Glenfiddich 125th Anniversary bottled 2012

To celebrate the 125th anniversary of the distillery (well, sorta, because it was founded in 1886, but the first spirit poured from the stills on Christmas Day 1887), the Glenfiddich 125th Anniversary was launched in 2012. It is said to be mildly peaty – an homage to the production methods of 125 years ago. The peated spirit matured on bourbon casks, while the rest of the mix contains quite some sherry casks (which is customary at Glenfiddich). This limited edition will set you back around 135 EUR.

Wow! This is indeed startling. The peat immediately puts its foot down and offers wet hay, earthy notes and smoldering wood. Underneath hides the sweetness in the shape of overripe apples, roasted nuts, rice pudding with vanilla. The sweetness becomes louder all the time. Very nice balance between the sweetness and the peat on the one hand, and the influence of the bourbon and sherry casks on the other. Very interesting, lovely nose!

Mildly oily on the palate. Again the peat draws the attention with sweet ashes, a bit of syrupy tar and loads of toasted oak before a lot of spices (ginger, camphor, cloves, cinnamon, licquorice and vanilla) precede the apples. This must be what peaty apple sauce tastes like.

The finish is short to medium long on ashes and cinnamon.

Well, the least you can say is that this is a unique Glenfiddich. The peat is quite big and outspoken, which makes me wonder if this is a young whisky. But it certainly is nice.

Comment on @markjedi1's review

Here we have something quite unique, only available in travel retail: a peated Glenfiddich! To celebrate the distillery's 125th anniversary, Brian Kinsman (only the sixth malt master in all that time) recreated an old style of peated Speyside whisky, as it would have been back in the day. Well…not really. Back then, it would have been cask strength, and likely clear and unaged (though this bottle carries no age statement). But it's close (I guess). The packaging is a bit much: metal tin, coppery stopper, booklet and a "Certificate of Authenticity" scroll. I first cracked this open for my family on Christmas Day 2013, so the bottle (from 2012) has been open for a couple of months.

The colour is gold with a slight coppery tinge. On the nose, soft heathery peat (quite a difference from Islay peat!), roasted cashews, charred wood and creme brûlée. The peat combined with that classic apple/pear/raspberry fruity note is intoxicating. Nicely balanced. Water doesn't change things up much.

On the palate we have vanilla, marmalade and red apples up front, soft peat and toasted oak in the back. Herbaceous. Mouth-watering. Not as balanced as the nose, but fascinating - both peaty and very smooth, though a little metallic. Like with the nose, not much change with water.

The medium-length finish shows camphor, cigar ash, cinnamon and more caramel. This feels like a very young whisky (even the 12 seems to have more body) but it is quite unique and very interesting. But it's not fully successful - it doesn't seem to commit in any particular direction. Tasting this with the 12 and 18 is fantastic - the commonalities carry though, but they all taste quite different.