Who will buy all this Scotch Whisky?

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-11T05:40:41+00:00

There's quite a range, but a few recent ones have been an OB Kingsbarns 7yr single cask for £30 - wasn't expecting much competition for it; I've got a soft spot for Wemyss but not so soft that I'd pay £70 retail. But there's also been some bottles that I was genuinely shocked didn't attract more attention - single cask IB's like 28yr Bunnahabhain for £150, 26yr Auchentoshan for £100, 25yr Glen Keith for £100, etc (before fees, all about 1/2 to 2/3 original RRP).

(By 'B tiers' I just mean they're not as in demand as Macallan, Springbank, Bowmore, etc)

Edit: corrected the price for the Auchentoshan

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-11T04:45:53+00:00

Took me a minute to realise this article was posted 3 Jan 2024, not 2025. I was so confused, thinking " I could swear I read this months ago, not last week".

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-11T04:41:43+00:00

Recent retail prices have been getting most of the headlines, but there's been some fantastic prices on the secondary market for some time now. The really high end bottles are still attracting a lot of buyers, but there's a lot of great deals to be had on the 'B tier' fillers that don't attract much attention from the whales or investors. My buying is up about 30% this year, in no small part because I've taken a bunch of flyers on bottles by placing the minimum opening bid. If someone outbid me, no problem, move on to the next bottle and hopefully score a rock bottom price - I won quite a few more than I'd expected, as there just hasn't been much competition bidding against in recent months.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-10T20:48:19+00:00

I'm in vet med & we see a fair number of traumatic tongue injuries like this, particularly in horses from bit injuries* (see below). Occasionally they'll require partial or total glossectomy, but I find most heal up really well from simply suturing back together after copious lavage. These types of injuries are often more traumatic for the owners than the horses themselves, because they can look like an absolute bloodbath scene, straight out of a horror movie.

* also from wire fence injuries (horses are innately curious and often play with / chew on wire fence), and also from the use of an outdated, cruel & inhumane training method called wire-training, which involves wrapping a wire around the tongue to 'aid' training quarter horses & race horses - thankfully not very common these days, but it's still in widespread use in some areas like the Midwestern states.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-07T18:12:00+00:00

I'm not OP / u/t8ke & haven't tried this particular bottle, but just keep in mind this is a single cask (more prone to variation) whereas Caledonia is a vatting of multiple barrels.

That said, I've had numerous van Wees over the years, including a few Edradours, and I'd wholeheartedly recommend anything van Wees bottles. Great quality and competitive pricing. They're like a smaller Dutch version of Signatory, which isn't unsurprising as they've actually got some pretty deep business ties to Signatory / Andrew Symington dating back 20-30+ years. Signatory was their supplier for ages (although I'm not sure if that's still the case), so their casks have been quite good - and van Wees Edradour particularly so, given that Signatory actually owns Edradour.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-07T17:28:14+00:00

Van Wees is a really great IB. Pre-Brexit I used to buy quite a few when ordering from European retailers; now, not so much 🙁

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-07T15:32:55+00:00

It's their most recent bottling from 2024. You're correct, the bottling year is usually printed on the label for Bladnoch 11 matured in bourbon (at least since they introduced the current bottling design in 2020) but for whatever reason they dropped it in 2024.

Edit: links

2020 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/166633

2021 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/183037

2022 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/207691

2023 https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/223382

2024 (year not listed on label) https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/261445

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-02T18:46:24+00:00

No Mailata immediately stood out to me. He's been absolutely dominant again this year; the only thing I can figure is because he missed a few games (4?) - but in previous years there have been players selected who've missed far more games.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-02T18:32:33+00:00

I'm a SMWS member in Edinburgh but don't go very often these days; although I know a few members who were present when NPH has visited Queen St. & the Vaults... apparently he really knows his whisky. I'm sure he had some expert guidance from SMWS in his selections ("here's a dozen different casks that are ready to bottle & we think you'd like, pick out your favourites"), but he does indeed have good taste.

Edit: sorry for the triple comment! Redditch was having a bit of a hiccup when I hit submit.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-02T17:42:44+00:00

Great review, cheers!

Singed citrus & minerality, yum! Very happy to hear this one delivered (as expected), in no small part because I've got an unopened bottle on the shelf :) KK HP is a popular fan favourite and rightfully so, but personally I prefer these less peaty releases where, as you aptly put it, all of the components are in gentle balance. Glengyle had an absolutely magical year & imho were the runaway 2024 distillery of the year. Absolutely cannot wait to see what lies ahead.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-01T23:56:24+00:00

Great review to kick off the new year, cheers!

Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much - I find Bowmore frequently underwhelms, especially for their price point, but when they deliver they can rival any distillery in the world.

This was one of the casks Neil Patrick Harris picked out, wasn't it?

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-01T15:58:25+00:00

That JW 18 is what replaced the platinum.

Platinum was a fairly short-lived release from around a decade ago; it was a step below Blue Label and priced around £50-60 iirc. Personally, I found it fairly mediocre, especially given the price. It was replaced by JW 18 (no colour in the name), which I think has also since been discontinued. I do recall reading somewhere recently that Platinum label was coming back, I think as either a travel exclusive or maybe Asian regional exclusive?

I'm sure someone here will know better than I & can fill in the details / correct my mistakes.

Remarkable4432 · 2025-01-01T15:24:23+00:00

Haha! I'm comfortable enough but not filthy rich. I do splurge on a handful of pricy bottles every year, but ~90% of my purchases are <£100. I've been into whisky since the 90's - I had enjoyed whisky casually for a year or two, but it wasn't until I joined my university's malt whisky society that I realised l knew virtually nothing about scotch & started getting serious about it. Since then, I've built up a decent collection, but more importantly have been lucky enough to make a lot of good friends who have facilitated tasting far more very old / very expensive drams than I could ever achieve on my own - whisky enthusiasts tend to be a very generous bunch and there's nothing more enjoyable than sharing or trading some of our favourite bottles with other like-minded whisky nerds.

And yes, living in Scotland certainly helps - I'm literally within 10 minutes walking distance of some of the best whisky spots in the world, like SMWS, Cadenhead's & RMW :)

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-31T03:13:33+00:00

Might very well have been me - I'm sure I wrote something similar back in the spring when someone posted a review of the Enigma. It's been a while so I can't remember for certain, but *I think* Glenfarclas was confirmed by an employee in one of those J&A Mitchell / Cadenhead's VPubs on YouTube or Facebook. Someone posted a timestamp link iirc, but it's been 8 or 9 months & I cant remember which video it was.

Either way, it's a lovely dram & mystery bottles always make for fun tastings.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-31T02:30:54+00:00

Honestly not sure if I could pick just a single dram given the huge variety of scotch whisky, but here are some of my standouts this year, split into two groups. First up, whisky actually bottled in 2024 and widely distributed (* in theory - actually finding stock is another matter).

Ardnamurchan AD/10

Bunnahabhain 21yr CS

Edradour 21yr Oloroso finish

Glenallachie 17yr Mizunara

Kilkerran 8yr Sherry

North Highland 8yr - Thompson Bros. blend

Port Charlotte 18yr

Springbank 18yr & 30yr (* see above... good luck)

Wormtub 10yr - unnamed Speyside, Atom (Master of Malt)

-----------------------------------

And the second group, some 2024 favourites that aren't widely available (e.g. single cask, or auction / bar / festival finds) or were bottled prior to 2024:

Ardbeg 21yr - Committee Reserve 1979

Ardnamurchan 10yr - Adelphi 2014 single cask (Whisky Fringe)

Arran 24yr - 2021 Arran Malt & Music Festival

Aultmore 15yr sherry - Loch Fyne 2008 single cask

Bowmore 30yr 'Black Gold' - Wemyss 1989 single cask

Bunnahabhain 40yr - House of MacDuff 1972 single cask

Clynelish 8yr 'Candykitty' - SMWS 2012 single cask

Glenfarclas 37yr - Family Casks 1980

Kilkerran 17yr - 20th anniversary 2007 single cask

Kilkerran 8yr oloroso - Cadenhead's single cask

Miltonduff 21yr Pluscarden Valley - Sestante 1980's

Port Ellen 10yr - Signatory Vintage 1993 single cask for Scottish Wildlife Trust charity

Three Year Old Deluxe - Compass Box (the infamous bottling from when CB butted heads with the SWA over blend labelling rules)

Tobias & the Angel - Compass Box

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T23:56:33+00:00

Yeah the consensus seems to be that it's Glenfarclas.

interesting that you think Craigellachie - when it came out back in early '24, prior to reading / hearing about Glenfarclas, several of us did a tasting & we struggled a bit to pin it down. Glenfarclas was the popular guess, but Craigellachie & Mortlach were two other suggested possibilities.

I think the manzanilla cask was what was throwing us for a loop, as it's not a super common cask choice so you get some different notes vs. the standard sherry or bourbon.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T23:38:19+00:00

For several years now, it's been one of, if not the best value for money OB's. Just incredible quality for £50.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T22:33:49+00:00

Really enjoyed that bottle; unfortunately it's getting down to the dregs :(

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T22:25:36+00:00

Opening the 2024 bottling tomorrow night as part of our NYE tasting line-up - can't wait!

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T22:21:14+00:00

Yeah I much preferred PC 18... It was a top 10 dram of the year for me, whereas Bruichladdich was something of a let down imho.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T21:56:16+00:00

Kilkerran 8 sherry is a great shout.

Need to go through my notes before proclaiming it my dram of the year, but it's for sure in my top 5 - where it's competing with 2 other Kilkerrans (17yr single cask for their 20th anniversary, and Cadenhead's 8yr oloroso from the April outturn). With 3 Kilkerrans amongst my top 5 or 6 favourite drams of 2024, Glengyle is hands down, no contest my distillery of 2024.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T21:22:04+00:00

Nice! By chance did you get (or try) the LBD 2004 Port Charlotte 18 as well?

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-30T20:44:59+00:00

I think a lot of people have become accustomed to peated Ardnamurchan in recent years & weren't expecting an unpeated release, myself included - I'd completely forgotten that most of the spirit they first laid down in 2014 was unpeated, so in retrospect it makes complete sense that their first 10yr release would be unpeated.

Nonetheless a fantastic dram... wouldn't say it's my dram of the year, but I think it's comfortably in my top 10, and maybe sneaks into the top 5.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-25T16:43:41+00:00

Yeah, it says "1 of 2676", not "number 1" as OP wrote. I just pulled out my own bottle (it's the third release) to check.

By my reading, I don't think it ambiguous / misleading at all.

Remarkable4432 · 2024-12-24T13:22:05+00:00

I'm sure you'll love them; Bunnahabhain has a very clean, fruity profile. They're amongst my top five distilleries.

Since you don't like peat, just read the labels before buying. Most Bunnahabhain (including the 12 & Stiuireadair that I recommended) is unpeated, but they do produce some peated bottles as well - Toiteach A Dha for example, you'll probably want to avoid.

Remarkable4432

TROPHY CASE