Best quality / price

@RianC Agreed. No contest.

@paddockjudge i Love that photo! Now I just need one more reason to make my way over to Canada! Fantastic :-)

@RikS, we would love to have you at a session or two...or someone travelling that way can deliver these samples and many more from Connosr friends, especially N American varieties.

@paddockjudge that would be so nice. Tapping into all that expertise among friends, in person, and with a wee dram or three on the table... Sounds like a fantastic evening.

@paddockjudge - Your shelf images make me drool . . .

@RianC He's always doing that. I just call that cruel and unusual.

So... I couldn't make up my mind between Glendronach 12 and Glenfarclas 15 for 'something sweet' so I got two samples of both and decided to do a head-to-head tasting. And the outcome surprised me, a little to my embarrassment.

Nose GD: Musty dark molasses. Some oak way back. Damp closet sweetness. Nutmeg. Borderline too sweet. No, not borderline… can’t place it but just feels too much. If it’s Christmas cake, I probably don’t like it.

GF: Also sweet, but more raisin than dark sugars. Notably fresher. A tiny element of fresh mint. Green leaves.

Palate GD: Sickly sweet. thick and oily, almost syrupy coating the tongue with a little mud (!? don't ask me to explain that one, I can't). I saw once someone referring to bubble gum – this makes me think of it, the coloured bubble gum balls coming out of a £1 twist’n vend machine.

GF: Lighter viscosity though not without volume. Sweet but still much more fresh. Almost indiscernible smoke somewhere in the back? The fresh mint comes through a bit. Xmas cake, but I suppose this would be the healthier light version. Higher SBV than the GD I believe, yet somehow slightly lesser nip.

Finish GD: shorter finish, medium-ish at most. No discernible or interesting changes or developments in the finish… just a diminishing intensity of a somewhat mono-dimensional sweetness.

GF: Rather longer finish, despite the small incremental ABV. A warming dryness and lingering swirl of sweet sherry with a slight but pleasant bitterness.

In conclusion: I though I should like the GD as this started off with an urge for something sweet. In fact, I was secretly hoping to prefer the GD as everyone recommended the GF and I wished to be a bit contrarian, but alas... I simply do not like it. My palate seems ever-changing (to my own amusement and confusion at times), but I'm not buying a Glendronach 12. Frankly, I won't finish the sample but fob it onto the wife. The GF is clearly the better of the two, hands down. It combines an intense sweetness whilst retaining a more pleasant freshness. Though, despite all - neither one really does it for me at the moment. Maybe my palate is off, or I've had too much Islay recently, but they feel too overwhelmingly sweet. I much prefer the less pronounced and drier sweetness of my Quinta Ruban. So the question goes on for something with a lighter and fresher viscosity and less syrupy sweetness. I have no idea what this could be... Frankly, I'm disappointed as I wanted to experience something new and interesting, but I failed...

I really appreciate all the generous feedback though, especially for the GF 15 that steered me away from an initial impulse purchase of the GD 12.

@RikS, maybe try one of those Teelings rum-cask Irish whiskies?

@MadSingleMalt ah yes... Worth exploring. I had a Teeling recently (something standard I believe) and wasn't bad I seem to recall. Or on the same notion, maybe the Balvenie Carribean cask?

@RikS, as to preferring to take a contrarian position with respect to whisky quality, as "they" say, to paraphrase the Book of Ecclesiastes: "The race may not be to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet."

Perhaps it is a bit of a bummer that millions have often already discovered "the good stuff" before we get our chance to do so.

@RikS The GD 12 uses PX sherry casks, which is super sweet and a lot of people don't like it. The GD 15 and 18 use Oloroso sherry casks only.

@Victor Eloquently put Sir. And maybe 'contrarian' was a bad choice of words, rather the sentiment would have been one of finding a liking in something where others maybe do not, and thereby reaffirming to self the integrity to true self, in the face of the opinions of those one acknowledge to possess the deeper experience and developed palates. Alas, any such ideas were brutally shattered, cause the GD went into the box of 'no, I actually don't like it". Yet I enjoyed the experience, cause making all of your acquaintance and recently having started to explore the world of whisky, I sincerely believe my taste and palate is learning to appreciate nuance and sensations that were hitherto hidden to me!

@RikS do not be dismayed! Your uniqueness will hold sway.

You will find plenty of individual whiskies about which your taste differs from that of most around you. Keep sampling lots of them and it is inevitable.

@RikS I think you would like the Cragganmore DE. This one is more wood oriented compare to both GD and GF.

@Robert99 Thank you Robert, I'll look at that one! Someone also mentioned Glengoyne as a still sherried but lighter / fresher option?

@RikS Glengoyne is a malt oriented whisky if that make sense and in this way quite unique. Cragganmore DE is more like a light version of GD but not lighter in quality, at least it used to be. Its been a while since I saw a bottle in my neck of the wood.