Head to head · same category, comparable price
Glenfiddich 12 Year Old vs Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Glenfiddich 12 Year Old is the cheaper bottle and the dearer whisky: £136 a litre of pure alcohol against £131. That inversion is the whole of this comparison.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Glenfiddich 12 Year Old | Laphroaig Quarter Cask | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Speyside, Scotland | Islay, Scotland |
| Age | 12 years | No age statement |
| Strength | 40% ABV | 48% ABV |
| Cask | Ex-bourbon American oak, European oak | Ex-bourbon barrel, American oak quarter cask |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £38 | £44 |
| Per 10cl | £5.43 | £6.29 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £136 | £131 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both from Scotland: Glenfiddich 12 Year Old from Speyside, Laphroaig Quarter Cask from Islay.
Glenfiddich 12 Year Old states 12 years; Laphroaig Quarter Cask states none.
Cask as each producer describes it: Glenfiddich 12 Year Old in ex-bourbon american oak and european oak, Laphroaig Quarter Cask in ex-bourbon barrel and american oak quarter cask.
Neither states chill filtration.
Neither set of specifications is producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Laphroaig Quarter Cask is £6.00 dearer a bottle than Glenfiddich 12 Year Old.
Strength reverses that: Glenfiddich 12 Year Old is £136 a litre of pure alcohol against £131.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Glenfiddich 12 Year Old is 17th cheapest and Laphroaig Quarter Cask 12th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Glenfiddich 12 Year Old | Laphroaig Quarter Cask |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 9 |
| Sweet | 6 | 4 |
| Fruity | 7 | 3 |
| Spicy | 3 | 6 |
| Woody | 4 | 6 |
| Sherried | 3 | 1 |
| Cereal | 5 | 4 |
| Oily | 4 | 8 |
Furthest apart on peaty, 0 against 9, then fruity, 7 against 3. 4 of the eight axes clear 3 points: peaty, fruity, oily and spicy.
Each bottle in its own right
Glenfiddich 12 Year Old
Pear and green apple over light malt. The reference point for accessible Speyside.
Full record →Laphroaig Quarter Cask
Laphroaig with the volume up — more oak, more sweetness, considerably more grip at 48%.
Double matured: standard ex-bourbon barrels, then re-racked into smaller quarter casks whose greater wood-to-spirit surface area speeds maturation. Laphroaig publishes no ABV, and one UK retailer lists 41.4% — that is a data error; 48% is confirmed by two independent retailers.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Glenfiddich 12 Year Old for first single malt and highball, Laphroaig Quarter Cask for value at 48% and peat lovers.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Glenfiddich 12 Year Old and Laphroaig Quarter Cask: glenfiddich.com, laphroaig.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.