Glenfiddich launches rare Time Re:Imagined whisky collection
Glenfiddich has announced the launch of the Time Reimagined collection, three new aged and exclusive single malt whiskies. The collections represents the “ultimate expression of time and is the pinnacle of Glenfiddich’s signature distillery style,” says the company. “Each whisky is shaped by the steady passing of time and is presented in a unique casing of bespoke artwork.”
The whiskies capture a moment in time and have matured over decades to develop a richness and depth of flavor. Since the 1960s, three “Malt Masters” have been at the helm, overseeing the development of the casks. Now decades later, the malts have reached the zenith of their maturity and are ready for release, the company says in the September 1 press release.
30 year old
The Glenfiddich 30 Year Old depicts the moment when Brian Kinsman, Glenfiddich’s Malt Master, suspends the whisky’s maturation to bottle it, capturing the whisky at the precise moment in time, a perfect expression, preserved for all eternity. The outer packaging design evokes this moment through moving ribbons, each one frozen in time to form elegant cut-out windows, revealing the regal decanter inside. With the moment of maturation captured in all its splendor, the dynamic lines and complex structure create an illusion that the bottle is suspended effortlessly mid-air, suspended in time.
Tasting notes
- Colour – Rich bronze
- Nose – An exquisitely structured balance of hearty oak married with sweet, subtle sherry notes
- Taste – Deep, woody flavours interlaced with delicate floral accents, in a complex combination
- Finish – Warm, honeyed and exceptionally long-lasting
- ABV 43%
40 year old
The Glenfiddich 40 Year Old is a bold, maverick representation of remnant vatting, a pioneering process where the remnants of the previous batch are carried over each time, and married with the casks selected for each subsequent release. Glenfiddich uses the remnant vatting process, and this accumulation of flavors over time adds complexity to the taste. Just as the 40 Year Old is composed of layers of flavors that transform, the outer packaging design brings this to life with a bold and maverick take on a geological metamorphosis. The decanter is housed in a stunning sculptural container and stopper made from jesmonite, a material with individual characteristics. Featuring dramatic grooves carved into the stone-like material that expose the intertwining veins which flow through it, each totally random and different from any other, embodying the evolution of one thing becoming another.
Tasting notes
- Colour – Dark mahogany
- Nose – A deeply layered expression of dried fruits, dark chocolate, roasted coffee and ripe black cherries. Completed with subtle waves of gentle wood smoke, polished leather and cloves
- Taste – A luxuriously full and silky smooth taste, with memories of past releases in every nuanced note. Evolving from deep dried fruit notes to rich fruitcake, dates, raisins and stewed apples, before giving way to dry oaky notes, with subtle hints of bitter chocolate and peat
- Finish – Complex, memorable, and exquisitely long-lasting
- ABV 44.6%
50 year old
The Glenfiddich 50 Year Old liquid takes whiskies from three different American Oak refill casks, all matured in the same warehouse before being married together and finished in an American oak refill cask for two years. There are 220 decanters of the liquid in the release.
Many factors affect whisky maturing in the cask, including climatic conditions: air pressure, temperature and humidity. The nature of maturation changes with these conditions. Hot summers speed up the maturation process and cold winters slow it down – dramatically affecting the outcome of the liquid. These climatic conditions are unique to that time and day, they can never be replicated. The development of the oak character, in combination with these climatic conditions, gives the whisky its unique taste. The outer casing is an artistic representation of the climatic data that created the whisky.
“Manuel Jiménez García, a computational architect, decrypted the meteorological data into an algorithm, and generated a physical design language to build the structure’s bespoke form bringing life to every second of every day, of every month of those fifty years,” the company says.
Tasting notes
- Colour – Antique gold
- Nose – Rich orange peel and clementine meet complex notes of Madeira cake and muscovado sugar. Maturing over time into the dewy petrichor of a Dufftown morning, mingling with flowering geranium
- Taste – A lingering sweetness softens into deep, silky smooth oak tannin and sun-dried vanilla
- Finish – Oaky, sweet and incredibly long lasting
- ABV 43.8%
Whisky fact:
"Today barley is grown in many countries in the temperate zone. For a long time now, the Scottish barley production hasn’t been able to meet the demand for whisky. That's why Scotland imports parts of their barley but also finished barley malt from other countries such as for example Germany."
Livingbythedram
Whisky Blogger
Brian Kinsman, Glenfiddich Malt Master, said: “In whisky production, we often talk about the role of Malt Masters and it is our responsibility to find the delicate balance between the taste of the whisky and the intensity of the oak cask. But we don’t always acknowledge how each cask, each bottle, is absolutely unique because of the time it has spent maturing. Both nature and time play huge roles in making whisky taste like it does and Glenfiddich’s Time Reimagined pays homage to this process and the exquisite liquid it helps to create.”
Claudia Falcone, Glenfiddich Global Brand Director, said: “William Grant, the visionary founder of Glenfiddich, had a dream to create the best dram in the valley. These three expressions are the perfect illustration of that aspiration. The Time Reimagined collection bottles that maverick spirit and captures a fleeting moment in time which bridges the past with the present. The quality of these liquids has inspired the distinctive packaging that beautifully tell the stories of these single malts and is a fitting tribute to the unpredictable nature of time itself.”
