Official Bottlings | 40% ABV

Sometimes we have preconceptions

In fact, I would argue that on almost every occasion without fail we will have some sort of prejudgement before a glass is poured.

You might be somebody who absolutely loves Clynelish, or Ardbeg, or Springbank, and before you even taste that first dram you are expecting to like it.

The opposite could also be true. Maybe you have had bad experiences with Old Pulteney, Bladnoch, or Jura. I’m just pulling names at random here to explain my point. Well ok, maybe that last one wasn’t completely random. Is anybody enjoying Jura right now? In recent years it has been the biggest selling single malt brand in the UK, ahead of Glenfiddich, so plenty of consumers must be digging it. That statistic is especially remarkable when you consider they have just over 10% of the capacity Glenfiddich do.

If you placed a glass of an officially bottled Jura in my hand and I know it is Jura, I am going to be expecting something not so great based on past experience. That is exactly the same thing we have going on here, and I will admit to having reservations about all three of these whiskies, and you could argue that will cloud my judgement. I am already expecting a somewhat muted and lower quality whisky experience compared to other whiskies I buy nowadays. I am certain that every distillery is more than capable of producing excellent whisky, but it is what they do with it post maturation that is often the problem.

These are all bottled at 40% in the UK market, all chill filtered, and I would imagine colour added for ‘consistency’, although none of them are what I would call ‘tanned’. They are made for the mass market rather than the enthusiast and there, consistency is key. There is a place for such a market in whisky, but it isn’t one that frequents my shelves much any more. However, there was a time when Glenfiddich 12 and 15 were part of my collection, and I enjoyed drinking them both. Am I too far down the enthusiast rabbit hole to enjoy them again? At these prices, believe me, I want to enjoy them again.

Whilst the vast majority of my whisky purchases come from independent retailers, I can’t help but have a look on Amazon in search of a bargain from time to time. Glenfiddich is the type of brand which is regularly discounted there and promoted at the top of searches much harder than most others. I noticed the 15 year old on offer for £41, which is an absolute bargain for a 15 year old age statement in 2023. I very nearly pulled the trigger, but Ramsay put his sensible hat on for a change, and after a moment of clarity, realised that age isn’t a guarantee of quality, and that I may be better off spending my money elsewhere, rather than going for a 40% mass market malt, which according the the 2023 Malt Whisky Yearbook (I should really get a copy of the 2024 edition), has the capacity to produce more malt whisky than any other distillery, tied with Glenlivet. A mere 21,000,000 litres.

Scrolling further down I saw the Glenfiddich tasting pack I am now using for today’s review. Three 5cl bottles of the 12, 15 and 18 for the princely sum of £14. Another Glenfiddich discount. In fact, each one of these was discounted if you wished to buy a full sized 70cl bottle. The 12 year old was £31, the 15 year old as mentioned earlier was £41, and the 18 year old a bit of a jump up to £82.

If I divide the price of each bottle by 14 in order to get the 5cl value, it works out as pretty much bang on £11 for the three, so the £14 I paid for the miniatures is fine. The 5cl bottles give me the chance to have two pours of each on separate occasions in order to write some tasting notes and form an opinion.

I wish more whisky was available in smaller bottles, whether that be 5cl, 10cl or 20cl. There is a big leap of faith when spending money on a 70cl bottle of something you haven’t tried before, and there is nothing more disappointing than spending £50+ on a whisky and finding it doesn’t meet your expectations.

I would also argue that in the case of most whiskies I buy, five or six pours from a 20cl bottle would be more than sufficient to satisfy my curiosity and allow me to try more and more whiskies. On the rare occasions I get up to Scotland and can pop into Cadenhead’s in Edinburgh, the first shelf I am looking at is the one with the 20cl bottles. I can pick up three or four different Cadenhead’s independent bottlings, and sometimes there is a Kilkerran or Springbank.

At a time when these are hard to come by for many, wouldn’t it be great if J&A Mitchell sold more 20cl bottles online? Collectors and flippers would have less interest as the margins would be too small, and the greater volume of bottles would mean more drinkers would have the chance to drink them.

Review 1/3

Glenfiddich 12yo, Official Bottling (miniature), 40% ABV
£36.95 Widely available and often discounted.

One of the most recognisable bottles of whisky across the globe. A gateway for many whisky geeks, and a staple on the shelf of millions of casual whisky consumers. The bottle and label have been through a number of re-designs over the years, but that three corner bottle designed by Hans Schleger in the late 1950’s, which drew inspiration from the three key ingredients, water, barley and yeast, is iconic.

The packaging tells us this is a vatting of oloroso sherry and bourbon casks, married together in oak tuns. I didn’t realise there was any sherry in the 12, and the colour of the liquid suggests mainly ex-bourbon, although my memories of it from the past were it was a little lighter than the more golden hue I am seeing in my glass today.

Nose

Quiet and very subdued. Nosing it for a while and I start to get mostly sweet green apples with lemon, porridge, vanilla, bread dough and cardboard.

Palate

It’s fairly sweet and slightly sour, with more of the lemon and apple flavours we had on the nose, crystalised ginger, brown sugar, oak and vanilla, which becomes creamier as it develops, with some hazelnut towards the end.

Score: 4/10

Review 2/3

Glenfiddich 15yo, Official Bottling (miniature), 40% ABV
£48.95 Widely available and often discounted.

The 15 is known for being married in Glenfiddich’s huge solera vats. Calling it a solera in the traditional sense is probably stretching it a bit. This is a similar process to that which has recently been adopted very successfully by Thompson Brothers for their SRV5 8yo blended malt. They tell us the 15 is a combination of bourbon, new oak and sherry casks.

Nose

Less subdued than the 12. Although only slightly darker in colour than the 12 in the glass, it is distinctly a more sherried experience. I’m getting brown sugar, raisins and other dried fruits, with apple, cinnamon and clove spice and vanilla. Reminds me a little of an apple strudel and custard. It’s a pleasant whisky to nose.

Palate

On the same theme as the nose, with the fruit and spice flavours, along with plenty of vanilla, but on sipping it doesn’t quite live up to the promising start. There is an overly sweet and chemical tasting artificial sweetener note, which as it continues develops into bitterness, and then gets even more bitter and drying with oak as it develops. Disappointing.

Score: 3/10

Review 3/3

Glenfiddich 18yo, Official Bottling (miniature), 40% ABV
£82.75 Widely available and often discounted.

A combination of oloroso sherry and bourbon casks, which are married in small batches.

Nose

A similar level of reluctance to reveal itself as I found in the 12. I am having to make sure every millimetre of the glass is covered in the liquid to try and get more aromas. Giving it some time I start to get brown sugar and toffee, with vanilla, baked apple, raisins, orange zest, prunes and leather.

Palate

Very sweet arrival, which builds even sweeter after a few seconds. There is more of that chemical artificial sweetness I got with the 15, but it doesn’t quite have the level of bitterness that ruined the 15 for me. There is a lot of orange here, with icing sugar, old leather, peppery spice, cheap milk chocolate and bitter, drying oak, which becomes more drying into the finish.

The Dregs

I expected to score these fairly low, and I guess you expected the same outcome too? Despite anticipating disappointment, I genuinely wanted to be pleasantly surprised by at least one of these.

The 12 year old is the best of a fairly poor bunch. Unlike the other two, the palate was the best part of the experience and I would say it is a pleasant enough easy sipper, but not one I’d want to open my wallet for any time soon.

The nose on the 15 was the pick of all three, but it went downhill from there. I didn’t find it very pleasant at all on the palate. Ultimately, as much as a good nose is a big part of the overall experience, if it doesn’t taste good, you can’t be anything other than disappointed. I considered a 2, but I decided to be generous.

When I talk about an artificial sweetener note, the only way I can explain it is that it is similar to the chemically sweet taste I get on the rare occasion I drink a diet fizzy drink, that then leads into a bitter taste that I find really off putting. Very occasionally I find it in whisky, even though it obviously doesn’t contain any artificial sweeteners. I’m not sure if that resonates with anybody else? I’ve learnt that the bitterness of certain artificial sweeteners isn’t something everybody shares, and varies from person to person. To some the sweetener binds only to the sweet receptors, and others to both the sweet and bitter. As I don’t have the scientific brain of some of our other writers, I will point you to a scientific paper on the subject if you have the interest to dig deeper.

The 18 is better than the 15 on the palate, but not quite enough to warrant a higher score, particularly when you factor in the £80+ price tag, and it still has some of that artificial sweetness and bitterness to some degree. For similar money you could be getting your hands on an 18 year old Deanston, Loch Lomond, Glen Moray, Arran or Ledaig and having a much, much, better experience.

I wonder what my opinion of these would be if I was going back 10-15 years and how my palate for whisky was back then. Maybe the liquid was better in those days, but I suspect it is mostly due to how spoiled for choice I have been for very good whisky more recently.

As much as it is nice to go back and try these entry level malts again, none of these will be finding a place on my shelf anytime soon.

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. RT

Other opinions on this:

Ralfy (Glenfiddich 12yo)
Whiskybase

Ralfy (Glenfiddich 15yo)
Whiskybase

Ralfy (Glenfiddich 18yo)
Whiskybase

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