Scotch Whisky Review #398: Smith’s Glenlivet for Peter Dominic 12 Year (1969)
Distillery: Glenlivet.
Region: Speyside.
Age: 12 Year. Distilled in February of 1969 and bottled in March of 1981.
ABV: 40.0%.
Cask Numbers: 954-961, 1705-1708.
Color: 0.9, Amontillado Sherry.
Nose: It starts so, so, so weird. It’s not bad, it’s not solvent, but it is so different and very vegetal. There’s no fruit, no sweetness. Just a bunch of vegetables and other vegetation. Lemongrass, eucalyptus, aloe vera plant stalks, and menthol are what come to mind the most. I can’t help but the mental image of freshly blended green vegetable juice. After a long while, it turns more into fresh cut grass and less weird.
Palate: Things are a little more straightforward here. It’s sweet with powdered sugar and notes of candied lemons. The lemon candy note is most reminiscent of the center of a lemon drop, after you’ve gotten past the more sour notes and it’s just mostly sugary sweet goodness.
Finish: Medium in length. There is a very slightest tinge of peat in the form of a hefty coal/gassy note. It is almost like having the tiniest bit of smoldering smoke from a campfire.
Conclusion: This private bottling of Glenlivet from 1981 isn’t the first bottling I’ve had from that year, the other being a royal wedding bottling. I didn’t expect this to be like that one, of course, but I also did not expect the nose I got on this. It is one of the weirdest noses I’ve ever smelled. I’ve not had anything that has smelled so distinctly of, well, vegetation and so much of it that I couldn’t help but think of a vegetable juice while smelling it. It made for a fun experience, sure, but left me quite worried about the rest of the dram. Thankfully, the palate is a lot more what I would’ve expected with some sweetness along with some citrus and those notes are delivered quite well. The finish delivers a very unexpected yet pleasant note of smoldering campfires to wrap things up. Not bad at all, despite how weird of a start it was!
Final Score: 81.
Scotch Whisky Review #398, Speyside Review #145, Whisky Network Review #552
Scoring Legend:
- 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
- 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
- 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
- 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
- 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
- 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
- 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
- Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.
Scotch & Sheen 
