Best Available Scotch (in many places)

Glenfidditch is no great scotch; you won't swoon at a sip, and I doubt it will win many (if any) awards. But at least around my part of the world (southern New England currently), in a variety of venues in which I have sought a malt-based hard liquor that was up to my standards, Glenfidditch was almost always available, and often the best choice. (This is the "acceptable" scotch mentioned in my review of Absolut Citron vodka.)

Let me explain my taste in hard liquor. It consists almost entirely of scotch, which as its name implies comes from Scotland, and whiskey, the only five true varieties of which come from Ireland. There are many liquors, mostly hailing from parts of North America, egregiously and slanderously referring to themselves as "scotch" or "whiskey" when they are no such thing, but rather weak imitations. I like a good single-malt scotch, while I prefer blended whiskeys -- the two brands that I'll drink at all. (Remember, there are only 5 Irish whiskeys, and all of them are distributed, though not owned, by the famous and bland Jameson's.) I tend to drink scotch because decent ones are more readily available than my picky two brands of whiskey, Bushmill's and Tullamore Dew. I also religiously drink scotch and whiskey "neat" (though whiskey may occasionally bless an Irish Coffee) -- that is, straight up with no ice, no water, no nothing. Hence flavour and smoothness are high priorities for me.

Glenfidditch is, as I say, an acceptable scotch. It's fierier on the tongue than I prefer, but not overbearing (as would be, say, Yukon Jack, for the college crowd) and what you can taste of the taste through the fire is fairly tasty. (This is why I prefer a liquor like Bushmill's that doesn't really burn until it gets to your throat.) It has a pleasant, mellow, distilled malt flavour, and true to form, Glenfidditch is better as a single malt than any blended scotch I've tried. Whiskeys are the opposite, tending to improve by being blended.

Of course an unusual feature of Glenfidditch is that it is blended, sort of -- from different casks of different ages from the same distillation of the same malt. Perhaps that's part of what makes it such an agreeable scotch. Granted, this is not the kind of scotch experience you'll have with a more expensive label like Glenmorangie, or one of the even higher-priced, more exclusive scotches (many of the Highland scotches are the finest), but if you're looking for a scotch you can go into most bars, lounges or restaurants and be able to order, Glenfidditch is your best bet.