Scotchblog was recently lucky enough to again have an opportunity to get together with Global Brand Ambassador Ian Millar. Ian was in Toronto showcasing the new and extremely limited Glenfiddich Rare Collection 1974 edition. The entire run of Glenfiddich 1974 consists of only four individual casks, specially selected by Ian and 13 of Glenfiddich's brand ambassadors.Ian excitedly described to us their process of selecting the casks that went into this product - they sat for hours nosing and tasting cask-strength whiskies, adding water, nosing again, and mixing with other cask samples. He describes some of the challenges they faced; while one cask tasted fantastic, when they added water to bring down the alcohol content, it would become reprehensible. While another cask would take to water nicely, it wouldn't necessarily meld well when mixed with others. The final four casks selected to create this expression were a 1973 European oak cask, a 1974 American oak cask, and two 1975 casks.
This yielded only 1000 bottles, 750 of which are for sale around the world. A mere 16 bottles will be coming to Canada, with the specific locations yet to be determined. It is estimated that when they are available, they will retail for $1000 each.
Colour: Deep copper.
Nose: A marvellous creaminess surrounding orange & tropical fruits, not unlike a fresh pineapple and orange fruit smoothie. Adding water brings out the sweetness, and evolves the nose into an orange Creamsicle with a light brown sugar coating. Not overly complex, but there is definitely enough here to keep it interesting.
Palate: The creaminess first detected on the nose drives full steam ahead onto the palate. Adding water doesn't drown or lower the flavours of this whisky, but instead actually brings out the richness of vanilla and toffee. Towards the back of the palate a touch of bitter anise pulls this dram back from being overly sweet.
Finish: A light, sweet, dessert wine finish. It doesn't linger as you would expect, instead becoming dry quite quickly, then lingering with an ever so slightly bitter anise that was detected on the palate.
Overall: Due to the extremely limited quantity, this expression is obviously a one-of-a-kind collector's item. It has great chararacter and is atypical in its flavour profile for Glenfiddich. While you can bet that we'd love to be one of the 16 individuals in Canada who will eventually scoop up these bottles, we're not holding our breath as the competition to get one will certainly be fierce.
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