Any One for a Scotch?

[bootguyPA4]

Right now I'm loving a few different Whiskies:

Hibiki 12 - great stuff, really gives us a run for our money.

darkness! - I really do love Pedro Ximinez and Olorosso casked stuff and this is the best. Small batches from different distilleries asked in their own PX and Olorosso casks for a few months. Expensive but worth it.

Worked in Islay for 4 months last year so I was drinking a lot of Bruchladdie, Port Charlotte, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain.

 

[tbrock]

Wow, what were you doing in Islay? Are you in the industry? Would love to live there for a short while. Funny, I drink a lot of Laphroaig, Bowmore, Ardbeg, Kilchoman... But not really much from the others.

One of my clients uncle's was a master cooper on Islay. Fascinating craft. He still goes there every few months. His scotch collection worth tens of thousands was actually just burgled. Not sure how he's doing with the insurance.

 

[bootguyPA4]

I was renovating the hotel. Not a lot to do there other than drink or fish but I did start to get cabin fever as I was staying far away from Bowmore and did not want to keep shelling out £40 for a round trip to sit in one of the villages two pubs. That said I got friendly with a few locals who gave me a few drams of very rare stuff. Nearly everyone works or has worked or has a close relative that works at a distillery so a lot of the best stuff goes out the back door so to speak. One old timer gave me some cask strength Bruchladdie that was in a PX cask for a very long time, it had a wonderful rum and raisen aftertaste that I just can't forget. I also had a few decent Laphroigs and a ridiculous octomore which burnt my stomach so badly. I worked with one local who had his collection valued at nearly 50,000 as he worked at Port Ellen and stashed away several bottles before it shut down. Sorry about your friends collection.

 

[ama]

@crdb

Are there still Rhum Rhum lobsters floating around? Six months, or so, ago they could be found, but I haven't seen any since they popped up in the U.K. Very briefly.

Frogs are a pretty good substitute, but lack some of the richness of lobster, and substitute it for a bit more wood astringency. Curious if you tried the LMDW single barrel to see how it compares?

 

[am55]

@crdb

Are there still Rhum Rhum lobsters floating around? Six months, or so, ago they could be found, but I haven't seen any since they popped up in the U.K. Very briefly.

Frogs are a pretty good substitute, but lack some of the richness of lobster, and substitute it for a bit more wood astringency. Curious if you tried the LMDW single barrel to see how it compares?

WDYM LMDW single barrel? You mean the LMDW anniversary Liberation 2015? No haven't tried, it sold out before I got to LMDW's Singapore bar.

I tried the cask strength Liberation lobster, it was good but not as good as the older rums by Velier (e.g. Diamond 99 which I can mention since it's also out of stock everywhere now). Also skipped on the frog since the LMDW staff in Singapore didn't think it was worth it. Velier used to do very old exceptional rhums like Skeldon 1973 (impossible to find at any price) and gradually are shifting to very young rums but still at a high release price, in limited quantity.

The Liberation series (lobster, frog, etc.) is a good example: when I first had the Port Charlotte PC5 back when it came out, to release a whisky this young, let alone release it as a premium offering, was "crazy", but today as everything gradually becomes NAS and the likes of PC5/6/7 have shown the customer will pay, a 6 year old rum is nothing special anymore. Personally I do prefer a few more years in the barrel.

I think if you like Liberation it is cheaper to just go to Bielle directly and get their aged rhums, although the community and market clearly prefers the Velier releases. Chantal Comte also releases a few. Generally Guadeloupe rhums are underrated because missing the AOC and the Martinique marketing machine. My next bottle will probably be a Basse-Terre 1995 which is stellar, I see it's back on the market.

Also plenty of less well known but very good stuff by Berry Bros & Rudd, Samaroli, Compagnie des Indes, Bristol...

 

[ama]



WDYM LMDW single barrel? You mean the LMDW anniversary Liberation 2015? No haven't tried, it sold out before I got to LMDW's Singapore bar. 

I tried the cask strength Liberation lobster, it was good but not as good as the older rums by Velier (e.g. Diamond 99 which I can mention since it's also out of stock everywhere now). Also skipped on the frog since the LMDW staff in Singapore didn't think it was worth it. Velier used to do very old exceptional rhums like Skeldon 1973 (impossible to find at any price) and gradually are shifting to very young rums but still at a high release price, in limited quantity.

The Liberation series (lobster, frog, etc.) is a good example: when I first had the Port Charlotte PC5 back when it came out, to release a whisky this young, let alone release it as a premium offering, was "crazy", but today as everything gradually becomes NAS and the likes of PC5/6/7 have shown the customer will pay, a 6 year old rum is nothing special anymore. Personally I do prefer a few more years in the barrel.

I think if you like Liberation it is cheaper to just go to Bielle directly and get their aged rhums, although the community and market clearly prefers the Velier releases. Chantal Comte also releases a few. Generally Guadeloupe rhums are underrated because missing the AOC and the Martinique marketing machine. My next bottle will probably be a Basse-Terre 1995 which is stellar, I see it's back on the market.

Also plenty of less well known but very good stuff by Berry Bros & Rudd, Samaroli, Compagnie des Indes, Bristol...

The Diamond 99 SVW, to me, isn't that remarkable. The S on the other hand... Those seem to be pretty common on eBay still. Granted, not for retail pricing. A 1978 Skeldon just sold at auction for something like £2,100 + premium. It's not like the old days when TWE had Albion and Blairmont languishing on the site for months.

Bielle is very good. I have the 40th Anniversary and 2007 Brut de Fut open now. The BdF is more to my taste.

I think the reason that Velier is more well regarded than Berry Bros & Rudd, Samaroli, Compagnie des Indes, Bristol, etc. is the tropics aging, and the bottling proof. I've had Veliers I didn't care for, but for the most part they have been head and shoulders better than the other independent bottlers of rum.

 

[am55]

The Diamond 99 SVW, to me, isn't that remarkable. The S on the other hand... Those seem to be pretty common on eBay still. Granted, not for retail pricing. A 1978 Skeldon just sold at auction for something like £2,100 + premium. It's not like the old days when TWE had Albion and Blairmont languishing on the site for months.

Bielle is very good. I have the 40th Anniversary and 2007 Brut de Fut open now. The BdF is more to my taste.

I think the reason that Velier is more well regarded than Berry Bros & Rudd, Samaroli, Compagnie des Indes, Bristol, etc. is the tropics aging, and the bottling proof. I've had Veliers I didn't care for, but for the most part they have been head and shoulders better than the other independent bottlers of rum.

Ha, the 2007 BDF was my last Bielle! Finished a little too quickly.

99 Diamond: I meant, it's alright, but not the same league as the old Velier releases.

On Velier generally (your last point), I think it depends how you view your consumption. If you have unlimited money and do not care about the price tag it's very much possible that Velier is still the most reliable house overall. (although I think Berry Bros is generally very good, catering to those looking for balance and complexity over getting blown over by 60% ABV monsters)

If a bottle of Velier is equivalent to 2-3 bottles of something else, the equation becomes "is it worth 2-3x as much" and to me right now it is not. I vastly prefer, for example, 2 bottles of Savanna 10-12yo single casks over a Liberation 2015 (I think with the bank fee it might be only 1.5 Savannas). Maybe when I sell my company, I'll change my mind. Maybe there's an irrational element of not wanting to be with the crowd too. Maybe it's just the good times discovering these things with friends. Velier I associate with brutal auctions and crazed demand pre-release (e.g. Foursquare 2006), not pleasant feelings.

 

[am55]

Actually thinking about cask strength: looking at my most intellectual tasting experiences, they've usually been at 40%. It was a lively discussion once on a rhum group whether the cask strength madness is justified. I think there is room for both. Sometimes you want to take a dry aged piece of cow, about 1-2kg, and stick it in a very hot flame until it is charred all around and soft and red still on the inside. Sometimes you want to dine at l'Arpege. Maybe it's just me, but a lot of the time taking a cask strength bottle down with a few drops, it does not retain the same qualities as something sold at 40%, and I can't help but feel some of the bottlers are hiding sub par barrels under strength. Not Velier mind you. General whisky observation.

 

[sinnedk]

Tried laphroig 18, damn smoky

 

[bootguyPA4]

I find Laphroig far too peaty and smokey. It's definitely an end of night dram, otherwise your taste buds are wrecked for anything more subtle.

 

[sinnedk]



I find Laphroig far too peaty and smokey. It's definitely an end of night dram, otherwise your taste buds are wrecked for anything more subtle.

Lol it was my last drink

 

[bootguyPA4]

I was gifted a bottle of the 10yo by a non whisky drinker. It will possibly be regifted, I seem to be on a rye and sherried cask kick at the minute.

 

[CBrown85]

Keep it until you're not. It's delicious.

 

[AlexE]



I find Laphroig far too peaty and smokey. It's definitely an end of night dram, otherwise your taste buds are wrecked for anything more subtle.

I feel the 18 year-old is a bit more civilized than the standard 10yo ... and hey, you can always flush it down with an octomore ;-)

Right now having a Lagavulin distillers edition.

 

[archibaldleach]



I feel the 18 year-old is a bit more civilized than the standard 10yo ... and hey, you can always flush it down with an octomore ;-)

Right now having a Lagavulin distillers edition.

I really enjoy the standard Lagavulin 16 (haven't had the DE). With Laphroaig, my view tends to me that you either like the flavor profile or you don't. If you don't, why pay twice as much (or whatever the differential is) to get what is basically a more subdued version. I'd say just don't drink Laphroaig (except maybe Cairdeas, which I managed to get someone who didn't like Laphroaig to try and he actually really enjoyed it).