The
family of George Smith was producing whisky in the valley of the
Livet for ages. Their name was "Gow" till they preferred
changing in it "Smith" after a lost battle against England.
When the Excise Act which
made it possible to produce legal whisky was promulgated in1823,
George Smith was the first one who applied for such a licence.
He got his licence in 1824 and began distilling legally in his
farm. The Duke of Gordon, landlord and father of the Excise Act
was very pleased to see the results of this first legal distillery.
But the moonshine distillers were not so happy. Some of them even
threaten him with death, and the Duke of Gordon lent him 2 shotguns,
which still can be seen in the visitor centre of the distillery.
His son, James Gordon Smith founded a distillery named Delnabo near Tomintoul
in 1849. He was not really successful, and George took over his son's distillery,
and renamed it Cairngorn.
In 1858, George and James joined together to build a bigger distillery near Minmore,
where the present distillery is settled. Both of the distilleries owned by the
family were closed and demolished. The new distillery was nearby the railway,
which
facilitates lots of things for a distillery. The commercial success was also due
to the exclusive distributor, Andrew Usher & Co who is by the way the inventor
of the blended whisky with the unchanging consistency which made the success
of blends.
In the 1880's, The Glenlivet was so famous that some other unscrupulous distillers
began to use its name on their own bottlings.John Gordon Smith went to court
and won partially his case. He was the only one who was authorized to use the
name of Glenlivet without any other added word. His distillery became then "The
Glenlivet", but others had the right to add the name Glenlivet to their
own name. The trademark was registered in 1870.
The current owner of the distillery would like to go further, and oblige his
competitors to abandon the name of Glenlivet in the name of their distillery.
To make an example, he renamed one of the distilleries belonging to his group
from Braes of Glenlivet in Braeval.
Glenlivet merged with Glen Grant in 1853. In
1958 a fire destroyed the original buildings.
In the early 70's, Glenlivet and Glen Grant acquired the Longmorn distillery
to become "The Glenlivet Distillers" taken over in 1977 by the Seagram
group.
The distilleries belonging to the "Chivas and Glenlivet Group", property
of Seagram,
were bought by the Pernod-Ricard group on 19 december 2001.
The only period where The Glenlivet had to close was the second world war, because
of a lack of barley.
Besides the marketing as single malt, the whisky is used form premium blends
like Chivas Regal and Royal Salute
| Glenlivet | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | |||
| O.B. | 12 years | 15 | |
| American Oak matured | 16 2/3 | ||
| Archive | 17 | ||
| French Oak Finish | 17 | ||
| 15 years | 17 | ||
| 18 years | 17 | ||
| Archive, 21 years | 16 | ||
| Nadurra | 17 | ||
| Duncan Taylor | Cask Strength Rare Auld 37 years | ||
| Dewar Rattray | Cask Collection 17 years | 18 | |
| Gordon & MacPhail | Gordon & MacPhail 1990 Reserve | 19 | |
| Jean Boyer | Best casks of Scotland 1993 | 18 | |
| One shot, 1990 | 17 | ||
| Murray McDavid | Glenlivet 1975, Celtic Heartlands |
Glenlivet 12 years |
|
Age |
12 years |
Alcohol percentage |
40% |
Bottler |
Official |
Appearance: Bright yellow, new gold.
Nose: Mellow and peppery. Floral, leafy, fresh fruit, new wood.
Flavour: The mouth feel is very clean and creamy, smooth textures.
Salty and smooth to begin with, then leathery with a whiff of spring
fruits. Salty and sharper towards the end. Leather lingers in
the finnish.
Development: Best drink fast. After an hour in the air the aromas
have reduced significantly in intensity and developed a feeling
of spilled ale.
Comments: An exceptionally smooth and pleasant dram. The best 12
year old Speyside malt I've tried.
87/100
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
12 years |
Alcohol percentage |
40% |
Cask |
American oak |
Bottler |
Official |
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
12 years |
Alcohol percentage |
43% |
Particularity |
French Oak |
Bottler |
Official |
Glenlivet 15 years |
|
Age |
15 years |
Alcohol percentage |
43% |
Bottler |
Official |
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
18 years |
Alcohol percentage |
43% |
Bottler |
Official |
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
15 years |
Alcohol percentage |
43% |
Bottler |
Official |
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
15 ans |
Alcohol percentage |
58.6% |
Bottler |
Gordon & MacPHail |
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
17 years |
Alcohol percentage |
60% |
Bottler |
Dewar Rattray |
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
37 years |
Alcohol percentage |
53.4% |
Bottler |
Duncan Taylor |
Glenlivet
|
|
Alcohol percentage |
46% |
Bottler |
Jean Boyer |
Glenlivet
|
|
Alcohol percentage |
43% |
Bottler |
Jean Boyer |
Date of tasting : 4/11 2008
Apperance: Bright jonquiripe corn or new yellow gol
Nose: Quite a prickle at cask strength as can be expected, lots of alcohol associated aromas, acetone and nail varnish remover. Behind that a scent of fresh fruits, mainly pears and also some white wine and vanilla. The straight dram develops cereal aromas like malt milk and oat meal, but it remains predominantly fruity. The alcohol is reluctant to give way to dilution, but the reduced dram lends some fennel and woody hints along w! ith neutral lip balm sort of smell. The woody impressions nicely balances the fresh pears to make a lasting impressions of a fruit garden.
Body: Light to medium, but firm.
Palate: Pear drops, the start is sweet and the middle is drier and the finish dry and bitter. There is also a curiously burnt flavour troughout, not at all smoky but sort of charred, toasted perhaps. Some caramel and a large impact of alcohol in the finish. The reduced dram feels very similar but more straight forward and simpler.
Comments: Definately an easy drinker when diluted- and it can take quite a lot of that-. I'm a big fan of these single cask-style (if you will) bottlings. Perhaps it's good for quality that most standard bottlings are vatted american and european casks, but I for one love these cask stength, single cask-style bottlings.
86/100
Glenlivet
|
|
Age |
21 years |
Alcohol percentage |
43% |
Bottler |
Official |
The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited
by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the
Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.
Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
about the Speyside area, and if you want to make an "alphabetical journey" through the area, please
click on one of the pagode roofs, according to the direction you want to follow
| Last update:
Sunday, 14-Mar-2010 20:14:30 CET
Mon 15 03 2010, 04:57 - 64 visiteurs au cours de la dernière heure et 8 visiteurs sur le site en ce moment. Copyright:Jean-Marie Putz (2003-2007) |
Whisky is an alcoholic drink. Let's prefer quality to quantity as the abuse of alcohol beverages can damage the health. Consuming alcoholic drinks during pregnancy, even in small quantities, can seriously affect the health of the child. Consumption of alcohol impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.