Whisky : Glenlivet 14 Year SMWS 2.118 “Smith's quadrilogy: the sunshine cellar”

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 53.6%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrel

Age : 14 Years (Distilled 7 April 2006)

Nose : Big and fruity with subtle notes of pastries and wood.  Basket of ripe pears, green apples, grape skins, and pine cones.  Subtle licorice of jujyfruit candies, oaky vanilla, and pie crust.

Palate : Medium bodied and oily with jelly candies, tropical fruits, and Cook pine trees.  Bursting with bright guava juice, tinned pineapples, pears, guava candies, and the herbal-pine of Cook pine trees.  Twangy cream notes arrived at the end with guava butter and lilikoi, passionfruit, curd. 

Finish :  Lingering buttery curd and sweet citrusy tropical fruit.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Aloha Maid Guava Nectar

Notes :  This was a really interesting Glenlivet, I have never had one that leaned quite so heavily into exotic tropical fruits.  This had a lovely mouthfeel and it was just bursting with fruity flavors on the nose and palate.  It was not the most complex dram, but there were intriguing notes of woody vanilla and subtle herbal pine.  This reminded me immediately of the Glenlivet 16 Year Nàdurra, though that had a far more subtle tropical fruit-guava profile with more pronounced notes of cinnamon and spice.

Overall, a pleasant and enjoyable Glenlivet that leaned heavily toward tropical fruits.  This was a great example of the distillery’s quality spirit and it left me wishing the 16 Year Nàdurra had not been discontinued.