Glenfiddich has announced the release of the highly sought-after Glenfiddich 30 Year Old Single Malt Scotch whisky. Alongside the Glenfiddich 50 Year Old and Glenfiddich 40 Year Old, the Glenfiddich 30 Year Old is a rare and elegant example of the distillery’s pioneering approach to producing one of the world’s most exceptional aged single malt Scotch whiskies.
This year, for the first time, each bottle of Glenfiddich 30 Year Old will bear an individual bottle number and batch number which will allow us to identify precisely which Glenfiddich casks our Malt Master selected to marry together to create that bottle of Glenfiddich 30 Year Old.
During the 1970s David Stewart, our then Malt Master, carefully laid down a selection of spirit to mature in Bourbon and Oloroso sherry oak casks. More than thirty years on, Glenfiddich is proud to offer whisky connoisseurs around the world the chance to savour one of its most revered aged whiskies.
We estimate that each cask of single malt that has gone in to creating Glenfiddich 30 Year Old has been nosed and tasted at least five or six times over the past 30 years by David Stewart, Glenfiddich’s long-standing former Malt Master and, more recently, the distillery’s new Malt Master, Brian Kinsman, who served an eight year apprenticeship to David.
For three decades David and Brian have between them carefully nurtured each individual cask. Only single malt that passes their exacting standards is hand-picked and married together to achieve a final sublime harmony. The process is intensely time-consuming, yet essential to ensure the Glenfiddich 30 Year Old is imbued with a unique character and richness of taste.
“Time permeates everything we do at Glenfiddich. To us, it is a precious commodity, not something to be underestimated. William Grant appreciated that the mark of a great distiller is one who understands the slow but inexorable rewards of time - and this appreciation is still very much a part of life today. Whisky is not something that can be hurried,” comments Brian Kinsman, Malt Master at Glenfiddich.
Brian Kinsman continued: “I am just one of two Malt Masters who has personally attended to the Glenfiddich 30 Year Old and it has been a great honour to be a part of Glenfiddich’s world renowned, time-honoured whisky-making tradition.”
The quality and heritage of the whisky is reflected in the refined packaging. With new packaging designs for 2010, the Glenfiddich 30 Year Old is encased in an individually numbered bespoke bottle with thick base, sealed with a wax security tag, and embossed with a brass coloured badge. The bottle is enclosed in a luxury wooden case with filigree detailing and brass detailing on the corners.
The nose of the Glenfiddich 30 Year Old is finely balanced with substantial oakiness matched by fig, dark chocolate and luscious sherry notes. With a complex and seductively woody taste, emphasised by a floral sweetness, and an exceedingly long, honeyed and warm finish, the Glenfiddich 30 Year Old is truly exquisite complexity of fragrance and flavour.
Glenfiddich 30 Year Old will be released worldwide, rolling out market by market from January and retailing at £225 per bottle. It will have an ABV of 43%.
