I was given an old Glenfiddich miniature. It is probably from the 1960s and it has been stored dark and cold.
I bought a kit with the current Glenfiddich line of standard whiskies and made a little tasting. This is what I find about the old miniature.
The color is more pale, which is reasonable given that it the label says it was 8 years old when bottled, and there is no reason it should get darker being stored in a bottle.
A few minutes in the air made the aroma more pleasant. It was still a light, fruity (almost like white wine) aroma – not very different from the 12 YO.
Both on the nose and in the mouth I found the dominant thing to be “jerusalem artichoke”. I occationally find that in whiskies, never in Glenfiddich before, but sometimes in old whiskies.
All the modern Glenfiddich are partly stored on Sherry casks. I think the miniature was not, and I think that makes it taste a bit different.
I think most people would have prefered the 15/18YO to the miniature. But it is a matter of taste. It had not turned bad. If the difference between the miniature and the 12YO is mostly because of different production methods, or 50 years on a bottle, I can not tell.
I doubt this miniature had been a major success if it was sold. Everything was not better in the past, and storing whisky for half a century on a bottle is hardly a silver bullet to fanstatic whisky. Perhaps it give a taste that is hard to find otherwhise.
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