TASTING NOTES REVIEW – Glenlivet 14-Year-Old Cognac Cask Selection Scotch Whisky

Glenlivet 14 is the first scotch whisky that I’ve had in a long, long time. The last time I had a scotch it was while I was an undergraduate student in an increasingly distant past. I don’t recall now specifically what scotch or scotches I last had were, but I’m sure they weren’t top quality selections. Earlier this year, I experimented with American single malt whiskies and blended malt whiskies produced by the Virginia Distillery Company (VDC), which definitely helped lay the groundwork for this jumping in to straight scotch. I’ve reviewed the VDC selections I sampled, the Signature Single Malt, Double Cask Reserve, Cider Cask Finished blend, and the Port Cask Finished blend, and also wrote an update post. But I’ll write soon a new retrospective post discussing my observations and experiences with malt whiskies now that I’ve gone through the gamut of liking them, not liking them, liking their aroma profiles but not really liking their flavors on the palate (mostly due to the malt), to everything in between. It probably didn’t help that I decided to delve back into whiskies after over a decade away with scotch instead of, say, bourbon or a whisky genre generally seen as being gentler (generalizing here, I know).

Glenlivet 14 is an 80 proof (40% ABV) Speyside scotch matured first in oak barrels used to age bourbon and sherry wine. The scotch is then finished in former cognac brandy casks. It is aged for a total of fourteen years and finished for at least six months in the cognac casks. In the glass it is a deep gold color.

My first two tastings were conducted on the same day as the bottle was cracked open, 13 October 2024, separated by several hours. I used a Stölzle (Stolzle) Lausitz Whiskey Nosing Glass, mostly because I accidentally grabbed the wrong box, having intended to grab one of my Glencairn glass boxes. I sipped the scotch neat after it had rested in the glass for about thirty minutes.

On the nose, the most prominent aroma was of sweet, juicy orchard fruits like apples and apricots mixed with a hint of dark cherries, raisins/figs, a very light caramel, and a hint of the malt. The fruity aromas reminded me of a fresh apple juice. The raisin/fig aroma, perhaps from the cognac cask finishing, lurked behind the orchard fruits and was mixed with some baking spices. The aroma profile reminded me a lot of the VDC’s Courage & Conviction Double Cask Reserve, which also has a very orchard fruit-forward aroma profile. Overall, I found the Glenlivet 14’s aroma profile delightful. Aside from the malt smell, its aromas reminded me a bit of a fruit liqueur. After the glass was empty and had sat for a while, there were prominent aromas of caramel and brown sugar more than the initially dominant fruitiness.

Flavor wise, on the palate the initial fruity sweetness transformed into more dark red fruits like dark cherries with a hint of spiced figs/raisins, reminiscent to me of a fig newton, more than the apples/apricots/orchard fruits on the nose. The maltiness, which came across to me as a light smokiness on the back breath/exhale after taking a sip, followed prominently after the initial fruity sweetness. There was a lingering heat and malty flavor on the back palate after the swallow. The sip was less sweet than the nose suggested and was actually quite drying in the mouth. I could taste the oak/wood influence and there was a slight oak tannin bitterness as I swallowed a sip, but it was not unpleasant. Instead, the bitter notes balanced out the initial sweetness. I didn’t get strong caramel notes on the palate and the slight hint of vanilla I did pick up reminded me more of a vanilla extract rather than pure vanilla.

The third tasting took place on 20 October, a full week after the bottle cracking. I used a Glencairn for this and the fourth tasting session with no resting time.

On the nose, the aroma profile remained unchanged with those orchard fruits, cherries, and raisins/figs with baking spices leading it with hints of caramel and maltiness. The aroma profile still came across as “juicy” (fruits).

The flavor profile on the palate remained largely the same with the fruity sweetness being more dark red fruits (dark cherries) than apples and apricots (orchard fruits) mixed with raisins/figs (again reminiscent of a fig newton). This initial sweetness was followed by the malt flavor, which again came across as a light smokiness and breadiness after I swallowed a sip. Oak barrel influence and a slight oak tannin bitterness remained, still balanced with the sweetness. The palate was and remained less sweet than the aroma profile suggested and it was/is still a bit drying on the palate, though it seemed/seems slightly less so than during the first two tastings the day the bottle was opened. There was a very light caramel flavor note mixed with a whisper of vanilla extract. The finish remained of medium length.

On 27 October, I conducted the fourth and final tasting, which finished off the mini bottle. This time I experimented with water, using refrigerated Evian bottled mineral water and my Glencairn pipette. Without water, the aroma profile and flavors remained unchanged.

Putting in three small drops of mineral water, on the nose the orchard fruits mixed with dark cherries and raisins/figs remained but the water seemed to tone their aromas down a bit. A mix of caramel and vanilla were now more noticeable on the nose with the malt following behind. There was also a citrusy note that emerged, mixing with the other fruits and the malt.

On the palate with water, much of the flavor profile remained initially largely unchanged. But, as I continued to sip the scotch, the flavor profile became lighter with fruity flavors, malt/smokiness, and the oak tannin bitterness note standing out the most. There was a definite, brighter citrusy note on the flavor profile with the drops of water. The finish remained medium-long, lasting about 8-10 seconds. Though the malt was still prominent on the palate, as was the malty smokiness on the exhale after swallowing a sip, the water mellowed it down a bit. I liked the flavor profile better with the water.

Glenlivet 14 is one of the handful of scotch whiskies that I have a full-sized 750 ml bottle of and the question I’m still pondering is when to crack that open, before or after doing tastings of a range of other scotches that I have mini bottles of. The whisky journey continues in between my first love, the agave spirits journey. But diversity is usually good, so keeping an open mind is the ultimate goal.