Glenfiddich 12: the best-seller, weighed up

It's the world's best-selling single malt, and that counts for something. These days it carries a bit more heft, a sherried note lending the pear, apple and light cereal a sweet, sultana underpinning. That chewiness meets a dry nuttiness on the palate. The finish recedes, green fruits coming through with a fresh acidity. Well balanced, start to end. For a bottle this familiar, there's more going on in the glass than its reputation lets on.

Now the price. Glenfiddich 12 is $79 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $77, and we've seen it between $75 and $80. So this week sits a touch above its usual, and well inside its normal run. That works out at about $3.57 a standard drink across roughly 22 in the bottle — a pour at home for a bit over half the cost of a $13 pint at the pub.

Here's a different way to read the price. What would the drinkers of the bottles nearest it pay for Glenfiddich 12, each starting from what they pay for their own? An Aberfeldy 12 drinker would pay about $90 for it, 87% of what their own bottle costs them, marking it down mostly for not being from the Highlands and the name on the label. The other way round, a Glenfiddich 12 drinker puts Aberfeldy 12 at 96% of their own, marking it down mostly for the name on the label. Across the drinkers of the bottles nearest it, the answers run from $77 to $123. At $79, this week's price sits comfortably inside that span.

Two stand-ins, if you want a change.

Glen Moray 12 is $71 for members, usually around $79, and we've seen it between $71 and $79. Matured in bourbon casks: honey, icing sugar, toffee bonbons and orange peel on the nose, then barley sugar, soft oak, nectarine and lychee, with vanilla and more honey on a medium finish. To a Glenfiddich 12 drinker it gives about 98% of what the Glenfiddich does, for 90% of the price. Near enough the same whisky's worth, a little less out of pocket.

Aberfeldy 12 is $104, and usually about $104. Fresh and floral, with lively tropical fruit, honey and vanilla, a slight syrupy texture over its malty base, and a youthful orange marmalade finish touched with spice. Easy-going and pleasant. To a Glenfiddich 12 drinker it gives about 96% of what the Glenfiddich does, for more money.

So, who's it for? If Glenfiddich 12 is already your bottle, $79 is the week's number, and nothing here tells you to move. If you drink Aberfeldy 12 and fancy spending less, Glenfiddich 12 covers most of the ground for a good deal under what you pay now. And if you'll take near-enough for less again, Glen Moray 12 is the one to reach for. Three bottles, three easy yeses, and not much between them in the glass.