Catchy article title, eh? Not sure my former editor would approve of it – it’s hardly a flowing headline. But there’s not really a more succinct way to say it. I’ll elaborate: It’s my opinion that whisky drinkers all go through three very distinct stages in their appreciation of Glenfiddich. And, depending on what stage you’re up to, this tremendously impacts your attitude to Glenfiddich. Curious? Let’s look into this…
Depending on how old you are and when you tried a single malt for the first time, there’s a good chance that your maiden dram was a Glenfiddich. The familiar green, triangular bottle was synonymous with single malt whisky through the 1970’s and 1980’s, before other brands finally found their way onto the shelves of our liquor outlets. Certainly, when you speak to most whisky drinkers in their late 40’s and older, Glenfiddich was the whisky they lost their malt virginity to. Even if you took up whisky more recently, a dram of Glenfiddich was still a textbook malt to turn to as you made the transition out of blends or simply dived head first into the category via a single malt.
Of course, once you’ve been drinking malts for some time (i.e. these days, for more than a week!), it’s common to progress beyond the light, floral, grassy malts of Speyside, and many drinkers subsequently head towards sherried and/or peated whiskies on their personal journey of malt discovery. But if you’ve been caught up in the pursuit of peat or the search for sherry, it can be a surprising and rewarding experience to return to this gentle but complex dram and to unlock its subtleties. And those, folks, are the three stages of your attitude to Glenfiddich and thus the three phases of Glenfiddich appreciation.
Stage 1
Stage 1 is that initial stage when you’re new to the category of malt whisky. Glenfiddich might be amongst the first malts you try, and you find it soft, approachable, light, and fruity. You’re informed by your friends and whisky mentors that it’s a great beginners’ whisky, or that it’s a textbook Speyside dram, and you’re quite happily ensconced with it. And, if you’re on a budget, its relatively cheap price tag doesn’t hurt either. It’s a happy relationship at this stage.
Stage 2
Stage 2 is like watching Anakin Skywalker transforming to the dark side of the force. Having been well acquainted with Glenfiddich and become familiar with it, nearly everyone on their malt journey then looks further afield to the more tantalising flavours and tastes that they’ve heard about. They become seduced by the dark side and suddenly start seeking out big sherry bombs or brutal peat monsters. You might graduate to Islay drams via Talisker and Highland Park, or you might simply take the express train straight to Octomore. Or you try Glenmorangie Lasanta, and then suddenly you can’t get enough of Aberlour a’Bunadh or Glenfarclas 105. And then they become boring and you go straight to the Glenfarclas Family Casks or the Glendronach single cask releases. Whiskies bottled at 40% no longer seem to satisfy, and you only find pleasure in cask-strength, un-chillfiltered whiskies. Either way, just like drug addicts on opiates, your dopamine receptors become dulled to light or “pedestrian” flavours, and suddenly whiskies like Glenfiddich are deemed boring. Glenfiddich just doesn’t do it for you anymore. And you find yourself on an exhausting (and, ultimately, unrewarding) quest for drams that are more sherried, more peated, more ABV, more wood finished, are made from more exotic barley, and are more un-chillfiltered. There’s a HUGE and wide world of whiskies out there, and why on earth would you waste your time and condescend to a beginner’s whisky like Glenfiddich?
Stage 3
Stage 3 is like a Jane Austen novel, where the character who was initially perceived as being unappealing or odious is suddenly seen in their true light and is the glorious hero. And, just like a Jane Austen novel, Stage 3 can be hard work. Because it takes time, skill, patience, experience, and – just perhaps – some natural assets and abilities to reach Stage 3.
True whisky appreciation is more than just sipping a dram and saying “I like that”. It’s about identifying aromas and characters; piecing together a whisky’s DNA; and seeing through the noise and colour to discern the subtle and the quiet. (More on that topic here: Listen to your whisky).
At the risk of saying something that some might disagree with, I believe you need to be tasting and studying whisky for at least four to five years to graduate from Stage 2 and qualify for Stage 3. Like any skill, you need to work at, and it takes several years to develop your palate and to be capable of detecting true subtlety and delicacy in a whisky. Identifying and describing aromas and flavours is a skill, and your nose and palate are muscles that need training, practice, testing, and development to improve. Yes, some lucky folks are naturally gifted in this area, while others have to put in the hard yards to get there. And some, sadly, just don’t have the anatomical kit to begin with. (There are plenty of people with a poor or no sense of smell for whom subtlety in any food or beverage will be forever lost).
But, when you’re a Stage 3 drinker, this is where Glenfiddich suddenly shines again. Even the ubiquitous 12yo, the biggest selling single malt on the planet, offers tremendous complexity, flavour, and satisfaction if you spend time with it and scratch beneath the surface. At a general level, it’s typically described as being grassy, floral, and displaying essence of pear drops. But dig deeper and you’ll identify complex layers of citrus (both lemon and orange); you’ll find a kaleidoscope of organic elements (cut grass, forest floors, hay paddocks, pressed flowers, numerous interpretations of oak, etc); the orchard fruits (primarily pears, but also apple); there’s a sharpness in the form of pineapple and ethanol; and at the sweet end you’ll find the rich maltiness of the barley and the vanilla of the oak. And all of that is just in the humble 12yo – an apparently “simple” whisky that most of the world’s self-styled whisky connoisseurs choose to dismiss.
If you’ve not explored Glenfiddich 12yo in detail for some time, or you’ve been guilty of ignoring it in favour of other, seemingly more challenging malts, then you might be surprised when you return to this whisky and discover what’s really going on with it.
Naturally, as you move up the ladder in the Glenfiddich portfolio and add a few more years of maturation, other elements enter the picture. The 15yo Solera Reserve introduces some sherry oak into the equation; the 18yo widens the spectrum and delivers more concentrated oak influences; and the 21yo expands the experience and spice with the contribution of rum cask influence. And, these days, there are plenty of other expressions and releases in the Glenfiddich portfolio to keep your tastebuds entertained.
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Many years ago, long before the boom and global interest in single malts, the late Michael Jackson summed up the whiskies of William Grant & Sons and concluded that Glenfiddich was made for the masses, whilst Balvenie was made for the connoisseurs. It’s not often I disagree with the great MJ, but I reckon he did Glenfiddich a disservice with that comment. Get to Stage 3, and there’s plenty in Glenfiddich to keep the connoisseur happy.
Cheers,
AD
PS…you might like our other articles on Glenfiddich and its whiskies:
Glenfiddich vs Glenlivet – who will win the heavyweight title bout?
