Here's the odd thing about Glenfiddich 12. The critics put its rating in the bottom 21% of the whiskies at Dan Murphy's. The drinkers tell a different story: for how broadly people like it, it sits in the top 14%. Same bottle, two verdicts.
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.
1/What are you paying for in a bottle of Glenfiddich 12? Price its age, name, style and strength the way the rest of Dan Murphy's is priced and the features come to $123. This week it's $79, about 36% under that going rate.
2/What makes up that $123? Mostly its age, at 42%, and the name on the label, at 34%. Being a single malt accounts for 13%, its strength 9%. Most of the going rate sits in how long it aged and whose name is on the front, not in the liquid itself.
3/What none of that prices is how it tastes. Glenfiddich 12 is strongest in orchard fruit and malt — the pear and apple, the light cereal — and not one of the features setting the going rate puts a number on it. The flavour comes free.
4/And paying less needn't mean getting less: a Glenfiddich 12 drinker gets about 98% of it from Glen Moray 12 at $71 — honey, toffee, soft oak, nectarine, lychee. Two malts much alike, $3.57 and $3.21 a standard drink, both under a $13 pub pint. Yes either way.
| 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 | 75.85 observed | 74.90 observed | 74.90 observed | 74.90 observed | 74.95 observed | 75.95 observed | 75.95 observed | 76.95 observed | 79.90 observed | 79.90 observed | 78.95 observed | 78.95 observed | 74.95 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 76.69 | 75.95 | 2.01 | 74.90 | 79.90 | 5.00 | 2.6% | 0.56 | 74.95 | 38 |
| member | 76.69 | 75.95 | 2.01 | 74.90 | 79.90 | 5.00 | 2.6% | 0.56 | 74.95 | 38 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 76.69 | 4.03 | 0.73 | -1.26 | 75.6 – 77.8 |
Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve, $113 for members at Dan Murphy's. Woody yet floral, oak underpinning heather with honey, vanilla and a twist of citrus. Well balanced, a long and easy finish, the daily dram you reach for without a second thought. More on it in this week's piece.
Like Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve? The Balvenie 12 American Oak, $99, gives a Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve drinker about 94% of it, at 88% of the price. Honey and navel orange. More on Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve in this week's piece.
Hand a Glen Moray 18 drinker the Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve and they'd pay 88% of what their own bottle costs. They dock it a touch for the younger years, not the dram: oak, heather, honey. Worth a pour? The full read on Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve is in this week's piece.
A Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve poured at home works out at $4.76 a standard drink, about 24 to the bottle. A pint at the pub sits nearer $6.28 a drink, so the couch is quietly ahead. That's the price per pour; the full tasting is in this week's piece.
I kept going back to the nose on the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish: orange marmalade, green apples, a little dark chocolate. The palate turns to dark cherry chocolate and peaches and cream, a sweet finish. $137 at Dan Murphy's. More in this week's piece.
The nearest stand-in for Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish costs almost a third less. Glengoyne 12, $89 for members, gives that drinker about 98% of what it does, for 65% of its price. Fragrant, cherry and apple. More in this week's piece.
Give a Glengoyne 10 drinker the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish and they'd pay 86% of what their own bottle costs. Marked down mostly for not being a Highlander. More on it in this week's piece.
Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish is $137 at Dan Murphy's this week; it usually sells around $137, and we've seen it between $125 and $137. Pour one slow of an evening and let the sherry and dark chocolate come through. More on it in this week's piece.
Like the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish? The Balvenie 12 American Oak gives its drinker about 95% of what that one does, for 72% of the price, at $99. Think honey, navel oranges, a whisper of oak. More on the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish in this week's piece.
Fond of the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish? The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 gives you about 94% of what it does, for 77% of the price. That's $105. Honey and almonds, then a bit of spicy sherry and nutmeg. More on the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish in this week's piece.
Honey, icing sugar and a little toffee: that's the Glen Moray 12. If you drink Glenfiddich 12, it gives you about 98% of what your usual pour does, at 90% of the price, and it's $71 for members. There's more on Glenfiddich 12 in this week's piece.
Pour the Glenfiddich 12 and pear and apple arrive first, a plump sultana sweetness underneath, then a dry, nutty chew sees it out. Hand it to an Aberfeldy 12 drinker and they'd put it at 87% of their own bottle. More on Glenfiddich 12 in this week's piece.
Glenfiddich 12 is $79. About 22 standard drinks in the bottle, so $3.57 a pour at home. A pint at the pub runs about $6.28 a standard drink. More on it in this week's piece.
Glenfiddich 12 is $79 at Dan Murphy's this week, which sits just above the $77 it usually sells around, and within the $75 to $80 we've seen, so take it as a guide rather than anything to read into — more on the world's best-selling single malt in this week's piece.
This is a price guide. It sets out what Glenfiddich 12 — the world's best-selling single malt — usually sells for, alongside its two closest like-for-like bottles, Glen Moray 12 and Aberfeldy 12. For each one: the price it tends to sit at, the range we've seen it move through, and what a single standard drink works out to this week. Read it as a baseline. The next post has the table; the one after reads this week against it.
Three bottles this week: the 12 at $79, the 14 Bourbon Reserve at $138, the 15 at $140. Each step up asks more of you. The question isn't which is best. It's what each step buys, and what the younger bottle still gives the drinker who's climbed past it.
A discounted Highland 15 next to a steady Speyside 12: the engine rates them close, and right now they're the same kind of cheap. Dalwhinnie 15 is $95, Glenfiddich 12 is $75, both plain shelf tickets, neither a members-only deal.
If Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve is your pour and you'd like to spend a little less without leaving the taste behind, you don't have to go looking at other distilleries. The answer is one cupboard over in the same range. Glenfiddich 12, at $75, gives a Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve drinker about 96% of what their own bottle does. Same house, smaller number, nearly all of the whisky.
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.
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.
You like the Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish. The sensible question is where to go if you want the same thing for less. The answer stays in the family. Glenfiddich 12, $79, gives a Glenfiddich 12 Sherry Cask Finish drinker about 85% of what their own bottle does. Same house, lighter spend.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L | $77.69 | $75.95 | +1.74 |
| 2 | Glen Moray 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $78.99 | $74.69 | +4.30 |
| 3 | Glenfiddich 14YO Bourbon Res 700ml | $129.99 | $74.42 | +55.57 |
| 4 | The Balvenie 12 Year Old American Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $99.00 | $74.14 | +24.86 |
| 5 | Glen Moray 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $94.00 | $73.50 | +20.50 |
| 6 | The Glen Grant 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $80.99 | $73.07 | +7.92 |
| 7 | Cragganmore 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $85.90 | $72.41 | +13.49 |
| 8 | Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 750mL | $158.66 | $72.39 | +86.27 |
| 9 | The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $78.85 | $71.93 | +6.92 |
| 10 | Glenlivet 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L | $88.19 | $71.28 | +16.91 |