Show us your whisky! Vol 2
Discussion
Mr Trophy said:
jammy-git said:
Anybody got a spare half a million?
Wonder if it’s any good ...
Has enough time passed that we can joke about that now?
I've had around 7 Hanyu's in total, with 5 of the cards. Great thing about Norway is cognac is king, so there is some whisky bars with old bottles much closer to purchase price than you'd find in most other countries. So was able to try them for around £15 for 2cl. Considering say a new Balvenie 12 might be £7-12 then it's worth the little extra! Lovely whisky, but not worth the current prices IMO. Chichibu is surprisingly close in many ways actually, but those are almost as stupid prices too. I have one of the Colour Joker's which I bought at rrp. But difficult to justify opening it - so many other whiskies I'd prefer more at that price.
MelbourneWoody said:
New to this thread so hello folks 
My parents are visiting from the UK this year so I've bought this little collection to enjoy with my dad when he gets here. I've already cracked all 3 just to 'Test" and now I'm struggling to my hands off them all.
Nice little selection there, the new Quinta Ruban 14 is meant to be even better than the 12 - I'll let you know when I open mine.My parents are visiting from the UK this year so I've bought this little collection to enjoy with my dad when he gets here. I've already cracked all 3 just to 'Test" and now I'm struggling to my hands off them all.
Just back from a trip to Scotland which included a distillery visit or two, I'll post on where/what when I get chance. I'll say this though - Glenallachie was great to visit (thanks for the pointer NRS). Their new PX Hogshead hand fill had started the day before. Oh. My. God.
The distillery keep bottle number one. I bagged bottles five, six and seven. 
NRS said:
A friend picked up a bottle for me, but going from reviews I really should have bought more! I think around 2 days in and they were already around bottle 60 plus. Will have to see if anyone visiting the area can pick me up more,
On Friday they were around bottle 60, as a couple of guys I was with took one each. It was an interesting tour - very different in style to GlenGarioch and very boozy.I‘ll write up a bit more of what we did (that I can remember) over the next couple of days. Thank you for the recommendation too.
Back from a nice ten day tour around Scotland in my trusty camper van - not a whisky tour, but when you're in the area, you may as well visit a couple.
While staying at Luss on Loch Lomond, we popped down to Glengoyne for a look. This was the very first distillery I'd ever visited, must be nine years ago now, and the visitor centre has changed quite a bit since then. Still a nice place to visit, and I do enjoy a Glengoyne. The distillery hand fill was £150, so I passed on that, just buying a 20cl bottle of 18yo and 21yo as erm, a souvenir.
They have these four casks of 1972 in warehouse number one; the tour guide said that these will be bottled and released when they're 50, at £20k per bottle.
Some deep pocketed Chinese tourists were on our tour, very polite people, with slightly more luxurious transport than my camper!
Photos allowed anywhere it was 'down season'.
As we were heading up to Aberlour we passed through Pitlochry, and lo and behold, signs for Edradour. Decided to take a look.
Really nice distillery this, super friendly staff. Our tour guide was quite the character, a very well spoken chap aged about sixty, I think he must have been ex military or maybe a retired school headmaster the way he marched us around. Pretty amusing fella though, and well worth a visit. They have a bar where you can buy a dram of anything they have in the shop, I was driving so was limited to a sip or two, and as we couldn't decide which bottle to buy, we bought three different cask strengths which my wife had to drink pretty much all of. On top of the drams she'd tried on the tour, I swear she was starting to slur her words at the end. Anyway, picked up a couple of bottles of their distillery exclusive 'Cotes du Provence Cask'. Not much to shout about on the nose, but a very interesting flavour, something a bit different to the norm for the collection.
Enough waffle for now.
While staying at Luss on Loch Lomond, we popped down to Glengoyne for a look. This was the very first distillery I'd ever visited, must be nine years ago now, and the visitor centre has changed quite a bit since then. Still a nice place to visit, and I do enjoy a Glengoyne. The distillery hand fill was £150, so I passed on that, just buying a 20cl bottle of 18yo and 21yo as erm, a souvenir.
They have these four casks of 1972 in warehouse number one; the tour guide said that these will be bottled and released when they're 50, at £20k per bottle.
Some deep pocketed Chinese tourists were on our tour, very polite people, with slightly more luxurious transport than my camper!
Photos allowed anywhere it was 'down season'.
As we were heading up to Aberlour we passed through Pitlochry, and lo and behold, signs for Edradour. Decided to take a look.
Really nice distillery this, super friendly staff. Our tour guide was quite the character, a very well spoken chap aged about sixty, I think he must have been ex military or maybe a retired school headmaster the way he marched us around. Pretty amusing fella though, and well worth a visit. They have a bar where you can buy a dram of anything they have in the shop, I was driving so was limited to a sip or two, and as we couldn't decide which bottle to buy, we bought three different cask strengths which my wife had to drink pretty much all of. On top of the drams she'd tried on the tour, I swear she was starting to slur her words at the end.
Anyway, picked up a couple of bottles of their distillery exclusive 'Cotes du Provence Cask'. Not much to shout about on the nose, but a very interesting flavour, something a bit different to the norm for the collection.Enough waffle for now.
Nice write up and photos! First time at Edradour? It's kinda nice to be there when distilleries are in silent season - you can hear a lot better and they're more relaxed. But of course miss some of the smells and atmosphere! £150 for the Glengoyne seems a bit steep, but most are getting close to the £100 mark or so. I guess the Chinese visitors in the RR's were less concerned? Looking forward to the next update!
Btw, speaking of updates - anyone heard of eyebeebe since his trip?
Looking forward to the next update!Btw, speaking of updates - anyone heard of eyebeebe since his trip?
NRS said:
Nice write up and photos! First time at Edradour? It's kinda nice to be there when distilleries are in silent season - you can hear a lot better and they're more relaxed. But of course miss some of the smells and atmosphere! £150 for the Glengoyne seems a bit steep, but most are getting close to the £100 mark or so. I guess the Chinese visitors in the RR's were less concerned? Looking forward to the next update!
Btw, speaking of updates - anyone heard of eyebeebe since his trip?
No need to send out a search party yet... Looking forward to the next update!Btw, speaking of updates - anyone heard of eyebeebe since his trip?
First time I'd tried an Edradour, let alone visit the distillery! I do like the smells when the distilleries are operational, it's a big part of it for me.
As we were staying up in Aberlour, we popped into the distillery shop. I'd done the basic tour before, and the casks from the past tour was fully booked, so I just grabbed a bottle of the DE 12yo Bourbon to go with the 13yo Sherry that I bought last year.
Then it was a visit to Glenallachie - thanks for the recommendation. Graham took the tour, and what a nice bloke he is, very knowledgable about all things Glenallachie despite having not being there that long. After the tour we got to try the 12, 18 and 10yo Cask Strength, the latter being my favourite of the three. I had hoped to get a bottle of the hand fill Masala cask, but it had ended the day before. They did have a small amount left in a bottle that I got to try, and it was very nice, but I was not sorry, because the new hand fill PX Hogshead is just amazing. It was £105, but I bought three (bottles 5, 6 and 7). It seems to be selling like hot cakes (bottles into the nineties in the first few days), and so it should. I do like a sherry bomb anyway, but this is right up there, possibly my favourite ever. Liquid Christmas cake is the only way I can describe it, really thick mouthfeel, you can almost chew it!
As I was driving (as usual!), I'd only had a sip of my wife's drams, but I got a nice driver pack to take away.
I may regret breaking the golden rule of showing yourself on t'internet, but here's a video of my bottle filling. A mix of happiness and a fear of dropping the bottle. Waste not, want not at the end.
https://i.imgur.com/zalqNwX.mp4
The next day we were moving on to Foyers at Loch Ness, so that was the end of the distilleries, except for a tour at Benriach on the way. I'd been looking forward to this, not least because I have a soft spot for Benriach thanks to their quite superb and never repeated '99 13yo Virgin Oak. In all honesty, it was a disappointment. The tour wasn't great, the guide seemed to forget what she was talking about quite a few times, and the whiskies we tried were quite disappointing. The best of the lot IMO was the 22 Dark Rum cask, the 20yo DE 120th Anniversary bottling was pretty poor in my view. Dull, one dimensional, a bit rough to be frank. And it was £220!
. No-one on our tour bought one, I wouldn't have paid £50 for it. It reminded me a bit of a Dalmore 15, but with higher ABV. Not a good thing!
The driver pack consisted of some empty bottles for you to empty your glass into, and a pen to share between you to label the bottles. I think the measures on the bottles were a bit inconsistent too! Compare what I got to the 18yo from Glengoyne:
They do have a new visitor centre planned, which should open late next year, maybe things will improve then. Here's hoping!
My haul did arrive home safely though, and that's the main thing.
NRS said:
Btw, speaking of updates - anyone heard of eyebeebe since his trip?
I replied yesterday, but I think it got caught up in Leigh‘s great write up. I‘m not sure I can beat it, but from what I can remember of trip Trip started off badly with Schipol being closed because the fueling system broke down. We were rerouted through Heathrow instead. Ended up landing in Aberdeen about midnight on Thursday. Went to The Academy for an hour or so. Bit of a dive, but surprisingly good whisky selection for a dive. Our friend flying in from Geneva was a little less lucky - instead of arriving with us he missed his connection and had the next one cancelled. He didn‘t arrive until Saturday morning and then had to take a £100 cab from the airport to Dufftown.
Friday started off with a 0915 pick up to drive to GlenGarioch. We couldn‘t have asked for more from our first distillery tour. Just the four of us, with one of the 11 employees of the distillery. Knowledge second to none, great sense of humour and lots of history on site. Tour ended with a tasting of three different drams. 10YO virgin oak, 16YO, 1999 wine cask
After that we went for a picnic in the grounds of Glenfiddich. Homemade sausage rolls, cold and hot smoked salmon, Scottish cheeses (Brie, cheddar and blue), hummus, salad. Hard to complain about any of it. Even the salad was eaten!
To be continued including a lot more pictures...
supercommuter said:
ambuletz said:
for anyone interested ASDA are selling 70cl Haig Club for £16.
I have heard haig club is actually really nice, I have always dismissed it. Is it any good?
king quid this is!) to ASDA special offer price. This isn't even the sttest one they do - they make a thing called Clubman, which even they admit is really only for mixing.... it is even sold as a mixing whisky. Anyone saying this st is good, is someone not worth asking ever again about whisky and i'd even go as far as to say you should sever all ties with this person. Cut them off, you don't need that in your life. Blown2CV said:
supercommuter said:
ambuletz said:
for anyone interested ASDA are selling 70cl Haig Club for £16.
I have heard haig club is actually really nice, I have always dismissed it. Is it any good?king quid this is!) to ASDA special offer price. This isn't even the sttest one they do - they make a thing called Clubman, which even they admit is really only for mixing.... it is even sold as a mixing whisky. Anyone saying this st is good, is someone not worth asking ever again about whisky and i'd even go as far as to say you should sever all ties with this person. Cut them off, you don't need that in your life. InductionRoar said:
Blown2CV said:
supercommuter said:
ambuletz said:
for anyone interested ASDA are selling 70cl Haig Club for £16.
I have heard haig club is actually really nice, I have always dismissed it. Is it any good?king quid this is!) to ASDA special offer price. This isn't even the sttest one they do - they make a thing called Clubman, which even they admit is really only for mixing.... it is even sold as a mixing whisky. Anyone saying this st is good, is someone not worth asking ever again about whisky and i'd even go as far as to say you should sever all ties with this person. Cut them off, you don't need that in your life. The people who have said it is nice are not whisky drinkers, to be honest, so thought as much.
very jealous of all this, I was supposed to be doing a couple of distilleries from inverness a few months ago but had to cancel.
how are prices at the distillery as opposed to buying online/from shops?
and secondly are there any tours that take you from one to the next since I'd probably be going solo and want to do a couple in each day
how are prices at the distillery as opposed to buying online/from shops?
and secondly are there any tours that take you from one to the next since I'd probably be going solo and want to do a couple in each day
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