Glenlivet 18 Year Old

Thanks for another nice addition, Nock. I agree with much of your described experience-- at least for a bottle opened for 1/2 year (referring to my review). I wonder what oxidation state your sample was in? Anyway, it's still surprising that your guest found a new bottle just "pleasant enough"! I've previously seen great reactions from a fresh bottle.

Good review, but I'm sorry you didn't like this one more. Personally I find it considerably more enjoyable than the 12. In my book Glenlivet isn't necessarily an 'oomph' whisky (unless we're discussing the Nadurra), but I found a subtle elegance and complexity to this dram that simply isn't there in the 12, more specifically in regard to the baking spices and oak presence that work around the apples. Thanks @Nock for another great write-up. I wish I could belt them out at the same rate as you, buddy! Keep 'em coming!

@hunggar, @Nock's prodigious review production is actually working off a back-log. @Nock has tasting notes for about 200 reviews saved up...or so he told me.

Ah, I see. In that case I applaud the both of you for your patience. I tend to post my notes within a few weeks of writing them. Meanwhile you two wait for your whiskies to evolve and oxidize, then consult your original notes to compare and contrast. Much more informative compared with those of us who write our reviews on the fly...

@hunggar thanks for the kind words about my reviews. And thanks for taking the time to read them. However, don't think more highly of me then you ought! @Victor is correct that I have been keeping my own little personal set of reviews dating back to 2009 (with only two or three strange attempts before that). It is not out of patience I assure you. For a long time now I have been content to simply read other peoples reviews and make decisions based on them. Once someone has around 100 or more reviews I think it is easy to get a sense of their "taste."

It is only recently (in large part through conversations with @Victor) that I have felt like the very least I could do here at Connosr is give back a little bit of my experiences - for what little it might be worth - to other readers. At the very least if someone gets a sense of my "taste" and is able to discover a new whisky based on a review of mine I will be pleased.

I do think it is important for a person to really understand the "blinders" or "lenses" that a reviewer has when they rate a whisky. No one is objective. No whisky experience is objective. However, as you get to have a "read" on a reviewer you can make more informed decisions of how to treat their rating of a "78" or a "92" based on the criteria they use.

This has been part of my struggle: I very much use my own crazy system. I score a whisky in 5 categories out of 6.5 (being perfect). So the max a whisky can score in my book is 32.5

For me this system works perfectly. I know that anything over 30 is "buy every bottle." 25-30 is buy a new bottle once the last is finished. 20-25 is buy at the right price. Under 20 is don't buy (unless it is a gift). Under 15 is "re-gift." And under 10 is very, very sad.

It has taken me some time to figure out a way to translate my personal notes into something useful here at Connosr. Most of the reviews of mine you will read combine 3 to 4 reviews of a given whisky bottle (unless noted to be a sample).

Therefore, it is not out of patience that I have waited to see how a bottle develops, but more so out of selfishness and slowness. I have had a little burst of energy to pump out a few reviews these past few months. We will see how my resolve holds up. My next goal is get on the first page of Members when sorted by reviews. My second goal is to try and catch @Victor review count ;)

@Nock, uh-oh, that's what I was afraid of!

I liked the Glenlivet 12 when I was still a newcomer to Scotch. I would probably not drink it now, saving my drinking for something a little more complex and flavourful. But when I tasted the 18 for the first time, I wasn't overly impressed,

The Nadurra isn't bad, and I have a bottle I'll probably save for a Whisky club night, but I think the distillery is a little too branded for me.