1/Billy's on the fire, two bottles in the camp box. Old mate wanders over, swirls his glass. 'Warm and soft, this one. Melon and apricot, bit of dried hay. What'd you call it?' Glen Moray 18, I tell him — $164 at Dan Murphy's. He settles back on his swag.
2/'You on the same?' he asks, nodding at my glass. Nah — that's the Glen Moray 21. Oolong and red fruits, a wisp of Tawny Port, baking spice over something creamy and honeyed. 'Keeping the good stuff for yerself,' he grins. Fair cop. It's the one for its fans.
3/The 21 runs $304 for members this week; it usually sells around $343, and against that the 18 is about 48% of the price. Side by side it comes out clean: the Glen Moray 18 gives a 21 drinker about 95% of what the 21 does, for 54% of its price.
4/What a 21 drinker gives up with the 18 is mostly three years of age, and not much else. So here's the yes for each: the 21 stays the one for its fans, and the 18, at $164, is the one for every other night round the fire.
| 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 | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed | 163.99 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 163.99 | 163.99 | 0.00 | 163.99 | 163.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 163.99 | 100 |
| member | 163.99 | 163.99 | 0.00 | 163.99 | 163.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 163.99 | 100 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 163.99 | 0.00 | null | null | 164.0 – 164.0 |
Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Reserve, $113 for members at Dan Murphy's. Woody yet floral, oak underpinning heather with honey, vanilla and a twist of citrus. Well balanced, a long and easy finish, the daily dram you reach for without a second thought. More on it in this week's piece.
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.
The Glenlivet 18: dried heathery flowers, tinned pineapple, windfall apples, then a turn to cedar and nutmeg. Tongue-clinging, custard tart, autumn fruit on the finish — curtains drawn, settling in for winter. $170 for members at Dan Murphy's. More in this week's piece.
I keep coming back to this: if you love The Glenlivet 18, The Glenlivet 15 at $153 gives you about 96% of what it does, for 90% of the price. Perfumed oak, apple and pear, soft white pepper. More in this week's piece.
Hand a The Glenlivet 15 drinker a bottle of The Glenlivet 18 and they'd pay 78% of what their own bottle costs, marking it down mostly for the extra years it carries over theirs. More on The Glenlivet 18, and where it sits, in this week's piece. Pour one and see.
Melon and apricot, a little apple pie. That's Glen Moray 18. For a The Glenlivet 18 drinker it gives about 87% of what the 18 does, at 96% of the price. $164 this week. More in this week's piece on The Glenlivet 18.
Poured after dinner, lamp on. Glen Moray 21 noses like oolong and red fruit with a wisp of tawny port; the palate goes creamy and honeyed, a touch of baking spice. $304 for members at Dan Murphy's. A quiet, sweet old Speyside for the unshowy drinker. More in this week's piece.
Melon and apricot. A warm, soft dram. Glen Moray 18 gives a Glen Moray 21 drinker about 95% of what the 21 does, for 54% of the price. It's $164. A soft yes for the 21 lover who'd happily pour this of an evening. More on Glen Moray 21 in this week's piece.
Put Glen Moray 21 beside the bottles nearest it and ask those drinkers what it's worth to them. Their answers run from $76 to $415, each starting from what they pay for their own. This week it's $304 for members, sitting inside that spread. More in this week's piece.
Glen Moray 21 comes to about $11.89 a pour at home, roughly 26 standard drinks to the bottle. If a creamy, honeyed sipper to linger over after dinner is your kind of thing, this is one to pour slowly and savour. More on where it sits this week.
Glen Moray 21 is the pour for someone after an old Speyside that stays soft and sweet: creamy, honeyed, a wisp of Tawny Port and ripe red fruits. It's $304 for members at Dan Murphy's this week; it usually sells around $343. More on where it sits in this week's piece.
Like Glen Moray 21? The Glenlivet 18 gives a Glen Moray 21 drinker about 88% of what they love, for 56% of the price, and it's $170 for members. Dried flowers, tinned pineapple, a settling-in-for-winter dram. Worth a pour. More on the Glen Moray 21 in this week's piece.
If Glen Moray 18 is your bottle, here's one for every other night: Deanston 12, $97 for members at Dan Murphy's. It gives a Glen Moray 18 drinker about 88% of what the 18 does, for 59% of the price.
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.
One cold evening at a mate's place, he reaches into the cupboard and pours The Glenlivet 18 without asking. You settle in. It is the kind of whisky that makes you want to pull the curtains and let the week go.
A mate pours you a finger of Glen Moray 21 at his place, the good cupboard open, and you spend the next ten minutes working out whether the one you've been eyeing at Dan Murphy's is really worth the stretch. Here's the short version before the glass is empty: the bottle most like the Glen Moray 21, for less, is made down the road at the same distillery. The Glen Moray 18, $164, gives a Glen Moray 21 drinker about 95% of what the 21 does.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLEN GRANT 18 YEARS 700ML | $213.99 | $159.87 | +54.12 |
| 2 | The Glen Grant 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $148.99 | $157.33 | -8.34 |
| 3 | Glen Moray 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $342.99 | $157.23 | +185.76 |
| 4 | Glen Moray 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $94.00 | $152.19 | -58.19 |
| 5 | The Glenlivet 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $184.99 | $151.91 | +33.08 |
| 6 | Glenfiddich 14YO Bourbon Res 700ml | $129.99 | $149.72 | -19.73 |
| 7 | The Glenlivet 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $125.00 | $148.93 | -23.93 |
| 8 | The Balvenie Stories 21YO 'The Second Red Rose' Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $726.99 | $146.88 | +580.11 |
| 9 | Aultmore AULTMORE® 12YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $115.99 | $144.15 | -28.16 |
| 10 | Glenfiddich Gran Reserva 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $298.95 | $142.93 | +156.02 |