Sibling Rivalry

Two siblings, each born in neighboring distilleries separated by a mere half mile and sharing wildly similar production characteristics. So just how similar (or dissimilar) are these two malts? Had I not cynically ignored each malt’s packaging, I would have had a basic, but accurate, answer to that very question long before any whisky was poured. Sadly, all too often a whisky’s packaging can easily be dismissed as the descriptors and verbiage are more fluff than substance. In retrospect however, the packaging for both the Balvenie and the Glenfiddich provided ample foreshadowing of what was to come.

The Balvenie’s mission is to use ex-bourbon and new American oak barrels to enhance the sweetness and fruit characteristics of their whisky. Conversely, the Glenfiddich aims to pay tribute to the bourbon industry and all those beautiful barrels it supplies to Scotland for use in the maturation of scotch whisky. One aims to utilize American oak, both used and new, to accentuate and celebrate their distillate’s inherent character. The other aims to utilize the same variety of American oak to influence and infuse characteristics of bourbon into their whisky to honor the wholly symbiotic relationship between two of the world’s most prominent whisky styles.

Had I paid closer attention to these details, I would have had a pretty good idea what was in store for me - the Balvenie would be a Balvenie malt with barley sweetness, citrus, and a bit of ginger front and center and the American oak influence in the background as a supporting actor. Alternately, the Glenfiddich would yield more of its Speyside character to the American oak, allowing for more bourbon notes like brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon to appear and mingle.

After spending a significant amount of time with both bottles (both are now empty!), I can affirm that to my palate, each product has successfully accomplished its stated goal. Don’t misunderstand however, both of these are scotches through and through. If you were to pour either for a bourbon lover, that person would not mistake either for a bourbon. While each remains true to its respective underlying spirit, the influence of American oak is different between the two - the Balvenie focuses on the oak itself whereas the Glenfiddich focuses on the bourbon-influence.

In terms of the drinking experience, I found the Glenfiddich to be more enjoyable. The Glenfiddich’s brown sugar, vanilla, and caramel notes were more to my liking than the Balvenie’s focus on oak influence which brought sawdust, lumber yard, and toasted oak characteristics. Again, truth in advertising as the Balvenie’s name ‘The Sweet Toast of American Oak’ makes no mystery of the malt’s intentions.

While both whiskies are 43% ABV, I found the Glenfiddich to have less tongue-prickle and alcohol sting that I associate with younger spirits. Not shocking when you consider the Glenfiddich does have two extra years of maturation than the Balvenie. Because neither whisky states whether artificial coloring was added or if chill-filtration was used, it is a safe assumption that both were indeed utilized.

Packaging and price are two areas where the separation between these two whiskies is indeed notable. The Glenfiddich is priced in the low $50 range whereas the Balvenie is in the low-to-mid $70 range. A twenty-ish dollar premium for a younger whisky is indeed curious which leads me to the packaging. While both come bottled in their respective distillery’s signature bottle and packaged nicely in standard cardboard tubes, it is the Balvenie that is draped in a smooth, slick, shiny marketing campaign. Introduced a few years ago, ‘Balvenie Stories’ details the inspiration, craftsmanship, and effort that goes into specific offerings from the distillery. One of those ‘stories’, complete with its own ‘podcast’ episode, is The Sweet Toast of American Oak. Just one look at each whisky’s respective webpage drives home the suspicion that the Balvenie absolutely received the lion’s share of the marketing budget William Grant & Sons allocated for the two products.

Does the polished marketing campaign for The Sweet Toast of American Oak constitute the ~$20 price difference? Partially yes, but I suspect there is another factor in play. Traditionally, the marketing of Balvenie has been its perception as an upscale, boutique whisky producer. Of course a key component of being perceived as an upscale, boutique product is flaunting a large asking price; a wild aspect of professional consumerism is that a lofty price often becomes a key contributor to an item’s appeal and an affirmation of its pedigree.

Even with its lofty pedestal in the whisky world in mind, I’ve always found The Sweet Toast of American Oak’s pricing to be too steep for a different reason. For just a few dollars more one can procure Balvenie’s 12-Year Single Barrel which has far more compelling production characteristics: first-fill ex-bourbon, non-chill filtered, and bottled at 47.8% ABV. These are the qualities of a whisky that can justifiably command a fiscal premium - quality production and maturation as well as far more transparency regarding the whisky, but I digress.

Getting back to the two malts at hand, despite the marketing glitz and glamor, it is the Glenfiddich that takes the prize for me. Even if these two malts were priced similarly, I’d take the Glenfiddich over the Balvenie. While numerical scores assigned to whisky impressions have always struck me as arbitrary, what feels far more indicative of one’s enjoyment is whether another bottle of said whisky will be secured in the future. To that end, a shiny new bottle of the Glenfiddich appeared on my shelf a few days after finishing the bottle featured in this writeup. As for the Balvenie, they make plenty of other malts that I thoroughly enjoy (12-Year Single Barrel, 15-Year Single Barrel, and their annual Peat Week) but for me, The Sweet Toast of American Oak was an above-average malt with a disproportionately high asking price, it is a one-and-done purchase for me.

Archived reviews of each respective malt:

Balvenie Sweet Toast of American Oak: https://aqua-lunas.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-new-balvenie.html  
Glenfiddich Bourbon Barrel Reserve 14 Year Old: https://aqua-lunas.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-thank-you-from-scotland-to-united.html 

Until next time malt mates.