Glenfiddich Rare Collection 40 Year Old
The fifth release of Glenfiddich Rare Collection 40 Year Old is about to hit the shelves... but not without a thought for our dear friend Michael Jackson, who had written tasting notes for each of the first four vattings, before sadly passing away in the summer of 2007.
Michael’s friend and fellow whisky writer Dave Broom of Wine & Spirit magazine has kindly agreed to create tasting notes for this fifth bottling. Dave has hailed the new edition as ‘a remarkable whisky’, so it’s a fitting creation for a remarkable man.
To produce this new release, David Stewart selected five casks - a mixture of American and Spanish oak - and blended them together with the remnants of the previous 40 Year Old vatting, which contains whiskies first distilled more than 80 years ago. Using this remnant ensures consistency as whiskies of this age are incredibly powerful, with even a small amount significantly impacting upon aroma and taste profiles.
The Glenfiddich Rare Collection 40 Year Old was bottled at the natural strength of 45.4%ABV and is limited to 600 bottles.
In 2007, the fourth release was awarded a Gold (Best in Class) medal by the International Wine and Spirit Competition.
Ludo
Responses to "Glenfiddich Rare Collection 40 Year Old"
Hans-Henrik | April 17, 2008
Hi Ludo
All the releases have been 600 bottles except the fourth which was only 500. Why only 500?.
Will the fifth be released in both 70cl and 750ml bottles?
Kind regards
Hans-Henrik
Ludo | April 21, 2008
Hi Hans-Henrik,
I believe the reason why the fourth release was limited to 500 bottles was that the casks chosen by our Malt Master did not contain enough whisky for 600 bottles. Ah those angels!
Now to answer your second question, yes the fifth release is available in both 70 and 75cl bottles.
Best regards,
Ludo
Jim Shepherd | May 3, 2008
What can you tell me about a bottle of Vintage Reserve 1968 cask # 13141 bottle #211? I received it as a gift and my son inlaw drank the whole bottle with root beer and diet pepsi :-)
Ludo | May 5, 2008
Well Jim, I hope your son enjoyed it! The vintage you mentioned was bottled in 2000. It was a single cask which yielded 234 bottles. There can't be many bottles left around the world.
Kind regards,
Ludo
Hans-Henrik | May 5, 2008
I think there was one sold at an auction not so long ago for about 700 euro, so I hope he liked it .... Cheers Hans-Henrik
Ross | May 6, 2008
Hello boys! I'm back!
Had some health issues but all good now!
I'm also way behind my vintages!!! Missed the last 5 or 6.
This one must be special! By the way so sad about Michael! He could have enjoyed another 10 or 15 years :-)
I'm sure Dave is very proud to be part of this interesting fifth release.
Ludo, what will be the retail price for this one?
When will we get it in South Africa?
I'm sipping the new 21 yo - very nice!!
Hans, how are things? Did you manage to get all of the latest?
Jim, i'm sorry but what possessed your son to drink this RARE 1968 Vintage with diet Pepsi??? :-)
Cheers for now!
Ross
Ludo | May 13, 2008
Welcome back Ross!
I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling well but I am very glad that you are now back on your feet (and keyboard!).
Glenfidich 40 year old retails at £1,000 per bottle and it should be available in South-Africa later on in the year (probably from August).
Please let me know if you get the chance to taste it!
Regards,
Ludo
akiva | July 3, 2008
What type (sherry/bourbon) and in approx. what percentages were the casks for the 40 yr 2002 bottling.
thanks.
akiva
Ludo | July 30, 2008
Hi Akiva,
The vast majority of casks were ex sherry casks (Scottish distilleries did not start using ex American whiskey casks until the 1950s).
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Ludo
akiva | August 3, 2008
Thanks,
One more thing, which bottling won the 2003 competition, the 2000 or the 2002?
Thanks
Ludo | August 19, 2008
Hi Akiva,
This is an excellent question and I am sorry that I won't be able to give you an answer. We try to ensure consistency of taste from edition to edition, which means we do not specifically choose which bottles we send to the judges (because various editions should be of equal quality and also because we want to send true examples of bottles which could be purchased by anyone).
I think it is likely that we sent our latest bottles (as this is what we would have had the most stock of) but I could not guarantee that we did not send the 2000 version, if we still had a few bottles in stock.
Sorry I can't be of any more help.
Best regards,
Ludo