#guardians chapter

The Glenlivet Guardians Chapter

The Glenlivet Guardians' Chapter (Exotic) Single Malt Scotch Whisky

The shower might be the greatest single device for the advancement of thought that mankind has ever invented.  I had my own, extraordinarily minor, epiphany in the shower this morning as I considered how to frame this tasting note.  I'll get to it at the end of the note.  In the meantime, please try to move past the anxiety-inducing thought of me in the shower.

I will always have a special place in my heart for The Glenlivet.  It's an incredibly important distillery in the history of scotch whisky, both single malt and blended, and can justifiably call itself the keystone in this multi-billion pound industry.  This special edition was chosen by the Guardians Chapter - people who've joined the Glenlivet fanclub, basically.  There were tastings where the malts in the running were showcased and democracy chose this expression, the Exotic.

It's non-chill filtered and bottled at 48.7% abv.  I bought this through the Whisky Shop in an early release.

NEAT

Nose - Very light and subtle initially.  Honey and good milk chocolate (almost dark) bring a creamy sweetness but with a very slightly bitter edge.  After that sweetness you can't help but be hit by a big wave of fruit!  Citrus peel and green apples make this seem incredibly fresh.  Probably no mistake it was released right at the start of spring!

Taste - This is honey-sweet on the palate and that citrus hit reminds me of orange-blossom honey.  Then it's all about the rest of that fruit.  This is really juicy stuff, but always with sweetness behind it.  It's therefore surprising that the finish is slightly bitter!  I'm speculating here, but this feels like quite a young whisky (all that sugar and zesty stuff) and that bitterness might just need a bit more wood-maturity to age out.  It's a shame because it was going well until that point.

DILUTE

Nose - Once this gets some water in it, the orange is immediately more prominent and the chocolate note is now definitely milk chocolate, but still good stuff.

Taste - It's caramel sweet before the expected fruit burst but a previously hidden spice, nutmeg I think, gives a welcome heat.  Water has also shown up an almond nuttiness that is a nice savoury note amidst all that citrus.  The finish is mid-length and spicy with almost a wine-y sharpness that's a bit jarring.  I'm still of the opinion that this is a little young for release and needs a year or two more to develop some proper body to support that fruity character.

Overall, this is a nice, refreshing drop that falls short of brilliant by being too young, I think.  Now here's the epiphany: I have a few independent bottlings of some other well-known malts at very young age statements and this special edition puts me precisely in mind of those.  The sharp fruit, the borderline candy-ish sweetness, the lack of real depth - all are characteristic of an indie released young to stop the bottler incurring the storage cost.  The big difference is that I paid a lot less for the indies than I did for this, so if I'm right and it is a young bottling (I'd take a guess at between 6 and 8 years old) it really isn't brilliant value for money.