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