The rich palate of the The Glenlivet 18 Year Old is the result of a combination of several different cask types. The Glenlivet Master Distiller Alan Winchester has a wealth of quality casks to choose from when creating this complex expression, with American and European Oak, first and second fill, all playing their parts. While the European oak gives spice and complexity, the American oak offeres a tropical fruitiness. In the early nineteenth century, when high taxes encouraged illegal distillation, George Smith saw his chance. George was a businessman and an entrepreneur who did not want to follow the example of those who illegally distilled. In 1824, he obtained a license to produce whiskey legally. This caused George Smith and the distillery to receive many threats, but that never slowed him. George Smith died in 1871, but his legacy lived on in his son and heir of the distillery, John Gordon Smith. The first task of John was to protect the heritage from those who were taking advantage of the reputation of single malt Speyside. Sailors setting of for long journeys looked to be supplied with whiskey, and competing distillers were labeling their bottles of whiskeys as Glenlivet. In 1876, John filed a trademark application with the name Glenlivet to end the activities of fraudsters. After years of legal wrangling, the case was resolved. John won the exclusive right to call their whiskey 'The Glenlivet', definitely marking it as the single malt that started it all.