just got this
and this
put me back 100 bucks, well worth it for a glenfiddich tasting. Love those little sampler packs, great value.
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the 14 seems like it’s not in their regular lineup-- what’s the difference? says it’s aged in American oak barrels; any idea what differs that from the flagship line?
It’s aged 12 years in used bourbon barrels and then 2 years in new charred oak barrels. So actually kind of similar to the Balvenie in that is aged in fresh charred American oak, but in reverse. The Glenfiddich is aged in used bourbon barrels first, then fresh charred oak. The Balvenie is aged for the 15 years in the same fresh cask, so it has its two years of bourbon aging up front, then a traditional scotch aging after that. But all in the same barrel.
I like the Balvenie more than the Glenfiddich 14. As for the other Glenfiddichs, I’ve tried them all side by side and none of them really knock my socks off. The 18 is better than the 12 but I have zero confidence I could rank them in order in a blind tasting. I like the 12 well enough but I don’t see any reason to shell out twice as much for the 18.
Contrast that with the Glenlivet 12 and 18. The 12 is a perfectly good scotch and I like it a lot. The 18 is just sublime.
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It blows my mind that they literally have alcohol sitting around in barrels for 12 to 25 years. Fucking humans are weird man.
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I’ve had the same thoughts before.
Who had this idea to store alcohol in barrels?
How long did they initially wait before tasting?
After they tasted it, did they immediately start barreling more?
How do companies stay in business for the first 10-15 years while things are aging?
Why can’t I think of something like this?
I’ve been looking into this just now, this has some interesting info:
Weirdly Bourbon has become so much more interesting to me than Scotch. For Scotch it’s pretty much just Macallan, Lagavulin, or Johnnie Walker at this point. While I feel like there is so much good and interesting bourbon to explore.
Maybe it’s actually reflective of the fact that the brands I mentioned have each perfected their niche within the overall Scotch market that I feel no need to explore further?
A lot of the small craft distilleries in the US start up by purchasing whiskey already produced and aged by MGP (the largest distiller you’ve probably never heard of) and “finishing” it to bottle under their own label until their newly distilled stocks catch up.
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Really good article. Thanks for sharing.
One of the things I like buying every year is the 4-pack of Duvel that comes with a holiday glass. These glasses are basically perfect - they’re oversized tulips, and I’ve got 4 or 5 of them now.
Anyway, I haven’t been doing much beer shopping the last few months, but I was in a store last week and got excited when I saw the 4-pack available. But it seems that they’re finally pricing in the value of the glass. It was $24.99 when it had been $14.99 in prior years. I passed, but was sad about it.
In other news, this is very good, but I’m afraid I’m losing my taste for high-ABV stouts:
This was an absolute banger, though:
So of the 2 packs of lambic that I most recently purchased from Belgium (each one with 4 bottles each of 3 different beers), each one has had 1 killer beer and 1 ok beer. I’ve got one more beer left to try from each box, and if either one of those remaining beers is a killer, I’m probably going to reorder.
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Yes; TBH I mostly try to avoid distilleries that do this. A ton of bourbon and American whiskey labels are owned by a handful of companies, too, so I mostly avoid them (unless there’s a specific one I really like) in favor of trying to get stuff I know is made and aged by an independent distiller. Haven’t found as many whiskeys I like in Colorado (A.D. Laws is supposed to be great but I’m not interested in their pricing just to find out), but Texas has a few great ones.
When I die I want my skeleton to ride into battle on roosterback.
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Yeah the GOAT design helps.
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Yeah it’s pretty good. I have a few in that range I like better. Probably Matli and Don Abraham chief among them.
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if you’re willing to bump it up to $30-35 Herencia Mexicana blanco is also great.
I like Cimmaron as a good bang for the buck for cocktails and such but for sipping I prefer one of the other 3.
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Well, no drinks for me yet. But my non drinking wife just had a mimosa, so it’s not entirely clear where this day is going.
Tequila and mezcal bottles can have some really amazing artwork on them.
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