Show us your whisky! Vol 2

[C70R]

jammy-git said:

C70R said:

Macallan are rapidly becoming a branding/marketing company who happen to also sell whisky.

It works well for the likes of Red Bull and Rolex.

They are absolutely the Rolex of whisky. A great analogy.

[Blown2CV]

C70R said:

jammy-git said:

C70R said:

Macallan are rapidly becoming a branding/marketing company who happen to also sell whisky.

It works well for the likes of Red Bull and Rolex.

They are absolutely the Rolex of whisky. A great analogy.

rolex is a decent product though.

[Jorgen K]

Blown2CV said:

C70R said:

jammy-git said:

C70R said:

Macallan are rapidly becoming a branding/marketing company who happen to also sell whisky.

It works well for the likes of Red Bull and Rolex.

They are absolutely the Rolex of whisky. A great analogy.

rolex is a decent product though.

I'm quite curious to see what happens with Macallan going forward. They have a great brand, and have premiumised their image. But they're also mass produced and most whisky geeks have moved on. Before they have manipulated the market by trickling releases out, hiking prices over time etc. However, we're seeing a change these days and quite a few products are struggling to get to rrp in auction. Once the image that you can buy it to make money easily has gone where will it go? Will the brand be strong enough, or will the loss of investors/flippers plus hardcore whisky fans who have moved elsewhere mean they drop a lot in image?

[C70R]

Blown2CV said:

C70R said:

jammy-git said:

C70R said:

Macallan are rapidly becoming a branding/marketing company who happen to also sell whisky.

It works well for the likes of Red Bull and Rolex.

They are absolutely the Rolex of whisky. A great analogy.

rolex is a decent product though.

Macallan isn't terrible whisky. It's just that its marketing efforts have vastly inflated the market's perception of it.

[MickC]

C70R said:

Macallan isn't terrible whisky. It's just that its marketing efforts have vastly inflated the market's perception of it.

Agreed, some of their older aged bottlings are still excellent. But in the desire to make money now, they are not keeping much for that market, and while (eg) Macallan Gold was still very drinkable, its not in the same league as the older 18 or 25yo bottlings. But its much much easier to make and sell now while the hype is right.

[vixen1700]

Tried Teeling on a Ryanair flight last week as I'd not heard of it before and was pleasantly surprised by it.

https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/19406/teeling-...

Got an Amazon Prime deal of £29 on a bottle arriving today.

[C70R]

vixen1700 said:

Tried Teeling on a Ryanair flight last week as I'd not heard of it before and was pleasantly surprised by it.

https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/19406/teeling-...

Got an Amazon Prime deal of £29 on a bottle arriving today.

Their distillery in Dublin is a fun, little tour. I enjoyed the 24yo that gets a Sauternes finish, but it's absolutely not worth the money. The standard, blended one wasn't for me at all. Maybe ok in a cocktail, but it just tasted young.

[Gribs]

MickC said:

Agreed, some of their older aged bottlings are still excellent. But in the desire to make money now, they are not keeping much for that market, and while (eg) Macallan Gold was still very drinkable, its not in the same league as the older 18 or 25yo bottlings. But its much much easier to make and sell now while the hype is right.

The crazy thing is lots is still being laid down for the longer term, alongside the crappy NAS stuff being sold quickly and huge volumes for blending. They're one of the biggest producers of single malt in Scotland at 15 million litres a year.

[Jorgen K]

Gribs said:

MickC said:

Agreed, some of their older aged bottlings are still excellent. But in the desire to make money now, they are not keeping much for that market, and while (eg) Macallan Gold was still very drinkable, its not in the same league as the older 18 or 25yo bottlings. But its much much easier to make and sell now while the hype is right.

The crazy thing is lots is still being laid down for the longer term, alongside the crappy NAS stuff being sold quickly and huge volumes for blending. They're one of the biggest producers of single malt in Scotland at 15 million litres a year.

I don't think many think Macallan is "bad", it's just not worth the money at all. Say get a 17yo single cask with the official Macallan branding and it's probably 1-2k, you can get many outstanding whiskies for that price. NAS mass produced stuff at 150 would probably be 30 to 50 quid from someone else.

The Cairn distillery was basically paid for by G&M selling a few old casks back to Macallan. By changing the name from G&M to Macallan on the same whisky resulted in G&M paying for an entire distillery, and Macallan to make a nice profit on the top too. And that's from a company with a great name already!

[Jorgen K]

C70R said:

vixen1700 said:

Tried Teeling on a Ryanair flight last week as I'd not heard of it before and was pleasantly surprised by it.

https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/19406/teeling-...

Got an Amazon Prime deal of £29 on a bottle arriving today.

Their distillery in Dublin is a fun, little tour. I enjoyed the 24yo that gets a Sauternes finish, but it's absolutely not worth the money. The standard, blended one wasn't for me at all. Maybe ok in a cocktail, but it just tasted young.

I got a bottle of the 24yo, I absolutely love the tropical notes in the older Irish whiskies around that time period.

[21st Century Man]

This is different, but it's nice enough for €29, slight smoke, sea/iodine, fruit, spice, wood so the reviews say, and it seems to be so. I'm finding it strongly flavoured, like an Islay.



I was disappointed with the Lambig, as I love pretty much all Calvados, but the Breton stuff isn't as nice, almost unpleasant imo, though I'll drink it.

[MickC]

21st Century Man said:

This is different, but it's nice enough for €29, slight smoke, sea/iodine, fruit, spice, wood so the reviews say, and it seems to be so. I'm finding it strongly flavoured, like an Islay.



I was disappointed with the Lambig, as I love pretty much all Calvados, but the Breton stuff isn't as nice, almost unpleasant imo, though I'll drink it.

French whisky? I mean i know about the auld alliance, but that's taking the petit gâteau!

[LeighW]

Jorgen K said:

I'm quite curious to see what happens with Macallan going forward. They have a great brand, and have premiumised their image. But they're also mass produced and most whisky geeks have moved on. Before they have manipulated the market by trickling releases out, hiking prices over time etc. However, we're seeing a change these days and quite a few products are struggling to get to rrp in auction. Once the image that you can buy it to make money easily has gone where will it go? Will the brand be strong enough, or will the loss of investors/flippers plus hardcore whisky fans who have moved elsewhere mean they drop a lot in image?

I think the bubble might have popped on the NAS releases, I'm getting emails from the usual retailers offering the Amber Meadow. In stock at The Whisky Exchange, no limit on number of bottles either. £160. No ta.

[Sheets Tabuer]

Don't have a whisky to show as I normally can't stand the stuff but was drinking a lovely one last night called Lagavulin, my head hurts quite a lot.

[akirk]

Sheets Tabuer said:

Don't have a whisky to show as I normally can't stand the stuff but was drinking a lovely one last night called Lagavulin, my head hurts quite a lot.

So - Islay whiskies for you - lots to explore...

[justin220]

Sheets Tabuer said:

Don't have a whisky to show as I normally can't stand the stuff but was drinking a lovely one last night called Lagavulin, my head hurts quite a lot.

Lagavulin 16 is lovely, and my go to. Its gone up in price hugely recently unfortunately.

[Sheets Tabuer]

indeed, it was like drinking a woody fire, absolutely lovely.

[LeighW]

Sheets Tabuer said:

Don't have a whisky to show as I normally can't stand the stuff but was drinking a lovely one last night called Lagavulin, my head hurts quite a lot.

The Distillers Edition is

[C70R]

LeighW said:

The Distillers Edition is

Probably one of the best value Islay whiskies for me. All of the smoky, salty, iodine flavours of the 16, with the deep, rich sweetness of a sherry-finished whisky. I always have one in the stores.

[eein]

For Islay value you'll struggle to beat private bottler Mac-Talla. I get mine from https://topwhiskies.com/pages/mactalla-islay-singl... and a recent highlight has been the 2030 PX festival bottling.