Glenfiddich's Perpetual Collection was launched as a global travel retail range, the conceit being a solera-style vat that is drawn from and topped up but never emptied. VAT 01 is the 12 Year Old expression, married from American oak ex-bourbon and European oak ex-sherry casks before being committed to its perpetual vessel.
The Grant family founded Glenfiddich at Dufftown in 1886 and the distillery has been continuously bottled as a single malt since 1963, the act that effectively created the modern single malt category. The standard 12 has been the world's bestselling single malt for decades, and VAT 01 is recognisably its cousin: orchard fruit, vanilla, a thread of malt, the sherry cask presence slightly more pronounced than in the domestic 12 thanks to the marrying vat's accumulated character.
At 43% it has a touch more weight than the 40% domestic bottling, which suits the slightly firmer oak. It is not a radical reinvention; it is Glenfiddich 12 with the volume nudged half a notch and a marketing story attached to justify the airport shelf space. As an introduction to Speyside for the duty free shopper it does its job tidily.
