Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve

The Glenlivet, a staple for balanced, affordable scotch that seems to scratch my itch for it, no matter what region I'm craving. I'm surprised I haven't seen this variant yet, considering it's been released for over 5 years and isn't prone to the insane markup and allocation that American whiskey is, but it still made for a nice birthday gift nonetheless. In any case, it's a great idea to grab some of the sweeter notes from rum barrels and combine with pretty decent scotch, and other than the boring, standard proof, I can't think of a way this will be anything less than moderately enjoyable. The color manifests as a mixture of deep pine, straw, and toffee. The nose is mostly notes of sour, fermented mash or "distiller's beer," with a tiny note of oak behind it, although neither sweet nor dry. Because of all the grain and sourness, if there is any rum here at all, it is a very unrefined syrupy flavor, almost hogo in nature. The body begins as light and inoffensive, but not necessarily watery. The sour and hogo flavors are found here at the top, but moderately so and not enough to be a turn-off if you don't like it or haven't experienced it before. Only after swallowing is there a tiny sweetness that delivers on traditional oaky, sweet, aged rum. The finish is a bit dry, with notes of both plain oak as well as raw sugarcane contributing to this. Repeated sips surprisingly stack on a bit of a gum burn, but doesn't move any further towards the back of the mouth or throat. Although I do like the unique flavor profile here that distinguishs itself well from the rest of the Glenlivet line (without sacrificing what makes the base whisky great), it's not exactly reminiscent of rum, or at least what the most common profile is when thinking of rum. At the end of the day, the dry, slightly smoky maltiness from the base scotch does pair well with the hogo, partially sour notes it gained from the rum barrel, but really didn't become any sweeter, so it just depends on what you're looking for and expecting when picking this one up.

Picked up a four pack of 50 ml Glenlivet samplers for AUD$30. Bargain. No expectations of grandeur but about time I knocked off a couple of common place bottom to 1st shelf bar offerings… now heading into number four I have been thoroughly underwhelmed by The Glenlivet. I’m hoping beyond hope that a NAS partially rum cask finished offering can somehow claw back some points… N: Light and suggests a thin palate will follow. There is honey as the obvious note, a little banana (the dried chip variety), and pear/apple sweetness. Meh, unremarkable. P: Didn’t see that coming. So so soft it feels like cool fresh water. Brown sugar, malty sweetness, some vanilla. Banana and coconut are barely present, but I do like the influence they have. I imagine if you really diluted some Malibu you might find a similar level of muted coconut. You could easily drink this by the glug, it is so soft and inoffensive as to be dangerous. F: Medium. Brown sugar, a little spiced sweetness. Unremarkable again. Right, maybe Glenlivet just isn’t for me. Maybe it is just a simple distillate that hits a middling ground of acceptability and tries to do no more? This Caribbean cask is as underwhelming as the 12 and offers barely a hint more novelty than the Founders Reserve. As for the other three Glenlivet offerings I have tried tonight there is nothing inherently wrong with this. I think the issue I have is that I want to drink good whisky. With a death in the family this week I am harshly reminded that life is too short for bad whisky. [Pictured here with a 350-300 million year old Phonolite from Traprain Law in the East Lothians of Scotland. This rock is part of a volcanic plug, the choked up neck of an ancient volcano. The name phonolite is derived from the ancient greek word for ‘sounding stone’ because of the sound it makes if hit; and, gives rise to the English name ‘clinkstone’]. Distiller whisky taste #115

This bottle from lot LKZR8257 Nose: Citrus, apple, grist. There is a light hint of oak and vanilla but it’s a shy, petite nose and adding water kills it stone dead. Palate: An exceptionally soft arrival with brown sugar, vanilla, light fruit and sweet malt. This is followed by a mild development that introduces delicate tropical fruit, bananas and a little coconut. The texture is light but satisfying. Unlike the nose, a drop of water blooms the palate very nicely, bringing out more sweetness and improving the mouth-feel. Finish: Medium/short. Fruit and dark sugar. The rum casks finally make an entrance just before the curtain falls. Instantly identifiable as young Glenlivet distillate, and it’s pleasing that the distillery character is so forward and not cask dominated. The rum influence is very restrained on both the nose and palate, but it’s not missing, just sitting quietly in the background and the more you sip this the more you notice it. The casks become most apparent in the finish. It’s a very pleasant NAS, exceptionally easy to drink (particularly with a dash of water) and it would be admirably suitable as a session whisky shared with friends on a warm summer’s day. It also teams very well with soda water, dry ginger or Coke and you can throw an ice cube in on a hot day without feeling like you are spoiling anything. I’m rating it on the high side of average, but I somehow feel mean for not giving it 3 stars, like I’m beating a puppy. “Average” : 79/100 (2.75 stars)

N: malty, fruity, orange zest, light hint of coconut, a smidge of a salty note, honey, slight floral note that lingers in the background, unfortunately the rum notes are a bit of an afterthought and not as strong as I was hoping for. T: malt, ripe fruits, some cereal notes, a little peppery herbal note that transitions to the rum finish, has a little oiliness to it, finish is short but with a little ashy char to it. Overall, not as good as I was hoping Glenlivet would offer for a rum cask finished scotch. Not exactly wowing me here for the price. It’s decent neat, but for those creative types, this could probably be incorporated into a mixer of some sort.

I am pleasantly surprised with this one. Fairly unexpensive with plenty of flavors. This Caribbean Reserve seems to have used caribbean unused barrels rather than rum used barrels. At first, I had citrus, orange on the nose with a very sweet note of honey. After that I got honeydew, melon and lemon. On the palate, it was more citrusy and sweet. I added some drops of water and the melon became more present with pear in the nose and a hint of toffee. The palate became like a fruit dessert. Like a melon, pear, orangy tart. Cream, caramelly with melon. Surprisingly good! Cheers!

Nose: The nose is fruity specifically with stone fruits like apricot and plum. Summertime notes of coconut and sunscreen along with sugarcane complete the rum cask expectations. Taste: The palate matches the nose, fruity and sweet. It is rum-like, but not overly so, with an additional taste of pears and plums. Finish: The finish is swift, sweet, with what remains being some barrel spice.