Notes: One of the oldest legal distilleries in Scotland. The full history of Glenlivet Distillery is covered in an excellent book by Paul Pacult titled “A Double Scotch”  (also reviewed on Booze Books our sister website)for those wishing to get into a lot of entertaining detail to regale their fellow malt enthusiasts with a lot of detail, including an attempted assassination by moonshiners of the owner when he decided to go legitimate.

Appearance: Lovely smoked Amber color, leaves a nice edge line on the glass after swirling with very even retreat of the meniscus with symmetrical tears forming after a little bit.

First Impression: Heather, honey, smooth nutty notes, slightly spicy, barley with dried dark fruits and a whiff of peat.

Taste: A manly but delicate expression of a whisky, nicely peaty but with heather and barley notes, some smoke with honey, spice, vanilla, dried fruits, leather, apricots, quite smooth and pleasant.

Drinks: Works well when you need a quality classic scotch and don’t want to blow a lot of money or overpower a drink with too much smoke

Bottle: Classic Scotch Bottle, green with paper labels and simple, classic graphics.

Other: Described as “the quintessential Speyside malt” by Michael Jackson, It does represent the style quite well.

Cigars:  Rocky Patel or Romeo and Julietta Connecticut Wrapper

Final Thoughts:  Available damn near anywhere you care to look it is a safe bet at a bar or as a gift if a fairly middle of the road somewhat conservative choice in terms of a flavor/style rather than say an Islay ( peaty, iodine, seaweed, very heavy duty sort of scotch)  or a lighter style or a blend. Price is good to excellent for what you are getting, there are cheaper lesser known scotches out there, but as I stated before, widely available and appreciated almost everywhere.

Website: www.theglenlivet.com

A well-designed website with lots of information, attractively laid out, and easy to navigate.