Review: Glenfiddich 12 Years Old Sherry Cask Finish
Review: Glenfiddich 12 Years Old Sherry Cask Finish
Recently, Glenfiddich launched a curious special edition — a 12 year old single malt finished in Amontillado sherry casks after initial aging in both American and French oak. While single malt Scotch finished in Amontillado is virtually unheard of, here’s the weirdest part of the release: It’s available only in California and Florida. The rest of you will need to find it online, I suppose.
I certainly can’t complain about the results.
The whisky offers a familiar nose that Glenfiddich fans will recognize right away: A sharp layer of sherry-driven citrus atop a sweet cereal core, evoking graham crackers, nougat, and a light hand of wood. Just a hint of tea here, giving the whisky a light floral note. The palate has just as much brightness, showcasing chewy almond notes, a fun lemon curd character, and a lushly sweet breakfast cereal character. Citrus and oxidized wine notes are present but are relatively restrained — Amontillado is considered “lighter” than the more typically used oloroso sherry in style — keeping the sometimes overpowering quality driven by sherry finishing in check. The results here are so impressive that there’s a case to be made for Amontillado becoming the standard go-to cask type for sherry finishing… but nobody seems to make much Amontillado, so that’s probably never going to happen.
But I digress. Returning to the experience at hand, one finds a finish that is moderate in length but which showcases everything that’s come before, plus a lightly grassy note that lingers on the denouement. It’s soft and approachable — never at all overbearing — showing notes of sweet sherry, gentle cereal, moderated wood, and sprinkles of all kinds of spice. All told, this drinks well above its $55 asking price… but that’s assuming you can actually find a bottle.
86 proof.
A- / $55 / glenfiddich.com [BUY IT NOW FROM TOTAL WINE]
Glenfiddich 12 Years Old Sherry Cask Finish
$55
About Post Author
