Glenfiddich - IPA Experiment 43% ABV

Dear friends and followers! In the beginning of november, Glenfiddich contacted me with info about a coming release, namely their "IPA Experiment". This whisky is the first one in their new "experimental series". The whisky (no age declared) has been finished in american oak barrels that previously held a Speyside IPA created especially for this end, that is, to give flavours to the casks. The IPA has been in the casks for 4 weeks and the whisky has in turn had a 12 week finish in the casks. 

For more info on the process and on this first whisky in the series, please feel free to check out this link. Here in Sweden, Glenfiddich IPA Experiment will be released this friday at the swedish state monopoly, and you can view the product here.

Since the nice people of Glenfiddich offered me a sample of this new whisky, it is time to share some nosing and tasting notes with you all, ok, let's go! 

Nose:

Very fruity, the center of the nose first and foremost shows a focus on citrus fruits (sugar-y lemon juice and orange peel). There is also a tad of yellow kiwi. But above all the nose boasts of vanilla and fudge (completely intermingling in this whisky, that is to say, they are unseparable), light honey and loads of overripe banana. Also, nutt-y-ness is very evident (or is it almond?) 

Taste:

starts off incredibly creamy and rich/"thick" (focus on vanilla cream and honey). interestingly enough, none of the citrus fruits are there, but overripe banana sure is! at the exact moment of swallowing, i get overripe pear and most of all lots of vanillafudge and honey. 10 seconds or so after swallowing everything gets very, very dry, and quite spicy actually, most of all though, very dry. After about 20 seconds or so, a slight, slight touch of cinnamon, coffee and very light milk chocolate comes along, interesting... the aftertaste is very long and above all, very dry, especially so on all of my tongue and the "upper mouth" 

So, to sum up, firstly: Is this a good whisky? Yes, definitely a really good everyday dram! If I remember the 12yo correctly i'd say that IPA Experiment is the best of the two. However it does not win over the 15yo Solera (but it might be unfair to compare two so different whiskies).

Secondly: as far as my nosing and tasting skill goes, I cannot seem to pick up the IPA reference in this whisky (not in terms of hops anyway) but hey, maybe it's the citrus fruits on the nose and the dryness on the taste that reflects the IPA touch? Who knows. Anyways, a nice soft and quite rich nose, the creamy part of the taste was really nice, but for me the dryness was just a tad to much, almost like as if it is another whisky in the aftertaste than in the first part of the taste. All in all a very interesting experiment but to make the IPA reference and the hops come through the whisky should, in my opinion, have spent more time finishing in the casks 

Big thanks and sláinte to Glenfiddich for the opportunity to taste this whisky before it's release! 😃 

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