Glenlivet Nàdurra (Gaelic for natural) is matured in first fill ex-Bourbon American oak casks. Available since 2005 at 48% abv, a cask strength version was launched in 2006.
The cask strength Glenlivet Nàdurra is bottled in fairly small batches (which means this review may not be 100% representative for your specific bottle, but differences should be small). The batch indication on the labels tells us when it was bottled: 0512T stands for May 2012. The letter simply goes up with every batch: the first batch was 0606A and the newest batch seems to be 0712U.
Glenlivet 16 yo Nàdurra
(54,3%, OB 2012, batch 0512T)
Glenlivet 16 yo NàdurraNose: very fresh, creamy and oaky in a nice way. Sweet oak, and truckloads of honey. Big vanilla notes, some melon, juicy pear and banana fruitiness. Candy sugar. White chocolate. Muscat grapes and hints of strawberry marshmallows. Gentle spices. Very bourbonny and seductive.
Mouth: quite rich. Malty core, with sweet lemon juice, cooked apple and a bit of its peels as well. Citrus green tea. Soft hazelnuts. Lots of ginger and white pepper. Its oakiness is again really close to an actual bourbon, and I find its floral / potpourri notes a little disturbing at times.
Finish: quite long, quite oaky. Aniseed and ginger.
This kind of hyperactive bourbon oak has its advantages and its drawbacks, I’m afraid. It’s seductive, fruity and spicy, but it balances on the edge of becoming potpourri-like and plankish. Nonetheless a good score due to a great nose. Around € 55 from TWE for instance.
Score: 86/100