Glenfiddich

[update]

I mailed the guys over at Glenfiddich and asked for some video of the selection process of this new Vintage Reserve. A couple of days later I got the answer that they had posted the whole thing on YouTube. This deserves an update!

Here are the 3 videos that was added to the new GlenfiddichWhisky channel. I hope this is the first of many to come

A summary:

The selection process (1 of 2)

The selection process (2 of 2)

[the old post]

Glenfiddich has revealed the cask selected for the annual bottling of its Vintage Reserve.

Led by the industry’s most experienced Malt Master, David Stewart, an international panel of nosing and tasting experts chose cask number 4414 for its exceptionally rich and complex 31 year old Glenfiddich.

From a shortlist of six European oak casks first filled with new-make Glenfiddich in 1975 or 1977, samples were drawn, nosed, tasted and debated at the distillery, deep in the Scottish Highlands over three intense hours. The speciality cask has been stored in the dark, damp conditions of a traditional dunnage warehouse at the distillery since 7th March 1977.

Head Cooper, Don Ramsay, repaired and prepared the Oloroso sherry butt (cask) prior to filling all those years ago while Head Warehouseman Eric Stephen, who was on hand to draw the samples, has been responsible for ensuring the cask’s security and condition has remained intact. The pair has been working together at the distillery for more than 45 years.

The selection panel consisted of David Stewart; his assistant Brian Kinsman; Gavin D Smith, a whisky writer who has penned tens of books on the subject; Prof. Walter Schobert, the accomplished German author and journalist is highly regarded throughout Europe for his deep knowledge of the whisky industry; Erkin Touzmohamedov, widely recognized as Russia’s foremost expert on Scotch whisky and Jimmy Bradley; owner and head chef of two award-winning New York restaurants – the Red Cat and the Harrison.

Commenting on the chosen cask, David Stewart said: “The selection panel really experienced the wide possibilities of aroma and flavour produced from one cask to the next. In our shortlist we had two casks filled on the same day, yet they were markedly different in colour, nose and taste from each other.”

Cask 4414 was a firm favourite of the 1977 casks we selected and run extremely closely for my approval by cask number 287 from 1975 said Walter Schobert.

With the limited edition single cask release restricted to approximately 450 bottles at an RRP of somewhere around £375, the Glenfiddich Vintage Reserve has become a must have item for collectors, connoisseurs and those with discerning taste. The official Malt Master tasting notes and bottle strength will be revealed when the cask has been bottled and distributed to key Glenfiddich markets this autumn.

Tagged as: cask selection, David Stewart, Don Ramsay, Erik Stephen, Glenfiddich, Malt Master, single malt

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