Time for another dram!
After two Irish Whiskeys, Tullamore DEW and Bushmills 10, it was time to try some Scotch Whisky and since The Glenlivet Founder's Reserve has been on my list for a while, I decided it's time to try it.
A bit about
The Glenlivet distillery was established in 1824, on the valley of the river Livet. Since a glen (a word of Gaelic origin) is a type of deep and narrow valley, it's safe to assume that the name of this single-malt whisky was given after the valley in which it is situated.
George Smith was the founder of The Glenlivet. He started distilling in 1822, in the isolated Valley of Livet when it was still illegal and got the license to distil two years later. After the Excise Act was passed in 1823, you could obtain a license to distil for a £10 fee and a set payment per gallon of proof spirit (liquor with high content of alcohol)
The Founder's Reserve is Master Distiller Alan Winchester's creation, and it was launched in 2015, as a tribute to the founder's original vision and method. It has 40% ABV, it's a single malt and matured in American-Oak casks. There is no age specification, so the minimum would be 3 years, but considering it was launched to somehow replace the 12-year-old before, I'm not entirely sure what to think of the age of the single-malts involved.
Time to try it!
There's a lot of fruitiness and vanilla on the nose, a bit of toffee and some fruit in its taste (but it's harsher than it smells), a bit of pear on the palate and it has quite a citrusy and short finish. The taste starts quite smooth and promising but it's abruptly and harshly cut.
I've tried it neat, as well as with an ice cube. I'm not the biggest fan of it neat, but since the ice took away quite a lot of the harshness and brought out a lot of the flavours and aroma, it's definitely how I'm planning to continue drinking this particular whiskey.
Overall
If (like me most days) you like to sip your dram at room temperature, and you prefer mellow whiskies, I'm not sure I would recommend The Founder's Reserve to you, but if you don't mind adding a drop or two of water or a very cold ice cube to it, then, by all means, give it a go.
You might try this, and either think I'm talking nonsense or think that it's spot on, but, the fun part with whisky, as with most (if not all) drinks, is that it depends a lot on your personal preferences. I do hope you find my little review helpful in some way and if you've tried The Glenlivet Founder's Reserve please let me know what you think of it in the comments below.
As always, please drink responsibly.
I hope life is treating you well.
Take care.