12yo OB vs 200th Anniversary | 40% / 43% ABV

What’s in a number?

Funny thing; the whole 200 years since the great Excise Act of 1823 sort of passed me by last year. In my head there were dozens of distilleries that were started in 1823 – weren’t there?

Well, turns out that wasn’t the case – and none still operating today. So it’s likely that’s why there was zero fanfare. That must mean that this year is the 200th Anniversary for dozens of distilleries, right? 

Well, again, not really; Balmenach, Cardhu, Fettercairn, Glenlivet, Longrow, Macallan, Miltonduff, & Mortlach. From those I’ll be surprised if we see any anniversary bottlings from Balmenach or Miltonduff, perhaps a muted nod from Cardhu and even less than that from J&A Mitchell with regards to Longrow since the distillery itself is long gone, closing in 1896. So, my point is that 200 year anniversaries are not that common, despite the age of the Scotch whisky industry.

I have a big-numbered birthday coming up and I plan to open a stupid amount of amazing bottles – as my dad likes to remind me, you can’t take it with you. Hitting a big number, for a simple humanoid is a big deal and so you would expect a company, with £squillions at their command to go OTT on the celebrations.

If I were the Master Blender, I’d be picking out some quite exceptional casks and talking to marketing to make sure this new product screams ‘QUALITY, AGE, ANNIVERSARY’ – I want there to be a near hysteria for this bottling. FOMO should be dripping from the screens of all whisky enthusiasts and steaming up the windows of the whisky shops. That’s what I would want if I was the Master Blender (I know, right, bleeding narcissist).

What I would not want is something that is barely different from the standard product available in every supermarket around the world. A product exclusively available from a single online retailer that is owned by the same company as the distillery owner. That would just be missing out right? That would be short-sighted, slightly pointless and also bordering on cynical?

I have no doubt there will be lots of other anniversary delights from The Glenlivet – most will likely come with a price tag that will be laughable and not laudable. Many will be limited to the high rollers that deign Glenlivet worthy of collecting (but not drinking). The distillery will likely have a big event which no-one outside of the ‘Chivas’ circle will be invited to. You’ll almost certainly be able to buy a tea-towel for £15 that reminds you of the distillery’s great achievement turning 200. My turn for cynicism, sorry.

We’ll let the whisky do the talking…

Review 1/2

THE Glenlivet 12yo, Double Oak (American and European), Official bottling, 40% ABV
£35 and ubiquitous

Nose

Immediate and frankly childhood-inducing hit of pear drops (boiled sweets that have a ripe pear flavour mixed with some mildly sugary-chemical notes not far off licking a battery covered in fruit syrup). Under those notes there’s a mild melange of vanilla, custard-creaminess and a soft hint of oak. Bread & Butter Pudding - once the dessert of the poor and now in fancy restaurants served on odd-shaped plates - lingers in the background. Dissected this is raisins, sweetened bread, vanilla, nutmeg, maybe even some cinnamon.

I can’t say I’m discerning the two different oak types but then I’m not a police sniffer dog.

Palate

It’s very soft but then you were guessing that having either had lots of it in your drinking past or seeing that it’s a disappointing 40% abv. I haven’t got much more to write really. There are some flavours there – the pear drops have fallen out of a hole in the bottom of the paper bag and clearly the dog has snaffled the pudding when my back was turned. You put it in your mouth and it coats the tongue and then you swallow it.

The Dregs

I feel I’m being harsh on the world’s best-selling single malt here but I’m guessing it is all you would expect of something that is so, and really here I mean SO mass produced. To give it the credit it is due, this will certainly bring many, many dabblers into the whisky world; it is by no means the ‘best foot forward’ for The Glenlivet but neither can we claim it to be the uncle in the family that no-one talks about. Think of it more like Shmi Skywalker prosaic relaying of the gestation and birth of Anakin Skywalker.

I get a little tickle of some of the promises from the nose on the finish but it is like the faint perfume/scent after someone attractive passes out of sight.

Score: 5/10

Review 2/2

THE Glenlivet 12yo, First Fill American Oak, 200th Anniversary Release, Official bottling, 43% ABV
£52 and (currently) only available via The Whisky Exchange (so £56.90 with delivery)

Nose

The colour is possibly, maybe, with a white paper held up behind, slightly darker, but you’ll need good eyes to notice. It is mildly spicy at first with hints of nutmeg and possibly cinnamon (such a hard spice to pin down as our senses are drowned out with cinnamon-spiced lattes and pumpkin-pie flavoured this, that and the other). After just a brief breathing period we can see some return of the pear drops that were all over the nose of the standard 12 year old.

Also beginning to emerge is the custard creaminess, raisins et al that brings us back to that bread and butter pudding mix. The spiciness does remain, giving this an extra dimension to the standard, but only just…

Palate

Richer and sweeter and much more mouth-coating. Some butterscotch and barley sugar. Definite hit of pear drops on the palate (and much more in the finish). Not so much of the Bread and Butter theme and very little ‘oakiness’ which one could expect to find in 100% first fill American oak.

Buttery towards the end before those pear notes come through on the finish.

The Dregs

The standard ‘Double Oak’ 12 year old has a sort of flavour wheel on the reverse of the box that I partly agree with. On a scale of 1 to 5 for ‘Fruity’ it gives itself a ‘4’ (as it does for ‘Vanilla’) and a ‘1’ for ‘Raisin’, which is a strange flavour to isolate when only 6 descriptors are chosen. I suppose the ‘Fruity’ here is the pear drops which it is laden with on the nose but the vanilla is subdued and I didn’t find any ‘floral’ notes (it scores itself a 3 out of 5 for this).

The 200th Anniversary bottling dispenses with the half flavour wheel on the box preferring tasting notes on the front stating ‘caramel sweetness and summer fruit notes’. Well, I didn’t get any of that but I am sure you, like me, give as much credence to tasting notes as we do to electoral promises. There are more in-depth tasting notes on the Glenlivet website but as the finish is described as ‘silky’ I ignored everything else. Also, there is considerably more talk about the box it comes in - and well done to the winning Colombian design team for their design - than the whisky.

Query for all of you that like such whisky-related riddles; do owners Pernod Ricard / Chivas Bros mean when they state ‘First fill American oak’? That they are filling oak that previously contained Bourbon? Or do they mean ‘Virgin’ American oak? Just a query – I’m leaning towards the former as there is nowhere near enough oak influence to suggest anything was virgin in this mix. It’s also interesting how vague the whole notion of ‘European Oak’ is on the standard bottling. would that be French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Polish, Hungarian? Who knows?.

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty here: Glenlivet 12 year old Double Oak is not an expensive malt and can often be found around £30-35 (and similar in Euros etc); often less with special offers and loyalty card discounts ad nauseam. It could not, and would never be, the best-selling malt in the world if it did not compete on price. And it is not bad stuff, not bad at all. Perhaps every whisky drinker should keep a bottle to go back to as a reference point.

So for Chivas to release a ‘Limited Edition’ (no mention of how limited it is though) with just 3% more alcohol (I’ll come on to this later) and not much, if at all, of a story or reason behind the ‘First fill American oak’ at £52 (plus postage – don’t forget this is exclusive to The Whisky Exchange – although let’s see if that lasts) is not just a chance missed but frankly a case of ‘Wow, is that the time? Quickly! Launch something.’

Had this been priced at say £37.99 or even £40 all would be forgiven but by breaking the £50 barrier this bottling is up against some serious competition – and competition that is readily available at all of your local favourite stockists; no postage required.

The 3% extra in ABV, almost dragging this whisky to a 6, is a nice touch, but does not equate to £17 more in cost (and certainly not in flavour) and keeps the whisky firmly at 5/10.

As you can see in the pictures, the bottle and carton are near identical – you’re not paying for additional lavish packaging; other than whatever the Colombian design company got for their winning design. So, Chivas, rather than celebrating the 200th Anniversary with their customers, have used it as an excuse to ride their customers a little bit.

Sure, yes, I know, we will see and have seen far more cynical anniversary bottlings (and there will be plenty more to come) but this one grates because it really does not offer much of anything to those following The Glenlivet.

Chance missed I reckon.

Score: 5/10

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. FF

Other opinions on this:

Dramface (12yo Double Oak)
Whiskybase (12yo Double Oak)

Whiskybase (200th Anniversary)

Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.