I was at a mate's place on the weekend and there it was on the kitchen bench: The Glenlivet 15, the French Oak Reserve one, poured before I'd got my coat off. He'd been buying it for years and wanted to know if he was missing a trick. Here's the trick, and it comes from his own distillery.
The bottle most like The Glenlivet 15, for less, is The Glenlivet 12. At $79 it gives a The Glenlivet 15 drinker about 93% of what their own bottle does. Same house, lighter spend, nearly all of the experience.
So let me tell you about the 15 first. It's a Speyside single malt, fifteen years old, and the nose is a quiet one: perfumed oak, orchard fruit, apple and pear, a dusting of white pepper, with a hint of pineapple and honey sitting behind it. On the palate it's smooth and easy to meet, the French Oak maturation lending it a little extra weave. If I had to hold one picture of it, it's a still orchard at dusk: soft, clean, unhurried.
If you fancy a change, three bottles stand in close.
The Glenlivet 18, around $200. Dried heathery flowers and tinned pineapple, windfall apples, a thread of cedar and nutmeg, custard tart before the autumn fruit. To a The Glenlivet 15 drinker it gives about 95% of what the 15 does.
The Singleton of Dufftown 12, $69 for members. Very soft, faint, a gentle fruit-punch character and an easy way about it. To a The Glenlivet 15 drinker it also gives about 95%.
Aberfeldy 12, which usually sells around $104. Fresh and floral, with lively tropical fruit, honey and vanilla, and an orange marmalade finish touched with spice. To a The Glenlivet 15 drinker it gives about 94%.
Now, what to pay. The Glenlivet 15 is $125 for members at Dan Murphy's this week. Take it as a price guide, not a scramble. That works out to about $5.66 a standard drink across roughly 22 in the bottle, which is a touch under a pint at the pub at about $6.28 a standard drink. A pour at home, basically, and a good one.
Here's the part I find most telling. What would the drinkers of the bottles sitting nearest The Glenlivet 15 pay for it, each starting from what they already pay for their own? An Aberfeldy 12 drinker would pay about $90 for the 15, which is 86% of what their own bottle costs them, marking it down mostly for not being from the Highlands and for being older than theirs. Turn it around and a The Glenlivet 15 drinker rates Aberfeldy 12 at about 94% of their own, marking it down for being younger and for leaning tropical. Across the drinkers of those nearest bottles the answers run from $67 to $174. At $125 for members, this week's price sits inside what they'd pay.
So, who's it for?
If The Glenlivet 15 is already your bottle, stay where you are; $125 for members is this week's number and it's doing exactly what you want it to. Keen to spend less without leaving the family? The Glenlivet 12 at $79 is your answer, about 93% of the experience for a good deal less outlay. Want the fuller, more wintry version? The 18 is waiting, flowers drawn in and fruit tinned. After the softest, most undemanding glass in the room? The Singleton of Dufftown 12 at $69 for members. And if you came in through Aberfeldy's door, with its marmalade and tropical lift, the 15 will feel like a close cousin worth a night.
Pour one and see which camp you land in. That's the only way to settle it.
None recorded.
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