The first tasting for the new year brought out some familiar faces to celebrate Glenfiddich with a couple stalwarts from their line-up, plus some new ones to the group:

Long time friend of TWS Jamie Johnson led the evening with a fantastic lineup including:

The 14 Bourbon barrel was familiar to most, but new to a few. The bourbon lovers in the room really loved the strong vanilla notes. The 18 was great to revisit after a few years away and is always a treat. Project XX has such a great story that we’ve all heard from former Glenfiddich Ambassador Beth Havers, and hearing that it may be going away someday was sad (and has a lot of us stocking up on this old bottling!)

The new Orchard Experiment #5 is aged in Somerset Pomona casks, a unique English apple brandy/apple juice blend that has never been used to age a whisky before. Its apple notes were very different from what you usually expect from Glenfiddich, and was a pleasant surprise. Definitely a nice spring whisky, and one that would surprise both the veteran aficionado and someone new to whisky.

The Grand Cru 23 year old was an incredible way to end the night, and this dram blew most attendees’ socks off. Rich, creamy, fruity, a light effervescence… it dances. If you get a chance to try it, don’t pass on it!

Overall a very fun night of story-telling by Jamie, discussions about whisky collecting vs drinking, the new alcohol guidelines and their impact on the industry, and of course, some great whiskies. Here are some more pics of the festivities! (all of these pictures are courtesy of one of our members, Leemarc, who always captures the action beautifully when he’s at an event! See his pics on IG @leemarclao)