The Contour of Luxury Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 152
Alexis Day
The Glenfiddich 18 year old has notes of oak, baked apple, cinnamon
sounds delicious, not to mention intriguingly extraordinary. Can you
walk us through how such an amazing product is made?
Glenfiddich
With all Glenfiddich, and all single malt scotch, we start with barley that
we then essentially make into a beer. We then distill this through c opper
pot stills and mature it for the minimum length of time stated on the
label. For it to be Scotch it must be made and matured in Scotland
for a minimum of 3 years. What gives the Glenfiddich 18 year old its
particular characters mentioned is the hand selected casks that are
used. Our Malt Master, Brian Kinsman, will select 160 casks that he
deems will fit the character of the 18 year old, hence the reason
we talk about the fact that this is matured in small b
atches. The
influence of the ex-sherry casks that we source from J erez
in Spain gives it a baked apple nose and creates a spicy
cinnamon finish. This is a great expression for someone who
is looking for a very full-bodied Scotch Whisky.
Alexis Day
Glenfiddich has a variety of expressions of Single Malt Scotch
Whisky. What advice would you give to a first time consumer
of your brand products who is not sure which to choose first?
Glenfiddich
I would firstly ask them what they enjoy drinking. If they are just
starting off their Scotch Whisky journey then the Glenfiddich
12 is a great entry point as it is light, and delicate with hints of
pear. If they have already tried the Glenfiddich 12 then I would
suggest the 15 year old as this is incredibly smooth with more
of a mouth feel and longer finish. On my travels around the USA
I naturally meet a lot of Bourbon drinkers. For them I always
suggest the Glenfiddich 14 year old Bourbon B
arrel R
eserve
as this has strong vanilla notes and a bourbon like quality to
it. The question I always get asked is how to drink Glenfiddich
and my honest answer is ‘however you want to as you bought
it!” Saying that I do not recommend taking our stunning
Glenfiddich 30 year old and adding diet Pepsi.