Reply With QuoteI've visited a number of whisky distilleries, I'd love to drop by some US equivalents. Flights after a tour are both great fun and educational.
Bourbon is the cousin that I also enjoy. Whistlepig 12 is a great Rye that is so easy sipping. I also picked up a bottle of Four Roses Small Batch Select at 104proof from their distilery which is delightful- esp with a few drops of water.Originally Posted by MikeJSmith
A couple pics when I went a few months back to the Four Roses distillery and did a tasting there.
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I've visited a number of whisky distilleries, I'd love to drop by some US equivalents. Flights after a tour are both great fun and educational.
Very nice, looks like a great trip. I’ve had one of the Whistlepigs, can’t remember which one but I liked it a lot, quite minty if I recall correctly
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Highly recommended for sure. My trip to Louiville, Kentucky included visiting Makers Mark. It was a super tour, great fun, and informative too. Beautiful grounds, and hard to imagine how that one distillery supplies the global market. A few pics:
Thanks - it was a superb trip in October - the weather conditions were perfect. Highly recommended. Whistlepig 12 is quite dry and minty on the palette initially, but it smoothes out ridiculously well and the mouthfeel is superb.
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Pushed the boat out last night with a couple of friends… the pain in the wallet was justified by the delights of this wonderful malt!
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Thanks for the tip! Grabbed one tonight to toast the Bard.
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Pleasure! It's a splendid dram.
I'm going through a few now to choose for Burns night myself, but I think it's going to be the Glenfarclas 15 that's going to do it, primarily because it's so approachable to those who don't really like whisky that much, and also complex enough to be a bit of a delight to those that are keen.
I'm usually a peaty sherried one (on a glass of Lagavulin Distillers' Edition now), but I find those are more of a standalone event than a 'session' drink. They do rather palate blast, at least for me.
Yeah, I think the fellows down the road from Lagavulin are more sophisticated and nuanced (I’m not talking about Ardbeg but rather in the other direction).
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Literally down the road as in Laphroaig? Having walked that road and back to get to Ardbeg and Lagavulin for tastings, we somewhat 'wandered' around Laphroaig only to find it closed!Yeah, I think the fellows down the road from Lagavulin are more sophisticated and nuanced (I’m not talking about Ardbeg but rather in the other direction
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If the three, I can only drink Lagavulin Distillers' Edition in quantity (but no where near as much quantity as Arran 10 or Glenfarclas 15). Laphroaig, whilst I truly adore it in quarter cask and cask strength forms, it's even more of a sipper for me!
Yes - huge fan of Laphroaig. Although there are other great distillers on Islay. Caol Ila and Bruichladdich sometimes get less press that the three neighbours, but both are excellent. My “daily drinkers” if you will are Caol Ila 12 and Laphroaig 10. Of course taste is a matter of taste in the end!
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Big fan of Bruichladdich's Octomore range, but the price is getting harder and harder to digest. I adore the fresh cut grass they manage to carry through their Bruichladdich/Port Charlotte/Oct lines, but oof the latter just keeps on climbing release after release.
Caol Ila I need to try again; I know I like it as the peated influence in Johnny Walker Black, but I don't think I got on with it as a standalone. I have a sample of it somewhere so shall have to retry!
Distillery is 2 miles from my mum's house. Was a lot of local excitement about this one and I was tracking their progress for years. Tried to snag a bottle from the excellent local bottle shop but no luck...huge waiting list and got allocated very few bottles. From memory, the first release was priced at 120 and was up on auction sites at 400 to 500 with days :(. Still not tried it...lucky you! Enjoy :).
Pushed the boat out last night with a couple of friends… the pain in the wallet was justified by the delights of this wonderful malt!
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Kozza.
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You can see a fair amount of what we are drinking on Instagram - WomanofWhisky
Anyone had anything from the Springbank distillery? Seems to have an almost mythical status.
Yip
Working through a bottle of single sherry cask 24 yr old at the moment.
Had a couple of their 21 year olds before and a 15yr old.
I have an 8 yr old in the cupboard unopened.
Is the mythical status justified in your opinion?
I think so. They have quite the collection of stuff tucked away and are really fun to visit. Had a cracking tasting there a few years back with them pulling whiskey out of the barrels for us. Bought a cracking bottle of ‘95 Glenlivet that they had rebarreled for further aging in their warehouse.
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It's a serious whisky that's for sure and certainly not a starter whisky.
I prefer the not so peaty Islay malts.
I may be wrong though I'm reasonably sure that one of the mods on FB's Scotch Addict group runs that. Either that or it's a website/blog of a similar/same name.
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I visited Sept '19, it's a great place to take a tour at and I bought a bottle of Springbank 15 from their shop. I usually dispose of finished bottles though I still have that one, in its box, still on the shelf.
I'd love to try another SB as well as Longrow and Hazelburn bottlings from the same distillery, I forget which is which though one is distilled twice, another 2.5 and the last 3 times. It has been a while since looking though anything that's released appears to be snapped up pronto, partly due to the quality though, unfortunately, partly due to speculative resale.
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My impression is it's a case of low supply equalling high demand, and then it spinning off from there.
Much like the Japanese options. It's perfectly acceptable stuff, or even rather nice, but not empirically worth the premium being charged for it.
But we being humans, if we're charged a higher amount for something, we consistently perceive it as being worth said premium...it's rather a self-fulfilling cycle.
You are wrong on this, there may be something similar but womanofwhisky is my girlfriends instagram page.
I've just looked it up, it's Women In Need Of Whisky (WINOW) that I was thinking of.
https://scotchcrave.com/
This just popped up on one of my social media feeds… anyone been?
https://www.drinks-live.com/whisky-live
Ah, easy mistake to make. I've not heard of her before 🥃🥃
some recent additions! for Glenfarclas fans, the 12 yo is an edition of 300 bottles at 49.4% for the secret bottle shop, and lismore 21 yo is actually glenfarclas...and at £60 or so it's a steal! bottled at 43% the grant family are on the board of the company that markets it.
ktmog6uk
marchingontogether!
Never been before myself though a couple of friends and I are trying to work out if we can attend. Certainly looks interesting.
What is the opinion on buffalo trace bourbon ,read it was very good and it's not expensive around £20 on Amazon
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It does have a good rep. I prefer Woodford Reserve Distillers Select (their most basic one, despite the name!) at a very similar price point, as I find it has a few more things going on than Buffalo Trace. I seem to recall BT being stronger in the eucalyptus taste? Might be your thing. Woodford is more oily in the mouth though, and sometimes that doesn't sit so well.
I do find that compared to a lot of the scotch at that price point, the bourbon options are usually more interesting, but that could well be just because I'm so much more used to scotch than bourbon.
Buffalo Trace is a very good distillery - part of my 2015 bourbon tour. Any of the £20-30 range bourbons are going to be less sophisticated than the pricier stuff of course.
Four Roses make a very good basic bourbon too.
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Nice to see those pictures. My mate was over from the States the other week and brought me this as a gift
Standard bottling, but at a US 45% and signed by the Master Distiller
Buffalo Trace also make Pappy van Winkle at their distellery which shows they know what they are doing. Pappy is pretty much the pinnacle of bourbon, although I think Willett is the real gem of the American whisky [sic] world.Nice to see those pictures. My mate was over from the States the other week and brought me this as a gift
Standard bottling, but at a US 45% and signed by the Master Distiller
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Quietly celebrating my 50th today and the wife surprised me with this little treat. Never had it before, and while I'm not a huge peated fan, very much looking forward to it
Happy Birthday 🥳Quietly celebrating my 50th today and the wife surprised me with this little treat. Never had it before, and while I'm not a huge peated fan, very much looking forward to it
Never tried a Longrow, unfortunately. Happy 50th as well.Quietly celebrating my 50th today and the wife surprised me with this little treat. Never had it before, and while I'm not a huge peated fan, very much looking forward to it
If you're not a huge fan of peat then best you give this one a swerve!
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Thanks allNever tried a Longrow, unfortunately. Happy 50th as well.
If you're not a huge fan of peat then best you give this one a swerve!
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Very much enjoying the Longrow, just the right amount of smoke for me unlike that monster
I was also given a bottle of Talisker 10 too which I'd been meaning to try at some point
Talisker 10 is a very good dram - often my daily drinker.Thanks all
Very much enjoying the Longrow, just the right amount of smoke for me unlike that monster
I was also given a bottle of Talisker 10 too which I'd been meaning to try at some point
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I do like Talisker. One of my go-tos.
Springbank 15 is another worth trying if you haven't already
And it is currently on offer at £32 at Waitrose. (instead of £50.50p)
Time to celebrate - it's past midnight therefore it's time to pour myself an old bottling of GlenDronach's Allardice 18.
#50notout
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Congrats - I celebrated similarly a year ago with a birthyear TomintoulTime to celebrate - it's past midnight therefore it's time to pour myself an old bottling of GlenDronach's Allardice 18.
#50notout
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I was a keen whisky drinker several years ago but then went deep into the world of wine so I didn't drink much whisky for a couple of years.
I got back into whisky some months ago and have been making my way through the half decent collection I have. One of my favourite drams is Springbank 15. I’m almost finished the bottle I have and went looking for a replacement to find that Springbank is now a rare as hens’ teeth. So my question is where does one by Springbank now?
Lotteries (where you 'win' the opportunity to buy a bottle), pay through the nose from some resellers, buy from a standard retailer if they don't sell out too quickly (and still at a much elevated price compared to previously) or auctions.
Prices for a number of distilleries have gone nuts over the last year or so, I finished my bottle of SB15 a year back and haven't been able to replace it at a price I'm comfortable with. I enjoyed that whisky so much that it's the only box and bottle I've kept on my shelves after finishing, the idea being that I'll only discard them if they're replaced.
The GlenDronach 18 a few posts back I swear was no more than £120 when I last bought a bottle, I can see one retailer (via a quick Google) has it up for double that! Tricky to get elsewhere, by the looks of things.
Some of the Glendronachs being sold in retailers now from specific bottling dates go for a premium as due to the closure/mothballing that occurred at the distillery it means some of the content in the various ages of bottlings contains spirit that is substantially older than the suggested age. I didn't think that was the case any more for the 18, but I could be wrong.
That price you've found also puts it above the 21 I was looking at last week! Thankfully I bought a couple of those last year, but still pretty punchy. It's really delicious though!
Indeed, the one in my 'photo is an old bottling (my second) and I have a new bottling in reserve. IIRC the old 18 bottlings are actually 24 due to the mothballing you mentioned.
The bottle I've seen for £240 doesn't state if it's new or old though I've never seen it advertised one way or the other elsewhere either. Pretty sure that there are no more old casks left now so any recently bottled 18s will actually be true to statement, there may still be some old bottlings on the market though if the retailer knows what they have they'll be able to charge a premium, I'm sure.
It's great stuff
Happened to be passing the Glengoyne distillery today. As I don’t think I’ve ever had a bottle from them I thought I’d pop in.
Had a wee taste of the 12 which was quite agreeable. They had a boxed set with glass called Time Keeper (apt for here).. so I thought it would be rude not to get the wallet out.
Andy.
Not sure I've ever tried a Glengoyne. I hope to get back up to Scotland later in the year with the intention of visiting more distilleries, and possibly sample their wares as well...
Anyone else attend Whisky Live in London yesterday? I went with my brother and really enjoyed it, learnt a thing or two as well which is a happy bonus. We started on ryes as neither of us are usually rye drinkers, the intention was to get out of our comfort zones, Wild Turkey Rye and Archie Rose both went down better than expected. Waterford stood out as a single distillery though there were many great offerings to work through.
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My latest incoming as well -
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Had a taste of Ailsa Bay 1.2 Sweet Smoke today.
It certainly lives up to its name. On the nose, it’s definitely Smokey, although when sniffing the cork I got a load of honey.
On the palate, the smoke really comes through and it’s really well balanced with the sweeter notes. No age statement, but that wouldn’t put me off.
Currently on sale with Loch Fyne Whiskies for £45, so I’ll probably try to pick a bottle up when I’m in Edinburgh at the end of this week.
I was driving, so only managed to get a quick taste (my wife polished it off though).
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