glass etched with the Glenfiddich logo) - glass is visible in photo at top left holding a dram).

Color: gold
Nose: green pears, honeydew melon, honeysuckle floral notes, and clover honey.  The nose is really nice and gets better with time.  After 30 minutes it had achieved full bloom.  Fresh, floral, and fruity in the Speyside manner.

Entry is clean and light with malt cereal oats and honey.  The midpalate rest on a decent light malt body foundation.  There are flavors of oatmeal, a hint of mint, green apple, and grassy spring meadow notes.  It's not big - but there are no mis-steps.  The finish is gentle and brief and fades to mineral note (chalk like the cliffs of Dover) with slight bitter edge.

Bottom line, better than inoffensive - pretty good actually, for a single malt at this price level ($41 at Shopper's Vineyard, and $35 on line).  My most significant criticism is that the nose is bigger and more delicious than the flavor.

***

Three stars.  I have no problem recommending this as a gentle Spey.  

So, has the flavor profile changed?  That is certainly my experience.  Am I a huge fan of Glenfiddich?  Not yet - but I'm willing to admit that things have gotten better.  I'll continue to seek out the other Glenfiddich expressions to try and will keep an open mind.

Glenfiddich Special Reserve 12 - getting lost on the wrong side ofmemory lane

UPDATE: Glenfiddich's brand manager points out that the 50ml miniature used in the following review is quite old and that the flavor profile has changed.   I have performed a follow-up review.
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Archetypes often come in pairs; good/bad; male/female, etc... Yesterday's post recalled Macallan 12 as the sherried archetype of good single malt from my earliest experiences with single malts. Glenfiddich was the bad. As a self-identified beginner I had been steered to a 3 cornered green bottle of no-age-specified Glenfiddich. It had been paler than straw and of a weak insipid character with chalky and sour notes that added years to my journey by inspiring distrust and suspicion. When this was overcome I never returned to Glenfiddich. Once I was gifted another bottle of the no-age-specified stuff and it was the first scotch I ever regifted unopened.

Fast forward to last month when my gracious host who had already plied me with rare Indian rum, top drawer tequila, good malts (Ardbeg and Cragganmore DE), pulled out the Glenfiddich 12 I was open to the idea. It was pale, but more golden than the no age variety. An it wasn't bad. There was sweetness, grass and grain. Thus I came by this miniature - willing to make amends:

Glenfiddich Special Reserve 12  40% abv. Late 1990s dusty mini.

Color: pale gold.

Nose: Sweet with heather, gorse, a touch of the flinty mineral taste I recalled - but bracing when better integrated into the mix. There are also some vanilla floral notes that are fresh and appealing.

Entry is sweet and very light. The mouthfeel is ethereally light. There is sweet cereal malt and a grassy meadow note at mid-palate. Then things start to go south. The cereal flavor turns a bit sour towards the finish. It's like I'm tasting an echo of underfinished wort. There's not enough oak to check it (or the oak is too tired). The finish concludes on a sour and chalky note very reminiscent of the primary flavor of the old entry level Glenfiddich (that almost made a white liquor drinker of me). The entry and midpalate of this 12 year stuff is honeyed and way better than that undated material - but the finish is unpleasant and in the same way. To be fair, with extensive time the honeyed aspect begins to tame the sour aspect - but it's too little too late in my book.

It's a walk down memory lane in the wrong neighborhood.

Why this stuff is recommended to newbies I can't understand. It must drive droves away from malt whiskey. It reminds me of the cheap department store telescopes that so many children are given which are impossible to use well and thus turn them off to astronomy. If you need a light and simple scotch, choose a sweet and clean one like the young expressions of Glenfarclas, Glenmorangie, Glengarioch, Macallan fine oak, or a good blend like White Horse, Teacher's Highland Cream, Famous Grouse 12, Douglas XO, Johnny Walker Green, or Gold.

**