I totally agree with your review notes. The Glenfiddich 12 is like finding an old friend, very homogenous and steady as she goes type of dram. When nothing better is available, you can always trust your instinct in ordering a dram of Glenfiddich 12 truly a decent whisky.
I keep coming back to the 12 year from time to time. Never was a favorite but one I recognize and very much like once in a while. The Glenfiddich 14 year bourbon barrel however *IS* one of my favorites...
Totally in agreement 14 year is a lot better than the 12 year However have you tried the 18 year Glenfiddich? If so I am guaranteed you would change your mind.
I recently bought a bottle of this, it is a standard whisky with a predictable flavor profile, overall it is enjoyable, I believe our old friend 'Ralfy' describes it as being 'pedestrian' and this sums it up as well as anything.
You're right, it's a shame we don't get to try this as an IB. I do think there's an interesting orchardy house style in there that could be very bright and interesting if it was well-presented. Another great vid! 🥃
Yes, very Orchard House esque. I think Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Tamnavulin and Linkwood really embody the spirit of Speyside for me with those sweet, creamy apple and pear notes. Cheers 🥃
It's a great one to start with 👍 Personally I prefer Glenfiddich 12 to Glenmo 10. I find it has more going on. Both good entry level drams though. Cheers 🥃
I have not brought home the 12 in a while, but it's one of my favourite mass market Malts! I'm not buying it anytime soon, but will not say no when a non-whisky drinking friend offers me a dram. Cheers!
I know exactly what you mean. Never turn down Fiddich 12 🙂 it seems it may have the honour of being the most respected (but not purchased) of whiskies for whisky geeks though. I suppose that's still a good thing in a way! Thanks for watching 🥃
Very! I've had Glenfiddichs from the 1980s and they're very different from the modern stuff. Obviously much higher content of old stock to boost the quality. I like the modern Fiddich 12 but IMHO the old expressions are much better. Congrats and enjoy. Let me know what you think if you open it.
Glenfiddich 12 was my second single malt, haven’t had it in many years though. The 15 year old distillers edition at 51% and non chill filtered is a good Glenfiddich. In fact haven’t bought a Glenfiddich in many years. Good review, I agree. P.S, my first malt was the Glenlivet 12(surprise, surprise). Slàinte WL
I really liked the 15 DE when I had it a few years ago. Looking forward to trying it again. Glenlivet 12 is another decent entry level Speyside. You had a good start to your journey 🥃👍 Slainte
Back in the days before I got deeply into whisky Glenfiddich 12 has always been the most pleasing one for me. Mostly due to its inoffensive, unpeated, sweet and fruity profile. Now it is way outside my interest. Still I might get a small size bottle just to check how my perception of malt whisky has developed. Glenfiddich 12 still deserves commendations for its overall consistency, availability and reasonable price. Cheers!
Yep, inoffensive, sweet and fruity. Fun. Dependable. I've kind of moved on from it too but it's often my first choice when I'm in a pub with not many options. I hope you have fun revisiting it. A half or 200ml bottle is well worth a look 🥃
If you're not an apple fan then I can see why you wouldn't get on with this one :-) I quite liked the IPA cask and would definitely revisit it if I came across a bottle. I believe I gave it a B Cheers!
It exceeds what you'd expect for an entry level 40%er for sure. Normally when I try something at minimum strength I'm relieved if it even achieves a C but this a nice step up 👍
The 40% ABV is a little difficult to go back to once you're used to better stuff. The 15yo Distillery Edition (actually available on their website) is a very similar profile but at a proper 51% though. Highly recommended.
Absolutely. I have a bottle unopened on my shelf. It's available from Clink in the UK which I think is basically Glenfiddich's webshop although it's £75 now. Still not a bad price for a litre of 50%. I had a bottle a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Same fiddich style with a much better presentation. I hope it lives up to what I remember 👍
I do think batch size is the key. I recall an interview with a bourbon master distiller in which it was said that about 200 barrels are required in a batch to iron out meaningful batch variation. I'd guess that many single malts struggle to hit that kind of volume, and I'd also guess that Glenfiddich does not.
I think you're right. I also think you can tell when something is really large batch. It's not necessarily a bad thing but there are things missing from a whisky that's a vatting of hundreds of casks. I bet the blending vat used by Glenfiddich is enormous.
@@WhiskyLock Absolutely agree. There's something to be said for that kind of consistency, but I (like many of us here I'm sure) much prefer to roll the dice with small batches and single casks in search of the magic. =)
i think it was my 1st ever single malt. But i thought it was weak, cause i was just getting in whiskey and i had some nice bourbans before it. Thought scotch wasnt my stile cause it tasted muted.
Probably largely thanks to that frustratingly low ABV. The 15yo Distillery Edition at 51% (not the 15yo Solera) is a similar style to the 12yo but with more flavour if you're interested in exploring that style more 👍
I have no animosity towards the Grants, but I know mass marketing when I see it so I never drank from a tround bottle. It's kinda like a Honda Civic. Great car.......but I find it interesting that they are still doing well with age stated single malts. It sounds like the taste of this is no different than a mass marketed 40% blended malt, because in fact it is, just from one big distillery. There is a general flavor profile that people want and expect when they order a scotch-n-soda at a bar. This is it.
The quality is a little higher than your average 40% blended malt but I know what you mean. I think I've confused people on more than one occasion by describing various single malts as blendy or overblended. And this has an element of that. It's related to that homogeneity of flavour that I think I mentioned. The opposite of what you're paying for with single cask. You can tell that this is made in massive batches with great detail given to consistency. Still decent though. Yes, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it but it is interesting that Glenfiddich are one of the big, mass producing distilleries who aren't dropping age statements. Apart from the Experimental Series (which is fair enough) they have kept their age statements. Maybe they learnt from Glenlivet's mistake. Hopefully everyone will learn from Glenlivet's mistake 😬
@@WhiskyLock the large number of people that buy Glenfiddich are easily swayed by marketing but they wouldn't buy a product twice if they didn't like it the first time. They know that the phrase single malt with a number is better than without. So why not sell them what they want. Maybe even a little fire and smoke and whatever else the orange bottle is. They did a green and red special edition too. My shock is in the prices, right up there with craft integrity bottles, year for year. And then the Macallan and Dalmores are even higher. I started my journey with the innate understanding that it's all "just whisky" and that's seems to be true. My budget ceiling increased from $60 to $200 and I'm looking forward to staying warm with whisky this winter. My animosity is with Diageo and their poorly presented and expensive NAS Founder's Reserves and Distiller's Editions. There are so many bottles that, if better presented would make Diageo heroic and they could probably stop advertising altogether because the whiskys would be awesome.
@@jackthepickledhound I have a review coming out for the Fire & Cane very soon. I'm not a huge fan of 43%, NAS or distilleries dabbling with peat and I don't often get excited by rum casks but it actually surprised me. Would be far better at 46 or 50% obviously but I liked it. Until recently I've always seen diageo as a bit of a necessary evil. Something we just have to tolerate for what it is but their recent pricing strategies have really pissed me off. Yeah they could do much better by paying a little more attention to presentation and it's a shame that they don't but I'm starting to suspect that their long term plan is to undercut everyone else with their blends and NAS whilst normalising sky high prices for anything worth having. Notice that the insane price hikes we're seeing for Oban, Lagavulin and Talisker 18 haven't affected stuff like Talisker Skye and JW Black Label? Every time they brag about their 'premiumisation' of the market it makes me cringe. They do realise that we know that's a fancy word for price hikes? I feel like they're slowly dragging whisky into a dark age. I probably have a lot of Diageo bottles on my shelf but will think twice about their products in future out of principle.
In my honest opinion, this one is way better than the reserve cask, the 15 and specially the 18. I was so disappointed with the 18. I bought it as a gift to an 18 year old with no experience in whisky, and although he liked it (obviously) when i tried it with him i was baffled. So thin, so flavorless, no after, nothing remarkable. I could not believe it was a 18 y.o. whisky. Never again.
I'm making a habit of revealing my thoughts on whisky I haven't even reviewed yet 😉 (reviews of the 15 and 18 coming soon) but yeah I agree. I think the 15 and 18 badly need to be higher strength and really struggle because of it. Whereas the 12 does much better at 40%. So yeah, couldn't agree more. I'd never buy a full bottle of the 15 or 18. Cheers 🥃
I've always dismissed it as a gift-first-whisky-second type of thing, but I've not really given it a chance. At least they don't get it at 43% in America, which always throws salt in the wounds with things like Glenmorangie
I think a lot of seasoned whisky fans think the same. I feel like it's a good balance of quality and price though. And because it's a light and sweet style the low ABV doesn't ruin it as much as it does other malts. I'll be reviewing the 15 and 18 at some point too, but I think this one beats those two on a bang for buck level. I know what you mean about Americans getting 43%. Really stings! What happened to the home market getting the best stuff? 🙄
I've never been overly thrilled by Fiddich 18. Probably doesn't help that they bottle it so weak. You should definitely try the 15 Distillery Edition before you call it a day though. Much better presentation than any of their other stuff. Cheers 🥃
I totally agree with your review notes. The Glenfiddich 12 is like finding an old friend, very homogenous and steady as she goes type of dram. When nothing better is available, you can always trust your instinct in ordering a dram of Glenfiddich 12 truly a decent whisky.
Very steady as she goes. Always dependable. I kind of wish more of the big whisky companies were like Glenfiddich 👍
I keep coming back to the 12 year from time to time. Never was a favorite but one I recognize and very much like once in a while. The Glenfiddich 14 year bourbon barrel however *IS* one of my favorites...
That's about where I am. I'll get a bottle every few years and really enjoy it but won't feel that I need another for a while 🥃
Totally in agreement 14 year is a lot better than the 12 year However have you tried the 18 year Glenfiddich? If so I am guaranteed you would change your mind.
I recently bought a bottle of this, it is a standard whisky with a predictable flavor profile, overall it is enjoyable, I believe our old friend 'Ralfy' describes it as being 'pedestrian' and this sums it up as well as anything.
Standard, predictable, enjoyable. In a more sensible world that could be their motto.
You're right, it's a shame we don't get to try this as an IB. I do think there's an interesting orchardy house style in there that could be very bright and interesting if it was well-presented. Another great vid! 🥃
Yes, very Orchard House esque. I think Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Tamnavulin and Linkwood really embody the spirit of Speyside for me with those sweet, creamy apple and pear notes. Cheers 🥃
Excellent ! I fully agree.
It was my first single malt.
Do you prefer glenfiddich 12 or Glenmorangie 10 ?
It's a great one to start with 👍 Personally I prefer Glenfiddich 12 to Glenmo 10. I find it has more going on. Both good entry level drams though. Cheers 🥃
Love the always thorough information👍
Thanks! Praise indeed coming from one of the most informed whisky geeks on TH-cam 🤓🥃
I have not brought home the 12 in a while, but it's one of my favourite mass market Malts! I'm not buying it anytime soon, but will not say no when a non-whisky drinking friend offers me a dram. Cheers!
I know exactly what you mean. Never turn down Fiddich 12 🙂 it seems it may have the honour of being the most respected (but not purchased) of whiskies for whisky geeks though. I suppose that's still a good thing in a way! Thanks for watching 🥃
I just bought a bottle that was bottled in the 1980's, wonder how different it tastes from the current iteration.
Very! I've had Glenfiddichs from the 1980s and they're very different from the modern stuff. Obviously much higher content of old stock to boost the quality. I like the modern Fiddich 12 but IMHO the old expressions are much better. Congrats and enjoy. Let me know what you think if you open it.
Glenfiddich 12 was my second single malt, haven’t had it in many years though. The 15 year old distillers edition at 51% and non chill filtered is a good Glenfiddich. In fact haven’t bought a Glenfiddich in many years. Good review, I agree. P.S, my first malt was the Glenlivet 12(surprise, surprise). Slàinte WL
I really liked the 15 DE when I had it a few years ago. Looking forward to trying it again. Glenlivet 12 is another decent entry level Speyside. You had a good start to your journey 🥃👍 Slainte
Back in the days before I got deeply into whisky Glenfiddich 12 has always been the most pleasing one for me. Mostly due to its inoffensive, unpeated, sweet and fruity profile. Now it is way outside my interest. Still I might get a small size bottle just to check how my perception of malt whisky has developed.
Glenfiddich 12 still deserves commendations for its overall consistency, availability and reasonable price.
Cheers!
Yep, inoffensive, sweet and fruity. Fun. Dependable. I've kind of moved on from it too but it's often my first choice when I'm in a pub with not many options. I hope you have fun revisiting it. A half or 200ml bottle is well worth a look 🥃
For my personal taste buds this wasn’t for me, as i don’t like the over apple-y taste.
I’d like to see you review the glenfiddich IPA
If you're not an apple fan then I can see why you wouldn't get on with this one :-)
I quite liked the IPA cask and would definitely revisit it if I came across a bottle. I believe I gave it a B
Cheers!
I actually like this one, not bad for the price and despite the low ABV👍🏼
It exceeds what you'd expect for an entry level 40%er for sure. Normally when I try something at minimum strength I'm relieved if it even achieves a C but this a nice step up 👍
My very first single malt about 5 years ago. I had bottle a couple of years ago and was disappointed. The first bottle was bought for £25.
The 40% ABV is a little difficult to go back to once you're used to better stuff. The 15yo Distillery Edition (actually available on their website) is a very similar profile but at a proper 51% though. Highly recommended.
@@WhiskyLock it's a great suggestion which I wish I knew earlier in my journey
Ive heard good things about the 15 Distillery Edition - was available at London City Airport until recently for only £50 (1L)…
Absolutely. I have a bottle unopened on my shelf. It's available from Clink in the UK which I think is basically Glenfiddich's webshop although it's £75 now. Still not a bad price for a litre of 50%. I had a bottle a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Same fiddich style with a much better presentation. I hope it lives up to what I remember 👍
I do think batch size is the key. I recall an interview with a bourbon master distiller in which it was said that about 200 barrels are required in a batch to iron out meaningful batch variation. I'd guess that many single malts struggle to hit that kind of volume, and I'd also guess that Glenfiddich does not.
I think you're right. I also think you can tell when something is really large batch. It's not necessarily a bad thing but there are things missing from a whisky that's a vatting of hundreds of casks. I bet the blending vat used by Glenfiddich is enormous.
@@WhiskyLock Absolutely agree. There's something to be said for that kind of consistency, but I (like many of us here I'm sure) much prefer to roll the dice with small batches and single casks in search of the magic. =)
@@jasoncoates1835 yes! Variety, as they say, is the spice of life 👍
i think it was my 1st ever single malt. But i thought it was weak, cause i was just getting in whiskey and i had some nice bourbans before it. Thought scotch wasnt my stile cause it tasted muted.
Probably largely thanks to that frustratingly low ABV. The 15yo Distillery Edition at 51% (not the 15yo Solera) is a similar style to the 12yo but with more flavour if you're interested in exploring that style more 👍
@@WhiskyLock thanks for tip
My first single malt😄🥃🥃
Yeah! I think it was probably my third after Drumguish 🤢 and Glemorangie 10. I bet a lot of people's whisky passion began with Fiddich 12
I have no animosity towards the Grants, but I know mass marketing when I see it so I never drank from a tround bottle. It's kinda like a Honda Civic. Great car.......but
I find it interesting that they are still doing well with age stated single malts. It sounds like the taste of this is no different than a mass marketed 40% blended malt, because in fact it is, just from one big distillery.
There is a general flavor profile that people want and expect when they order a scotch-n-soda at a bar. This is it.
The quality is a little higher than your average 40% blended malt but I know what you mean. I think I've confused people on more than one occasion by describing various single malts as blendy or overblended. And this has an element of that. It's related to that homogeneity of flavour that I think I mentioned. The opposite of what you're paying for with single cask. You can tell that this is made in massive batches with great detail given to consistency. Still decent though.
Yes, I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it but it is interesting that Glenfiddich are one of the big, mass producing distilleries who aren't dropping age statements. Apart from the Experimental Series (which is fair enough) they have kept their age statements. Maybe they learnt from Glenlivet's mistake. Hopefully everyone will learn from Glenlivet's mistake 😬
@@WhiskyLock the large number of people that buy Glenfiddich are easily swayed by marketing but they wouldn't buy a product twice if they didn't like it the first time.
They know that the phrase single malt with a number is better than without. So why not sell them what they want. Maybe even a little fire and smoke and whatever else the orange bottle is. They did a green and red special edition too.
My shock is in the prices, right up there with craft integrity bottles, year for year. And then the Macallan and Dalmores are even higher.
I started my journey with the innate understanding that it's all "just whisky" and that's seems to be true. My budget ceiling increased from $60 to $200 and I'm looking forward to staying warm with whisky this winter.
My animosity is with Diageo and their poorly presented and expensive NAS Founder's Reserves and Distiller's Editions. There are so many bottles that, if better presented would make Diageo heroic and they could probably stop advertising altogether because the whiskys would be awesome.
@@jackthepickledhound I have a review coming out for the Fire & Cane very soon. I'm not a huge fan of 43%, NAS or distilleries dabbling with peat and I don't often get excited by rum casks but it actually surprised me. Would be far better at 46 or 50% obviously but I liked it.
Until recently I've always seen diageo as a bit of a necessary evil. Something we just have to tolerate for what it is but their recent pricing strategies have really pissed me off. Yeah they could do much better by paying a little more attention to presentation and it's a shame that they don't but I'm starting to suspect that their long term plan is to undercut everyone else with their blends and NAS whilst normalising sky high prices for anything worth having. Notice that the insane price hikes we're seeing for Oban, Lagavulin and Talisker 18 haven't affected stuff like Talisker Skye and JW Black Label? Every time they brag about their 'premiumisation' of the market it makes me cringe. They do realise that we know that's a fancy word for price hikes? I feel like they're slowly dragging whisky into a dark age.
I probably have a lot of Diageo bottles on my shelf but will think twice about their products in future out of principle.
In my honest opinion, this one is way better than the reserve cask, the 15 and specially the 18. I was so disappointed with the 18. I bought it as a gift to an 18 year old with no experience in whisky, and although he liked it (obviously) when i tried it with him i was baffled. So thin, so flavorless, no after, nothing remarkable. I could not believe it was a 18 y.o. whisky. Never again.
I'm making a habit of revealing my thoughts on whisky I haven't even reviewed yet 😉 (reviews of the 15 and 18 coming soon) but yeah I agree. I think the 15 and 18 badly need to be higher strength and really struggle because of it. Whereas the 12 does much better at 40%. So yeah, couldn't agree more. I'd never buy a full bottle of the 15 or 18. Cheers 🥃
I've always dismissed it as a gift-first-whisky-second type of thing, but I've not really given it a chance. At least they don't get it at 43% in America, which always throws salt in the wounds with things like Glenmorangie
I think a lot of seasoned whisky fans think the same. I feel like it's a good balance of quality and price though. And because it's a light and sweet style the low ABV doesn't ruin it as much as it does other malts.
I'll be reviewing the 15 and 18 at some point too, but I think this one beats those two on a bang for buck level.
I know what you mean about Americans getting 43%. Really stings! What happened to the home market getting the best stuff? 🙄
That’s the bottle i hide in a drawer at work in case i need some relaxation…
@@kiwigor "In case of emergency pour in glass"? 😉
🥃👍🏻😁
Dramming scotch since 1996, stop Fidduck since 2000 . . . recently return to Fidduck 18, but this is the end
I've never been overly thrilled by Fiddich 18. Probably doesn't help that they bottle it so weak. You should definitely try the 15 Distillery Edition before you call it a day though. Much better presentation than any of their other stuff. Cheers 🥃
@@WhiskyLock many thx