My take on Glenfiddich 12 yo

It is the best selling single malt Scotch whisky, and in fact the one that made single malt popular around the world.

For most non-afficionados, it is simply the epitome of single malt whisky.

And it is also the starting point for my personal whisky journey. So - although there's got to be roughly a million reviews about this stuff already out there - I'm going to give my take on it here as well.

My first encounter with the name "Glenfiddich" - in fact the first time I was made aware of the single malt Scotch whisky culture at all - was in the German novel "Lautlos" by Frank Schätzing. He let his (Scottish) protagonist explain that Glenfiddich is basically piss water, and have him pour it down the drain. He went on praising malts like Laphroaig and Lagavulin, which at the time set the tone for my own whisky explorations. So although I started looking out for the occasional dram, I kept avoiding Glenfiddich for quite some time.

However, when setting out to seriously make Scotch whisky a hobby of mine, I decided that in order to disdain something so strongly, I should have at least tried it myself - and bought a bottle of the 12 year old. And what can I say, I came to realize that I can't agree with Schätzing's bashing at all! So here is my take on it:

Nose: Fruity and fresh, green apples and a touch of vanilla. Slighlty alcoholic, but not bad.

Taste: Sharp and oakwood bitter arrival, then turning sweeter. Fruity, but the bitterness from the oakwood is dominating. Significant improvement over standard blends.

Finish: Rather short and increasingly bitter. Leaves a strange, unpleasant aftertaste behind the oak bitterness. Definitely the weak point of this malt.

Bottom line: When you're used to cheap supermarket whiskies, the Glenfiddich 12 yo comes like a revelation that shows you what whisky can actually be. Compared with the huge variety of high quality single malts that is available (at considerably higher prices), it may not have much complexity to offer to the experienced whisky drinker, but as entry point into the world of single malts it is ideal.
 + affordable price; fresh and fruity taste
 -  bitter finish with strange aftertaste

Although I won't buy a second bottle, I'm glad I bought this one. It serves as a nice benchmark against which I can compare other malts, and for the reasonable price, I can recommend it to anyone (of legal age) without reservations.

Slàinte mhath!