The bottle most like The GlenDronach 15 Revival, for less money, comes from the same distillery. The Glendronach 12 is $119. To a GlenDronach 15 Revival drinker it gives about 96% of what their own bottle does. Same house, same hand, a smaller number on the label. That is the whole story of this week, and the rest is detail.
What's in the glass
The GlenDronach 15 Revival is back after three years away, held back by a shortage of stock. It's matured in Pedro Ximénez and oloroso sherry casks, and it drinks like it. The nose is rich with sherry, ripe cherries, walnuts, milk chocolate and marzipan, with a savoury edge underneath. Full-bodied on the palate: spicy damsons, cinnamon, dried fruits, dark chocolate. The finish is long, cloves and blackcurrants. A sherried dram that doesn't hold back.
1/Ripe cherries, walnuts, milk chocolate and marzipan: aka The GlenDronach 15 Revival, $176 at Dan Murphy's this week. For a Glengoyne 18 drinker, that's about 91% of what the Glengoyne 18 gives, for 64% of the price.
2/The GlenDronach 15 Revival, $176, fifteen years old and bottled at 46%. Pour it late and the nose gives rich sherry, ripe cherries, walnuts and marzipan. The palate turns to spicy damsons, cinnamon and dark chocolate, then a long finish of cloves and blackcurrants.
3/What a Glengoyne 18 drinker gives up with the GlenDronach 15 Revival is mostly the name on the label and three years of age. That's the whole of it.
4/Glengoyne 18, $276, is still the one for its fans: milk chocolate, orange marmalade, sweeter sherry and easy-going oak. The GlenDronach 15 Revival? That's the one for every other night.
| 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 | · | · | · | · | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed | 175.99 observed |
| basis | mean | median | sd | min | max | range | cv | se mean | latest | own-range pctl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 175.99 | 175.99 | 0.00 | 175.99 | 175.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 175.99 | 100 |
| member | 175.99 | 175.99 | 0.00 | 175.99 | 175.99 | 0.00 | 0.0% | 0.00 | 175.99 | 100 |
| moments | m1 mean | m2 var | m3 skew | m4 ex-kurt | 95% band of the mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| list | 175.99 | 0.00 | null | null | 176.0 – 176.0 |
The Glendronach 12, $110 at Dan Murphy's this week, and it usually sells around $119. After a parade of Glendronachs over the years, this is the 12 that won me over: the sherry held back just enough to let the spirit speak. My favourite of them. More in this week's piece.
Hand The Glendronach 12 to drinkers of its nearest bottles and they'd pay $90 to $248 for it, each from what their own bottle costs. The closest, a Glenfarclas 15 drinker, lands at $125, 68% of their own. It's $110 this week. More in this week's piece. Where would you sit?
The Glendronach 12 is $110 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $119, so a few dollars under its regular mark as you pour one. Where it sits against the neighbours is in this week's piece.
If you like The GlenDronach 15 Revival, The Glendronach 12 gives you about 96% of what it does for 68% of the price, landing at $119, and that sherried thread runs through both, which is really what I get into in this week's piece on the Revival.
Here's the one that stuck with me: an Edradour 10 drinker, handed The GlenDronach 15 Revival, would pay 77% of what their own bottle costs them. Not the whole way, but close. What would you give for a neighbour's dram? More in this week's piece.
The GlenDronach 15 Revival, back after three years away: ripe cherries, dark chocolate, a long clove finish. $176 over about 25 standard drinks is $6.93 a pour at home, just over the $6.28 a standard drink of a $13 pint. More in this week's piece.
The GlenDronach 15 Revival is $176 at Dan Murphy's this week, and it usually sells around $176. Nose of sherry, cherries and marzipan; a palate of spicy damsons and dark chocolate; a long finish of cloves and blackcurrants. More in this week's piece. Your kind of dram?
Love The GlenDronach 15 Revival? The Glenfarclas 15 gives its drinkers about 94% of what the Revival does, and at $130 that is 74% of its price, with dried fruit, toffee and a touch of leather over a full, smooth palate. The full tasting sits in this week's piece. Fancy a pour?
Glengoyne 18, matured with a generous share of first-fill sherry: milk chocolate, vanilla and melon on the nose, then cinnamon, ginger, almonds and orange marmalade, the spices lingering over easy-going oak. $276. More on it in this week's piece.
Like Glengoyne 18? The GlenDronach 15 Revival gives a Glengoyne 18 drinker about 91% of it, for 64% of the price. $176 the bottle. Ripe cherries, walnuts, dark chocolate. More on the Glengoyne 18 in this week's piece.
Milk chocolate and vanilla on the nose, orange marmalade and cinnamon on the palate, spices lingering in the finish: that's Glengoyne 18. Hand it to a Glenfarclas 25 drinker and they'd pay 77% of their own bottle, docking it for the younger age. More in this week's piece.
I did the sums on the Glengoyne 18 this week: $276 a bottle, about 24 standard drinks in it, which lands a pour at home at $11.62. Plenty of whisky hiding behind that number. I've put it beside its neighbours in this week's piece if you want to see where it sits.
Glengoyne 18 is $276 at Dan Murphy's this week. It usually sells around $276, and we've seen it as low as $220. About $11.62 a pour at home, for the night you want rich sherry and easy oak with no rush. More on who it suits in this week's piece.
I noticed the Glengoyne 15 again this week. For a Glengoyne 18 drinker it gives about 90% of what the 18 does — the sherry, the vanilla, a lively ginger — at 59% of its price, so $162. The 18 itself gets its own turn in this week's piece.
Glenfarclas 15, $130. The nose is deep and aromatic: dried fruits, toffee, a whisper of leather. Full and smooth across the palate, all Christmas cake, raisins and roast oak, with the warming spices lingering. My favourite sort of sherry dram. More in this week's piece.
Like Glenfarclas 15? The Glendronach 12, $119, gives a Glenfarclas 15 drinker about 97% of what it does, for 92% of the price. Sherry, without being ruled by it. More on Glenfarclas 15 in this week's piece. Worth a swap?
I handed a Glengoyne 21 drinker a Glenfarclas 15 this week — dried fruit, toffee, a little leather. Starting from what they pay for their own, they'd put it at 77% of that. Still a clear yes for them. Where would you sit on it? More in this week's piece on Glenfarclas 15.
Weighing up a bottle? Glenfarclas 15 comes to $5.12 a standard drink poured at home, next to about $6.28 a standard drink for a pint at the pub, and that's roughly 25 pours in the bottle. More on Glenfarclas 15 in this week's piece.
The Glenfarclas 15 sits at $130 at Dan Murphy's this week, which is right where it usually sells, around $130. A steady, dried-fruit-and-toffee sherry dram holding its familiar line. Where it lands against its neighbours, and who each pour suits, is all in this week's piece.
Tamdhu 15 opens on molasses and orange peel with a prickly edge of oak, then turns supple and sweet: icing sugar, Turkish Delight, fruitcake and toffee, before cinnamon, dark chocolate and drying cloves on a long finish. $202 at Dan Murphy's. More in this week's piece.
The GlenDronach 15 Revival, $176. Pour one tonight and you're drinking what a Tamdhu 15 drinker reaches for: ripe cherries, walnuts, dark chocolate. It gives that drinker all of what the Tamdhu 15 does, 100%, for 87% of the price. More on the Tamdhu 15 in this week's piece.
Hand a Glengoyne 21 drinker the Tamdhu 15, all molasses and dark chocolate, and they'd pay 77% of what their own bottle costs, marked down mostly for the younger age. Which way would you lean? This week's piece has the rest.
At home a pour of Tamdhu 15 runs $7.95 a standard drink, a touch over a $13 pint at the pub at about $6.28 a drink; for the sherry drinker after molasses and dark chocolate across roughly 25 drinks in the bottle, that's where it lands. More in this week's piece on Tamdhu 15.
Like what Tamdhu 15 does? Glenfarclas 15 gives a Tamdhu 15 drinker 100% of it, for 64% of the price, at $130. Dried fruits, toffee, a little leather. More on Tamdhu 15 in this week's piece.
Fancy the Tamdhu 15? The Glendronach 12 hands a Tamdhu 15 drinker about 95% of what they're after for 59% of the price, sits at $119 this week, and wears its sherry lightly. The full story on the Tamdhu 15 is in this week's piece.
A price guide for The Glendronach 12 and the three single malts closest to it. What each one usually sells for, the range we've seen, and this week's price side by side. The table is in the next post as an image.
If Glenfarclas 15 is your bottle, its closest twin at Dan Murphy's is The GlenDronach 15 Revival — nearest both on the words in the two reviews and on what drinkers choose. It gives you about 99% of what the Glenfarclas 15 does, for 95% of the price.
If you like Tamdhu 15, the bottle that tastes most like it is The GlenDronach 15 Revival. It gives a Tamdhu 15 drinker about 100% of what the Tamdhu does, and it does so for 87% of the price.
If you're happily pouring the GlenDronach 12 at $119 of an evening, the question that eventually nags is whether the next rung up is worth the climb. The range lays it out plainly: the 12 at $119, then the 15 Revival at $176. Two rungs, two prices this week. So what does the extra height actually get you, and is it a step you need to take?
A price guide for Glenfarclas 15 and the three single malts closest to it. What each usually sells for, the range we've seen, and what a standard drink costs at this week's price. Glenfarclas 15 is the anchor: a full-bodied, sherry-cask malt, non-chill filtered, with dried fruit, toffee, roast oak and a little leather and spice.
| # | candidate | price | CEARP | price − CEARP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Glendronach 12YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $118.99 | $171.30 | -52.31 |
| 2 | Glengoyne 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $275.99 | $163.96 | +112.03 |
| 3 | Glengoyne 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $161.99 | $154.45 | +7.54 |
| 4 | Edradour 10 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $111.99 | $152.50 | -40.51 |
| 5 | Glengoyne 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $360.99 | $151.56 | +209.43 |
| 6 | Glenfiddich 18 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $174.90 | $141.68 | +33.22 |
| 7 | Glenfarclas 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $129.99 | $140.74 | -10.75 |
| 8 | Tamdhu 15 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $201.99 | $140.62 | +61.37 |
| 9 | Glencadam 15YO Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $150.00 | $136.35 | +13.65 |
| 10 | Tamdhu 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700mL | $98.00 | $130.36 | -32.36 |