To create whisky with a tropical feel, our makers finished a portion of our smooth whisky in barrels that previously held Caribbean rum.
The result is a well balanced and exceptionally smooth whisky. Single malt, meet summer.
*A portion of this whisky has been finished in barrels that previously held Caribbean Rum
Cask
Oak barrel, selectively finished* in barrels that previously held Caribbean Rum
Colour
Dark Amber
Profile
Bold, smooth, and tropical
Nose
Sweet notes of pear and red apple meet a fabulous tropical twist of ripe bananas in syrup
Palate
Rich caramel toffee notes, followed by flavors of tropical fruits
Finish
Well balanced and exceptionally smooth
Review 121 18th April 2021
Continuing with our mini series of reviews looking at Speyside whiskies, next in the firing line is The Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve Single Malt Whisky.
This single malt whisky is a combination of ex-bourbon maturation with some selectively Rum Cask Finished single malt whisky, more on that in a moment. It is bottled at 40% ABV, it is chill filtered and colour adjusted, it doesn't carry an age statement.
It is widely available online for the following prices:
Master of Malt £35.95
The Whisky Exchange £35.45
Tesco £36
Amazon £26 (At the time of recording)
Giving an average price of £33.35.
It achieves a value score (V-Score) of 78.66 out of 100, this reflects the fact this is a manufactured whisky with no age statement.
Onto 'Selectively Rum Cask Finished', in a nutshell what this means is, that only part of the ex-bourbon matured stock is finished in the rum barrels, then the ex-bourbon and rum finished whiskies are blended together until the whisky hits the nose and palate style the distillery are aiming for.
On the nose, it starts fruity with tropicalish notes of mainly apple, possibly stewed with some spices, but there are other fruits which of a tropical nature. There is honey and syrup sweet notes. Its not a massively complex nose, but pleasant enough.
On the palate, the alcohol is quite sharp and while not rough or cheap tasting, is noticable. It is sweet but not quite dessert sweet. It is syrupy but this all too quickly gives way to a watery texture. The fruit is quite tropical with orange and apple, maybe some pineapple, but this could be a suggested expectation by the name. The rum is there, but you really need to concentrate and this reveals itself as nutmeg spice, the typical brown sugar is lacking in our mind.
There is something different about this whisky, that could be the selective rum finish.
It does have the Glenlivet character which is sweet and fruity which makes this easy drinking if lacking some complexity.
It is worth the £26 that Amazon had it listed for, however, we don't believe it is worth much more than that. For an overall score we give it 83/100
This is a whisky we will be sharing with our friends, especially those who are on the start of their whisky journey or those who want some examples of Rum finished whisky.