Glenlivet Enigma

The Glenlivet was founded in 1824 by John and George Smith, with waters fed by the Josie and Blairfindy wells. George Smith was the first Scotsman to apply for a distillery license once it became legal to do so under the Excise Act of 1823. With recent expansion over the past decades, the distillery now houses 14 copper pot stills and annual global sales are approximately 6 million bottles per year. The Glenlivet Enigma was the fourth in the “Mystery Series”, a range in the 2010s that featured the Alpha (2013), Cipher (2016), Code (2018), Enigma (2019), and Spectra (2020). These bottles usually came with little to no details on the packaging or website and encouraged drinkers to explore the range of experiences Glenlivet had to offer without relying on marketing guidance. Some bottles featured puzzles or other clues the consumer could solve to reap notes or facts about the bottles in question. As can be seen from the packaging, the Engima has a crossword puzzle with The Glenlivet Enigma being already filled in to help start the consumer off. The Enigma was the highest-proofed offering from the series. Eventually, futher details were released about each bottle.

Distillery: Glenlivet
Region: Speyside
Age: NAS
Strength: 60.6%
Price: $129.99
Maturation: American oak, finished in ex-Canadian first fill rye barrels
Location: Ballindalloch
Nose: Strawberry, cumquat, marmalade, licorice, banana, apple, hay
Palate: Butter, caramel, vanilla
Finish: Oak, apple, pepper, licorice, apricot

Comments: Add water to suit your tastes but be sure to try without first to see where you’re starting. Solve the mystery!

Adam – The Engima offers a unique mystery, and one I can get behind. While it can be useful in some scenarios to have all that guidance marketing gurus plaster on the boxes and bottles, we have always ignored those and preferred to dive into what we experience directly. The nose opens with a fruitbowl of strawberries, banana and apples. It really is fun to tease out and the higher proofage makes identifying those elements easier. Sumer is icumen, indeed. The palate is also delightful and bright, definitely tinged but not overly so with the alcohol. I could sip this just fine without any watering down. The palate is surprisingly sweet after the nose because the fruits fall away to butter and vanilla. I’m almost at the movies, sipping a bucket of popcorn. Magically, some different fruits and licorice return on the finish after that brielf sojourn into decadence. I’ve admittedly avoided Glenlivet because my sense was their offerings were on the generic side of things. The Engima is anything but generic, deserving of respect and appreciation the same as any scotch.

Henry – The Enigma is all about oak. A rich and appealing nose of Seville orange marmalade, baking spices, and vanilla. Palate is oaky and tannin, with a lovely mouthfeel. Long, dry finish with a hint of pepper.

Ben – It has a lot of the same sweetness as other Glenlivets. I can taste cumquats when I smelled the nose, which was interesting.

Bill – Like a fresh suede, a leather. I got a buttery popcorn in the middle.

Mike –  I can find some pepper at the end but that might be just the high proof.

Evelyn – Booze-soaked strawberries on the nose. The Enigma tastes like banana foster, buttery and caramel. I really like this, though I would have an ice cube with this maybe.

Sam – At the end it’s a little like soy sauce and toasted combu. Once you struggle past all the fruit, you finally arrive at the dried apricot.