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Whisky II

No... Missed out again on the 15 on MoM (I think it was). Got the email, went online and they'd all gone :mad:
It was madness...luckily I'm working from home so had a separate bank of tabs open and F5. Sold out in under ten minutes for the new releases and an hour for the core range restocks. Though I was still seeing core range available the next day on the more obscure online sites.
423 lots of Campbeltown on the latest Scotch Whisky Auction a lot of them Springbank Sept 21 releases...something should be done. Embargo auction sale of new releases?
Tbf a lot of the online Sellers have a one bottle per Customer policy.
I like the Drammers reward at RMW (not sure it makes much difference mind) and they seem to have a strong anti-bot program in place.
Springbank are going to increase production...so we'll be fine in ten years . :rolleyes:
 
It was madness...luckily I'm working from home so had a separate bank of tabs open and F5. Sold out in under ten minutes for the new releases and an hour for the core range restocks. Though I was still seeing core range available the next day on the more obscure online sites.
423 lots of Campbeltown on the latest Scotch Whisky Auction...something should be done. Embargo auction sale of new releases?
Tbf a lot of the online Sellers have a one bottle per Customer policy.
I like the Drammers reward at RMW (not sure it makes much difference mind) and they seem to have a strong anti-bot program in place.
Springbank are going to increase production...so we'll be fine in ten years . :rolleyes:

Work from home here too; just hadn't seen the email quick enough :rolleyes:
 
Yes, lower abv and then bump up the prices, makes perfect business sense. Works for Macallan..
Though, thinking on, I would add that I'm not convinced that Glendronach, unlike Macallan, have enough cache to pull it off...Marketing Dept will need to play a blinder.
 
As I understand the 15 used to have a lot of older whisky in it, less so now. Been meaning to try some since I’ve discovered I like a sherry-bomb, but prices getting a wee bit steep. The 12 looks a good price but at 43% will give it a miss.
They’ve certainly not made many fans with their decision to chill filter. Expect prices of old stock to rise!
I used to really like GD for several years but the shine has lessened in the past couple. I would regularly purchase their 'single cask' releases as I thought they were good value and good quality for a 20+ yo compared to the likes of other distilleries. The prices have crept up considerably over the 18-24 months esp for their batch releases and opinions from other drinkers are that the quality is not as good. I thought the 15 yo was ok, never got along with the 18 yo and have had a couple of bottles of the 21yo in years past which I really liked. I'd rate the bottles that were released when Billy Walker was there and look towards Glenallachie as taking the reins over from GD.
 
I know very little about whisky, but have a few days on Skye later this month. Any particular recommendations for distilleries to visit, or whiskies to try?
 
I'd probably start with understand the different flavour profiles and which you prefer ie) peated (smokey) to unpeated. Rich vs delicate to keep it fairly simple. Talisker and Torabhaig are two distilleries on Skye and I would imagine if you are driving up that you'd probably pass one or two along the way. I believe the two on Skye are peated whiskies btw.

As far as trying, most pubs have a general selection of single malts or try with buying miniatures from a distillery or a whisky shop. Most of the big name distillers have miniatures ie)glenfidich, glenmorangie, balvenie, highland park, ardbeg etc.

Some of the distilleries offer exclusive bottles ie)I recently grabbed several 20cl bottles from a trip to Oban/Tobermory
 
@Tantris We did the Torabhaig tour in July...highly recommended (distillery was in action; you may need to book) and the Armadale Gardens nearby are worth a visit...some amazing trees in there.
Torabhaig is lightly peated to 16ppm.
https://malt-review.com/2021/03/02/torabhaig-2017-legacy-inaugural-release/
We just did the shop at Talisker and everything was at or above RRP so not very exciting. The Talisker 10yo is a classic; very decent 45.8% lightly peated (16-22ppm Google tells me) and I find it very approachable as an introduction to peat compared to the Islay big beasts. The tours were booked up months ahead in the summer so you might struggle at short notice.
This review of the Talisker 10 has some excellent introductory info. and a long list of solid recommendations of "standard" whiskies:
https://malt-review.com/2021/01/13/solid-standards-2-of-sorting-kings-out-the-talisker-10/

I wanted to do the new Raasay (an island off Skye) Distillery too but was out-voted. There's a car ferry so you'd need to look into that and again probably book. Their whisky has been well-received and again is lightly peated at 12ppm.
https://malt-review.com/2021/08/27/heres-tae-ye-isle-of-raasay-distillery/

Both the Torabhaig and the Raasay are necessarily young whiskies and at £45 a little pricey but I couldn't resist buying a bottle of each.:rolleyes:

If you are driving up to Skye from Glasgow then Glengoyne is only a slight detour and a very pretty distillery with a good tour:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attra...ws-Glengoyne_Distillery-Glasgow_Scotland.html
Their young cask strength Teapot Dram distillery exclusive is renowned but a mite pricey at £120ish.

Ben Nevis in Fort William is not known for much of a tour but in the shop you may be able to lay hands on their elusive 10yo which has just started to be restocked. Will set you back just under 50 quid though.
 
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If on Skye then the obvious option would be to visit Talisker, although I've not been myself yet. Apparently there is a nice beach there as well. I've got several Talisker's (not any of the expensive ones though) and would definitely agree that the 10 is very decent. I need to get another bottle of the Raasay to actually drink as while I do have a bottle it was one of the first ones released so I was planning to keep it, so haven't tried it yet.

On the 40% v higher strength thing it's not something that particularly bothers me as I've enjoyed plenty of whiskies that are bottled at 40%. Having said that I have been tending to mostly buy cask strength whiskies of late but that's more because I've been buying independent bottlings and a lot of those are higher alcohol levels.

Yesterday was a first for me as I did briefly visit the Whisky Castle shop in the Tomintoul but for once didn't buy anything! I did order a bottle of the SMWS "Episode of the Madeleine" though, so am looking forward to that arriving. We'd passed the Braeval distillery (which used to be known as Braes of Glenlivet) a couple of weekends back and as it's one of the closest distilleries to the village I wanted to get a bottle from there (the vast majority if it goes into Chivas Regal) - hence ordering that one. It's an 11 year old bottled at 61.9% from a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel.
 
Thanks very much - some interesting ideas here. The Armadale Gardens are on the list now, and we'll probably try the Talisker distillery. Although I rarely drink whisky, I like a little peat, and have tried some where it was excessive.
 
I used to really like GD for several years but the shine has lessened in the past couple. I would regularly purchase their 'single cask' releases as I thought they were good value and good quality for a 20+ yo compared to the likes of other distilleries. The prices have crept up considerably over the 18-24 months esp for their batch releases and opinions from other drinkers are that the quality is not as good. I thought the 15 yo was ok, never got along with the 18 yo and have had a couple of bottles of the 21yo in years past which I really liked. I'd rate the bottles that were released when Billy Walker was there and look towards Glenallachie as taking the reins over from GD.
Glendronach was great while it lasted, knocking out superb bottlings at reasonable prices compared to the ridiculously overpriced Macallan. Sadly, the secret got out, prices climbed and quality suffered. There are still some superb distilleries out there that the flippers haven’t discovered yet, so stock up before they do.
 
We're up in the Tomintoul house on holiday for the first time next week, so I've finally got around to arranging a tour of one of the local distilleries - for Glenlivet. The even better news is my wife is coming two, and as she doesn't drink, that means twice as many whiskies for me!
 
Crabbies Yardhead was £16 yesterday on Amazon, so I bagged one. Got a £20 Tamnavulin to make the postage, I don't know that one. Wood finish Speyside, NAS, I have an idea what to expect, I'm not expecting it to blow my socks off like say Oban or the better Islays, but we'll see. The Yardhead I like. Highland, very austere, and just a touch of peat. NAS, of course, but £16? You pay that for Bells. It's often at £24, there are better choices at that kind of money.
 


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