1/Pour the Cragganmore 12 and the room leans in: cider and heather, a little ginger, ripe red apple with honey underneath. Some whiskies gather fans. This one gathers friends, the bottle a roomful of different drinkers all end up fond of.
2/Here's the shape of it. Cragganmore 12 sits among the ten closest bottles for the drinkers of 21 others; the typical bottle manages 9.0. Drinkers of Highland Park 12 and Bowmore 12 would both find it near the top of their own list.
3/In the glass it's gentle, not quiet: ripe apple and honey, a little vanilla fudge, a faint wisp of smoke sitting back. The finish runs long, the light smoke staying on with black pepper, oak and a last bite of green apple. Easy company.
4/The two who'd reach for it first say why. Highland Park 12 is floral and honeyed, citrus with warm peaty smoke. Bowmore 12 leans tropical: peaches, sweet smoke, a touch of brine. Pour either at home and a standard drink runs $4.07 and $4.30; the same at the pub, $6.28.
| slot | 08-13 | 08-20 | 08-27 | 09-03 | 09-10 | 09-17 | 09-24 | 10-01 | 10-08 | 10-15 | 10-22 | 10-29 | 11-05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list / member | 120.99 observed | 120.99 m 95.00 observed | 120.99 m 95.00 observed | 120.99 m 95.00 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed | 85.90 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 96.70 | 85.90 | 16.86 | 85.90 | 120.99 | 35.09 | 17.4% | 4.68 | 85.90 | 69 |
| member | 90.70 | 85.90 | 9.92 | 85.90 | 120.99 | 35.09 | 10.9% | 2.75 | 85.90 | 69 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 96.70 | 284.15 | 0.95 | -1.34 | 87.5 – 105.9 |
Pour the Bowmore 12 and the nose turns tropical and sweetly smoky, with brine and new leather, then peaches and honey on the palate before cocoa powder and woodsmoke fade. A fine introduction to the distillery, $95 for members this week. More in this week's piece.
Ripe red apples, a little heather, a wisp of smoke. That's Cragganmore 12, $86. For a Bowmore 12 drinker it gives about 97% of what Bowmore 12 does, at 90% of the price. More on Bowmore 12 in this week's piece.
Pour one after the washing-up, the Bowmore 12 you keep by the kettle. Ask the drinkers of its nearest neighbours what they'd give for it: $69 to $97. At $95 for members, it lands inside their range. More on Bowmore 12 in this week's piece — worth a pour.
Bowmore 12 comes to about $4.30 a standard drink poured at home, where a pint at the pub sits closer to $6.28 for the same measure. Roughly 22 drinks in the bottle to work through slowly. This week's piece walks through where it all lands. What's a pour at home worth to you?
Bowmore 12 is $95 for members at Dan Murphy's this week, a little under the $102 it usually sells around, so read it as a quiet guide rather than a nudge. More on it in this week's piece.
Like Bowmore 12? Highland Park 12 comes close: a fragrant, heathery nose, honey and citrus on the palate, then warm wood smoke lingering through the finish, giving a Bowmore 12 drinker about 97% of what they love for 95% of the price, $90 for members. More in this week's piece.
Highland Park 12 is fragrant and floral, a little heather and spice, then smooth and honeyed: citrus, malt, a thread of wood smoke. $90 for members at Dan Murphy's. That smoke stays with you after the glass is empty. More in this week's piece. Which note would pull you in?
Cragganmore 12 gives a Highland Park 12 drinker about 99% of what Highland Park 12 does, at $86 — 95% of its price. Cider, heather and ripe apples, with vanilla fudge and a faint wisp of smoke. The full stand-in sits in this week's piece on Highland Park 12.
Ask the drinkers of the bottles closest to Highland Park 12 what they'd give for it, each starting from what they pay for their own, and the answers land between $69 and $95. At $90 for members it settles near the upper end of that spread. The rest is in this week's piece.
What does a pour at home actually cost? Highland Park 12 works out at $4.07 a standard drink, about 22 to the bottle. A pint at the pub sits nearer $6.28. Which one would you reach for? More in this week's piece on Highland Park 12.
The model puts a Speyside single malt and a Canadian blend seventh-closest in the whole set. Cragganmore 12, the Speyside, at $86. Canadian Club 12 across from it. Two shelves that never share a bay.
310 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: Grant's Triple Wood 1 litre at $1.99 a standard drink; the median is $4.16; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 235 of the 310 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
If you drink Bowmore 12, here is the pleasant thing to know: among the bottles sitting closest to it, almost every one is a bottle its own drinkers would happily reach for. Bowmore 12 fits nearly every foot near it. It lands in the top 19% of bottles for how broadly it's liked, which is another way of saying it rarely leaves a room divided.
305 bottles at Dan Murphy's can be priced per standard drink this week. Cheapest first: McAllister 1 litre at $2.00 a standard drink; the median is $4.03; Dalmore 21 Malt is the highest at $42.68. 228 of the 305 come in under a pint at the pub, which works out at $6.28 a standard drink.
Highland Park 12 is $90 for members at Dan Murphy's this week. That works out at about $4.07 a standard drink across the roughly 22 standard drinks in the bottle, which keeps a pour at home under the $6.28 a standard drink of a $13 pint at the pub.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $78.85 | $85.64 | -6.79 |
| 2 | The Singleton of Dufftown 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $69.00 | $85.46 | -16.46 |
| 3 | Glenlivet 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L | $88.19 | $85.02 | +3.17 |
| 4 | Glen Moray 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $78.99 | $84.92 | -5.93 |
| 5 | The Glen Grant 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $80.99 | $84.79 | -3.80 |
| 6 | Glen Moray 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $94.00 | $83.00 | +11.00 |
| 7 | The Glenlivet 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $125.00 | $82.16 | +42.84 |
| 8 | Aultmore AULTMORE® 12YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $115.99 | $81.26 | +34.73 |
| 9 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L | $77.69 | $80.60 | -2.91 |
| 10 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $75.95 | $80.60 | -4.65 |