Whisky Of The Week: Glenfiddich Introduces The First Scotch Single Malt Finished In Awamori Wood

Liking The Glenfiddich is the whisky equivalent of liking the Beatles — it’s so uncontroversial as to be a little boring. The Glenfiddich’s 12 year old expression is the best selling Scotch single malt in the world, and with good reason. It’s easy to drink, its signature flavors of apple, honey and vanilla are intensely enjoyable, and at 40% ABV, it goes down easy, like “Yesterday” in a glass. It’s almost cooler to trash Glenfiddich than to sing its praises.

But just as the Fab Four balanced out the pop standards with more challenging material for the hardcore fans, the Glenfiddich’s malt master, Brian Kinsman, has used the enormous supply of aged whisky at his disposal to put out some terrific bottlings during his tenure. I particularly love the 23 Year Old Grand Cru, first released in 2019 as part of the ongoing “Grand” series. Finished in French Cuvée casks, its potently sweet and rounded flavor evokes champagne so perfectly that this whisky lover actually prefers a dram of it to a glass of bubbly.

The latest in the Grand series is, conceptually at least, one of the most interesting Glenfiddich releases in recent memory. If we’re still doing the Beatles analogies, it’s more evocative of the mustachioed psychedelic era than the lovable moptop years. The Glenfiddich Grand Yozakura (45.1% ABV) is the first Scotch single malt to have been finished in Japanese awamori casks. Awamori refers not to a type of wood but to Japan’s oldest distilled spirit, going back more than 500 years. Today it’s made on the island of Okinawa using rice and black koji mold. It’s typically aged in ceramic pots, but in recent years a few distilleries have begun aging in wood, and a few of those casks have found their way to Glenfiddich after the fact. Kinsman has been experimenting with awamori cask finishing for several years, starting out with younger whisky in the 12-year-old range. When that gambit proved successful, he recalls, “I felt like, yeah, it’s going to work with an older whisky — a bit more tannin, more depth of flavor.” He took the plunge with 29 year old whisky aged in sherry casks and, mostly, ex-bourbon barrels. He finished the blend for six months in awamori wood.

Grand Yozakura doesn’t taste like awamori (it would be kind of weird for a Glenfiddich to taste like a light rice-based spirit anyway), but the wood’s influence comes through regardless. The whisky has a light, floral nose, a little reminiscent of cherry blossoms — the power of suggestion thanks to the blossom-laden artwork on both the outside and inside of the box? — and a rich, dark, fruity flavor that morphs from stone fruits to ripe berries when a little water is added. “The awamori almost adds mouthfeel and texture in the same way that sherry casks can,” Kinsman notes.

Grand Yozakura stands apart not just from the rest of the Glenfiddich Grand series, but from every other Scotch whisky, and its price — $2,000 a bottle — reflects that. Is it the best Glenfiddich I’ve had? Probably not. Is it a terrific whisky? Absolutely. Think of it as, if not a Sgt. Pepper of single malts, certainly a Magical Mystery Tour (couldn’t resist one more Beatles mention, sorry). And as a bit of history in a bottle, it’s a pretty cool thing to have.