Show us your whisky! Vol 2

[Mr Trophy]

As a born bread Edinburgh man, I highly recommend the Balmoral whisky bar. There is some crackers there and pretty reasonable prices too. Don't get me wrong there is some mental stuff aswell.



PS I've seen the GOT set go for £2K !

[LeighW]

Mr Trophy said:

As a born bread Edinburgh man, I highly recommend the Balmoral whisky bar. There is some crackers there and pretty reasonable prices too. Don't get me wrong there is some mental stuff aswell.



PS I've seen the GOT set go for £2K !

I've been to Edinburgh pretty much every December for the past ten years and never realised there was a whisky bar in there.

We went/go to the Black Cat, Amber (at SWE) and the Albanach.

[Mr Trophy]

LeighW said:

Mr Trophy said:

As a born bread Edinburgh man, I highly recommend the Balmoral whisky bar. There is some crackers there and pretty reasonable prices too. Don't get me wrong there is some mental stuff aswell.



PS I've seen the GOT set go for £2K !

I've been to Edinburgh pretty much every December for the past ten years and never realised there was a whisky bar in there.

We went/go to the Black Cat, Amber (at SWE) and the Albanach.

Yes, it’s fantastic. There is also this one under Ryan’s bar which is also brillaint. If you’re coming back, drop me a line and I’ll give you some ideas for places to pop in too

https://www.usquabae.co.uk

[NRS]

LeighW said:

Edinburgh eh? Hard for me to resist going into Royal Mile Whiskies when i go there - love that place.

Normally drop in when I am in Edinburgh, but usually I have had a full whisky load to take back to Norway so can't buy anything. Still have stuff I can take back across, but thinking of moving back to UK possibly so don't want to take everything back. But Cadenheads is always tempting as they can have some unusual stuff and have the small cage bottles which are great to try without a full bottle.

Mr Trophy said:

As a born bread Edinburgh man, I highly recommend the Balmoral whisky bar. There is some crackers there and pretty reasonable prices too. Don't get me wrong there is some mental stuff aswell.



PS I've seen the GOT set go for £2K !

Heard it mentioned a few times, but never got round to popping in. Not sure if I will have time now, if plans work out will likely stay in Carlisle overnight, go to Borders distillery for 10am, 1 hour tour, then up to Edinburgh and a little shopping, jump on train to Glasgow, drop off a few bottles at SWA and then take airport bus straight to Edinburgh airport! Bit of a silly route, but seems to be the one that works best. But can see if I can squeeze in at least 1 dram! Thanks for the advice.

Also booked a trip to China in autumn, and saw it is £120 to fly to Tokyo, so will likely add that on and spend 3-4 days to visit a few bars and distilleries there. Probably no whisky shopping as it's a waste of time in Japan now - anything interesting sells out within minutes.

[LeighW]

Mr Trophy said:

Yes, it’s fantastic. There is also this one under Ryan’s bar which is also brillaint. If you’re coming back, drop me a line and I’ll give you some ideas for places to pop in too

https://www.usquabae.co.uk

Thanks, I will do. It's become our annual pre Christmas break to be honest - I'm not a city person at all, but I love Edinburgh.

[rsbmw]

I'm sat on an unopened Hibiki 12, which seem to be changing hands on auction sites at 4-5x original price (£200+). What does the brotherhood consider my best option with it?

1. Drink it
2. Cash out
3. Hold on for more appreciation!

Also, i'm looking for a christmas cake esque whisky to replace my Aldi 28 year old. Have tried (recently) Glenfarclas 15, Kavalan Sherry, Benriach 12 but none quite do it. Any suggestions? Dalmore 15 is a consideration but I haven't tried it.

[Blown2CV]

rsbmw said:

I'm sat on an unopened Hibiki 12, which seem to be changing hands on auction sites at 4-5x original price (£200+). What does the brotherhood consider my best option with it?

1. Drink it
2. Cash out
3. Hold on for more appreciation!

Also, i'm looking for a christmas cake esque whisky to replace my Aldi 28 year old. Have tried (recently) Glenfarclas 15, Kavalan Sherry, Benriach 12 but none quite do it. Any suggestions? Dalmore 15 is a consideration but I haven't tried it.

Controversial choice but if you want Xmas cake go bourbon. Rock hill farms is perfect for your requirement.

[LeighW]

rsbmw said:

I'm sat on an unopened Hibiki 12, which seem to be changing hands on auction sites at 4-5x original price (£200+). What does the brotherhood consider my best option with it?

1. Drink it
2. Cash out
3. Hold on for more appreciation!

Also, i'm looking for a christmas cake esque whisky to replace my Aldi 28 year old. Have tried (recently) Glenfarclas 15, Kavalan Sherry, Benriach 12 but none quite do it. Any suggestions? Dalmore 15 is a consideration but I haven't tried it.

Sell it.

Don't bother with Dalmore 15, it's overpriced, dull, and decidedly 'meh'. The bottle looks nice though!
Glendronach - 15 Revival, or 18 Allardyce are my default answers here!

[LeighW]

Blown2CV said:

Controversial choice but if you want Xmas cake go bourbon.

Really? I'd say sherry every time for Christmas cake notes. Cask strength Christmas cake smack in the chops? Aberlour A'bunadh, provided you don't pay their silly RRP.

[NRS]

LeighW said:

Sell it.

Don't bother with Dalmore 15, it's overpriced, dull, and decidedly 'meh'. The bottle looks nice though!
Glendronach - 15 Revival, or 18 Allardyce are my default answers here!

Mine too!

As for Hibiki, will likely be a few more years before we get lots of Japanese aged statements becoming available again (probaby 2022 or later I'd guess). So should be ok to hold on to it from that perspective. Main risk is global economy looks jittery, and if it goes pop then between investors dumping whisky as market drops and people needing to sell when they lose their jobs etc then if it goes down it will likely take the whisky bubble (as well as other assets) down with it.

[Blown2CV]

LeighW said:

Blown2CV said:

Controversial choice but if you want Xmas cake go bourbon.

Really? I'd say sherry every time for Christmas cake notes. Cask strength Christmas cake smack in the chops? Aberlour A'bunadh, provided you don't pay their silly RRP.

The one I recommended, yep. Taste it! It’s quite hard to get in UK but v good.

[matchmaker]

Thunderhead said:

Thanks for the heads up on glengoyne 14 in stores, I had only checked in our local store and then online and where online also says no stock I assumed it meant it wasn't available anywhere. I will call a couple stores local to me to check if they have any, and have to agree its the nicest whiskey I've found at this price range.

Changing the subject slightly, and not trying to hijack the thread too much, but has anyone done a distillery tour they can recommend? I'm in Kent but happy to travel, was thinking glengoyne's tour may be worthwhile but wanted to find out if there are any others worth considering, especially if they are slightly more local.

It's whisky...

Anyway, I'm a great fan of Islay whiskies. Ardbeg is my favourite.

[Gribs]

LeighW said:

Sell it.

Don't bother with Dalmore 15, it's overpriced, dull, and decidedly 'meh'. The bottle looks nice though!
Glendronach - 15 Revival, or 18 Allardyce are my default answers here!

I'd agree with all of the above but point out the Dalmore Cigar Malt is very nice, but the current Allardyce really is exceptional.

[Sy1441]

LeighW said:

Sell it.

Don't bother with Dalmore 15, it's overpriced, dull, and decidedly 'meh'. The bottle looks nice though!
Glendronach - 15 Revival, or 18 Allardyce are my default answers here!

I think Dalmore 15 is one of the best around, have went through bottles of the stuff.

[HarryW]

Sy1441 said:

LeighW said:

Sell it.

Don't bother with Dalmore 15, it's overpriced, dull, and decidedly 'meh'. The bottle looks nice though!
Glendronach - 15 Revival, or 18 Allardyce are my default answers here!

I think Dalmore 15 is one of the best around, have went through bottles of the stuff.

Ive been gifted it a few times, pleasant enough, not offensive in any way, lovely shaped bottle.... however I can buy two bottles of Strathisla 12 from the supermarket and still have change for the money. I've never bought the Dalmore 15 with my own money....

[NRS]

Different stuff for different people, That's one of the great things about whisky - wide range in flavours so lots of options!

[LeighW]

NRS said:

Different stuff for different people, That's one of the great things about whisky - wide range in flavours so lots of options!

Absolutely! I've been gifted a couple of bottles of Dalmore 15, and I'm just not a fan, that's all. Plenty of people are though. But for me, 40%, chill filtered, artificial colouring, > £60, nope. The Cigar Malt is better, and I do like the King Alexander (tried it in a whisky bar), but that is a little bit pricey!

Edited by LeighW on Thursday 17th January 11:39

[Gribs]

LeighW said:

Absolutely! I've been gifted a couple of bottles of Dalmore 15, and I'm just not a fan, that's all. Plenty of people are though. But for me, 40%, chill filtered, artificial colouring, > £60, nope. The Cigar Malt is better, and I do like the King Alexander (tried it in a whisky bar), but that is a little bit pricey!

Edited by LeighW on Thursday 17th January 11:39

I tried a sample of the King Alexander from a friend last night and I would have been very upset if I'd paid the going rate for it, very subtle flavours and thin. The cigar malt is the only Dalmore I've been impressed with, the rest are to me bland and overpriced.

[rsbmw]

Which auction do we recommend? My bottle is selling for 200-240 on whiskyauctioneer (higher fees), but only £160 on scotchwhiskyauctions. Even with the higher fes whiskyauctioneer would be worth it at those prices, but I'm unclear why it's so much higher over there.

[Sy1441]

Gribs said:

I tried a sample of the King Alexander from a friend last night and I would have been very upset if I'd paid the going rate for it, very subtle flavours and thin. The cigar malt is the only Dalmore I've been impressed with, the rest are to me bland and overpriced.

I’ve got the 12, 15, 18, Cigar Malt and KAIII, all presents from the missus. I find the KAIII a bit confuses if I’m honest, the Cigar malt is good but I still prefer the 15. I don’t actually like whisky that much oddly as I’m a rum drinker/collector so the 15 maybe tastes most like rum lol.