At the moment I only have one Glenlivet in my collection. There were two, but then I drank the Nadurra (one of the first batches, stunning stuff). It also is one of only three bottles from The Ultimate on the shelf.

The Ultimate is a Dutch bottler owned by long time whisky guru Van Wees. They bottle random things from Scotland (and some Amrut) at usually very fair prices. Of course I don’t agree with all of their choices, but there have been some rather terrific picks, like a 20 year old sherried Highland Park for € 50, a 1966 Glenfarclas ‘Mystery Speyside’ for € 125 and such.

This Glenlivet was a random bottle I bought in one of those urges to buy a bottle. Therefore it’s been sitting idly on my shelf for the last three years. I thought it was time to start drinking it.

Glenlivet 14, The Ultimate – Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Some barley and barley sugar sweetness. All this is completely overpowered by light tropical fruits, by the bucket. Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Some plums, mango, pineapple, all this is very sweet and juicy.

Sip:
The palate is rather friendly but has a certain bite to it. Fresh and juicy again with the same fruitiness as on the nose. Like fruit juicy with a shot of whisky in it. Not much depth, but deliciously summery.

Swallow:
The finish is of medium length, and again fruity. There are some more whisky like qualities here with more wood and more barley showing. Still very tropical.

As I said, this is a very good dram to drink with a dessert while enjoying the sun in the back yard. Nothing complicated, just deliciously juicy and fruity. Way to go, at such prices, I say!

Glenlivet 14, 1995-2009, 46%, The Ultimate, cask 144363, € 45 back then.