[Review] Glenfiddich - 12 years old 40%

I feel like this review should have taken place a long time ago, when I was still at the very beginning of my whisky journey. However Glenfiddich is not a brand I have had in the cabinet. As you might remember, I started with Islay whisky and moved on to more peat and sherry whiskies. So Glenfiddich has never really been on my radar as far as stronger flavours were concerned. I am not saying I was not aware of it, i have always thought it was not really for me.

Fast forward over 4 years and I started to feel I should really have tried it considering the number of times I have heard people make reference to the whisky. So when the 1/2 bottle was on offer at my local supermarket I decided to take the plunge and finally give it a go...

Glenfiddich is one of the biggest names in the whisky industry and the 12 is probably their most sold single malt. I must commend them for having stuck with age statements even for the entry point in their range. Of course, the 12 year-old is bottled at 40% and nowhere does it state it is unchillfiltered and natural colour, even if the colour is rather pale...

Nose: Sweet and fruity, pear, vanilla, pear jam, barley notes, toffee and honey. There are some greener and more floral notes too with some green apple and lemon. After a little while in the glass, I start to get a bit of raisin richness and some very faint smoke in the background.

Palate: Sweet again with some toffee, vanilla and fruit. Some bitterness and spices too. Hints of dried fruit, green pear and oak. Decent but nothing too overwhelming...

Finish: A little smoke and dust, malted barley sweetness, oak notes and some bitterness lingering.

With water: A couple of drops and the nose becomes a little richer. The green fruit seem to have ripen a bit. Water does not help the palate in my opinion. It disappears quite a bit leading to some bitter spicy finish. I would keep away from the water with this one.

So was it worth the long wait to finally try it? My answer is 'no'. It is perfectly decent as a 'warm up' malt before a longer session but I do not get much from it on it's own. It is probably a single malt I should have bought and experienced a few years ago before moving on to stronger flavours but then again, I don't really regret having skipped this step!