Today, it is time for another revisited take on a past review, this time Glenfiddich 12. That post, back in November 2023, was my second post ever. And actually, my first ever review. Even though my writing was pretty basic and the direction of the blog was still being shaped, it was a seminal review in more ways than I could have imagined. It set my train of thought for what was to become.
The re-purchase confession
Let me start with being completely honest about my motivation. That 2023 review remains the top-ranking page on the blog. From 2023 until 2025, it reigned supreme. Readers kept landing on it. This year it has slipped slightly from the top spot, maybe a sign of me reaching an audience closer to my evolving taste, but it still remains extremely popular.
It is not surprising. Worldwide, Glenfiddich keeps fighting with Glenlivet for the number one single malt brand. And the 12-year-old remains the most popular of Glenfiddich’s releases. So I bought the bottle again for the readers who are landing here on Road to Dram for that Glenfiddich 12 review, not for me. The premise is needed; I wouldn’t own it otherwise.
My original Glenfiddich 12 review
What did I think of Glenfiddich 12 back in 2023? When bright-eyed and bushy-tailed old me approached his first review, I was fighting against some preconceived snobbery set against this single malt. As I noted back then, I had come up against the advice of skipping this whisky because some saw Glenfiddich as “the Coca-Cola of Whisky”. I dislike prejudice in general, so making that bottle the first in line for a review was a much bolder move than I realised at the time. It was my line in the sand. A line which stated: I will make up my own mind, please and thank you.
What I found back then was a whisky with captivating fruity and floral aromas, even going as far as calling it elegant. But also a whisky that had a very simple and sweet palate which didn’t match the quality of the nose. And yet I didn’t dislike it. I saw the value it had as a beginner whisky: a solid, consistent bottle made for mass appeal. In the end, I scored it a 5.5/10, which might seem extremely low in a world full of 85-90/100 scores, but fully consistent with a better-than-average verdict I settled upon using the 1-10 scale I use, adapted from Dramface.
Enough chit-chat, time for the revisited review of the Glenfiddich 12 and see how that score holds up.
Glenfiddich 12 year old
TL:DR: A crowd pleaser free of any edge.
Score: 5/10
Specs
Price paid: € 34.90
Batch: L0122835
ABV: 40%
Natural colour: No
Non-chill filtered: No
Casks Used: Not stated
Tasting Notes
Colour: Achieved through caramel colouring so totally irrelevant.
Nose: Impressively expressive for a 40% whisky. I expected something relatively quiet, but this could give some 46% integrity bottlings a run for their money. Starts fruity with apple, pear, and banana – maybe even a touch of Tutti Frutti bubblegum. I get some dry, freshly planed, untoasted oak… definitely a memory of a carpentry shop. A touch of ginger, a hint of white pepper, and cinnamon.
Acacia blossom: actually more than the flower, it reminds me of the artificial aroma in Johnson’s baby shampoo. There is even a touch of the same soapiness I remember from my childhood. (Luckily not the stinging sensation in the eyes, which no matter what the ads promised, was a constant reason to fight washing my hair as a child). A touch of lemon rind and a hint of malted loaf. Less elegant than I remembered but definitely more crowd-pleasing.
Taste & finish: As I feared, the intriguing experience coming from the notes on the nose falls quite flat on the palate. It’s by no means terrible, just pretty generic. Surprisingly, it is a tad hot, not something I would have expected for this 40% mass-market champion. The texture is a bit thin but far from watery, much better than some of its ABV peers. There are notes of white fruit, a little ex-bourbon cask spice, and some very noticeable oak; slightly too aggressive. A hint of caramel but not much more. The finish starts quite bold but dies off very quickly: pear, bubblegum, oak and a touch of citrus peel.
Score: 5, Average in a good way
The nose hints at a very intriguing whisky hiding in the shadows of the dilution and chill filtration. Maybe not as elegant as I originally felt it was, but impressive nonetheless. The palate is where this goes fully generic and safe: a very generic and weakly flavoured whisky. And that has not changed since my original review. I called it out then like I do today. Only today, in this revisited review of Glenfiddich 12, it weighs more heavily on how I enjoy whisky. In the end, there is nothing wrong with this whisky, but nothing is exciting either. It is the definition of an average whisky. Compared to other 40% ABV peers, it holds its own, and its reputation as a solid beginner choice is deserved, but after trying hundreds of whisky bottles, it is close to being forgettable. No “would I buy it again” line needed for today’s review, as I already explained that above.
*Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Why did the score fall?
Alright, you may argue it is not a dramatic fall. After all, we are talking about a mere half point, from 5.5 to 5. But the meaning behind it is a bit more substantial. Or better, it reflects a significant shift in how I saw whisky then and how I see it now. The uninspiring, generic palate isn’t a flaw here; it’s the tax the whisky has to pay to fulfil its task.
If you want a crowd pleaser, you do need to sand off every sharp corner. You make the liquid in the bottle pleasant but unchallenging. The taste steers towards sweetness, the crowd pleaser in the taste palette. You veer towards simple fruity and floral notes, eschewing spice, funk, and peat. What’s left is universally acceptable and, by design, unmemorable.
Is this the Coca-Cola of whisky after all?
In my original review, I fought against that concept not only because I wanted to form my own opinion. But also because it reeked of snobbery. I am back at square one, and I have to admit that the simile is fitting. Calling the Glenfiddich 12 in today’s review “The Coca-Cola of Whisky” has its merits, but not because of the snobbery that comes with that statement.
Yes, it is engineered for mass consistency, no doubt about that. But rather than a negative, that is a genuine achievement. The market needs mass-appeal products, well made if unchallenging, to attract customers to whisky. At the same time, it’s exactly why it can’t thrill someone like me, with a few hundred bottles under his belt down the road. Consistency and edge are a real trade-off. Beginner-me appreciated the mass appeal more; whisky traveller-me has moved beyond it and wants the edge. The half-point fall reflects what my palate now hunts for: the edges in whisky. Edges this Glenfiddich 12 in today’s revisited review is built not to have.
Revisiting scores but retaining identity
This Glenfiddich 12 revisited review could be simplified as: same bottle, different stage of the road. And yet, it represents the core of Road to Dram as a blog, and why that first review set a tone I am bent on keeping today and moving forward.
I want this to remain a place where I share my honest take on the whiskies I try, free of any sponsorship (everything I review is purchased or, occasionally, gifted for birthdays and Christmas by relatives and friends), and happy to challenge the whisky hive mind, free to agree with it when it makes sense but also to call out things I see differently. And all while being honest about where I am as a drinker, because we are constantly evolving in our tastes.
Up next: the fork in the road
I started pairing my revisited reviews with a look at the bottles I didn’t choose in my original whisky exploration. And next week will be the same. If Glenfiddich is the competent but edgeless dram by design, I will pick an affordable entry-level outsider to see if it can deliver an edge at the same price, or if price positioning forces the same crowd-pleasing compromise. I hope I’ll see you back next week to check what the verdict will be.
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