Glenlivet "Nadurra"?

When I visited The Glenlivet last year I bought a couple of bottles - and I wish I'd bought a couple more. I like to think of it as the 'thug' of the Glenlivets :-)

Slightly sweet, opens up very nicely with a wee drop of water. Not to everyone's taste though.

Does anyone know where to get it in the UK? Can I, in fact, order straight from Glenlivet themselves? If so their shop is rather hard to track down :-)

Jim

I have a bottle, as yet unopened. The tasting notes on the Nadurra are very interesting. For example, compare the notes of Michael Jackson and Dave Broom from Whiskey Magazine:

Jackson: Nose - sugary mint sauce, garden mint, bay leaves Palate - smooth, dryish, light but firm maltiness, slight earthiness, porcini mushrooms Finish - honeyish, flowery dryness, hop pillows Comment - delicate to the point of reticence

Then compare the comments of Dave Broom - almost seems like a totally different dram: Nose - floral (bluebell), some malty notes, lemon/tangerine marmalade, lychee, oakier than the 12yo Palate - slightly fizzy (orange spacedust) cinnamon balls, odd fellows. Some sweet nuttiness towards the finish, good flow and softly textured. Finish - oak, then candy floss Comment - firm, but with enough sweet notes to balance

Jackson rates it 7-1/4 and Broom 7-3/4 out of 10.

Which brings me to one of my biggest frustrations in reading these guys. I don't live in the UK (no complaints, just a fact). When a description of given of an internationally available product, must they use terminology that is essentially meaningless to us outsiders? I mean, what the hell is "candy floss", "cinnamon balls" (why not just cinnamon), "orange spacedust", "odd fellows" (a flavor or just a comment on previous flavors being strange companions), "hop pillows"? Anyway, this tells me a bit of nothing. Guess I'll open the bottle.

Try thewhiskyexchange.com or royalmilewhiskies.com. I've used them both several times and have always received good service. They're both UK based and carry an excellent range, though WhiskeyExchange has a clear edge for discontinued bottlings.

RM are the ones I usually use, but they don't stock Nadurra (at least not according to the site).

I've just found a place that does though:

They seem a tad more expensive than RM, but stock some stuff that RM don't. One to compare and contrast methinks.

Thanks for the Whisky Exchange tip - another one to add to the list :-)

Jim

I'm with you! To make things even more interesting, add these notes from Jim Murray (Whisky Bible) Nose - Caramelized ginger wrapped in bitter chocolate. Palate - Enveloping, spellbinding, shocking... an imediate outbreak of Demerara sugar before the taste buds are crept up by stealthy maly and coshed by a voluptuous outbreak of Fox's ginger chocolate biscuits; the middle arrival of faintly chilli-ish spice combines beautifully with the warming ginger. Finish - lenghtier and with more ginger than a very lenghty ginger thing. Comment - In some respects one of the sweetest single malts of all time.

Murray rates it 94/100.

Wha?

So... we have EITHER minty, malty/floral or ginger. EITHER malty mushrooms, orangy nutty cinnamon or sugary ginger. EITHER dry honey/hops, oak/candyfloss or ginger. and EITHER delicate, firm or very sweet.

Whatever the descriptive words used, I find it frustrating that the 'experts' can't even agree on dry/sweet or delicate/firm or even the basic flavours of mushroom, orange or ginger.

Maybe they have just sampled too many whiskies (we should be so lucky) and have fried their taste buds.

At least Murray claims that before his tasting sessions, he takes a lot of time to taste a broad range of herbs and spices and other 'characteristic' flavour components to re-acquaint his nose and palate with natural smells and tastes.

I'd say it's sweet - I thought it had been matured in a sweet wine (like sauternes) but apparently it's not.

It went very well with a ginger biscuit, I do remember that much :-)

Jim

"Michael Barrett" skrev i melding news:i93qi.47537$Io4.29983@edtnps89...

:^) Well, so much for "the experts" then! I say, for every man, let his own nose and palate be the only experts.

Gunnar

"Michael Barrett" skrev i melding news:mxeqi.47637$Io4.21328@edtnps89...

I know, actually I do too! Like both you and Jim, I try to find some guidence when searching for what to try next. Personally I have simply found that I tend to agree with one of the Malt Maniacs when it comes to scores, i.e. how much do I like a certain whisky. I usually like what he likes. So I don't have to bother reading mystical tasting notes ;)

Gunnar

I couldn't stand the Nadurra. I bought a bottle and tasted it with a couple of buddies that like scotch and we all thought that the Nadurra tasted like bourbon. I gave away the bottle to one of my employees. For reference, we all like Islays, but we do drink other types of scotch.

Ed