The bottles that stand beside Clynelish 14

It's a Friday and a mate is holding a bottle of Clynelish 14 in the Dan Murphy's aisle, turning it over, half-decided. He drinks it most weeks. He wants to know if he's still buying the right thing, and what the going price looks like. That's the whole question here: what Clynelish 14 tastes like, and what to pay for it.

Start with the taste, from its own review. Fresh, appetising, easy to drink. Brine comes first. Under it, a lemon-lime fruit and a vanilla-touched malt. Then a little seaweed, a little peat, a pepper with some heat to it, and a thin thread of citrus-rind bitterness running through. The finish is briny again, with that seaweed note trailing off. An aperitif whisky, through and through.

Two bottles sit right beside it. What stands out is how close they land.

Dalwhinnie 15, $95. Caramelised fruits and a deep honeyed sweetness, soft cream, a light touch of fennel and sharp citrus. It's thick through the middle, and gentle. To a Clynelish 14 drinker it gives about 98% of what the Clynelish does, for 87% of its price. It usually sells around $95, and we've seen it from $95 to $129.

Deanston 12, $97 for members. Orange marmalade on the nose, shortbread dipped in honey, ginger and cinnamon. Then salted caramel, milk chocolate, hazelnuts and sweet oak, soft on the palate, with a peppery oak finish. To a Clynelish 14 drinker it gives about 97% of what the Clynelish does, for 89% of its price. It usually sells around $112, and we've seen it from $97 to $112.

Three malts. One briny and dry, one honeyed and chunky, one sweet and spiced. Three different rooms, near-identical scores.

Now what to pay. Clynelish 14 is $109 for members at Dan Murphy's this week. Work it down to the glass and that's $4.29 a standard drink, with about 25 standard drinks in the bottle. A pint at the pub runs about $13, near enough $6.28 a standard drink. So a pour of Clynelish at home sits under a pint out.

There's a second way to price it. Ask the drinkers of the bottles nearest Clynelish 14 what it's worth to them, each starting from what they pay for their own, and the answers run from $83 to $138. At $109 for members it sits inside what the drinkers of the bottles nearest it would pay. The reasons are the ones already on the table: a Dalwhinnie 15 drinker gets nine-tenths and more of the Clynelish for less than they spend now; a Deanston 12 drinker, much the same. Put the numbers side by side and the picture is a close one.

So who's it for.

If Clynelish 14 is already your bottle, $109 for members is the week's price, and nothing here is telling you to move off it. The briny, appetising profile comes through better here than in either of the others.

If you want most of that for a little less, Dalwhinnie 15 carries almost all of it, only softer and more honeyed, less sea air. At $95 it asks less than the Clynelish and gives up very little.

If your leaning is sweeter and more spiced, Deanston 12 is the swap, trading the brine for marmalade, chocolate and oak, and landing nearly as close.

Pick by the flavour you're after. On how much whisky you get for the money, these three are hard to separate, and any of them makes a glass worth sitting with.