In the latest of his monthly instalments, Charles Maclean gives his thoughts on the Malt of the Month: Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix.

Full gold with amber lights; good legs and a voluptuous texture. A deep fruity bouquet, reminiscent of pears in syrup or fruit salad juicy - with planed wood and light toast behind. A fresh and lively taste at full strength, with a lightly sweet start, considerable citric acidity and traces of coconut; warming, with a medium-length finish, leaving the mouth tingling.

Last winter was hard on Speyside. During the first week of January, in particular, it snowed hard, then froze, then snowed again for days and days. Nobody had seen anything like it in living memory. Cattle-sheds and steadings collapsed under the weight of snow and ice; the flat roof of Tesco's Elgin branch was feared for; half the schools in Morayshire were closed.

But the worst effects of the weather were seen by the whisky industry. The roofs of twenty of Chivas Brothers maturation warehouses at Mulben caved in, burying, it was reported, more than a hundred million gallons of malt whisky. Diageo lost a store at Cragganmore, and suffered light damage elsewhere. Macallan was battered but unbowed. And at Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown, where all the whisky is matured on site, the Aberdeen Press & Journal reported that the roofs of three huge warehouses had collapsed, and that Moray Council had alerted R.A.F. Kinloss, which was prepared to offer temporary warehousing in aircraft hangers.

Glenfiddich Malt Master, Brian Kinsman, commented: Standing amongst the wreckage and casks exposed to the night sky at -19°C, as we worked round the clock to clear the snow, I was thinking about how the casks, some of which were very old, contained some beautiful whisky and it occurred to me that they would create a fantastic non-aged single malt. A limited edition bottling from the whiskies in the damaged warehouses would be an appropriate way of celebrating the pioneering spirit of the distillery team at this moment in Glenfiddich's history.

A photographer was shooting the scene and rather fittingly, when we looked at the pictures, the light shining through the warehouse roofs looked like a phoenix rising above us. I suppose this was the moment of conception of Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix.

As it says on the neck label: "Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky born of chance and adversity". Indeed. The bottle does not bear an age statement, but the casks going into it range from 13 to 30 years old, and include American oak ex-Bourbon barrels and European oak ex-sherry butts, I am told. It is bottled at a natural strength of 47.6% Vol and has not been chill-filtered, which enhances its flavour and texture. It is a limited edition malt (albeit in an edition of 60,000 bottles), and cannot be repeated. As Brian Kinsman says: “It is the most spontaneous whisky we have ever produced We usually spend years meticulously planning everything Yet it is of the same meticulous standard we achieve for all our whiskies.

Shifting snow around the clock gave the Glenfiddich team a deep admiration for those who work in extreme conditions. The company has therefore dedicated Snow Phoenix to the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team (CMRT), which battles harsh environments to save lives in the heart of Speyside every winter, and has made a special contribution to their funds.