A Divine, Sherried Expression from a Speyside Legend
2006 Glenlivet 12 Year Old “Signatory Unchillfiltered Collection” 1st Fill Single Sherry Butt Cask Strength Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) ($99.99)
“A modern classic and stupendous value.” — David Othenin-Girard, K&L SoCal Spirits Buyer
It’s not often one finds a single cask expression of Glenlivet, and rarer still is finding one that’s a sherry first fill. Based on this pedigree alone, one might expect this 12 Year Old to cost upwards of $300. Remarkably, we are offering it for a very approachable $99.99. Sherried expressions of Glenlivet are always huge hits with collectors, and we expect this rendition will command equal interest. A soaring expression, as our NorCal spirits buyer notes, it “leaves nothing to be desired.” A captivating amalgam of exotic fruits, raisins, tea, herb, and sherry notes, it strides confidently from one strength to the next. History has shown that bottlings of this caliber sell out in the blink of an eye. If you gravitate toward a powerful Speyside style, then you owe it to yourself to add this singular expression to your collection.
For those who’ve been paying attention for the last decade or so, you’ll know that we’ve had some pretty incredible success with Signatory. Likely the most requested and reminisced about product we’d ever bottled from them was a series of heavily sherried Glenlivets we bottled nearly four years ago. Those stupendous casks from this blue chip distillery were really quite rare, and have become legends. But the quality of those incredible offerings and their scarcity resulted in an absolute explosion in their price. What we once stocked for under $100, now were pushing $300. So, we waited. And waited. Finally, nearly four years after our last cask was bottled, we stumbled upon this set of wonderful Glenlivets in the Signatory warehouse. Distilled on November 21 of 2006, this malt was filled into the highest quality sherry casks. Despite the availability of the standard releases, single casks of Glenlivet are a rarity on the market today. Because the distillery needs almost every drop they produce, there’s no need for them to trade or divest stocks to their competitors, as so many other distillers in Scotland do. But what’s shocking is that they’d ever let go of these stupendous casks at all. We are extremely lucky to have access to this incredibly high-quality malt, and this little 12-year-old might turn out to be the cask of the whisky season. Yes, you pay a little premium for Signatory, but it’s damn worth it every time. Sherry lovers rejoice!
David Othenin-Girard | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: September 05, 2019
We’ve been working with Andrew and Des from Signatory Vintage for almost a decade. We’ve been through thick and thin and found some of our most legendary casks in their little warehouses outside of Pitlochry. But few of their stocks have been more popular than the ’96-’97 sherried Glenlivets we sold back in 2012-2015. After a long dry spell, we’ve finally found something of a followup. This seemingly perfect youngish sherry bomb will be the stuff of legends one day. I don’t know what sort of SNAFU must have occurred in the administrative offices at Glenlivet to allow such high quality sherried malt to leave the premises, but I know I’m desperately grateful that they did. This one starts out dark and brooding. The nose is exotic hard wood, bitter herbs (cinchona, gentian), aged black tea, dried apricots, espresso beans, Seville orange peel, raisins, nougat. The palate is bold rich prickly and powerful. Big spice and nutty fudge. With a splash of water, the darkness dissipates revealing the prettiest possible tropical stewed fruits, pipe tobacco, spice box, tiny twinges of herbs again and now green teas. The palate is creamy and open replacing the fudge with vanilla and maple syrup. This one is pretty crushable, so be careful. Ever evolving in the glass, it’s fun to fill it up and adjust as you move through the glass. A modern classic and stupendous value in today’s complicated market.
Andrew Whiteley | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: September 24, 2019
The only disappointing thing about this 1st fill sherry cask is that it had a cracked stave and therefore yielded only about half the whisky it should have! Everything else is perfection. Just 301 bottles came out of this butt of singular quality. It’s astoundingly dark in color and must have been dripping wet when filled. Leaving nothing to be desired it’s the epitome of classic sherry – dried Seville oranges, savory herbs, sweet candied nuts, a bit of varnish, dried cocoa powder and raisined grapes, dates, and figs. The weight of the sherry is borne beautifully by the malt backbone. While today Glenlivet is known for its lighter bourbon aged classic 12 year, it’s bottles like this – demonstrating the true range of complexity and nuance of the house that shows why it is one of the worlds’ best selling malts.
Cameron Hoppas | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: September 24, 2019
This is a sherried whiskey for sure. First thing you notice is how dark that color is. You could mistake it for Grade A maple syrup. It smells phenomenal. The sweet salty sherried notes come into focus with the density of the spirit that shows dark dried fruit, sweet malt and dark spices. It has great sweet caramelized sugar notes–toffee or maple. It has an incredible, mouth-filling, and round texture. This is a powerful whiskey and it’s incredibly smooth.
Neal Fischer | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: September 24, 2019
Yup, that’s a LOT of Sherry. Scents of dried fruits and nuttiness come out swinging. There is almost a smell of cherries soaking in walnut liqueur and then pecan pralines as well (since no dessert is too decadent, natch). Salted toffee covered with milk chocolate hides the strength of the ABV to a dangerous degree. On the palate, the alcohol is more pronounced with a little bite, but the story here is still focused on the sweets. There’s more fruitiness with dried berries, apricots, prunes, and figs. This is a bold after dinner dram.
