They Glayva Some Whisky

I like to drink whisky every now and again. I had heard about a new whisky based liqueur called Glayva and I just had to try some.  After all they do proclaim to be the best liqueur in the world so it would only be fair to give them the Miss Mamo treatment...

The word Glayva is the name is an anglified spelling of Glè Mhath which means very good so it instantly has something to live up to! 

Crafted in Edinburgh with a recipe that has been unchanged since it was created in 1947 and blended with the finest Scottish whisky and selected exotic ingredients from around the world.  It smells good and looks like a thick syrup so lemonade was essential, as was a huge ball of ice in the bottom of my glass!  I suppose you could try it with your own combination of mixers or even make a cocktail using Glayva as the base ingredient.  There are some great suggestions on the Glayva website.  I will  certainly be trying Glayva with apple juice this weekend now I can feel that Spring has sprung!  I might also try it in a coffee with some ice cream, mmmmm. I can't wait.

It's vaguely similar to Drambuie but it's a more fruity, distinctive flavour. I can't really think of anything else I have ever tasted that is like Glayva, it's a whisky, tangeriney, cinnamon-ey & honey with a nutty taste that I have since found out was almonds.  The  rich golden coloured drink also contains anise, cloves and other citrus fruits.   It kind of smells like Christmas or the smells that remind me of Christmas! 

It's a rather over-powering taste if you drink it on it's own, but when you get to the nitty gritty it is just 35% volume, which makes it slightly less potent than some other whisky brands but what it lacks in alcohol it makes up for in taste.  Glayva boasts the prestigious IWSC Award for Best Liqueur 5 times, impressive, right?  I just can't believe I had never, ever heard of it until recently, even though the major supermarkets all stock it and so do most beer-offs (that's an off-license to you Southerners!)   It is very reasonably priced between £15-£18 in most places for a 50cl bottle. If in doubt  about where to buy you should check out the list of Glayva Stockists here

You are meant to be able to tell the sign of a good whisky by swilling it around the glass, and if it leaves a film, it's a good 'un.  Glayva does just that!  It's smooth and mellow yet mature all at the same time.  It's nice, I like it!  Mr Wright had a try too, he said it was nice and that the flavour was brilliant.  He drank two glasses whilst I was savouring mine, well I had just short of a treble measure with lemonade. Then it hit me, it tastes like black jacks, you know those funny little penny chews from your younger years?! I drank a cheeky one straight with Miss Best too, she thought it was lovely but did not dare to drink too much as she had to cycle 5 miles back home again afterwards!


Overall, I like it.  It's a nice tasting, easy drinking whisky that packs a punch in large quantities.  I think it's best mixed with something for a more sociable long drink.  You could even try some of the Glayva cocktail recipes or add a dash to coffee after dinner.  Just remember to drink responsibly and for more information on alcohol please check out Drink Aware.

Hic !

The bottle was provided free of charge by Glayva for this review