Whisky : Glenfiddich 15 Year Solera Reserve

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 40%

Cask : Ex-Bourdon, Ex-Sherry, Virgin Oak (combined in Solera Vat)

Age : 15 years

Tasting : Neat in a Glencairn @ a local Hipster bar

Nose : Sweet vanilla, baked pie crust, brown sugar, over time it develops a nose similar to honey nut cheerios. The aroma alerts you right away that this glass is full of a sweet nectar and should perhaps be either the first thing you drink in a night of tastings so it is not overpowered, or the last thing you sip— a nightcap gently tucking you into bed.

Palate : Honey washes through my mouth, but very quickly the honey is replaced by a potent vanilla— the sort of floral scent of a sun dried vanilla pod. After a good thirty minutes the scotch took on some more vegetable and berry notes: hints of cucumber and the fleeting juiciness of a ripe blueberry. My wife found it to have a lot of vanilla, but be a bit more jammy, more like chocolate dipped strawberries.

Finish : Very quick release with fleeting vanilla and dark rum sitting on the tip of the tongue. The finish did lengthen over time, finding some legs and coating the tongue with a mead-like or honey-wine character.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Opening a fresh pouch of sun cured Tahitian vanilla, the aroma just over powers you and everything around you.

Notes : Very drinkable and possibly enjoyable under the right circumstances, but it is not a dram to which I am likely to come back. I found the emphasis on vanilla notes to almost as if the hammer of the Vanilla God was striking my taste buds over and over again. I love vanilla, but the dueling combination of honey and vanilla ultimately made this scotch too sweet for me and a bit one dimensional.

I order this because I was intrigued by the idea of the Solera Vat. I had a good experience with the no-age-statement Glenlivet Solera Vat, so I was curious how other distilleries managed the same process. For anyone not familiar with the Solera Vatting; large holding tanks/drums/vats are used to constantly marry different casks and are never completely emptied during a batch outturn. This is one way to try to maintain a constant flavor profile, by always having liquid left over from previous outturns to use as a base.