Show us your whisky! Vol 2

Author
Discussion

tim0409

4,355 posts

158 months

Tuesday 9th May 2017
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I sent off a press sample box for Mortlach 75 to a whisky auction and with one day to go it is at £200 - it's already met its reserve so will be interesting to see where it ends up. The full bottle of Mortlach 75 is around £20k according to my OH so I suppose this has some appeal to a collector.

https://whisky.auction/auctions/lot/16568

S6PNJ

5,158 posts

280 months

Tuesday 9th May 2017
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tim0409 said:
I sent off a press sample box ...to a whisky auction
Did they take the photos or did you have to supply them? Is it a simple process to undertake (the selling/posting etc)?

NRS

22,080 posts

200 months

Tuesday 9th May 2017
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S6PNJ said:
tim0409 said:
I sent off a press sample box ...to a whisky auction
Did they take the photos or did you have to supply them? Is it a simple process to undertake (the selling/posting etc)?
Not sure about that company, but the 2 I have used will take the pictures. You just drop off the bottle(s) with them and they register them to your account. You can either do this by posting them to them, dropping it off at their office or meeting them when they do trips around Scotland to pick up bottles. They will then sort out everything including description etc. Then you get paid a few weeks after the auction to your account. Very simple. Seller commission is between 0% (one company is doing this, and it seems to work as they have far more bottles going there now) and 10% that I have seen, plus a few £ per bottle.

£200 seems quite cheap for what it is - I think one of the samples went for several thousand a few months back?

tim0409

4,355 posts

158 months

Tuesday 9th May 2017
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NRS said:
£200 seems quite cheap for what it is - I think one of the samples went for several thousand a few months back?
The only previous sale we could find went for £300. Hopefully there is still time for it to go up a bit!

The process was simple - posted the box and the auction did the rest.

Oystercatcher

481 posts

201 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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Fruitful trip to Islay last week and the weather was stonking too smile

jammy-git

29,776 posts

211 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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Heading to Barcelona tomorrow for a long weekend - does anybody have any recommendations for some good whisky bars to visit?

hoegaardenruls

1,218 posts

131 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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jammy-git said:
Heading to Barcelona tomorrow for a long weekend - does anybody have any recommendations for some good whisky bars to visit?
Not a whisky bar, but Lafuente on Carrer d'Arago (just off Rambla Catalunya) has a great range of whisky in that shop, alongside other spirits - I found it a few years ago, and normally try to visit when I'm over there.

GetCarter

29,358 posts

278 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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NRS said:
stuff
I just got back from a short trip to Norway, and have a question.

I went into three supermarkets in Bergen and all three had shelves full of beer, but not a single bottle of wine. In the hotel we asked for a a couple of glasses of Sauv. and the bloke had to go downstairs to get it - bottle came up unopened and dusty!

Does nobody drink wine in Norway?

Probably of no interest to you, but some may be interested... some photos from the trip: >> http://www.stevecarter.com/nok/NOK.htm

Steve

PS (Thanks for the Norway advice BTW, but could only do 4 days so flew rather than drove).

NRS

22,080 posts

200 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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Oystercatcher said:
Fruitful trip to Islay last week and the weather was stonking too smile
Nice! Did you do a lot of the distillery tours?

GetCarter said:
I just got back from a short trip to Norway, and have a question.

I went into three supermarkets in Bergen and all three had shelves full of beer, but not a single bottle of wine. In the hotel we asked for a a couple of glasses of Sauv. and the bloke had to go downstairs to get it - bottle came up unopened and dusty!

Does nobody drink wine in Norway?

Probably of no interest to you, but some may be interested... some photos from the trip: >> http://www.stevecarter.com/nok/NOK.htm

Steve

PS (Thanks for the Norway advice BTW, but could only do 4 days so flew rather than drove).
Nice pics! It looks like you were lucky enough to get the few days a year when it is sunny around Bergen!

In reply to the question on wine; wine and spirits are not allowed to be sold in normal supermarkets. They are only sold via the Vinmonopolet brand shops, which is a government owned business. This is in theory to stop people misusing alcohol, but is in reality probably another way to get tax. Even the beer sold in supermarkets has to be 4.5% or lower - higher than that and the beer also has to be sold by Vinmonopolet. There's also strict rules on the times for alcohol to be sold via Vinmonopolet/ supermarkets. As for the hotel I guess it was a more unusual bottle - or they don't dust their storage place! Although in general due to the cost the bottles will stay there more. Cognac is the spirit drink of choice in Norway, but whisky is growing. Sweden is crazy for whisky, and it is very hard to get new releases there compared to Norway (they also have a similar government owned alcohol shop called Systembolaget).

GetCarter

29,358 posts

278 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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NRS said:
Nice pics! It looks like you were lucky enough to get the few days a year when it is sunny around Bergen!

In reply to the question on wine; wine and spirits are not allowed to be sold in normal supermarkets. They are only sold via the Vinmonopolet brand shops, which is a government owned business. This is in theory to stop people misusing alcohol, but is in reality probably another way to get tax. Even the beer sold in supermarkets has to be 4.5% or lower - higher than that and the beer also has to be sold by Vinmonopolet. There's also strict rules on the times for alcohol to be sold via Vinmonopolet/ supermarkets. As for the hotel I guess it was a more unusual bottle - or they don't dust their storage place! Although in general due to the cost the bottles will stay there more. Cognac is the spirit drink of choice in Norway, but whisky is growing. Sweden is crazy for whisky, and it is very hard to get new releases there compared to Norway (they also have a similar government owned alcohol shop called Systembolaget).
Ta for that... makes sense now!

Oystercatcher

481 posts

201 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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NRS said:
Oystercatcher said:
Fruitful trip to Islay last week and the weather was stonking too smile
Nice! Did you do a lot of the distillery tours?
Some:

Jura - It was rude not to as it takes a little bit more effort to get to. 2nd tallest stills in Scotland apparently which gives a lighter spirit.

Kilchoman - Still quite young, but interesting as they grow their own barley on the farm and malt it on site.

Bowmore - Another that malts its own barley and plenty of history.

We managed to visit all 9, purely for comparison purposes you understand wink

HarryW

15,150 posts

268 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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Oystercatcher said:
Some:

Jura - It was rude not to as it takes a little bit more effort to get to. 2nd tallest stills in Scotland apparently which gives a lighter spirit.

Kilchoman - Still quite young, but interesting as they grow their own barley on the farm and malt it on site.

Bowmore - Another that malts its own barley and plenty of history.

We managed to visit all 9, purely for comparison purposes you understand wink
Always fancied doing this, where did you base yourself and what's the taxi fares like as driving is out of the question.....

jammy-git

29,776 posts

211 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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I did this last year. Based ourselves in Port Ellen as you then have Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Lagavulin within walking distance, The Islay Hotel for the evening and Bowmore, Kilchoman and Bruichladdich not too far away either. Easy access for the ferry too.

Couldn't tell you about taxi fares as I drove and took samples away from each tour.

I'd fully recommend the warehouse tasting tour at Bruichladdich - I'm not a massive fan of most of their range, but the three we tried on the warehouse tasting tour were three of the nicest whiskies I've ever tasted.

Oystercatcher

481 posts

201 months

Wednesday 10th May 2017
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We had a b&b about a mile from Port Ellen in the same direction as Laphroaig etc. No idea about taxis as I took my car, but there were several taxi firms advertising in the foyer, so I guess they're used to ferrying whisky connoisseurs about smile. As said there's a very good seperate footpath from Port Ellen all the way to Ardbeg.

You need too watch which ferry you use as some go to Port Askaig in the north and it's about 22 miles between the two. We took the 6pm boat which got in to Port Askaig at 8pm. Could be an expensive taxi...


Bert Cheese

238 posts

91 months

Thursday 11th May 2017
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We done a long weekend on Islay about a month ago, stayed in a cottage just outside Bruichladdich at a reasonable rate.
We used a mixture of buses, walking and a pre-planned taxi schedule (Bruichladdich taxis - £185 for over 3 days, well worth it to be fair)
Being the start of the season we had to juggle our plans a bit to get the right tasting tours in, another day or two would have been better but it wasn't possible unfortunately.
It went something like this:
Day 1: Fly from Southampton to Glasgow, hire car to Kennacraig then ferry to Islay, get into cottage and a quick visit to Bruichladdich shop.
Day 2: Bowmore (Distillery tour) - Laphroaig (Maltmans Lunch) - Lagavulin (Distillery tour) We need to go back for tastings at the last pair!
Day 3: Kilchoman (Distillery tour) - Bunnahabhain (Warehouse tasting) - Caol Ila (Distillery tour) The Bunna tasting was outstandingly good.
Day 4: Ardbeg (Distillery tour) - Bruichladdich (Warehouse tasting followed by Distillery tour) The final and most expensive day...Octomore..
Day 5: Reverse of day 1 basically, picked up some Laphroaig PX in duty free then went home to be depressed for a bit...

There were 3 of us and we are already discussing going back in a couple of years time it was that good, we were lucky to have very good weather apart from day 4 and achieved most of our goals...the standout distilleries for us were Bruichaddich and Bunnahabhain who were both very welcoming and down to earth with excellent staff...Bunna is nicely down at heel and Bruich has some great old machinery too.
Time constraints this time prevented proper warehouse tastings at the big southern three which we need to put right, Kilchoman are also hoping to expand and that could be interesting to revisit if they achieve their goals.

I'd thoroughly recommend going, cost us roughly £700 each all in including eating out and provisions for the cottage...those who shipped various bottles of Octomore and cask editions home may have spent a little more...my wallet started squeaking at that point though biggrin

Oystercatcher

481 posts

201 months

Thursday 11th May 2017
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Bert Cheese said:
Kilchoman are also hoping to expand and that could be interesting to revisit if they achieve their goals.
The framework for the new building was up last week, looks like a useful increase in size. I liked Kilchoman, good shop with good quality gift type items and a nice cafe/restaurant.

I haven't dared to tot up all our outgoings yet...

jammy-git

29,776 posts

211 months

Friday 12th May 2017
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hoegaardenruls said:
jammy-git said:
Heading to Barcelona tomorrow for a long weekend - does anybody have any recommendations for some good whisky bars to visit?
Not a whisky bar, but Lafuente on Carrer d'Arago (just off Rambla Catalunya) has a great range of whisky in that shop, alongside other spirits - I found it a few years ago, and normally try to visit when I'm over there.
Thanks. That's not actually too far from where we're staying so I think we're going to pop in on the way back from the circuit tomorrow.

Blown2CV

28,699 posts

202 months

Friday 12th May 2017
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get on the sherry not the whisky

sheepsplitter

252 posts

117 months

Friday 12th May 2017
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jammy-git said:
Heading to Barcelona tomorrow for a long weekend - does anybody have any recommendations for some good whisky bars to visit?
The "Ideal Cocktail Bar" had an excellent choice of Single Malts and other Whisky(ey)s and Bourbons.
Definitely worth a visit.

NRS

22,080 posts

200 months

Friday 12th May 2017
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Blown2CV said:
get on the sherry not the whisky
Apparently they're pouring around 1/3 of produced sherry away as there is more demands for sherry casks for making whisky than there is for the sherry in them these days.