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Whisky II

I can't see many whiskies ever living up to such inflated price tags. One reason I see little point in entering these MoM competitions to win whisky worth several hundred pounds - you'd never drink the bugger!

New one last night - Port Askaig 12 YO Whisky Exchange exclusive. Delicious, well balanced whisky, only paid £45-ish a few weeks ago. Annoyingly, it now seems to be unavailable. There is a 12 YO 'Autumn Edition', same abv, but priced at £113(!). Seems I got a good deal there.

Bought some gin for the wife's Birthday and couldn't resist another Signatory 100 proof (Ardmore 13). Anyone cracked anything from the range?
 
SteveG said:
I don't buy to collect but given the way prices have gone up there are a few bottles that I have now that might never get opened (or at least I'll be waiting until a very special occasion) including a couple of generous gifts like a Tomintoul 25 and a 23-year old Glenfiddich Gran Cru (although that bottle has been engraved so will likely reduce its value).
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Me neither. I fully intended to drink every bottle I ever bought. But, for example, when I picked up an armful of Yamazaki 18 and Hakushu 18 at Edinburgh airport for £50 apiece 15 years ago, can I really justify opening and drinking when I can auction off a couple of bottles and be able to buy a (used) new car? (despite Yamazaki 18 being in my all time top 10).

I did open my last remaining Karuizawa a couple of months ago for joint 60th celebrations. I got it for about £60 and the same bottle now goes for upwards of three grand. But eff it, you can’t put a price on memories, and it was bloody delicious. I’ve also got a George T. Stagg that I intend to drink. YOLO.
 
I paid £85 and £50 for the 25 and 17 glenfarclas respectively a few years back now and they are long gone, the 17 was very good. I have a GF 25yo stashed away from SWA's anniversary release from a few years back that will get opened at some point. Older whiskies are getting to be harder to come by at a reasonable prices after overhearing a recent conversation about supply of 20 yr + aged whisky casks, one of the individuals was 'down to 100 casks only' of whisky over 25 years and older.
 
pawnshop92 said:
whiskybroker are launching a Bruichladdich 20yo for £100 (RMW have launched something similar for close to £200), the hitch is having to email to get onto the ballot before 5pm today, so for anyone interested, the email is: martin (at) whiskybroker.co.uk with subject line 'Bruichladdich'
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No luck here.
Message on FB: "Hi everybody, I sent an email out earlier today to everybody who is being given the opportunity to buy one of the Bruichladdich bottles. There were around 6 people applying per available bottle so unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to email each of the people who weren’t successful,
The way the system allocated the bottles means that I have the next names held in reserve in case some of the winning people are unable to complete the purchase or change their mind."
 
Weekender said:
No luck here.
Message on FB: "Hi everybody, I sent an email out earlier today to everybody who is being given the opportunity to buy one of the Bruichladdich bottles. There were around 6 people applying per available bottle so unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to email each of the people who weren’t successful,
The way the system allocated the bottles means that I have the next names held in reserve in case some of the winning people are unable to complete the purchase or change their mind."
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Commiserations.

On the subject of Whiskybroker, does anyone else find it curious that whatever the age of the cask everything they bottled for sale recently seems to have ended up end up at around 52%.

Do they use 52% as the indication that this needs bottling now?
 
Ive got a couple of their bottles sitting around 55 to 56%, unless it is a newer thing when they changed their branding slightly? I know samaroli were always around 45%, other bottlers have talked about the sweet spot somewhere around the 100 proof mark, or 50% for those of us outside of 'Merica.
 
Good whisky is at risk of pricing itself out of the market, IMHO. I can’t justify the sort of prices asked for so many of these, and I fear that some of my favourite brands, still at sane prices, may follow the trend. If they do, I won’t follow them, but will stop drinking them and find something else.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Good whisky is at risk of pricing itself out of the market, IMHO. I can’t justify the sort of prices asked for so many of these, and I fear that some of my favourite brands, still at sane prices, may follow the trend. If they do, I won’t follow them, but will stop drinking them and find something else.
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Vote with wallet and hope for a downward adjustment/sales whilst looking elsewhere for value is absolutely the correct approach.
During lockdown and the months after retirement I amassed enough whisky to last a lifetime at reasonable prices compared to today. My bottle acquisition rate has slowed dramatically and I suspect it is the same for many... especially those, like me, who came to whisky only recently.
The 100 Proof Signatory releases are good vfm and that Whiskybroker Bruichladdich was £75 cheaper than the recent OB 18.
 
There are still comparatively reasonable deals out there, but we need to accept that the Springbanks, Ardbegs, etc have been surrendered to the flippers. Signatory in particular offers good solid whisky at decent prices, and Glen Scotia is a very good, and available and affordable alternative to Springbank if you must have a Campbeltown. Don’t be afraid to try the lesser known and less fashionable distilleries. Sure, you might pick up the odd stinker along the way, but you might also chance upon a rather splendid Miltonduff or Glen Elgin.
 
Weekender said:
Deanston 18 £67.49 with Subscribe & Save which can be cancelled after delivery:
www.dramface.com

Deanston 18yo — Dramface

Comparing Deanston’s great value 18yo new and newer.
www.dramface.com www.dramface.com
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That's good whisky but I remember it being £50 on Amazon a few years ago so nothing is immune to the price hikes . I've concluded that:

1) I've got enough special stuff to see me out
2) basic Bruichladdich varies batch by batch and is plenty interesting enough for every day
3) when I don't feel like a challenge Bunnahabhain 12 does a great job
4) an annual trip to Campbeltown yields enough of interest at under £60, from the distilleries and Cadenheads, to fill the gaps. Realistically another 20-bottles of Campbeltown whisky will be all I ever need.

I've only been building my nest rather than just drinking the last 8 years. I pity someone starting out today
 
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raysablade said:
That's good whisky but I remember it being £50 on Amazon a few years ago so nothing is immune to the price hikes . I've concluded that:

1) I've got enough special stuff to see me out
2) basic Bruichladdich varies batch by batch and is plenty interesting enough for every day
3) when I don't feel like a challenge Bunnahabhain 12 does a great job
4) an annual trip to Campbeltown yields enough of interest at under £60, from the distilleries and Cadenheads, to fill the gaps. Realistically another 20-bottles of Campbeltown whisky will be all I ever need.

I've only been building my nest rather than just drinking the last 8 years. I pity someone starting out today
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Yeah I paid £50 in 2022 and have a spare. However, under £70 is a decent price for an 18 these days, although granted Deanston is not the most exciting.
Your points 1) to 4) are eminently sensible.
 
Weekender said:
Yeah I paid £50 in 2022 and have a spare. However, under £70 is a decent price for an 18 these days, although granted Deanston is not the most exciting.
Your points 1) to 4) are eminently sensible.
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I sense that point 4 might be a little optimistic now. I'm in London on Wednesday so might take a detour through Cadenheads for some "recalibration".
 
raysablade said:
I sense that point 4 might be a little optimistic now. I'm in London on Wednesday so might take a detour through Cadenheads for some "recalibration".
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Rude not to. Wish there was a Cadenheads in Manchester/NW.
Timing is everything with Campbeltown visits - it's a bleeding long way to go only to be met with cage bottles. They seem to release stuff in Feb, May and Nov(?) so...
Glen Scotia have been a good option lately but they were pushing their luck with that Mermaid release at £90 RRP for a 12yo. Notice its down to £76 at HoM.
 
Weekender said:
Rude not to. Wish there was a Cadenheads in Manchester/NW.
Timing is everything with Campbeltown visits - it's a bleeding long way to go only to be met with cage bottles. They seem to release stuff in Feb, May and Nov(?) so...
Glen Scotia have been a good option lately but they were pushing their luck with that Mermaid release at £90 RRP for a 12yo. Notice its down to £76 at HoM.
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I go in May a week or 2 before the Festival I sense that they build their stocks for that.
 
I visited our great little local shop, the Whisky Castle, today and ended taking away a 2015 cask strength Ballindalloch - which is one of the newest of our local distilleries. One of the things I like about the shop is that they're not shy in giving out samples so I ended up trying a few different things before settling on the Ballindalloch,.
 
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