As with a whole
gaggle of other distillery’s The Glenlivet is proof and testament to the fact that
just because you’re one of the world’s biggest selling single malts, and in
this case the world’s second, there’s absolutely no compromise in the quality and
indeed the traditions that go into making its whisky. Infact for a
brand that you’ll see reassuringly represented in a multitude of bars around
the world, there’s a real sense of added occasion and satisfaction in knowing that
it’s still pretty much made the same way it always has.


Despite its
more than an average outturn of whisky each year, The Glenlivet very much seems
to have a ‘yearn for quality, rather than churn for quantity’ attitude when it
comes to its range of bottling’s. Be it for an addition to its Classic, Nadurra,
Cellar or its Single Cask Edition offerings, there’s very much a ‘when it’s
ready, it’s ready and not before’ way of doing things.

Lucky for us,
this month sees the release of a clutch of ‘most definitely ready’ new additions
to their Single Cask Edition range, which includes The Glenlivet Josie. A 17
year old single malt which has been aged in a first fill ex sherry butt, and takes
its name from the distillery’s underground spring. Last week I was very
fortunate to sample this particular release which is limited to just 464
bottles.

The nose
kicks off with seductively sweet and tenaciously thick waves of sherry soaked sultanas,
followed by a pleasurable protruding platoon of all the other fruity and winter
spiced delights that would make for the most decadently delicious and umptuously
imaginable fruit cake.

A grasping
fists worth of strawberry and orange fondant filled chocolates from a box of
Cadbury’s Roses and a few squares of Fruit and Nut from the same said
confectioner make for the next set of sensations, along with a quarter pound
bag of sherbet orange, sugar coated almonds and a pink calorificly sweet cloud
of candyfloss.

Warm slices
of spiced malt loaf smeared in cherry and plum jam, along with the distant aroma
of custard being poured over a sticky toffee pudding then conclude the cosy cavalcade
of sweetness, making way for something more reminiscent of a slightly under ripened
banana and a subtle flouncing mist of menthol.

The palate
kicks off with a ballsy balanced bout of sweet spicy sumptuousness. Pulped
dates, sultanas and mixed peels, partake in a particularly passionately
pronounced palatable rumba alongside an emerging wealth of winter and wood
spice.

Fennel
infused orange marmalade and more of those aforementioned Cadbury’s Roses and
sugared almonds make for the next set of palatable delights, along with a moist
and moreish wedge of fruit cake that’s been topped with a thick and garish layer
of marzipan.

Poached
pears sprinkled with a pinch of black pepper, asparagus spears covered in
vanilla hollandaise and an echo of a mid-priced desert wine, make a cheeky
brief and very subtle appearance towards the finish. But it’s not long before
something more cosy and familiar in the form of that sticky toffee pudding and
custard makes a reappearance.

The finish itself
is long lingering and leisurely and exquisitely exudes more of the sweet and
spicy delights that this particular drop of drammage delivered so well. I
wholeheartedly GlenLoveIt, and look forward to sampling the other new releases
in the series at some time in the not too distant future.