In between working and raising a daughter meant that I had not had enough time to blog about my passion. Fortunately, the year is winding down, and I can once again turn to matters whisky! I have collected quite a bit of material and have lots to post in the coming weeks.
But for today I decided to taste a whisky that is presented in arguably one of the most beautiful boxes around. So today, I explore the Glenfiddich Madeira Cask 19 year old Age of Discovery single malt Scotch whisky.
It’s quite a mouthful of a name, but as it’s a Glenfiddich, I am looking forward to tasting. The Glenfiddich distillery is one of my favourite distilleries and produces a broad range of expressions. Located in Dufftown in the Speyside region of Scotland, the distillery was founded in 1886.
During whisky’s dark days of the 1960s and 1970s, when so many distilleries fell silent or were sold off, Glenfiddich survived. They did this by introducing advertising, innovations such as packaging in tubes and entering the duty-free market. As a result, Glenfiddich remains one of the few distilleries still in family hands and not owned by a large conglomerate.
The Glenfiddich Age of Discovery series comprises three different expressions, Madeira, bourbon and wine casks finishes. My collection of whiskies include finishes in Sherry and bourbon casks, so when I travelled through London and spotted this at Heathrow airport, I had to get it. Madeira is a unique Spanish wine known for its sweet characteristics.
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The Glenfiddich 19 yo Madeira Cask Finish Age of Discovery single malt whisky is presented in a beautiful black bottle with red embossing near bottle’s neck.
REGION: Speyside
ABV: 43%
COLOUR: Antique gold. It’s beautiful when held up to the light.
NOSE: From a nose perspective, this whisky is complex. You probably need to nose it on more than one occasion to unpack its characteristics fully. I found raisin, fruit cake, citrus and oak. Others have reported figs, gooseberry and fruit.
PALATE: The Glenfiddich 19 year old Madeira Cask produced cinnamon and pepper, more fruit and dry oak with hints of ginger. Its complexity probably requires further tasting! The 19 yo Madeira Cask Finish is a polarizing whisky, and John and I were initially split on what we thought of it.
RATING: VERY GOOD
It’s a complex whisky, so you need to give yourself time and allow it to breathe a bit. In time and on later tastings, we may well change our view! It’s nice enough for us to look around for the other two expressions in the range. A 19 year old whisky is a bit of an unusual age statement and reflects something unique.
One of the things that I have been working on is pairing whisky with food. I have previously blogged about this subject, and I thought I would share my thoughts and invite readers to comment on what pairing of this particular whisky and food worked well for them.
I have not tried this yet, but the Glenfiddich Age of Discovery fruity character means it will go well with goats’ cheese, figs and thyme flatbread as a starter served on the patio with a barbecue. This pairing is something I plan to try as soon as I get my hands on some fresh figs. It would probably work well on a winter’s evening in company with a raspberry and fig pie.
I paired this Glenfiddich Age of Discovery Madeira Cask Finish with some Lancashire Cheese. It makes for an acceptable pairing.
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