Show us your whisky! Vol 2

[Blown2CV]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Anyone jumping on The Lakes Distillery’s new offerings?

Very well received up here, I’ve a bottle of number 1 and number 2 is supposed to be good too;
https://www.lakesdistillery.com/online-shop-c13/wh...

first one is £895 for a NAS. Lots of blends in there too. I get that they are new but crackpipe pricing?

[malks222]

thanks everyone, some very detailed informative replies! I’m going to add it my secret ‘night do’ list for the day the baby is born (not due until january)

hopefully i remember to phone and order something, if not, it’s not the end of the world. i’m sure i’ll be busy and prob not be thinking about whisky on the big day

[NRS]

Blown2CV said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Anyone jumping on The Lakes Distillery’s new offerings?

Very well received up here, I’ve a bottle of number 1 and number 2 is supposed to be good too;
https://www.lakesdistillery.com/online-shop-c13/wh...

first one is £895 for a NAS. Lots of blends in there too. I get that they are new but crackpipe pricing?

I think he meant the first ‘normal’ releases, which are around 65 quid. From memory first release was stupid prices (north of a grand), then there was the quadruple release which is the £895. I had a small taste of Faith and it was nice enough but not worth the money. Now they’re releasing more normal prices stuff. Plus ‘The One’ blends - which have no Lakes Distillery Whisky in them (at least previously). The base of the bottles on their whiskies are a cool design - but perhaps more easy to knock over accidentally!

Shopping day and ended up with 18 whiskies - partly accidentally - oops! I’ll cancel a few though, and some are for the whisky club so thankfully not all my budget. Looking most forward to trying the 1st fill sherry cask Longrow that is a Norway exclusive.

[Gribs]

NRS said:

Same goes for Tomatin - 4 different casks for around £70-100 or so (approximately 10-13yo?) plus a 1990 for around £300.

I called in on Saturday on my way to Tain for a weeks holiday. They had
virgin oak 5 yo - £60
Bourbon 12 yo - £70
Oloroso 12 yo - £80
Pedro ximenez 17 yo - £125
and the 1990 that I don't remember the price of. I tried the oloroso and pedro ximenez. Both were good but I went for the later.

Last night I went to the Oyster Catcher in Portmahomack for what might be their last night open as they're closing for the winter and they're looking to sell up. The food is good but their whisky list is exceptional and very reasonably priced. In order I had a 1989 Rosebank, 1985 Littlemill, 80's 12yo cask strength Clynelish, 1969 31yo Balblair, 1982 Brora and finished off with a 15 yo Laphroaig. The total cost for these was £41.50

This afternoon I'm off to visit Balblair which hopefully hasn't been to effected by their rebranding.

[seiben]

I somehow ended up with a bottle of Red Label floating around, and we've inherited a crab-apple tree in the new garden. So....





Excuse the naff 70s kitchen

Allegedly if I leave it for 3 years or so it'll end up like Calvados. Time will tell on how much patience I have.

[NRS]

Gribs said:

I called in on Saturday on my way to Tain for a weeks holiday. They had
virgin oak 5 yo - £60
Bourbon 12 yo - £70
Oloroso 12 yo - £80
Pedro ximenez 17 yo - £125
and the 1990 that I don't remember the price of. I tried the oloroso and pedro ximenez. Both were good but I went for the later.

Last night I went to the Oyster Catcher in Portmahomack for what might be their last night open as they're closing for the winter and they're looking to sell up. The food is good but their whisky list is exceptional and very reasonably priced. In order I had a 1989 Rosebank, 1985 Littlemill, 80's 12yo cask strength Clynelish, 1969 31yo Balblair, 1982 Brora and finished off with a 15 yo Laphroaig. The total cost for these was £41.50

This afternoon I'm off to visit Balblair which hopefully hasn't been to effected by their rebranding.

Sounds an absolutely fantastic bar visit, and that price is insane for such a tasting! Hope you enjoyed Balblair. I was there in May, just after the re-branding, and the whisky was good but nothing amazing. Did pick up the bottle your own - I think something like £85 for it? Much of a similar price to most these days - seems cheapest BYOs are usually around £75, going up to £120 or so for low teens. Then nearer £250-300 for anything in the mid-twenties or above. Probably to go up even more again - seems like any dark coloured sherried single cask goes for £150 in auction now, even for the unpopular distilleries.

[Gribs]

NRS said:

Gribs said:

I called in on Saturday on my way to Tain for a weeks holiday. They had
virgin oak 5 yo - £60
Bourbon 12 yo - £70
Oloroso 12 yo - £80
Pedro ximenez 17 yo - £125
and the 1990 that I don't remember the price of. I tried the oloroso and pedro ximenez. Both were good but I went for the later.

Last night I went to the Oyster Catcher in Portmahomack for what might be their last night open as they're closing for the winter and they're looking to sell up. The food is good but their whisky list is exceptional and very reasonably priced. In order I had a 1989 Rosebank, 1985 Littlemill, 80's 12yo cask strength Clynelish, 1969 31yo Balblair, 1982 Brora and finished off with a 15 yo Laphroaig. The total cost for these was £41.50

This afternoon I'm off to visit Balblair which hopefully hasn't been to effected by their rebranding.

Sounds an absolutely fantastic bar visit, and that price is insane for such a tasting! Hope you enjoyed Balblair. I was there in May, just after the re-branding, and the whisky was good but nothing amazing. Did pick up the bottle your own - I think something like £85 for it? Much of a similar price to most these days - seems cheapest BYOs are usually around £75, going up to £120 or so for low teens. Then nearer £250-300 for anything in the mid-twenties or above. Probably to go up even more again - seems like any dark coloured sherried single cask goes for £150 in auction now, even for the unpopular distilleries.

It was exceptionally good value but some of the bottles have been open for a long while and it shows. It's still interesting as the basic flavour of the 1969 Balblair was similar to new 12 year old. I'd last visited Balblair a couple of years ago and the visitor experience has changed a lot. It's far more corporate now to go along with the significant price increases on their core range. The bottle your own (of which I bought 2, one for my boss who visited last month and wanted another) was £95 for a 2006 bourbon cask. It's actually gone down as I paid £120 for a 2002 last time. As I was with the wife we just did the standard tour which includes a small measure of the 12 and 15, and they didn't seem keen on pouring anything better though I tried a tiny measure of the bottle your own. I spent a week on Islay in the summer and other than Ardbeg and Lagavulin, everyone else seemed fairly generous. We called into Glenmorangie this afternoon and without doing a tour were asked if we'd like to try something so had the Allta (meh, very over priced) and the new older Quinta Ruban (pleasant, unusually cheaper at the distillery than online).

We're heading over to the West coast tomorrow so I'll pop into Ben Nevis as I absolutely love the 10 year old so it'll be interesting to see if they have anything else on offer at the distillery.

[vixen1700]

Picked this up from the local wine shop the other evening. Not tried it yet, but oh my word, I could sit with the bottle under my nose all day.

Quite wonderful for a NAS blend.

[Bobberoo99]

A nice points award at work, converted into Amazon vouchers has netted me these for nothing, nowt, zero, zilch, free!!!

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Annandale Distillery are doing a pre-sale on their founder's reserves by invitation-anyone interested?

[NRS]

Got the email too, and been thinking about it. Have part of a cask ownership there.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

I actually know the founders-good folk. Not quite as sure in the quality of the liquid however...

[can't remember]

There's not much in the world I get jealous of but having this as your whisky room...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-bu...

[LeighW]

can't remember said:

There's not much in the world I get jealous of but having this as your whisky room...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-bu...

Meh, it's ok I suppose...

[jammy-git]

can't remember said:

There's not much in the world I get jealous of but having this as your whisky room...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-bu...

I can't see one bottle of Monkey Shoulder. He should be ashamed.

[21TonyK]

Crossing over from the Aldi thread... can someone suggest a whisky I can try?

I 50 years I have probably only tried whisky half a dozen times. Again, as commented on elsewhere, drinking it neat is not nice.

Happy to sink neat brandies etc but whisky/gin etc (for me) needs something to reduce the alcohol.

Oh... as well as the whisky itself, assuming water is used to dilute (not ginger ale ) should I use something more than tap water ?

[Bobberoo99]

21TonyK said:

Crossing over from the Aldi thread... can someone suggest a whisky I can try?

I 50 years I have probably only tried whisky half a dozen times. Again, as commented on elsewhere, drinking it neat is not nice.

Happy to sink neat brandies etc but whisky/gin etc (for me) needs something to reduce the alcohol.

Oh... as well as the whisky itself, assuming water is used to dilute (not ginger ale ) should I use something more than tap water ?

Wweeellll, if you follow the correct, approved, party policy approach, it should be very lightly watered with spring water from the same supply as the distillery................. yeah right!!! If I add water it's just bottled spring water from a shop, a small dribble added to a generous measure of your chosen whisky, gently warmed in your hand, yes in the glass is preferable, and sipped to enjoy!!!
Personally I'd suggest trying some of the deluxe blends before you venture into the world of malts, others will disagree, even argue vociferously that blends are rubbish, however they are less harsh than most malts and take dilution well. Chivas Regal 12yr old, The Antiquary 12yr old and Ballantines finest for me are a good starting point.

[NRS]

Bobberoo99 said:

21TonyK said:

Crossing over from the Aldi thread... can someone suggest a whisky I can try?

I 50 years I have probably only tried whisky half a dozen times. Again, as commented on elsewhere, drinking it neat is not nice.

Happy to sink neat brandies etc but whisky/gin etc (for me) needs something to reduce the alcohol.

Oh... as well as the whisky itself, assuming water is used to dilute (not ginger ale ) should I use something more than tap water ?

Wweeellll, if you follow the correct, approved, party policy approach, it should be very lightly watered with spring water from the same supply as the distillery................. yeah right!!! If I add water it's just bottled spring water from a shop, a small dribble added to a generous measure of your chosen whisky, gently warmed in your hand, yes in the glass is preferable, and sipped to enjoy!!!
Personally I'd suggest trying some of the deluxe blends before you venture into the world of malts, others will disagree, even argue vociferously that blends are rubbish, however they are less harsh than most malts and take dilution well. Chivas Regal 12yr old, The Antiquary 12yr old and Ballantines finest for me are a good starting point.

The important thing is it's just what you enjoy. I think someone can say blends are rubbish, in the same way you (might?!) say cask strength peat/sherry bombs are disgusting! There's a difference between saying blends are rubbish because they're cheap/because it was a blend, and saying blends are generally rubbish/boring as they don't taste interesting (for the most part). There's a weirdo on here that hates peat of all things?!?

It sounds like blends are probably a good choice though, based on not liking them neat. Or it might just be whisky just won't "work"! Another option could be something like ordering a sample pack from someone like "Drinks by the Dram" of some different types of whisky, without splashing out on a whole bottle that may not be liked!

[Bobberoo99]

An excellent suggestion NRS!! Hadn't thought of recommending that!!
As for sherry bombs, mmmmm lovely, peated whisky, wistful sigh of contentment, cask strengths, and the such, I have yet to find a whisky i don't enjoy!!!!

[jammy-git]

Speaking of Monkey Shoulder (above), I know several people whose "gateway" whisky was Monkey Shoulder. Nice, smooth, easy whisky to drink.