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spankmeister posted:In Scotland the independent bottlers usually want to feature the distillery the whisky is from, because it carries the weight of the brand behind it. Usually this is possible, sometimes they're not allowed to disclose it and they use veiled terms to hint at the origin. From memory the Scottish distilleries who do this are Talisker, Glenfarclas & Glenmorangie. The first two refuse to let their name be used on any IB's. So an example for Talisker, I picked up a 23 y/o rum finished one at the Whisky Fair in Limburg. It is called 'Talimburg'. Another tell used to be 'from the Isle of Skye' as until very recently Talisker was the only distillery there. Glenfarclas is similar except there will be something on the IB along the lines of 'Speyside's oldest family owned distillery' or similar which is the tell. Glenmorangie are different in that not only do they not allow the use of the name on any IB's but they claim any casks they sell externally are 'teaspooned' with a drop of a different Single Malt so that it can no longer be even called a Single Malt. This actually doesn't happen, but the claim that it does is enough to stop anyone selling the whisky as an IB Glenmorangie, you'll get the whole made up name schtick. I believe the only 'legit' Glenmorangie bottlings outside of the OBs are the ones from the SMWS via their numbering scheme, and as the SMWS is owned by LVMH (the parent company of Glenmorangie) I'm not really sure if they actually count as IBs.
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Dec 20, 2020 22:35
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KozmoNaut posted:Not since 2016, I believe. I didn't know or forgot about SMWS changing hands, thanks. I wonder if they've had and Glenmorangie releases since the change of ownership. I've seen Signatory bottlings of HP and I had one but sold it, not sure about other bottlers. Mind you, I think Signatory is owned by Edrington who own HP so again, it's potentially a bit kinda Independent Bottling. I spoke to an independent bottler a few years ago about the whole 'Teaspooning' thing and he confirmed to me that it's all bollocks. With 'wet' casks that may be the case for sherry casks but most bourbon casks are broken down into staves for transport across the Atlantic before being reformed locally.
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Dec 20, 2020 23:16
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Vox Nihili posted:Can you expand on this? I've seen reputable stores selling "unnamed Speyside" with the teaspoon story (e.g., "this is a 23 year-old Glenfiddich barrel finished in a sherry cask for two years with a teaspoon of another malt") and I don't know what to believe at this point. The guy concerned told me that it was a logistical nightmare for anybody to actually do this, so they don't but claim they do. Any 3rd party who claimed otherwise on the bottle or packaging would not get any future whiskies, so it is in the interest of the IBs to keep the fiction going. I daresay in a miniscule amount of cases this teaspooning was actually done.
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Dec 21, 2020 22:56
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Paul Proteus posted:Speaking of fancy scotch, anyone have any experience with Glenfarclas 25? It's near me for $160. I did a tasting of a lot of Glenfarclas some years back and remember being pretty disappointed with the 25. I much preferred the 21 y/o and the 30 y/o that I tried. The 25 y/o was pretty flat & overly woody and completely fell apart with the addition of a little bit of water, although I guess it's possible I had the dregs out of an old bottle that had sat opened for some time. EDIT : $160 seems like a decent price for this despite what I said above. biglads fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Dec 27, 2020 |
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Dec 27, 2020 16:35
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Tucking into this for my birthday. Cheers Goons!
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Dec 28, 2020 22:10
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Quick report on the Glendronach Chocolate and old leather on the nose. Drinking it, it's actually very candy sweet for maybe half a second before you start to taste the wood. The woody flavour feels like it comes from varnished oak walls in a 200 year old Gentlemens club in the tropics but stopping the wood taking over the flavour is a lovely mix of dark chocolate and cooked dark fruits (maybe raisins) that just sits in the sides of your mouth for ever. The finish is looooong and sees the drying astringency from the wood fade as the sweetness slowly overpowers it after a couple of minutes. Quite heavy mouthfeel, nothing has been filtered out and it's perfectly drinkable out of the bottle at 53.6% abv. Will try it with a drop of water later too but there's no burn from the alcohol content here. EDIT : Can taste cherries when you add water. biglads fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Dec 29, 2020 |
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Dec 28, 2020 23:39
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Bape Culture posted:Just a scotch group I’m in. Someone noticed the bottle and asked them and just got this is return. I'm glad I've got a nice stock of the old stuff. As well as moving away from NCF the prices have shot up too since Brown Forman took over. There used to be some absolute bargains in the single cask range. Now, not so much.
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Apr 6, 2021 22:02
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I've got some older ones where it has the years on the box. i.e. the Talisker DE I just grabbed is Distilled 1993, Bottled 2007 on the box and label. Pretty sure i have a Lagavulin DE of a similar vintage which is the same. EDIT: The Talisker DE still had the price tag on it, £37.35 
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Apr 14, 2021 20:44
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Moving house in a couple of months and am having to provide an inventory of the bulk of my collection for the purposes of storage & insurance. Think it's gonna be up near 400 bottles so looks like I have some sort of a (nice) problem.
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Apr 15, 2021 12:15
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Casu Marzu posted:
My wife is worse than me now, a lot of the more valuable stuff I had (e.g. Macallan, Karuizawa) I sold 3 or 4 years ago whereas she's managed to keep a hold of a lot of stuff. So when I say I have 400 bottles, it's more like WE have 400 bottles, and of those 400, about 15 would make up half of the value. I think there's about 25 bottles open as well. Gonna have to get through them so we don't have to move them too. Finding a few that I'd forgotten about. An IB Brackla cask strength that neither of us could remember a thing about, there's also more Glenlivet, Dailuaine & Bruichladdich than I thought.
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Apr 16, 2021 02:00
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And I was getting sideye looks from my girlfriend for having uh, 11 or 12 bottles right now
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With Macallan 18 - it's underwhelming whisky but if you are prepared to play the long game, not open it and stick it away somewhere for a decade it'll be worth stupid money (something like 10 times what you paid for it) in 2031 if there's anyone left to drink it.
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May 6, 2021 19:52
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obi_ant posted:You're telling me there is a market for vintage Macallan 18? Yes. Vintage Macallan can make a packet.
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May 9, 2021 01:38
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Deceptive Thinker posted:This is true of most dusty whisky - isn't limited to just macallan I keep an eye on most of the Auction sites in the UK and I'd say the majority of stuff going for high prices in the last couple of years has been Macallan and Karuizawa. The occasional older Bowmore crops up but not that many 'laddies or Ardbegs. The Ardbegs that go for serious money tend to be really old vintages or single cask releases.
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May 10, 2021 22:44
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Wacky Delly posted:Someone mentioned some scotches for bourbon drinkers earlier in the thread and I can't find what was recommended. Probably start with lighter speysiders like Glenlivet or Glenfiddich. Or you could just say gently caress it and get a bottle of Laphroaig 10.
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Jun 21, 2021 20:33
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For those of you that like Laphroaig/Ardbeg/Lagavulin, if you get the chance, spring for a Longrow if you can find it.
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Aug 8, 2021 18:33
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I visited Macallan last week. In their bar they were selling drams of the 1927 distilled release. £8,750 from memory. gently caress that.
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Aug 17, 2021 16:02
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spankmeister posted:Is their new distillery open yet? That looked really nice. The one built into the hillside? Yeah, that's been running for a while now.
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Aug 18, 2021 23:05
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spankmeister posted:Compass Box has a new addition to their core range: Reckon the 'near Aberlour' malt might be Glenfarclas.
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Sep 29, 2021 14:43
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spankmeister posted:Hmm might be, hadn't considered it. Is that just a guess or an informed one? Any of the others near Aberlour wouldn't bother hiding it, other than Macallan and good luck to Compass Box in getting that at a sensible price. Glenfarclas always insists that their name not get used in IBs, for instance I have an OMC 1966 Glenfarclas that is labelled as from "Speyside's oldest family owned and run distillery" or similar. It's only a couple of miles down the road from Aberlour too. It sounds really nice though and I'll keep a look out for it. biglads fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Sep 29, 2021 |
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Sep 29, 2021 20:53
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Bape Culture posted:I wish I had never opened my yamazaki Sherry cask I'm twitching over here
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Oct 13, 2021 19:15
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DerekSmartymans posted:You put it better than me…I’m not rich or a whiskey snob, but I have been drinking bourbon since I was 14 and got into Scotches >JW Black because I received a good Glenfiddich bottle when I got married three months before my 21st birthday. So I have 30+ years of whiskeys in my head and enough experience being surprised based on cost alone that I keep an open mind (same with cigars and pipe tobacco). Glenmo are one of those distilleries who have quite a snobbish attitude towards whisky as well. Being owned by LVMH doesn't do them any favours, they are a posh brand name and nothing else to the purse string holders. Perhaps it's their even more overpriced 'response' to Diageo's already overpriced Haig Clubman (whisky doing it's level best to masquerade as vodka). Pre-Covid I was at a bar in Scotland often frequented by whisky industry types. There was a young-ish (mid to late 20's?) guy there who worked for Diageo who wouldn't stop banging on about mixing Dufftown with Appletize. I think these 'mixing' whiskies are just an attempt to get younger drinkers into whisky drinking.
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Nov 8, 2021 11:08
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Bape Culture posted:How do people feel about macallan 12 double cask? Open one bottle, stick the rest in the back of the cupboard for a few years.
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Dec 3, 2021 18:34
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KozmoNaut posted:Red Breast 12 Cask Strength is in my top 5 of whiskies I've tasted. Just delightful. Yeah I think it's great too. I've found Irish whiskies to be underwhelming overall but that one is an incredible dram.
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Dec 10, 2021 18:55
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Or just see how he gets on with a Laphroaig.
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Dec 15, 2021 13:35
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spankmeister posted:Dalmore sucks, I don't get why so many people like it tbqh. Agreed. It's just not that great, I suppose it was the one in the portfolio the owners thought they could turn into a 'premium' brand. Richard Paterson sure likes shilling it.
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Dec 19, 2021 12:24
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I think Fortnum & Mason were doing some reasonably priced English Whiskies recently. Might be worth a visit if you are going to be in London.
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Apr 6, 2022 11:18
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Dr. Lunchables posted:Johnny Walker is the only one I know about that makes a specific label that’s only purchasable in duty free shops. You’d probably have a better selection at home or at your destination. There's a fair few scotch distilleries that have Duty Free only offerings, from memory Bunnahabhain, Bowmore & Balvenie all do them although it's been a while since I've been through an airport. As spankmeister says, they aren't all that. The best Duty Free bottling I remember getting in the last 10 years was a Highland Park 16. It was the best only because I sold it for about 3x the price a couple of years later once the bottling style had changed and they moved towards more NAS stuff. EDIT : Actually had a pretty good Oloroso cask Bushmills duty free special. It wasn't amazing but above expectations. biglads fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Jun 26, 2022 |
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Jun 26, 2022 07:55
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spankmeister posted:Some suggestions if you like Ardbeg and Laphroaig, not in any particular order: Add in Caol Ila 12 and any Longrow.
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Nov 4, 2022 10:24
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adnam posted:I've got to second the Penderyn, was recently gifted a bottle and it was fantastic. I'd describe it as similar to a Speyside but more crisp, less sherry inspired? Delicious nonetheless Quite a lot of Penderyn is matured in Madeira casks
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Nov 12, 2022 13:25
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