Head to head · unusually close flavour match
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old vs Monkey Shoulder
One axis separates these two: sherried, 6 against 3.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old | Monkey Shoulder | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Blended malt |
| Origin | Speyside, Scotland | Speyside, Scotland |
| Age | 12 years | No age statement |
| Strength | 43% ABV | 43% ABV |
| Cask | Ex-bourbon barrel, Oloroso sherry butt | Not disclosed |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £50 | £30 |
| Per 10cl | £7.14 | £4.29 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £166 | £100 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both Speyside whiskies, from different distilleries.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old is a single malt, Monkey Shoulder a blended malt.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old states 12 years; Monkey Shoulder states none.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old lists ex-bourbon barrel and oloroso sherry butt. Monkey Shoulder publishes no cask detail at all.
Neither states chill filtration.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old is £20 dearer a bottle than Monkey Shoulder.
Strength keeps that ordering: £100 a litre of pure alcohol for Monkey Shoulder against £166.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old is 22nd cheapest and Monkey Shoulder 4th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old | Monkey Shoulder |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 1 |
| Sweet | 8 | 7 |
| Fruity | 6 | 6 |
| Spicy | 4 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 4 |
| Sherried | 6 | 3 |
| Cereal | 5 | 6 |
| Oily | 6 | 6 |
That is the only axis of the eight to reach 3 points. Next widest is peaty, 0 against 1.
Identical on fruity and oily.
Each bottle in its own right
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old
Honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sweet without being cloying, and 43% helps.
Full record →Monkey Shoulder
Vanilla, orange and malt, built to survive ice and ginger ale. An honest cocktail malt.
William Grant & Sons does not name the three constituent malts anywhere on its own site — the widely repeated Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie attribution is unofficial. The 43% we list is the producer's US figure; no UK strength is published at all.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old for gift and after dinner, Monkey Shoulder for cocktails, highball and value.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old and Monkey Shoulder: thebalvenie.com, monkeyshoulder.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.