A Glenfiddich Trifecta

My wife surprised me a few years back with a couple 375ml bottles of single malt Scotch whisky.  One was Glenlivet, the other Glenfiddich (pronounced with a hard "ick" I soon found out).  I had avoided drinking for years for reasons detailed in an earlier post, but had finally started.  I had also come to find that I enjoyed single malts, and this was a fine introduction.  I liked the Glenlivet.  I loved the Glenfiddich.  Indeed, it became the first single malt that was "mine."

Since I was new to the single malt game at this point, I went on to trying more single malts, and fell away from Glenfiddich.  It wasn't that I didn't still like it so much as there are just a wealth of other whiskies out there to try.  Recently, however, I came to back to it.

I was on the road not too long ago and ordered a Glenfiddich from the hotel bar.  I was chatting with the bartender, who was an amazingly cool person, and we were talking about whiskey.  She was not, "A whiskey girl," but was thinking of trying some.  Well, she got distracted whilst pouring and almost overpoured the glass.  She apologized and said that it was all mine for no extra.  So I invited her to try a sip: after all, if you're going to be sampling whiskey, why not start with a whisky?

Well she poured some off into a separate glass took a sip and... just about died.  She coughed, sputtered, ran out of the bar and I could see her downing water.  She was absolutely mortified, and was apologizing profusely for, "insulting my drink."  I was laughing and told her there were no worries, and its all about taste; I even got to share some Latin with her, "De Gustibus non est Disputandem. (Of taste there is no argument.)"  I also told her that if she didn't like Glenfiddich, her foray into whiskey was probably not going to go very well.

Regardless of her reaction, however, I still ended up with a double, if not a triple of my old friend to enjoy the game with!

During the Super Bowl I was at a friend's house and they asked if I wanted the usual beer or wine.  I'm not a fan of beer at all, and wine is OK, but it is not a football drink.  Sorry 49er fans.  Then they looked at each other and said, "Hey, you, like whisky, right?  Because we have this whisky sampler..."  It was the Glenfiddich 12, 15, and 18 year sampler, with a single shot of each.  "Oh yeah, I could help you out with that."  The little Glenfiddich bottles each have their own canister, too.  So cool!

I had the 18 and the 12, with another friend of their's having the 15.  It was like enjoying my good old friend and his hot, exotic cousin.  Fun for an afternoon, but still out of my league.  So far.

Finally, the third of the trifecta (introductions don't count).  We had an office ger together after work at a local brew pub.  They have a decent bar so I tried asking about a few more whiskies I could try.  No luck.  After the third I just asked if they had Glenfiddich.  Success. Finally!  I shared a sip with a co-worker who really liked it, and then just enjoyed the Hell out of it myself.

Like any good, old friend I know I can rely on Glenfiddich for a pleasant time.  Sure there've been other times shared with other whiskies inbetween, and even, yes, blends; but I always like coming back to my oldest friend.