Whisky: Glenlivet 16 yr old Nadurra
Distillery/Brand:
GlenlivetBottling:
Glenlivet 16 Year old Nadurra
Region:
SpeysideABV:
54.3%Colour:
Review:
I'd been hearing about a certain cask strength Speyside bottling for months, Glenlivet 16 yr old Nadurra, for months before I finally got a chance to pick it up.
I'd been helping my wife out at the family business and as we were shopping for supplies for the store we passed one of the largest chain liquor stores in the area, Dan Murphy's, and since it had been months since I'd been into a bottleshop that wasn't mine or my sister stores, I asked her if she minded if we went looking.
Doing a wee bit of whisky porn if you will, more like whisky peeping tom. What is new? Anything interesting?
Nothing too special, nothing too exciting.
Except Auchentoshan Valinch, Glenlivet Nadurra and Aberlour Abunadh.
Three cask strength whiskies.
One that I'd had multiple times in many of it's versions, Aberlour Abunadh.
Two that I'd never tried before.
The Valinch and the Nadurra.
Both highly reviewed. Both in the same price range.
However my brother in law had recently tried the Auchentoshan Valinch and had expressed some disappointment in it so when my wife suggested we pick up a bottle, it was obvious I was going to grab the Nadurra.
I'm so excited when I pick up this bottle.
A new whisky!
A new cask strength whisky!!
God I can't wait!
I immediately start reading the bottle (yes I do this :P)
54.3% ABV, Bottled on 05/12 out of batch #0512T.
Hmmmm a different abv and batch number from reviews I'd seen before.
Oh well a new whisky to play with!
Even better it's non chill filtered and has no caramel coloring added!
Although to be fair I'm so anal retentive not many of my whiskies have either of those issues.
When my wife and I both get home that night we decide to crack the bottle open and try it!
We pour a dram into a glencairn that we'll share together and then immediately start nosing the whisky.
This review is based off of three different tastings, the one on this night, one with my brother and sister in law about a week later and one done today.
Lots of honey. Lots and lots of honey.
Actually too much honey.
It's a very sweet nose with some floral notes.
Eventually some light fruit notes along with some toffee notes appear, but this takes about two weeks for these notes to develop.
None of us are really impressed. This is the whisky that's getting rave reviews?
Actually it's disappointing. Boring.
Time for a taste.
Eeee gads the honey dominates everything!
Again the floral notes appear and there is a hint of fruit, but the honey kills all the flavors.
The finish is interesting. Intense and long with the oak shouting out with hazelnuts that is actually quite enjoyable and definitely the highlight of the whisky.
All in all, the four of us, my wife, my brother and sister in law and myself all come away more then a little disappointed in this batch.
This is definitely better then the entry level Glenlivet 12 yr old, but at more then twice the price it needs to be kicking more butt.
Mind you I've noticed some changes for the better as the bottle has been sitting open and slowly being drank, but nothing to the point that would make me buy another bottle.
Which is really quite disappointing for me as I had such high hopes for this whisky. I personally think that if I ever decide to pick up another bottle of Nadurra it's going to have to be from a batch that I've tried and loved, or a batch that I've heavily researched and have some idea of what I'm walking into to make sure that I'm disappointed.
Mind you the bottle has opened up a little bit over the last few weeks, originally when I picked up this whisky and tried it we would have given it a 74 or so, but it has slowly improved.
If the bottle opens up anymore in any significant way I'll rescore the whisky and update it.S Just off my own bottle of Nadurra which I picked up for $120 AUS I honestly would have picked up a bottle of Aberlour Abunadh for $105.
Give this one a shot if you've researched the batches, but walking in blind like me. I don't recommend it.
Nose: 19/25
Taste: 17/25
Finish: 22/25
Balance: 18/25
Overall: 76/100
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