Show us your whisky! Vol 2

[jammy-git]

Can't say there are many Bowmore's I've tried in the last few years that I've thought were much special.

[oldaudi]

Just parcelled up a 70cl Hibiki 12 and 17 and a Hakushu 12. Making room for a Christmas Glenfarclas 25 or 2

Sending them to Scottish whisky auctions. Seems they are still selling a for several £100 and a £90 for the hakushu

[jammy-git]

Heads up for Ardbeg committee members - the 2019 Supernova has just gone on sale.

[Puddenchucker]

jammy-git said:

Can't say there are many Bowmore's I've tried in the last few years that I've thought were much special.

Of the various Bowmores I've sampled, the 15 'Darkest' stands head and shoulders above the rest, IMHO. Just a shame it's got relatively expensive over the last few years.

Has anyone tried Glenfiddich Fire & Cane?
I notice this is on offer at a couple of retailers, but I was somewhat dissapointed with the IPA variety.

[jammy-git]

Puddenchucker said:

Has anyone tried Glenfiddich Fire & Cane?
I notice this is on offer at a couple of retailers, but I was somewhat dissapointed with the IPA variety.

I was curious about this also! Saw it in Waitrose the other day.

[LeighW]

jammy-git said:

Puddenchucker said:

Has anyone tried Glenfiddich Fire & Cane?
I notice this is on offer at a couple of retailers, but I was somewhat dissapointed with the IPA variety.

I was curious about this also! Saw it in Waitrose the other day.

I have a bottle. You get smokiness (not an Islay medicinal smokiness) and a sweet (short) finish. I quite like it, it's something a bit different, but I have to be in the mood for it. I think the project XX is better tbh.

Macallan Ed 5 being delivered tomorrow, quickly being packed off to auction with a couple of other bottles. It'll be interesting to see if I break even on it!

[NRS]

jammy-git said:

Puddenchucker said:

Has anyone tried Glenfiddich Fire & Cane?
I notice this is on offer at a couple of retailers, but I was somewhat dissapointed with the IPA variety.

I was curious about this also! Saw it in Waitrose the other day.

Typical Fiddich bottling - variation on their main theme. So not a strong influence from the rum/smoke but adds a little variety. Nice enough, but to me nothing to really grab the attention.

Missed out on the Supernova (was released today) as was supposed to try and get one for the local club tasting of Ardbeg in November. Only 2 weeks until we have a special tasting - 5 different Brora bottles for the 200th Anniversary! Including weirdly enough a Brora-Glenlivet blend!

[jammy-git]

Received my bottle of Supernova this morning. Not sure whether to keep with my 2014 CR or flip. Gonna keep an eye on the auction sites I think.

Annoying that Ardbeg special releases don't reach wildly stupid prices like the Mehcallans do!

[NRS]

jammy-git said:

Received my bottle of Supernova this morning. Not sure whether to keep with my 2014 CR or flip. Gonna keep an eye on the auction sites I think.

Annoying that Ardbeg special releases don't reach wildly stupid prices like the Mehcallans do!

It was 4 or 6 thousand bottles for Germany, 1990 bottles for Sweden... So seems like a reasonably common release?

[jammy-git]

Ah fair enough. I thought committee releases were lower quantities than that. But then that's around the same as the Macallan no? The Edition 5 had 15,000 bottles released.

[mx stu]

A fascinating thread for someone who's just getting in to Whisky following years of resistance, so thank you.

A quick question as a newcomer if I may. One stand out Whisky that I've discovered on my journey so far (well over the last few months) is The Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask. Lovely stuff. On some sites I've read that this is a limited edition. What does that mean in reality? Is it a case of buy it now or miss out forever?

Also my 'collection' so far is basically a bottle of the Caribbean Cask and a bottle of Aberfeldy 12yo. Any recommendations in that ilk to help me expand?

[Mr Trophy]

LeighW said:

jammy-git said:

Puddenchucker said:

Has anyone tried Glenfiddich Fire & Cane?
I notice this is on offer at a couple of retailers, but I was somewhat dissapointed with the IPA variety.

I was curious about this also! Saw it in Waitrose the other day.

I have a bottle. You get smokiness (not an Islay medicinal smokiness) and a sweet (short) finish. I quite like it, it's something a bit different, but I have to be in the mood for it. I think the project XX is better tbh.

Macallan Ed 5 being delivered tomorrow, quickly being packed off to auction with a couple of other bottles. It'll be interesting to see if I break even on it!

Ed5 £200 on whiskyauctioner

[HarryW]

Macallan.... Perhaps it’s escaped me by, but when did hype and marketing of NAS scotch become so prevalent. Blending 3-10 year old scotch and giving it a suitable blurb doesn’t equate to £100+ pricing to me.
I’ve always believed that the ageing of 12 year plus for whisky is what made more expensive. It’s all a bit too cynical and money making to me now. I’m sure the scotch is fine but the silly pricing structure is enough to make me not want to try it to find out. Perhaps it’s just me...

Edited by HarryW on Thursday 3rd October 20:03

[LeighW]

Mr Trophy said:

Ed5 £200 on whiskyauctioner

Yep, but my bottle is in the next auction, and there will be thooouuusands of 'em.

Also getting shot of 2018 Rare Casks 1 & 2. I paid RRP for them, so I will be taking a bath on them, but they just take up too much space. My two cabinets are jam packed full, so time to make room. Plus, it puts money back into my whisky fund for more shopping coming up to Christmas.

[LeighW]

HarryW said:

Macallan.... Perhaps it’s escaped me by, but when did hype and marketing of NAS scotch become so prevalent. Blending 3-10 year old scotch and giving it a suitable blurb doesn’t equate to £100+ pricing to me.
I’ve always believed that the ageing of 12 year plus for whisky is what made more expensive. It’s all a bit too cynical and money making to me now. I’m sure the scotch is fine but the silly pricing structure is enough to make me not want to try it to find out. Perhaps it’s just me...

Edited by HarryW on Thursday 3rd October 20:03

It's not just you, there's no point buying Macallans to drink, it's all hype and BS. Visit Malt Disney the new distillery and you'll see. Far better whiskies out there for the same money (certainly at the affordable end anyway), it's all about the name.

[NRS]

mx stu said:

A fascinating thread for someone who's just getting in to Whisky following years of resistance, so thank you.

A quick question as a newcomer if I may. One stand out Whisky that I've discovered on my journey so far (well over the last few months) is The Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask. Lovely stuff. On some sites I've read that this is a limited edition. What does that mean in reality? Is it a case of buy it now or miss out forever?

Also my 'collection' so far is basically a bottle of the Caribbean Cask and a bottle of Aberfeldy 12yo. Any recommendations in that ilk to help me expand?

Limited Edition means absolutely nothing in terms of anything concrete. The Macallan Edition 5 mentioned above is actually 100 or 300 thousand bottles or so - and is called a limited edition. That is probably bigger than some distilleries total production in a year! The Balvenie is pretty common I think, so probably no need to stock up unless you start expanding your whisky world but still see it as the perfect whisky for you.

I'd recommend doing something like buying samples on Master of Malt to get a better understanding of what you like best. Main flavour groups would probably be ex-bourbon, ex-sherry and peated/smokey. Try some examples of different ones and see what works best for you. But it will also likely change over time too - I went from sherry to peaty to now a bit of a mix. Something like Glendronach 15yo would be a good sherry one to start with, maybe something like Ardbeg 10yo/Lagavulin 16yo and a Caol Ila could be good for starting on peat (different levels of peat).

[uncinqsix]

LeighW said:

It's not just you, there's no point buying Macallans to drink, it's all hype and BS. Visit Malt Disney the new distillery and you'll see. Far better whiskies out there for the same money (certainly at the affordable end anyway), it's all about the name.

Saw some Macallan 12 double cask for the equivalent of 26 pounds, which seemed like a decent price. Was tempted, but I had already maxed out my duty free allowance.

[supercommuter]

LeighW said:

HarryW said:

Macallan.... Perhaps it’s escaped me by, but when did hype and marketing of NAS scotch become so prevalent. Blending 3-10 year old scotch and giving it a suitable blurb doesn’t equate to £100+ pricing to me.
I’ve always believed that the ageing of 12 year plus for whisky is what made more expensive. It’s all a bit too cynical and money making to me now. I’m sure the scotch is fine but the silly pricing structure is enough to make me not want to try it to find out. Perhaps it’s just me...

Edited by HarryW on Thursday 3rd October 20:03

It's not just you, there's no point buying Macallans to drink, it's all hype and BS. Visit Malt Disney the new distillery and you'll see. Far better whiskies out there for the same money (certainly at the affordable end anyway), it's all about the name.

I think the 12 year old sherry oak is a nice whisky for £50 to be fair.

[LeighW]

supercommuter said:

I think the 12 year old sherry oak is a nice whisky for £50 to be fair.

Isn't that £60+ now?

I used to really like the (now discontinued) 10yo Sherry Oak, used to pay thirty odd pounds for it. Have you seen how much that sells for now?

[supercommuter]

LeighW said:

supercommuter said:

I think the 12 year old sherry oak is a nice whisky for £50 to be fair.

Isn't that £60+ now?

I used to really like the (now discontinued) 10yo Sherry Oak, used to pay thirty odd pounds for it. Have you seen how much that sells for now?

I have about 10 bottles downstairs that were between 50-60 quid. I don't think they were too bad at that price point.