1/Climbing the Glenlivet range this week. The 12 sits at $79, the 15 at $125, the 18 at $200. Three rungs, and the climb gets wider as you go: the last step is the biggest. So the question for each rung is a simple one. What does the step up actually get you, and what does the younger bottle still give the drinker who reaches past it?
2/The 15, $46 more than the 12, for three more years in the cask. Perfumed oak, apple and pear, a little white pepper. Going up, the 15 gives a 12 drinker about 94% of what the 12 does. Coming back down, the 12 gives a 15 drinker about 93% of what the 15 does, for 63% of its price. What's different is mostly those three years and the extra sherry and dried fruit.
3/The 18 asks $75 more than the 15, again three years in the cask. Dried heathery flowers, tinned pineapple, windfall apples, a note of cedar and nutmeg. Going up, the 18 gives a 15 drinker about 95% of what the 15 does. Coming back down, the 15 gives an 18 drinker about 95% of what the 18 does, for 63% of its price. Mostly it's the three years and the extra wine-cask fruit.
4/So a yes for each. The 12 is the weeknight pour, lily and a little orchard fruit over that soft creaminess, at $3.56 a standard drink, under the $6.28 a standard drink costs you in a pint at the pub. Say yes to the 15 for the extra sherry and dried fruit; yes to the 18 for its dried flowers and wine-cask fruit. Reach either way and you keep most of what you love. More is not always better.
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