Glenfiddich Fire & Cane

Finally...a ‘fiddich that’s reasonably priced and good?!? At about $50/ bottle, this is a great buy. It’s a departure from the traditional ‘fiddich in that it’s lightly peated. It’s a bold departure, marrying a bourbon matured whisky with a peated whisky, and then finishing it in Caribbean rum barrels. The peat is different than what we’d normally see in Islays. This peat is from Speyside. So, you have less of that phenolic character, and more earthy instead. The peat level is only 5ppm, which is minor compared to what you see in Ardbeg ( 50ppm). So you’re getting a light earthy soot, combined with a sweet aftertaste from the rum. I found this incredibly well balanced, doing the tightrope really well between fruit and light faint smoke. If you go in expecting an Islay style, you’ll be disappointed. But go in acknowledging what a departure this is from the traditional ‘fiddich, and extremely attractively priced at $50. Solid well recommended buy. Just don’t expect a peat monster or Islay wannabe. It’s something else and unique.

rich and Smokey

I recently made a 3 bottle trade with a fellow Michigander I met on the Snupps app and he threw in a sample of the recent peated NAS, Fire & Cane from Glenfiddich. It’s a peated malt (rare for Glenfiddich) that was finished for several months in Caribbean rum casks. Bottled at 43% ABV, chill filtered and has colorant added making it an amber honey. The nose starts off fairly sweet with honey, lemon citrus and vanilla custard. A light peat (heavy for a ‘Fiddich), but it’s a welcome addition as it adds balance to the sweeter notes and also adds that much more depth. Slightly ashy/sooty with cereal malt, barley sugar and a bit of butterscotch, undoubtedly from the rum casks. Orchard and tropical fruits, apricots, peaches and grilled pineapple. Young and pretty simplistic, but bright enough to hold your attention long enough appreciated it. The palate begins with moderate peat, somewhere around the Highland Park level, enough to be considered worthy in my book. Ashy lemons, vanilla custard and malted barley. Apricots, pineapple and a little kiwi. Cinnamon & sugar, slightly floral, earthy and smoky. Again, a bit on the simplistic side, but not bad. A light to medium bodied mouthfeel that is creamy and a bit oily, mouth coating. The finish is medium long with peat smoke, light citrus and not much else. While this was nothing earth shattering as far as peated scotches go, I have to say it was a welcome variant on the otherwise traditional (and mostly boring) Speyside juggernaut that is Glenfiddich. Not complex and pretty much a 2 dimensional dram, but for the reasonable price of $50 you could do worse. However, for that much or $5 more I’d rather just buy a tried and true Islay 10 year old from Ardbeg or Laphroaig. Not a bad choice for someone still dipping their toes into the peated game. 3.5 and a thanks to Donald P. for the sample. Cheers

Probably the best smoky scotch for me, mixes well in cocktails