Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix

The aroma is complex, with notes of green apples, chocolate, some lemon with spices, vanilla cream, and a thick consistency. There's a hint of sherry spice and chocolate fudge. The palate features vanilla, pleasant spices, some chocolate, and almonds. It starts like a vanilla milkshake, then transforms into apple juice, and finally into pleasant spiciness. It's very complex and intriguing. The aftertaste is good, with notes of cider, ginger, and creaminess. It's very enjoyable. Overall, this is a great whisky. Since I have an unopened bottle at home, I had a special feeling for it, which made me think this one would receive a perfect score, but it doesn't quite reach that. A solid, well-deserved 92 out of 100 is an appropriate rating.

This is an outstanding limited edition. In my view, it's not just the top release from Glenfiddich, but truly any contemporary single malt. I've sampled all of Glenfiddich's offerings, including the 30-year-old side-by-side, and that's precisely what you'll notice here. As discerning whisky drinkers understand, the further back you perceive the tingle or "heat," as some describe it, the older the spirit. I'm happy to share that this bottle contains whisky over 40 years old. When you sip it, it doesn't just strike one area. It hits the front-middle of your palate and continues its journey back like a divine cascade from a hallowed place, leading you to the ecstasy of the select few perceptive enough to acquire this bottling.

From the Drammers Club. This is one of my top picks, right up there with an unreleased 28-year-old cask sample. Smells like: Caramel, chocolate, vanilla, toffee, raisins, pears, green apples, kiwis, peaches, sultanas, lychees, oranges, walnuts, bananas, coconut, maple, smoke, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Tastes like: Caramel, chocolate, banana, vanilla, peaches, smoke, mangoes, pears, green apples, mint, grass, almonds, coconut, raisins, prunes, and dates. Finishes with: Vanilla, flowers, caramel, maple syrup, molasses, plums, dates, cherries, papayas, raisins, sultanas, and hazelnuts.

Tasted at the amazing Chami Bar in Davos, a modest establishment that happens to offer pours of rare single malts at the cost of standard Scotch in New York. What's remarkable about this whisky is the continuously shifting flavors in the mouth, transforming from one profile to another and back again, waxing and waning like the mythical bird it's named after. I couldn't take notes then, but it was perfectly balanced and mellow.

The aroma is delicate, featuring apples, pear, raisins, honey, dried fruit, and gentle spices in the background. The palate is equally delicate, with pear sweetness upfront, along with straw, honey, dried fruit, and gentle baking spices mixed with orange oil that provide warmth. The finish is long, with lingering sherry, straw, honey, and baking spices. Complex and excellent.

Aroma - smoked pear, fruit salad with lime juice, buttered pie crust with a hint of salt Taste - more pear, sweet apple sauce, pinch of white pepper Finish - long and savory, leaving the mouth feeling slightly numb.