At the beginning of this year, I got the chance to taste something extraordinary. WhiskyBrother, the iconic speciality whisky store in Hyde Park, sent me a sample of their new, personally selected WhiskyBrother Glenlivet 15 year old single malt Scotch whisky.
I could not wait to try this little gem. I decided to have a special early tasting just for this. Marc Pendlebury, the founder of the WhiskyBrother store, chose this Glenlivet 15 yo whisky on behalf of the store. It is a Glenlivet 1998 single malt whisky release, and it was bottled exclusively for WhiskyBrother.
Earlier in 2014, Marc travelled to Scotland. He spent some time with the independent bottler, Signatory. The benefit of an independent bottler is the huge selection and variety of whisky that they can offer.
It is often a misconception that independent bottlers produce whisky. Independent bottlers buy casks from distilleries and bottle it under their own label. They are also not restricted to a core range, style or age.
Out of the several whiskies that Marc tasted at Signatory, he brought three samples back to South Africa for final selection. The winning cask was chosen solely on the whisky Marc thought was best. He didn’t concern himself with which distillery it came from or how old it was.
Related Article: Glenlivet 12 yo whisky
Glenlivet 15 year old Whisky Review
The selected 15 yo Glenlivet cask was distilled on the 28th of August 1998 and bottled on the 24th of March 2014. The Whiskybrother Signatory Glenlivet 15 year old whisky is individually numbered and presented in a beautiful bottle. It was matured in a 500-litre butt, which previously contained Oloroso sherry.
The Glenlivet is not chill-filtered and naturally coloured.
REGION: Speyside
ABV: 54.8%
COLOUR: What an amazingly dark whisky. It has a dark copper, nearly amber colour. It is a very oily whisky making long slow fingers on the side of the glass.
NOSE: You can not miss the sherry notes on the nose. There are notes of raisins and sherry soaked plums and cherries. Closing your eyes, you get Christmas pudding sweetness and hints of vanilla mixed with the oak. When you add a few drops of water, you get more hints of toffee and caramel.
PALATE: It is surprisingly spicy on the palate. The nose suggested fruit sweetness, but the palate delivered spice and oak. There are hints of ginger, cinnamon and cloves before the sherry sweetness comes through.
FINISH: This smooth whisky has a medium length finish that ends in leather and citrus marmalade notes.
RATING: EXCELLENT
The Glenlivet 15 year old is exclusively available at WhiskyBrother, and there is a limited number. If you live in Johannesburg, make a plan to head over to WhiskyBrother. Marc, please keep us a bottle of this special WhiskyBrother Glenlivet before they all disappear.
WhiskyBrother regularly releases their own special bottlings. Lately, some of these special releases have even won prizes, so it is worth keeping an eye on the shop to see what else they have.
Also read: Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX whisky
WhiskyBrother Shop
Great review guys! So glad you liked it 🙂