Thread: Scotch/whiskey of the day

Originally Posted by arsenal

I can't speak from experience on the Ledaig or the Longrow, but I can tell you that I found the Arran 10 to be excellent. Highly recommend trying that one. Most comparable to a Springbank. But it is not a Springbank. I am enjoying my bottle.

The ledaig is excellent, especially for a 10 year old, as is the Toberbory. These will definitely be making a reappearance in my collection. However, I'll get a bottle of Arran 10 next, if it's that good.

To be honest, I went through a phase of buying increasingly expensive whiskies but I'm finding it just as nice to try to find the best bottle for the least amount of money! There are a lot of excellent, low cost, young whiskies around that you totally miss out on when you're looking for the next 15+ year old cask strength, single cask, distillers edition finished in exotic wood casks (not that there's anything wrong with those, of course!).

Originally Posted by PigHog

The ledaig is excellent, especially for a 10 year old, as is the Toberbory. These will definitely be making a reappearance in my collection. However, I'll get a bottle of Arran 10 next, if it's that good.

To be honest, I went through a phase of buying increasingly expensive whiskies but I'm finding it just as nice to try to find the best bottle for the least amount of money! There are a lot of excellent, low cost, young whiskies around that you totally miss out on when you're looking for the next 15+ year old cask strength, single cask, distillers edition finished in exotic wood casks (not that there's anything wrong with those, of course!).

I am enjoying my bottle of Arran a lot. I hope that should you acquire one that you find it just as good. If I see the Ledaig, I will have to give it a go. I have the Tobermory, and find it quite nice.

Your comments on the costs ring true for myself as well. I have purchased both pricey and less expensive bottles, and have found really good ones in both categories, and have found average ones in both as well. It is a tough call when there are some real diamonds in the rough on the low cost side. My spending has slowed considerably, and most of my purchases today are on the lower side. And some have been quite good.

Originally Posted by PigHog

The ledaig is excellent, especially for a 10 year old, as is the Toberbory. These will definitely be making a reappearance in my collection. However, I'll get a bottle of Arran 10 next, if it's that good.

To be honest, I went through a phase of buying increasingly expensive whiskies but I'm finding it just as nice to try to find the best bottle for the least amount of money! There are a lot of excellent, low cost, young whiskies around that you totally miss out on when you're looking for the next 15+ year old cask strength, single cask, distillers edition finished in exotic wood casks (not that there's anything wrong with those, of course!).

After I posted that, I got thinking about the cost of whisky, scotch specifically, and the whole No Age Statement debate going on these days in the industry. Without causing some enormous firestorm, I am curious your thoughts on NAS whisky. Seems some people don't believe it is worth the cost sometimes. I am definitely curious about Highland Park Dark Origins.

I tried a sample of Dark Origins. IIRC, it was good but I didn't feel is was '£60 or however much a bottle is' good. At that price, I thought it was relatively pointless. Much better if they'd had made a less expensive NAS bottling to bridge the gap between the 12 and 18 year olds. Granted, it does do that but it's still at the higher end of the price range. I still want to try HP 18 and 21 though.

In general, I think it depends. There are a lot of very good NAS whiskies - talisker port ruighe comes to mind - and also, there's the occasional distillery such as ardbeg, who have a predominantly NAS lineup, which are excellent.

On the other hand, there are a bunch of new NAS releases, which do seem to be there to just to make some extra cash. What's laphroaig select all about? I've heard it's pretty uninspiring. Just buy 10yo or quarter cask for a very similar price...

I'd agree with that. There are some amazing NAS whiskies around, Laphroaig QC, Ardbeg Uigeadail and Aberlour A'Bunadh spring to mind immediately and I'll be on the look out for Talisker Port Ruighe. The problem as I understand it is if you're buying a whisky you haven't tried. The minimum maturation time for scotch is only three years. After that you can legally call it scotch as long as you also meet the other criteria. Any less and you can't call it scotch. With an age statement the youngest whisky in the bottle has to be that age. It can contain older whisky but nothing younger, so you have some clue about what to expect. I you can still get age statemented whiskies that aren't much good.

I believe Laphroaig QC is 8 years old. It makes sense to avoid mentioning that on the label since so many people assume older = better. The smaller casks mean more interaction with the wood for the volume of whisky and therefore a faster maturation. Call it 8 year old and you won't be able to sell it for the price it deserves, so you give it a nice name instead.

You also don't want to give an age statement if it's young and not really ready, but you need to sell it off quick because you've hit a bit of a cash flow crisis. No one would buy 5 year old whisky at 50 quid a bottle, but call it something fancy instead (ideally something Gaelic) and you're laughing.

I'm wondering if there are any distilleries taking old mellower whiskies and mixing a little of a younger more fiery whisky in to give it an extra dimension of flavour. If you mixed 99% 25 year old with 1% 5 year old you'd still have to label it 5 year old. Or call it something like Stag's Bagpipes or whatever. I have no idea if anyone's doing that, I'd be interesting if anyone's heard of it.

One more reason for NAS whiskies could be that it's just becoming a bit of a fashion thing at the moment. I'd recommend reading a couple of reviews and ideally trying a sample before buying a whisky you've never heard of. This was fun to write, I might do a blog post about this subject at some point.

Out of interest, how old are ardbeg's uigeadail and corryvreckan?

Originally Posted by PigHog

Out of interest, how old are ardbeg's uigeadail and corryvreckan?

Not sure, but I just read a blog post about uigeadail that said it was made with old sherried whisky from before Ardbeg closed in the 80's mixed with young peaty stuff distilled since they re-opened. The youngest being quite young and the oldest being quite old, so it seems they did what I asked about in my last post. The rumour is that they might be running out of old sherried whisky and are using younger whisky for that component now. I haven't had it for a year or more, but I'm thinking of picking one up when I travel to england later this month.

Here's a link to the post. The first two paragraphs were the most interesting. Chemistry of the Cocktail: Whisky Review: Ardbeg Uigeadail - or Really Don't Believe the Hype

Well it's been working so far. I've been wanting to grab a bottle of 10 year old, actually but like £41...

Originally Posted by PigHog

Well it's been working so far. I've been wanting to grab a bottle of 10 year old, actually but like £41...

Ardbeg 10 for £41? That's nuts! Prices have gone up a lot since I lived in England. Even here in Norway it's only £47 at the current exchange rate.

From master of malt, Ardbeg 10 is £40 and uigeadail is £49, which is why I've previously bought the uigeadail (and the corryvreckan) over the 10. It just so happens that I actually want to try the 10 year old now...