The Singleton of Dufftown has only two bottles on the Australian shelf this week, and they tell opposite stories about price. One is quietly good value; the other asks a lot for its extra years.
Here is the finding up front: the 12-year-old sells under its room, and the 18-year-old sits well over its. A quick word on what "its room" means, since both numbers lean on it. The model takes each whisky, finds the ten others it rates closest on flavour, and treats their middle price as the going rate for that style. That is the room a bottle sits in. The Singleton of Dufftown is a Speyside single malt built for easy drinking: soft, orchard-fruited, with a gentle sherry influence rather than a heavy one, and across its two bottles the brand's middle shelf price is around $117. With so few bottles on the shelf, each one carries real weight, so it is worth taking them one at a time.
The 12-year-old is the one to care about. At $71 it comes in about $19 under a room near $90, roughly 21% below what its nearest neighbours ask, a genuine discount to its company and not a rounding difference. And it drinks exactly as a Speyside house pour should: soft and approachable, with ripe orchard fruit and just enough bitterness at the back to keep it from turning flabby. There is a light sherry thread in there too, the kind that rounds the edges rather than dominating. For a well-made, widely available malt to sit a fifth under its room is the sort of thing this series exists to point out. If you want an everyday Speyside that does not pretend to be more than it is, this is a straightforward buy and one of the easier recommendations on the shelf this week.
1/Most of a Glenlivet 15 for 55% of the price? Say hello to the Singleton of Dufftown 12. For a Glenlivet 15 drinker it carries about 94% of what the Glenlivet 15 gives, and this week it asks only 55% of the price.
2/The Singleton of Dufftown 12: $69 for members at Dan Murphy's, twelve years old, bottled at 40%. The nose is very soft and faint, a touch of alcoholic fruit punch, no off-notes. The palate runs watery and mild with nothing off, and the finish all but disappears.
3/What a Glenlivet 15 drinker gives up with the Singleton of Dufftown 12 is mostly three years of age. That is the shape of it: a younger whisky in the glass, and those years are what you set aside. Nothing more than that.
4/The Glenlivet 15 at $125 for members, with its perfumed oak and orchard apple and pear, is still the one for its fans. The Singleton of Dufftown 12 at $69, soft and easy, is the one you reach for on every other night. Two yeses, one for each pour.
Light and floral for a Speysider: honeyed vanilla, a little marshmallow and hay, then a soft dry finish. The Glen Grant 10 is $66 at Dan Murphy's. An easy, clean malt to begin with. Pour one and see for yourself. More on it in this week's piece.
A mate keeps his Glen Moray 15 on the bench for Fridays. Hand him The Glen Grant 10 and he'd put it at 88% of what his own bottle costs him — a fair swap, near enough, from the drinker standing closest. Where would yours land? More on The Glen Grant 10 in this week's piece.
The Glenlivet 12 keeps it light: lily, pineapple, and a thick cream that beds the airy flavours down, with a little white pepper once you add water. $76 at Dan Murphy's. The full tasting is in this week's piece.
Like The Glenlivet 12? The Singleton of Dufftown 12 is $69. For anyone on The Glenlivet 12, it does about 99% of what that bottle does, at 91% of the price. Soft, faintly fruity, an easy evening pour. The full write-up on The Glenlivet 12 is in this week's piece.
Ask the drinkers of the bottles closest to The Glenlivet 12 what they'd pay for it, each starting from their own, and you get a spread: $68 at the low end, $117 at the top. This week it's $76, sitting comfortably inside that. The whole of it is in this week's piece.
The Glenlivet 12 is $76 this week, about 22 pours in the bottle, so $3.44 a standard drink at home. That sits 109th of 310 at Dan Murphy's per pour. A pint at the pub is about $6.28 a drink. A light, floral Speyside to sip slowly. More in this week's piece.
The Glenlivet 12 is $76 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $79, so the price has quietly sat down for one. Where that leaves it is your call to make. The full read on The Glenlivet 12 is in this week's piece.
Like The Glenlivet 12? The Glen Grant 10 gives you about 98% of what it does, for 87% of the price. This week it's $66. Honeyed vanilla, a little marshmallow and hay, a soft dry finish. More on The Glenlivet 12 in this week's piece. Fancy a side-by-side?
Glenlivet 12 costs $1 more a bottle than The Glenlivet 15: $126 against $125, near enough the same money. Then you pour. The 12 sits at 40%, the 15 at 40% too, yet the 12 comes out $3.99 a standard drink against the 15 at $5.66. The one that costs more a bottle is the cheaper glass. Per standard drink this week: The Singleton of Dufftown 12 — $3.12 The Glenlivet 12 — $3.56 Glenlivet 12 — $3.99 Aultmore 12, at 46% — $4.57 The Glenlivet 15 — $5.66 Each is a pour at home for less than a pint at the pub, about $6.28. Younger or older, there's one here to suit.
Smooth and easy to like: perfumed oak, apple and pear, a whisper of white pepper, with pineapple and honey sneaking in. The Glenlivet 15, $125 for members. That's about $5.66 a standard drink, a touch under a pint at the pub. More on it in this week's piece.
Like The Glenlivet 15? An Aberfeldy 12, poured of an evening, gives you about 95% of what the 15 does. Fresh tropical fruit, honey, a little orange marmalade on the finish, for 83% of its price, at $104. Give one a pour. More on The Glenlivet 15 in this week's piece.
Hand a The Glenlivet 18 drinker a glass of The Glenlivet 15 and they'd set it at $177, about 71% of what their own bottle runs, easing it back mainly for the younger age. Orchard fruit, soft spice, smooth. The rest sits in this week's piece on The Glenlivet 15.
These Speyside malts lean the same way, orchard fruit and a soft trace of spice. The Glenlivet 15 comes to about 22 standard drinks a bottle, so a pour at home settles around $5.66, while a standard drink of a pub pint sits near $6.28. More on it in this week's piece.
Love The Glenlivet 15? The Singleton of Dufftown 12 gives you about 94% of what it does for 55% of the price, and at $69 for members the price is what stands out. More in this week's piece.
Old mate swirls his glass by the fire pit. "This one's soft as. Easy drinking, slips down without a fuss. What've I poured here?" The Singleton of Dufftown 12, mate. $69 for members at Dan's. Twelve years old, bottled at 40%.
Here is the odd thing about The Glen Grant 10. On the critics' rating it lands in the bottom 4% of the whiskies at Dan Murphy's. On how broadly drinkers like it, it lands in the top 18%. Same bottle, two very different readings. The scorers and the people doing the drinking are not looking at the same thing.
The Glenlivet 12 is $76 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $79, and $76 is about as low as we've seen it. Not a dramatic move, but worth knowing if this is already your bottle.
The bottle that comes closest to The Glenlivet 15 for less money is sitting one rung down in the same range. The Glenlivet 12 is $79, and to someone who drinks the 15 it does about 93% of what their own bottle does. Same distillery, same light Speyside character, a smaller bill. That is the whole story, so let's walk the rest of it.
| bottle | region | latest ticket | read | window price | CE 360° mean | premium | shelf rank | per std drink | drink rank | content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Singleton of Dufftown 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky | Speyside | $68.99 | observed | $69.00 | $67.16 | 2.7% | #18 of 79 | $3.12 | #18 of 75 | 19 |