A mate pours you a finger of something golden at the end of a long week, no label in sight, and asks you to guess. It is soft, sweet, faintly tropical. You land on The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask, and you are right. Then he tells you what he actually poured, and it changes how you shop.
Here is the thing worth knowing. The bottle most like The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask, for less, comes from the same house. The Balvenie 12 American Oak is $99, and to someone who loves the Caribbean Cask it gives about 97% of what their own bottle does. Same distillery, same soft hand, a fair bit less across the counter.
So what is the Caribbean Cask itself? It is a fourteen-year-old Speyside malt finished in casks that once held rum, and it tastes like it. The nose is vanilla and toffee with a ripe banana note — banoffee, near enough — and given a minute it settles into something like egg custard, with nutmeg and baking spice behind it and a sweet coconut lift from the rum wood. The palate arrives soft and silky: vanilla and toffee first, then a wash of tropical fruit, pineapple and papaya and mango. It is an easy, generous dram.
1/The gap first. The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask is $151 this week. Price its age, name, strength and style the way the rest of the range at Dan Murphy's is priced and you land near $186 — the price sits about 19% under that.
2/Where does that $186 come from? Age is the biggest part at 41%, then the name on the label at 38%, then strength at 13%, and being a single malt at 8%. Four features, and two of them carry most of the price.
3/The going rate is built from those four features, and none of them carries a price for tropical fruit. That is where this one is strongest: after the vanilla and toffee, pineapple, papaya and mango arrive off the rum cask. The price can't see the thing it does best.
4/A costlier stand-in? Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 is $328 this week and gives a Balvenie drinker about 73% of what this one does — $14.85 a pour against $6.36. More is not always better. So which matters more to you: the tropical fruit, or the extra years?
| 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 | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 160.99 observed | 150.99 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 160.22 | 160.99 | 2.77 | 150.99 | 160.99 | 10.00 | 1.7% | 0.77 | 150.99 | 8 |
| member | 160.22 | 160.99 | 2.77 | 150.99 | 160.99 | 10.00 | 1.7% | 0.77 | 150.99 | 8 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 160.22 | 7.69 | -3.61 | 13 | 158.7 – 161.7 |
Had them both open this week. Love The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask? Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve gives you about 95% of it for 75% of the price, $113 for members. Oak, heather, a little vanilla. Which one's on your bench tonight? More in this week's piece on the Balvenie.
Pour The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask: soft and silky, vanilla and toffee sliding into pineapple and mango from the rum casks. A Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 drinker would put 67% of their own bottle's price on it, a younger whisky than theirs. More in this week's piece.
The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask is $6.36 a standard drink, about 24 to the bottle. That's 242nd of 310 at Dan Murphy's per standard drink. A pint at the pub is about $6.28 a drink. A pour at home lands just over. More on The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask in this week's piece.
The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask is $151 at Dan Murphy's this week, a little under the $161 it usually sells around, so if those sweet-and-tropical notes are where you want to be the price sits in easy reach right now. More on it in this week's piece.
Here's the surprise: Craigellachie 13, at $111, gives a The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask drinker about 93% of what that bottle does, for 74% of its price. Grilled pineapple, caramel, a twist of grapefruit. Tempting before you reach for the Balvenie? More in this week's piece.
Two Speyside malts to put side by side this week. The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask is $151, soft and silky, vanilla and toffee up front before the rum casks bring pineapple, papaya and mango through. Craigellachie 13 is $111, a touch funky under the caramel and grapefruit peel, with candied pineapple coming through. At Dan Murphy's the pair come to $262 this week; they usually sell around $272, and the same two are $270 at Liquorland. If you're after both, that's your week to grab them, $262 for the pair.
In-laws over for the roast, me on drinks duty. Father-in-law swirls his glass. 'Woody, little bit floral, oak and honey under it, touch of citrus. Well balanced, this. What've you poured me?' Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve, $113 for members at Dan Murphy's, I tell him.
Standing at the bottom of the Balvenie range with the 12 American Oak in hand, $99, you ask the fair question: what does the next rung up actually get me? One step higher sits the 14 Caribbean Cask, $161. Let's climb it — and see what it gives back if you ever step down again.
Pour The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask and the nose opens on vanilla, toffee and banana, banoffee really. Give it a minute and it settles into an egg custard, with nutmeg and baking spice, plus a sweet coconut note from the rum casks.
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.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glenfiddich 14YO Bourbon Res 700ml | $129.99 | $152.55 | -22.56 |
| 2 | The Balvenie 12 Year Old American Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $99.00 | $146.31 | -47.31 |
| 3 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L | $77.69 | $142.25 | -64.56 |
| 4 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $75.95 | $142.25 | -66.30 |
| 5 | Craigellachie CRAIGELLACHIE® 13 YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $110.99 | $141.47 | -30.48 |
| 6 | Tomintoul 16 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $180.99 | $139.78 | +41.21 |
| 7 | Glen Moray 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $94.00 | $135.20 | -41.20 |
| 8 | Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 750mL | $158.66 | $134.35 | +24.31 |
| 9 | Glen Moray 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $78.99 | $134.15 | -55.16 |
| 10 | Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $298.95 | $129.54 | +169.41 |