Arran 10 is my favourite new discovery of the year, thanks to Ralphy. It's just such an excellent drop.
Let's put it this way - the cask is evident!Originally Posted by James_Poole
It's a great whisky though maybe too sweet for me, it's borderline tasting like something else other than whisky to my taste buds. If you're looking for a strong contrast to other styles and/or you enjoy desert wines then I'd recommend, if you don't have a sweet tooth then maybe not.
The Sauternes cask is the first Arran I've tried and though I'm not entirely sure I'd purchase again I'd certainly entertain another of theirs.
I think I'll pass on that one... I struggle a bit with sweeter whisky. Tried a GlenAllachie Madiera cask at Bakewell whisky festival last weekend and that was excessively sweet, bought the PX cask instead which is very good!
I also tried the Arran Quarter Cask, I think that might be my next Arran purchase.
I'm yet to try a GA though it's on my list of distilleries to try, I'll keep in mind your thinking on the Madeira cask.
Best whisky i have tried this year, stunning
https://theglenallachie.com/whisky/the-glenallachie-14-year-old-oloroso-wood-finish/
Still enjoying this!
Just ordered an Arran 10, GlenAllachie 15, Ardbeg Corryvrekan and a Signatory bottling of Edradour.
With everything else I have that should be me covered for Xmas...
Cracked open Douglas Laing's Scallywag Chocolate limited edition...been over half a year since the sample tasting, and this is even better than I remember.
48% abv, heavily sweet sherried (I reckon mainly PX casks) Speyside vatted malt...delicious. Limited to 3000 bottles I think.
T'internet says there's Mortlach, Macallan and Glenrothes in there...and you can definitely pick out that distinctive Macallan nose!
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^^^ I recognise a few of those bottles, including the Kah tequila!
Took delivery of these yesterday, won't be until the weekend before I open one or two of them.
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Some lovely whiskies there. I’ve not tried that Ardbeg…let’s have a look on Amazon (!)
Wow can I visit your house?!?Cracked open Douglas Laing's Scallywag Chocolate limited edition...been over half a year since the sample tasting, and this is even better than I remember.
48% abv, heavily sweet sherried (I reckon mainly PX casks) Speyside vatted malt...delicious. Limited to 3000 bottles I think.
T'internet says there's Mortlach, Macallan and Glenrothes in there...and you can definitely pick out that distinctive Macallan nose!
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I'm on my 3rd or 4th Uigeadail and my 2nd 10, love them both (especially the Oogie) and have tried others in bars and at the distillery itself though the Corryvreckan has eluded me until now. It comes highly recommended so I'm looking forward to the weekend!
I'm trying a taster of the amarone cask (50% abv), and I'm not getting any amarone yet on the palate, on the nose perhaps a hint. The whisky seems pretty young in comparison to the 10, quite aggressive even with water added.
Purchased two bottles last week while staying in Pitlochry, Ballechin distilled by a small company Edradour in the mountains behind the town, the other is my favourite Whiskey place Islay Kilchoman in Machir Bay, never seen this one before both are 46% so both should have a glow.
I'm about getting to the end of a Lagavulin 16 year old (my favourite whisky). I just have a bottle of Big Pete left.
Thought I'd have a browse of Master of Malt - heck, the prices of whisky have gone up noticeably since I put an order in earlier this year. Lagavulin at £69 a bottle seems expensive and a lot of stock is out of stock on MoM.
However following the posts on here, I've ordered a bottle of the Douglas Laing Scallywag Chocolate Edition (limited to one bottle per customer) and a bottle of Kilchoman Sanaig. Delivery next week.
I'll pop a review of each on here.
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Unfortunately, Amazon is the only place I've found Lag 16 standard at a price you'll find up in Scotland too, hovering around £50. It's now up at 65 but used to routinely drop down to the more reasonable price.
I picked up a couple of bottles of Glenmorangie on the recommendation of a friend today. Looking forward to a dram or 2 this evening.
Usually more a fan of Irish whiskey but always room for a nice scotch.
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I remember one new years eve being invited to a party in Stirling by my cousin and saying to him "I don't really like whisky" he bought me a Glenmorangie and I was off down the rabbit hole.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
My go to sherry cask is normally Bunnahabhain 12 as it is such a great whisky for the price, but what is worth splurging on?
A'bunadh was great years ago, but what are the current batches like?
Glendronach 21 Year Old Parliament?
Macallan 18?
I've had a couple of bottles of Glengoyne 21 and both times I thought it was meh...
What sherry cask would you be looking at for under £300?
Last edited by studly; 8th November 2021 at 00:29.
If I may direct the coversation back to whiskey, and apologies if it's aready been covered, but what is the best widely available Irish Whiskey?
I don’t have a huge amount of experience in Irish whiskey, but I always liked the Redbreast. You can get the 12 year old for £35-45.
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Big fan of Jamieson's Caskmates
£300 is an excellent budget and may just about grab you a single cask of Glendronach, albeit probably at auction. Otherwise you could get 2 of the 21yo.
Glengoyne for me really gets going at 25 and above, and the 25 just sneaks into budget. It’s great.
Macallan is for flipping not drinking, don’t bother.
Glenallachie 25 should also be in budget, also Bunna 25
Tried Glenallachie (the 12yo) for the first time last night - found it too sweet for my tastes.
Just arrived in the UK
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What am I supposed to do now? It seems that collectively we seem to have bought up all the Bunnahabhain Moine that was available (at a very reasonable price) via Amazon......I'm gutted. It was so lovely and worth any penny. I also used to be a big fan of A'bunadh but that seems to be super expensive (to my wallet anyway) these days too.
Any ideas what is another 'great drop' in the £35-£45 bracket??
Cotswold whisky. Currently £30 in Waitrose.
Some good recommendations.
I'm tempted with the Bunna 25, but I'm not convinced it will be worth the £300 price jump from the 12.
I'll probably end up buying the Glengoyne 25 as the Glendronach seems to be out of stock everywhere.
it is always a law of diminishing returns against exponentially larger prices with aged whisky. Is it a better dram? Absolutely. But you also end up paying for the fancier box, exclusivity, rarity etc. Only you can decide if that is worth it!
They released a Bunna 12 cask strength limited edition over the last few days for £75 - I got one and can't wait for it to arrive, as I am very smitted by the regular 12 (at about half that price) and all things Bunna generally
I'm also still rather apprehensive about the exponentially increasing price with things over 21 years in age...if I had £300 to splurge, I could not see me spending it on anything other than 2 bottles of GD21 Parliament (***) - how anything can be twice as good as that is beyond me, but maybe my palette is still not refined enough!
***2022 will be the year to stock up on GD21, as it is said to contain liquid over 24 years old...
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I'll pick up a bottle of the cask strength Bunna.
I see your point about 2 x GD21.
Won't the GD21 be 27 yrs old in 2022 as the distillery closed in 1995?
I think I will buy a bottle and see what it is like.
Image1636457169.992667.jpg
I’ve drunk a few bottles over the years, it’s crazy to think you could get it for under £100 a bottle not so long back.
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It closed May 1996 until June 2002
I was just having a read of this.
http://wordsofwhisky.com/glendronach...he-label-says/
Impressive collection!
Could I ask your impressions of the JW blue label? I’ve been given a bottle and haven’t tried it yet (might re gift it?)
Cracked open Douglas Laing's Scallywag Chocolate limited edition...been over half a year since the sample tasting, and this is even better than I remember.
48% abv, heavily sweet sherried (I reckon mainly PX casks) Speyside vatted malt...delicious. Limited to 3000 bottles I think.
T'internet says there's Mortlach, Macallan and Glenrothes in there...and you can definitely pick out that distinctive Macallan nose!
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I'm on my 2nd old bottling of GlenDronach 18 and have an unopened new 18 as well, a back-to-back would be interesting. It's the only GD I've tried so can't compare to the 21, if the latter really is better than the former then it must be an outstanding spirit.
I've tried 3 Bunnas, all be it at the circa £50 mark, and wouldn't repeat purchase any of them, they were OK however I wouldn't choose them as part of a core collection. It's kinda put me off trying any others if I'm being honest, maybe unfairly as it's a well respected distillery.
Personally, I have a mixed impression of JW Blue - it's a bit uninspiring to me to be honest...this is one of the "regular" bottlings as opposed to the rarer stuff and maybe someone who is more of a connoisseur will give a more considered opinion, but....for me it's got the smoothness of fine aged malts and plenty of complexity, but the flavour profile does little for me - I'm not a fan of how the smokiness comes across. I'm not sure what Islay blends are in there, but to be crude I would say it's a more aged version of the Double Black. I much prefer the regular Green Label and Platinum/18yrs old labels, as I find them more balanced. In short I struggle to justify the price of Blue Label big time!
@IanBear 's opinion would interest me
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I'm a massive fan of the 12 and 18 (not tried the 15) which were absolutely delicious, complex, salted caramel sherried lightly peat wishkies. But, in fairness, the Stiuireadair was a bit boring for me and I agree, wouldn't repeat purchase...I hear good stuff about the Moine, but not tried it myself. Maybe one of those rather diverse distilleries that will have us keep trying out their bottlings...
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I’d say that’s pretty much spot on @Chris_X - it doesn’t justify the price.
It’s a prestige bottle to impress people not to actually drink. It’s to sit there in films and bars and be a halo product for the marketing team. 50% of Blue Label sales in the UK are to Hindu weddings (seriously) and another 25% are basically to collectors not to open with various limited editions.
The XR21 does smoke better for less, and the JW Green is also much better value and 43%. Having gone through 800+ whiskies 40% rarely does it for me anymore. Green for me is the sweet spot in the range, especially when on offer for £30 at Amazon. 100% malts, 43%, about half the price of most 15yo single malts and every bit as good. Blue is up against 21+yo malts and 25+yo blends, a much tougher proposition.
However, the Ghost and Rare bottles, whilst another jump up in price, are pretty special drams. They are about £275 each but have been excellent.
But if you have a £150 budget and want a top dram to drink rather than look at, you can do much better.
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Wow.
Stumbled across this thread by chance. You boys sure know your tipples.
I’ve by chance just started trying a few whiskeys which is rare as actually I’m pretty much tea total .
I get given quiet a lot of the usual common suspects at Christmas through suppliers at work and tbh I pass them on to family and friends but I recall trying one a whilst ago that was as smooth as silk. No idea what it was unfortunately.
I’ve since started getting a few of the minItures that are available which the 18 year Glenfiddich is leading the pack.
But any advice welcome to a newbie welcome.
I don’t know the terms or phrases used so I think I can just say a rich type smooth whisky if that makes sense ?Oh and I have no sense of smell !!!!!!!
Bunna 18 is superb, up there with the best
Noted.
Out of interest, have you tried Glenmorangie's Signet? I have an opened bottle, I'd be interested in your thoughts if it's possible. Not a pre-loaded or trick question, BTW!
Not for a long time but yes.
I’d put it in a similar category to JW Blue - not from flavour profile but style. It’s designed to impress visually.
Taste wise it’s actually quite good, although again value is questionable. The chocolate malt at least gives it some chops amongst aficionados and it’s 46%, which again is good.
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Two of the three Bunnas were the Stiuireadair and Moine, can't remember off the top of my head the third bottle though it was a named NAS like the other two.
I have heard good things about the aged offerings, maybe I need to revisit.
Interesting convo ref JW, maybe if I see the Green on offer I'll give it a spin.
Pretty much the same conclusions as me, then. Enjoyable though it's not blowing me away, and the box/presentation is certainly there to impress. Decent but lacking a touch in value.
Thanks for responding, good to hear another opinion on it.
I’m a Glenmorangie fan and have enjoyed the Signet prior to it now being at a price where I cannot justify buying it
I found it super smooth and far too easy to drink
Try Dalmore 18
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Dalmore is given a lovely fake tan and filtered to death by Mr Paterson sadly, the 18 is ok but still quite pricey. I’d not recommend it over Glendronach, Glenallachie and Bunna
I received this as a birthday gift from my daughter this morning.
I’m relatively new to the single malt experience but I have had and tried a few now, I don’t really know much but I’m enjoying the journey and I’m looking forward to trying this one.
I have, twice! I've also been to the distillery twice as well, I used to have reason to be that way relatively often.
The Dalmore 18 was my first "expensive" whisky and I thought well enough of it to buy again though that bottle was finished two, maybe three years back. Since then I've bought a few more in that price range and wouldn't go back to the Dalmore, it's OK in isolation however, for me, now not worth the £. Rather interestingly a friend has just been gifted a bottle, I'll have to sneak a measure from him to confirm/deny my views.
As IB has said, Dalmore appear to be more known for the extensive use of chill filtering and colour additives nowadays and, as such, the distillery gets a kicking from some quarters - rightly or wrongly!
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