Whisky of the Month – Glenlivet 33 Year Old by Signatory

 

The start of a new year is the perfect time to start new traditions. Along with getting fit, eating less chocolate, moderating our levels of alcohol consumption and trying to grow a beard (probably our worst idea of 2018 so far), we’ve decided to give our readers two new blog series to get their teeth into.

From here on out we will be looking at our Whisky of the Month in the last week and our Distillery of the Month in first week of every single month.

Whisky of the Month

To get us started we’ll be taking a look at a bottle that has received plaudits and acclaim from whisky lovers and critics alike.  We’re not just going to mention this bottle and be done with it though. Instead, we hope to give you an insight into the story behind it, how it was produced and what it is that makes it so excellent.

So, let’s take a look at…

The Glenlivet 33 Year Old by Signatory

This whisky was created in 1981 in the Speyside region of Scotland.

As one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries (founded in 1824) that is still operational today, Glenlivet have built up something of a reputation for being masters of their art.

Their consistency is one of their main draws for whisky fans. Since their inception, they have operated almost continuously, even throughout the Great Depression when, thanks to a huge drop in US sales, many distilleries were forced to close their doors.

(The only time that Glenlivet had to take such measures was during World War 2.)

This consistency bleeds into their spirit, with top quality whisky being carefully created every single day.

It is this famed quality that has led them to become the number one selling single malt Scotch whisky in the US and the second biggest selling single malt globally (ranking just behind Macallan), picking up countless awards for their drams along the way.

Signatory

This particular whisky was bottled and released in 2015 by world famous indie bottler, Signatory Vintage, after spending 33 years in a single hogshead cask.

Signatory, like Glenlivet, have a reputation for consistently bottling top quality drams. This suggests that they have particularly high standards when it comes to choosing which casks to purchase, and bottle, and which ones to pass on.

This combination of a world class distillery and a world class indie bottler can only mean one thing – world class whisky!

The Whisky

The first thing that you’ll notice about this Glenlivet 33 Year Old by Signatory is the fantastically elegant bottle that it comes in. This thing would brighten up any drinks cabinet and really stands out as high end (even those that don’t know whisky would think so).

It’s golden, amber hue is the next thing that will catch your eye. This is all natural as well.

The colour glows beautifully like the latter stages of an Australian sunset and the combination of the special bottle and this colour may make you question whether you should ever open this beauty (you should by the way).

Pouring your first dram is an exciting and cathartic experience. The spirit retains its colour and elegance in the glass and, to put it simply, looks like a work of art.

But do the notes stand up to the aesthetics?

Some Tasting Notes

It wouldn’t be our whisky of the month if they didn’t.

On the nose it’s juicy and gentle. It comes with hints of baked apples, dried apricot, a touch of orange and the perfect levels of oak.

The palate follows with more citrus fruits backed up by a hint of honeycomb and a little spice (just enough to take the edge off the sweetness).

More baked apples, oak and barley are the most apparent on the finish and they make sure they hang around until your next sip.

Overall it’s a sweet, gentle and moreish dram that offers so much.

Here we have mentioned just a handful of notes that we think would be the most apparent to a relative newbie whisky-taster, but for the trained nose there a whole host of complexity on offer.

Overall

On the whole this Glenlivet 33 Year Old by Signatory is an outstanding dram. It looks elegant, tastes fantastic and is brought to you by two of the most trusted names in the entire industry.

As if that wasn’t enough to get us going, only 215 bottles were ever produced and we have managed to get our hands on some for you. Rare, delicious and classy, exactly what we look for in a whisky.