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.
So what are you actually drinking? Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve is a 14-year-old Speyside, matured in bourbon barrels. The nose is woody and floral at the same time: a firm line of oak under heather, with vanilla, honey and barley, and a touch of citrus zest. The palate is well balanced, the finish long and easy. It's a tasty, inoffensive dram for a weeknight, and it doesn't ask much of you.
This week it's $113 for members at Dan Murphy's. Think of that as the going rate for a 14-year-old Speyside of this make. It works out to about $4.76 a standard drink across the roughly 24 standard drinks in the bottle, so a pour at home lands under the $6.28 a standard drink you'd pay for a $13 pint at the pub. The home dram comes in cheaper.
1/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.
2/'You on the same?' he asks, nodding at my glass. 'Nah — The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask, $151. Vanilla, toffee, a bit of banana, that sweet coconut off the rum casks. The good gear.' It usually sells around $161; against that the Glenfiddich sits at about 70% of the price.
3/So here it is, side by side: the Glenfiddich gives about 95% of what the Balvenie does, for 75% of the price. What a Balvenie drinker gives up is mostly the name on the label. The Balvenie for its fans; the Glenfiddich for every other night. Both a yes.
| 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 | 129.99 observed | 129.99 observed | 129.99 observed | 129.99 observed | 129.99 m 113.00 observed | 137.99 m 113.00 observed | 137.99 m 113.00 observed | 137.99 m 113.00 observed | 137.99 observed | 137.99 observed | 137.99 observed | 137.99 observed | 118.99 m 113.00 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 133.45 | 137.99 | 5.87 | 118.99 | 137.99 | 19.00 | 4.4% | 1.63 | 118.99 | 8 |
| member | 125.92 | 129.99 | 11.12 | 113.00 | 137.99 | 24.99 | 8.8% | 3.08 | 113.00 | 38 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 133.45 | 34.44 | -1.26 | 1.59 | 130.3 – 136.6 |
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.
Rum casks leave their mark. The Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask, $151 at Dan Murphy's, opens banoffee-sweet with vanilla, toffee and banana, then turns soft and silky with pineapple, papaya and mango. More on it in this week's piece. Which fruit do you catch first?
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.
If The Balvenie 12 American Oak is your bottle, I reckon the one that tastes closest is Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve. By the words in both reviews and by what drinkers pick, it gives you about 95% of what the Balvenie does, and costs $14 more.
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.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Balvenie 12 Year Old American Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $99.00 | $126.13 | -27.13 |
| 2 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 1L | $77.69 | $125.91 | -48.22 |
| 3 | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $75.95 | $125.91 | -49.96 |
| 4 | Glen Moray 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $94.00 | $123.68 | -29.68 |
| 5 | The Balvenie 14 Year Old Caribbean Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $160.99 | $123.51 | +37.48 |
| 6 | Glen Moray 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $78.99 | $122.77 | -43.78 |
| 7 | Mortlach The Wee Witchie 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 750mL | $158.66 | $122.13 | +36.53 |
| 8 | GLENFIDDICH 12YO SHERRY CASK FINISH 700ML | $136.99 | $118.50 | +18.49 |
| 9 | Tomintoul 16 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $180.99 | $118.26 | +62.73 |
| 10 | Glen Moray 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $163.99 | $117.87 | +46.12 |