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The Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Ballindalloch Banffshire
AB37 9DB Scotland
Tel: +44 (0)1340 821 720
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The Glenlivet Single Malt Whisky 12, 15, 18 Year OldGeorge Smith knew that Glenlivet was the perfect location in which to make whisky, which is why he built his distillery there in 1824. But it required all his skills as a distiller and his unrivalled knowledge of the glen and its resources to succeed. The Glenlivet of today is George Smith's priceless legacy. Crucially, the three fundamental elements in the whisky-making process - spring water, copper stills and oak casks have remained unchanged. So have the skills have the people who make it. That is why the Glenlivet is as incomparable now as it was at the beginning.

Chivas Brothers, the Scotch whisky and premium gin business of Pernod Ricard recently announced (2007) that The Glenlivet achieved during 2006 its target of 500,000 9L cases set in 2003 when it was selling 375,000 9l cases, a testament to the unerring commitment of the world’s number two wines and spirits company to making The Glenlivet single malt Scotch whisky the global category leader.

The Glenlivet is one of Pernod Ricard’s 15 strategic global brands and is only the second single malt to ever reach this sales milestone, which is equivalent to 6 million bottles sold a year. It is the second most popular premium malt whisky in the world. The Glenlivet is the number one malt whisky in the dynamic US market, and is also making significant gains in Asia-Pacific markets like Taiwan and Japan as well as key European markets.

In an expanding market, The Glenlivet offers a comprehensive and differentiated range which has very high impact on shelf. Under Pernod Ricard’s ownership, the range has undergone an extensive evolution and has enjoyed strong performances, especially with the recently released Nàdurra Cask Strength which has seen excellent sales particularly in the US.


The River Livet

The Glenlivet portfolio now comprises a core range of 12 Year Old, 15 Year Old French Oak Reserve and 18 Year Old as well as the specialist Nàdurra Cask Strength 16 Year Old and ultra premium 21 Year Old Archive. The Glenlivet Cellar Collection now boasts seven releases and new expressions are expected to be introduced.

The pursuit of perfection inherent to the history of the brand is reflected in the consistent quality of the whisky itself. It is a taste that has stood the test of time, demonstrated by the fact that The Glenlivet has won either a trophy or gold medal every year for the last five years in major competitions. Most recently, The Glenlivet 18 Year Old scooped a trophy and gold medal at the 2006 ISC awards and gold medals were awarded for the 12 Year Old and 21 Year Old at the 2006 IWSC awards.

Courtesy of The Glenlivet

THE GLENLIVET
12 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH

THE GLENLIVET 12 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Color: Light or pale gold.

Nose: Aromatic, with flowers. Clean and simple, with some maltiness. Sherry notes, some spice and vanilla.

Body: Medium, smooth and firm.

Palate: Subtle peatiness. Delicate. Slightly sweet and fruity, with vanilla notes. Clean and well-balanced.

Finish: Long, but mild and warming. A trace of peat at the end.

THE GLENLIVET
18 YEAR OLD
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH

THE GLENLIVET 18 YEAR OLD SINGLE MALT SCOTCH
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Color: Dark amber.

Nose: Full. Some peat, floral notes, sherry, honey and fruit.

Body: Firm. Quite smooth.

Palate: Full, round, floral. Some sweetness and quite rich.

Finish: Rich. Drying, with spice and smoke.

THE GLENLIVET 1972
THE CELLAR COLLECTION

THE GLENLIVET 1972 THE CELLAR COLLECTION  
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
One of The Glenlivet's special vintages. 1972 is a unique vatting of just 10 casks. The newly-made spirit from a single's day distillation was filled into hogshead on 24 August 1972. This is a perfect combination of distillation excellence and traditional maturation. The refill hogshead casks contributes a gentle mature oakiness with sweetness and gentle spiciness combining beautifully with the fruity, floral, citrus notes of the distillate.

NOSE: Fruity, reminiscent of a sweet, juicy pear; with the perfume of heather in bloom; a hint of gentle, sweet spiciness and citrus with underlying, balanced, mature wood note

PALATE: A beautiful, rich fruitiness; velvety smooth; the creaminess of a warm fudge a gentle whiff of smokiness; a long, smooth aftertaste of maltiness.

AWARDS: Silver 2006 - International Wine & Spirit Competition

Notes Courtesy of The Glenlivet

THE GLENLIVET
NADURRA 16 YEAR

Buy The Glenlivet Here!  
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Buy The Glenlivet Here!
Color: Pale gold with bright lemony shades.

Nose: Intense, tickling. Fresh and clean. Resolutely fruity. Lemon pulp. Green apple. Freshness enhanced by aniseed fringe. Dreamy note of pralins. in the back, herbal and spicy notes.

Palate: Crisp, appetizing. Mouth-coating with an oily feel followed by a frizzy sensation. Challenging for the tastebuds, but never burning. Poached peaches in a vanilla syrup. White chocolate. Aniseed lollipop. Candied ginger.

Finish: Dry, clean, crisp. Very long. Aniseed. Refreshing. Bitter oranges. Gingery.

Summary: Crisp and fresh, fruity and herbal. Superbly balanced. Full-bodied and enticing.

Notes Courtesy of The Glenlivet

THE GLENLIVET 70 YEAR OLD 1940
SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY GORDON & MACPHAIL

Buy The Glenlivet 70 year old 1940 here!
Buy The Glenlivet 70 year old 1940 here!
Buy The Glenlivet Here!

Master of Malt is the first to stock The Glenlivet 70 Year Old Whisky!

Online Retailer Master of Malt is the first to stock Glenlivet 70 year old, an extraordinary single malt that was launched in March 2011. The Scotch, with a price tag of £13,000 a bottle, has been described by critics as "stupendous", and is one of just two 70 year old single malt whiskies ever released.

Distilled at the Glenlivet distillery on the 4th February 1940 during the height of the Battle of Britain, the spirit was filled into a Sherry cask, where it rested for the last seventy years. During the ageing process, whisky actually evaporates out of the cask, a phenomenon known in the industry as "the angel's share". Because of this, there was only enough liquid for 100 full-sized decanter bottles - adding to its rarity.

The 700ml decanters are on sale at Master of Malt with a price tag of £13,000, and there are also smaller, 20cl-sized bottles with a price of £3,200 each. The whisky was bottled in 2011 by the renowned Scotch whisky brand Gordon and MacPhail, and it is the second part of their "Generations" series, the first of which was the world's oldest whisky, a 70 year old single malt from the Mortlach distillery.

The bottles are presented in hand-blown crystal decanters, with British hallmarked sterling silver stoppers, and silver bases. The wooden boxes are handmade out of Scottish Elm. Famed critic Charlie MacLean describes the whisky: "Although it resonates with aged character - and, indeed, characteristics from another era - it retains vitality, both on the nose and in the mouth."

You can purchase a bottle of Glenlivet 70 Year Old 1940 from Master of Malt for £13,000 HERE!

NOTES: First Fill American White Oak Sherry Butt Bedded down 1940 during the battle of Britain, bottled 2010 45.9% Abv - 100 70cl decanters and 175 20cl bottles.

Released to the melody of 1940's swing music, walked down the aisle of the Private Suite at Edinburgh Castle by a Lady in a fur shawl and red dress: The Glenlivet 70 by Gordon & MacPhail.

Nose: At first, the impact is blood oranges, tangerines and a waxy nature. Then what follows is vanilla pastries, Jaffa cake jelly, bananas and a biscuity malty note. Really fresh. It jumps out of the glass and has such life for something with such age.

Palate: Slight hint of ash, slight hint of peat, again an orange jelly and zestiness. Creamy and slight hints of a Ruby Port.

Finish: Beautiful. Liqueur chocolates, stewed apples and high-cocoa dark chocolate. A nice citrusy note followed by the first taste of dry oak. This tiniest bit of dryness entices you to taste again. Sadly my sample is all gone.

Distilled in Speyside, Scotland on the 4th February 1940

- Aged in a First Fill American White Oak Sherry Butt

- Bottled with at a strength of 45.9% abv

- 100 x 70cl decanters released, 175 x 20cl decanters released

The Glenlivet Whisky Distillery
The Glenlivet Distillery Established 1824
The Glenlivet Distillery Established 1824

Distillery Tour Information

For the attention of The Guardians of The Glenlivet - To ensure that we give you our best attention and a warm welcome, please note the following:

•Admittance to the Guardians library and tasting room will not be permitted unless a telephone reservation has been made in advance (tel no: +44(0) 1340 821 720)

•Guardians must produce their membership card at reception, along with their personal Glenlivet Distillery key, in order to register for their membership privileges.

•Guardians may request for a limited number of guests to be admitted to the members-only area, though this will be subject to the distillery management’s discretion on the day.

•No one under the age of 18 will be admitted.

Opening Times

Visitor centre will open on 29th March through until 29th October.
Tours will be 9.30am till 4pm (Mon-Sat) and noon till 4pm on Sundays.

Contact The Glenlivet Distillery
Ballindalloch Banffshire
AB37 9DB Scotland
Tel: +44 (0)1340 821 720

Location
B9008, ten miles north of Tomintoul

THE GLENLIVET
THE SINGLE MALT THAT STARTED IT ALL

Lawless Times & the Character of Glenlivet
During the early 1800s, large areas of Scotland were brought to the brink of anarchy by the activities of whisky smugglers. Excisemen, armed with pistols and cutlasses, fought bloody battles with the smugglers. Thousands of illicit distillers were prosecuted each year and close to 400 people were convicted and fined in just one sitting by an Inverness Justice of the Peace for breaking the Excise laws.

By 1820, there continued to be some 200 illicit stills in Glenlivet; the glen of the Livet reaches deep into the mountains which separate Speyside from Royal Deeside in the far North-East of Scotland. Today it is relatively remote; in the 18th and 19th centuries it was virtually inaccessible and it bred a bold and self-reliant people who clung to the old tradition of whisky-making.

The whisky made in Glenlivet had the highest reputation of any in Scotland, for several reasons. First, you can’t make good whisky in a hurry and the Glen’s remoteness made it almost impossible to police. Excise officers could be spotted miles away, leaving plenty of time to hide equipment, and, more importantly, plenty of time to carry out the distilling.

Second, nature’s essentials for making the finest malt whisky – barley, peat and a copious supply of good, clean water – were all abundant. The fertile valley-bottom of Glenlivet provided barley. The hills around are clad in peat. The water that rushes down the hills surrounding Glenlivet is perfect: cold, soft, melted snow. Whisky smugglers would travel from Glenlivet to the Lowlands on drove roads and across bridges that can still be found today.

The Legacy of George Smith
It took a remarkable man to break the tradition of illicit distilling: in 1824 George Smith took the unswerving step from farmer-distiller to first licenceholder in the glen, the first step on Scotch whisky’s march to global success.

In those lawless times, he had to go to extraordinary lengths to protect his life and his property. He armed his brothers with “two or three stout fellows” whom he employed, and they mounted a guard on the distillery, night and day, for several years. In his later years he claimed that he often “had rough times of it among the glen people,” when he went to church or visited the market at Tomintoul.

When he went legal he also had to go armed. His former colleagues in the illicit trade swore they would “burn down his distillery and him at the heart of it.” But the winds of change were with him. The fame of his whisky spread even beyond Scotland, nurtured by his Edinburgh agents who began to market it as Old Vatted Glenlivet - the very first ‘brand’ of Scotch.

On the back of this success, in 1858 Smith built a new distillery on a larger site further down the glen, supplied with water by Josie’s Well, a now legendary spring rich in minerals. He also invested in a pair of unusually shaped stills, uncommonly high and wide, of a novel ‘lantern’ design – both factors which make for increased purity and elegance.

The Reputation of The Glenlivet
The Glenlivet has long been synonymous with the finest single malt Scotch whisky. In 1822, King George IV made a triumphant visit to Edinburgh. Sir Walter Scott, who arranged the event, made sure to procure the best whisky Scotland had to offer for the King’s delectation: the whisky of Glenlivet. Throughout his week-long jaunt, the King would drink nothing else, and by the end it was reported that “he is an admirable judge of glen livat”. He was not alone in his enjoyment. The same year, John Stein, one of the leading distillers in Scotland, wrote enviously: “There are some people in the higher stations of life who prefer Glenlivet whisky and who would pay almost any price for it”.

The fame of Glenlivet’s now well-respected fruity, floral style encouraged other distillers to attach the name to their own, even though some of them were miles from the Glen itself. Understandably, George Smith’s son was not happy about this. In 1884 he obtained a settlement which required that only his malt can describe itself as ‘The Glenlivet’. And to this day, there is still only one single malt whisky that has the unchallengeable right to call itself The Glenlivet. In fact, almost every Speyside distillery has, at some stage, used the name Glenlivet.

The Glenlivet in the 20th Century
Maintaining the pioneering instinct, The Glenlivet was the very first malt to be promoted in the United States: as soon as Prohibition was lifted in America, George Smith’s great-grandson went there to promote his whisky, the first single malt ever seen in the U.S. Over the next few decades it caused such a stir that he featured on the front page of Time magazine with the line: ‘The heart of Great Britain’s export trade is the Scotch whisky industry. The heart of the Scotch industry is The Glenlivet’. The Pullman Company of Chicago begged The Glenlivet Distillery for supplies of miniatures for their luxury trains.

The Glenlivet developed a strong following among Hollywood stars in the 1950s. Stars like Yul Brynner and Robert Taylor, who had (to quote the latter) “come to consider all other brands of Scotch whisky second rate”, insisted that stocks be available in their hotels – even if they were filming in Europe.

The Glenlivet’s reputation was not confined to the UK and the US. In 1956 the manager of the renowned George V Hotel in Paris wrote to the distillery: “Our President requires, for his own personal use, a case of 12 bottles of your Glenlivet 12 year old Whisky, as he was agreeably impressed by this whisky during his recent visit to America.”

For nearly 200 years the legendary whisky of Glenlivet has been prized, celebrated and fought over. But there is only one whisky with the unchallengeable right to be called: The Glenlivet: the single malt that started it all.

Courtesy of The Glenlivet