Glenlivet 2000 18 Year The Distillery Reserve Collection (Cask #6106)

The final single malt from an incredible tasting tour at The Glenlivet Distillery was a very special 18-year-old single cask strength bottling from cask #6106, a second-fill sherry butt, bottled at 60.8% ABV. The Glenlivet holds the distinction of being Scotland's first legal single malt and the first to secure intellectual property rights for a whisky. The name Glenlivet was so widely used in the early 1800s that it became a common synonym for the term "whisky" itself. On the nose, it's nearly perfect: bananas and peaches. It's like an aroma of aged bananas and mint liqueur, with chocolate and cream. After the first taste, the aroma revealed coconut and Ferrero Rocher Raffaello candies, with almonds and chocolate. The palate is good but very straightforward: peaches, milk chocolate, and aged bananas. The finish is excellent, featuring notes of sawdust, a touch of ginger-like scorching spice, black tea, but also chocolate cream, butter cookies, and red chili. It's quite an experience. Overall, this provides a wonderful conclusion to a tasting at a distillery with such a rich history and expertise in whisky production. It's a traditional dram in its most original form: single cask strength. The simplicity of the palate cost it some points. It remains an outstanding dram, hence my score of 91 out of 100.