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Whisky drinkers conjure up all kinds of images. From retired, bumbling drunken characters from the Paul Whitehouse school of comedy genius to Injuns drinkin' the ole fire water whilst the cowboys steal their guns. I'd like to think that I don't fit into either category but then you never know how metaphorically people may view you. The truth in all of this is I like whisky. If I'm honest, I'm hardly a connoisseur and this is made obvious by my rather uncouth longing for blended whisky as opposed to malt. However, when given malt as a gesture of friendship or even as a gift for a special occasion then I'm hardly likely to look a gift horse in the mouth and that's exactly the position I'm in post-Christmas with a wonderful bottle of Glenfiddich Special Reserve 12 Year Old.

For anyone unsure of the difference between blended and malt whisky (and why should you?) then blended generally has a ratio of malt to grain of 60% grain to 40% malt where the percentage of malt used will determine the quality and smoothness of taste and character. Each whisky used in the blending process will normally have been matured for about 5 years, however there are a number of higher aged blended scotch whiskies available. Single malt whiskies are the product of one specific distillery and has not been mixed with whisky from any other distilleries. Single malt Scotch is distilled in a pot using malted barley as the only grain ingredient. As with any Scotch whisky, a Single Malt Scotch must be distilled in Scotland and matured in wood for at least three years (in our case - 12 years). "Malt" indicates that the whisky is distilled from a single "malted" grain and "single" indicates that all the malts in the bottle comes from a single distillery.

Glenfiddich was realized in 1886 when William Grant bought some land near the river Fiddich in Speyside right in the heart of the Scottish Highlands. The distillery that was built there produced it's first malt whisky one year later. In 1905 the operation expanded overseas to Canada and the US. Over the ensuing years, Glenfiddich has become synonymous with the finest of malt whiskies and the 12-Year-Old is one of the most popular of the Glenfiddich product range. With a string of awards including more Gold Medals than any other manufacturer at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 2005, Glenfiddich retains its quality brand association that drives demand and keeps its price high. Curiously, this 12-year-old tipple wasn't exported to

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