Glenlivet Nàdurra 16 YO

A very good friend was kind enough to give me a taste of the Glenlivet Nàdurra 16 YO. I find the travel retail release of the Glenlivet Nàdurra, bottled at 48 ABV, to be a nice whisky. But the cask strength releases are really, really nice.

The Glenlivet distillery is located in Speyside in Scotland. This is what the distillery says about Nàdurra First Fill:

Nàdurra, meaning “natural” in Gaelic, is The Glenlivet’s range of small-batch expressions made using traditional 19th-century techniques. The Nàdurra First Fill is drawn from casks made of American white oak which have never before been used to mature Scotch whisky. These oak casks, which distillers at The Glenlivet have favoured since the early 1900s, impart hints of creamy vanilla to this wonderfully rich single malt.

This whisky is from batch 1214E bottled December 2014 at 60,2 ABV. This batch is not available in Norway since it is above 60 ABV, but a different batch bottled at 59,8 ABV is available at NOK 615.

Fresh and light on the nose with pineapple and lemon. Spicy – white pepper, ginger and cardamom. I would have expected more vanilla, but it appears after I tasted it. Mmm…the palate! Rich and warm! Wow! So lovely! White pepper, fudge and vanilla. The finish has notes from fried pineapple, ripe banana and white pepper. Some chilli as well. Oily and nutty. Lingering and warm.

My score: nose 22 / taste 24 / finish 24 / balance 23 = 93

Thanks, Gabriella!

– Tone