The OCUK Whisky (and Whiskey) review thread

It's very subjective really. Most of us are not professional whiskey tasters/blenders/etc. so if doing a blind taste between say a 10yo and a 21yo perhaps you can tell the difference, perhaps not. You could say the same about going to a michelin starred restaurant and doing a blind tasting. But everyone knows it's more than simply eating the food as to why people enjoy good restaurants. And there's nothing wrong with enjoying something expensive, simply because you know it's expensive. Everyone is allowed a treat nowadays :)

I tried and failed to sneak my bottle of Glenfarclas 15 past my girlfriend when it arrived today :p
 
I think there is a sweet spot, but its super subjective.

I did a tour at Dalmore a few years back and tried the 12year (£50) 15year (£80), 18 year (£115) and King Alexander III (£180) - while you defiantly get extra depth and complexity of flavour, and to a degree extra smoothness as you work up the years its so hard to justify the extra jumps in cash.

Theres a huge difference between the basic blended brands (bells, walker, grouse etc) and the decent single malts - the sweet spot seems to be around £35-£50 to my mind. That being said its defiantly nice to have a good bottle for a special occasion but what you call special is totally up to you :)
 
it's whatever works for you that matters. One of my favourite Whiskies is £30-40 depending on sales vs reg price. I also love one that is £2k+ (it used to be a LOT cheaper, and no, I do not, and will not, pay that much for whisky, ever) it's a better dram, but well out of my league now. It was pricey at the time, but goodness the market has gone weird since we were gifted it. At least, being down to 1inch left in the bottle, we don't have to worry about insuring the damn thing! I'd be frightened to open it now.
 
Good value for money is always worth advocating, but a little treat and luxury is nice from time to time - even if it is something which is perhaps overvalued.

Speaking of good value for money, I accidentally came across The Glenlivet Founders Reserve 1824 at a 4* hotel I was staying at. It was surprisingly smooth, in fact I thought it was watered down at first lol At a surprisingly low £25 it's damn good value for money in my opinion.
 
ik9000 said:
I also love one that is £2k+ (it used to be a LOT cheaper, and no, I do not, and will not, pay that much for whisky, ever) it's a better dram, but well out of my league now....
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My father in law opened a bottle last time i was down there, he'd had it in the cupboard for a long time after buying it duty free for £40ish - after we'd drunk a good chunk of it i looked it up to buy some more and its going for £800 now :eek: didn't have the heart to tell him at the time!
 
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Siliconslave said:
My father in law opened a bottle last time i was down there, he'd had it in the cupboard for a long time after buying it duty free for £40ish - after we'd drunk a good chunk of it i looked it up to buy some more and its going for £800 now :eek: didn't have the heart to tell him at the time!
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But this is the crux of the problem. Is whiskey to be drunk and enjoyed or sitting on shelf gathering dust, earning money but not being enjoyed?
 
Blackvault said:
But this is the crux of the problem. Is whiskey to be drunk and enjoyed or sitting on shelf gathering dust, earning money but not being enjoyed?
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The solution is always buy two bottles of special editions, one to drink now & one to drink later / sell and reinvest into two more bottles ;) (the problem is getting the wife to give up her duty free allowance to whisky)
 
Siliconslave said:
The solution is always buy two bottles of special editions, one to drink now & one to drink later / sell and reinvest into two more bottles ;) (the problem is getting the wife to give up her duty free allowance to whisky)
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oh my wife is Scottish so no persuading needed. Shared hobbies are a blessing!
 
I bought a nice 12yr old Bowmore for myself for fathers day. Unfortunately I have now contracted covid and lost my sense of smell.
When I realised my sense of smell was going I tested my senses with a few things I knew to have a strong flavour. Coffee =nothing, marmalade = a bit like honey, I can taste the sugar, but none of the citrus. Whisky =might as well be vodka. I experience the mouth feel of the alcohol, but get zero flavour.
 
EdwardTeach said:
I bought a nice 12yr old Bowmore for myself for fathers day. Unfortunately I have now contracted covid and lost my sense of smell.
When I realised my sense of smell was going I tested my senses with a few things I knew to have a strong flavour. Coffee =nothing, marmalade = a bit like honey, I can taste the sugar, but none of the citrus. Whisky =might as well be vodka. I experience the mouth feel of the alcohol, but get zero flavour.
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That sucks mate. I hope you recover quickly!
 
EdwardTeach said:
I bought a nice 12yr old Bowmore for myself for fathers day. Unfortunately I have now contracted covid and lost my sense of smell.
When I realised my sense of smell was going I tested my senses with a few things I knew to have a strong flavour. Coffee =nothing, marmalade = a bit like honey, I can taste the sugar, but none of the citrus. Whisky =might as well be vodka. I experience the mouth feel of the alcohol, but get zero flavour.
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time to work through the holiday bottles of cinzano and ouso then ;)
 
dl8860 said:
To play devils advocate, I'd say most of the time you'd not get twice as much enjoyment out of a 100 quid bottle as a 50 quid one. Diminishing returns kick in big time. And variety is the spice of life. So for me it's a more varied cabinet. I'm not saying you should scrimp and buy' value' whisky when you can afford better to treat yourself, but paying past 50 quid becomes money not that well spent imo.
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I created a spreadsheet recently using Whisky Base ratings, price and ABV to generate a 'Value'. I added every core range Scotch (over 400) and group the bottles by age band. The resultant graph is an attempt to show how price and age relate to quality and value. I think it fits very well with what one would assume before hand.



Of course as others have said, there's more to it. A desire to keep trying new things being the main one for me.

Edit: That thumbnail is horrendous. Bring back Tinypic!
 
Well this is a strange one. Talk about giving away the keys to the kingdom so to speak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-57825081

Why oh why when you lead the world with a desirable premium product, that is one of the few valid exports Scotland has these days, do you voluntarily sell to your biggest market not just the design but entire fabrication of a working distillery? Ok location and aging and barrelling all matter, but is this wiiiise? It's dumb things like this, and giving the Russians the RR Nain engine back in the 40s, that confuse me. I believe the prophet Gandalf would say "keep it secret, keep it safe..."
 
ik9000 said:
Well this is a strange one. Talk about giving away the keys to the kingdom so to speak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-57825081

Why oh why when you lead the world with a desirable premium product, that is one of the few valid exports Scotland has these days, do you voluntarily sell to your biggest market not just the design but entire fabrication of a working distillery? Ok location and aging and barrelling all matter, but is this wiiiise? It's dumb things like this, and giving the Russians the RR Nain engine back in the 40s, that confuse me. I believe the prophet Gandalf would say "keep it secret, keep it safe..."
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It's never been secret? Distilleries across the world have been founded by those who have experience in the Scotch whisky industry. Japan being a leader in this regard and distilling 'better' whiskies (if you pay attention to awards).

It'll never be Scottish though, no matter where else it's made. And people globally will keep buying it from there for a long time yet, because it is the original originator.
 
It doesn't name the distiller but Inchgower are based in Buckie(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchgower_distillery)
Owned by Diageo and in my opinion, half of their whiskey stable isn't worth trying and you do not have to look hard to find better whiskies out there not owned by Diageo.

I would guess that the brand isn't very profitable so they are selling off the assets. If most of it is used in Bells, its no great loss.
As for the stills etc.. its cheaper to buy 2nd hand rather than new.
 
Jokester said:
If Forsyths were involved, it'll be brand new stills.
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It's new everything they have made for them, not just the stills. They aren't tearing down an old distillery and shipping it over, it's just an slightly ambiguous headline that makes it sound like it could be that.
 
Picked up a bottle of Bowmore 15 while in Edinburgh. Excellent whisky. A bit of smoke and peat but not as heavy as Ardbeg (a favourite of mine). Really recommend it.
 
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