Glenlivet 36Yr 1981-2018 #12 TWE Excl (Sig Cask Strength) 47.6% 700ml

Exclusive to The Whisky Exchange, this hand-picked, single cask 36 year-old is a colossus of long-aged Glenlivet complexity, having spent its final 6 years in a sherry butt.

The nose is an alluring, aromatic maze of cocoa, dried fruit, pastry and subtle oak. It’s just as enchanting on the tongue, where fresh apple and cinder toffee battle spice for dominance of a tempered citrus and oak landscape.

All is reconciled in a finish full of gentle liquorice and mild cinnamon, with more rich, dark fruit to walk us out.

Tasting notes by Caroline Roddis (The Whisky Exchange)

• NOSE - Heavenly. Toasted plum, apricots, brandy-soaked prunes, chocolate-covered raisins, a green quality that’s somewhere between leaf and toasted grass, powdered almonds, ripe grapes, old motorcar seats and orange drizzle cake.

• PALATE - Deliciously rich. Sherry, luscious but not vibrant fruit that wraps itself around your tongue, subtle and well-integrated spice, honey, old leather, cherry marzipan, plums, apricot pastry, orange cake, milk chocolate and a touch of coconut.

• FINISH - Milk chocolate, honey, hazelnut, coconut, cherry and a small twist of spice. It just keeps on going.