Whisky



The prime deals I’ve seen seem to be best on aberlour currently. They have a 14 at £40 which I’m tempted with, and the Abundha at £68.

Either of them worth it?
 
Dobblemackem said:
The prime deals I’ve seen seem to be best on aberlour currently. They have a 14 at £40 which I’m tempted with, and the Abundha at £68.

Either of them worth it?
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The A'bundah I've enjoyed( batch variance allowing)
It's just that the price rises since the days of picking it up for £40-45 make it hard to be a buy for me, even if on offer at £68

If wanting a cask strength sherry whisky the Glenfarclas 105 or Arran Sherry cask offer better value imo
 
Cee Jay said:
The A'bundah I've enjoyed( batch variance allowing)
It's just that the price rises since the days of picking it up for £40-45 make it hard to be a buy for me, even if on offer at £68

If wanting a cask strength sherry whisky the Glenfarclas 105 or Arran Sherry cask offer better value imo
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I’ll give them a go. What I find concerning is my palette, I started on your standard £25 bottles on special in supermarkets, and slowly it just wants more expensive stuff. I tried some of the stuff I used to drink recently and I found it tasted cheap, is this normal.
 
Dobblemackem said:
I’ll give them a go. What I find concerning is my palette, I started on your standard £25 bottles on special in supermarkets, and slowly it just wants more expensive stuff. I tried some of the stuff I used to drink recently and I found it tasted cheap, is this normal.
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tastes and palates change certainly...sure like most I've gravitated to higher abv% and find most 40-43% really thin.
Not saying my palate wants more expensive stuff,but do end up spending more on bottles than I thought I would ( and still modest compared to many) but rather want to try nicer bottles I might never have had...budget and availability allowing
 
Dobblemackem said:
I’ll give them a go. What I find concerning is my palette, I started on your standard £25 bottles on special in supermarkets, and slowly it just wants more expensive stuff. I tried some of the stuff I used to drink recently and I found it tasted cheap, is this normal.
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I’ve sort of gone full circle on that one. For most of my life I’ve bought bottles in the £40 range like Laphroaig quarter cask and Ardbeg 10.

A few years ago I started to broaden my horizons and would regularly spend around £100 a bottle (some of these bottles would be £150-£200 now) and found that whilst I enjoyed them I wasn’t getting that much more from them, and in many cases I was paying for hype.

Now I’m happy to stick to my £40-£60 range and know there is a plethora of good whisky at the price point.

It’s a journey and it takes a little time to find out what you like. For me, I like peated whisky and non peated bourbon casks. Minimum 46% and non-chill filtered. Peated whisky I can drink quite young 7-10 years, non peated needs to be 10-15 years - I don’t get that much more from older whisky. Maybe it’s because I’m not experienced enough with them? Bottom line is I now know what I like, know where to go in my sweet spot price range of £40-£60 and am rarely disappointed in my purchases.

It’s a fun journey to discover it though :lol:
 
FC United of Manchester said:
I’ve sort of gone full circle on that one. For most of my life I’ve bought bottles in the £40 range like Laphroaig quarter cask and Ardbeg 10.

A few years ago I started to broaden my horizons and would regularly spend around £100 a bottle (some of these bottles would be £150-£200 now) and found that whilst I enjoyed them I wasn’t getting that much more from them, and in many cases I was paying for hype.

Now I’m happy to stick to my £40-£60 range and know there is a plethora of good whisky at the price point.

It’s a journey and it takes a little time to find out what you like. For me, I like peated whisky and non peated bourbon casks. Minimum 46% and non-chill filtered. Peated whisky I can drink quite young 7-10 years, non peated needs to be 10-15 years - I don’t get that much more from older whisky. Maybe it’s because I’m not experienced enough with them? Bottom line is I now know what I like, know where to go in my sweet spot price range of £40-£60 and am rarely disappointed in my purchases.

It’s a fun journey to discover it though :lol:
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Must admit, that’s where I struggle. The whole peated, Islay, Sherry cask, bourbourn cask etc. It boggles my mind slightly, I can’t pin down and get my head around how it all works.

I’ll usually stick to the £30-50 range, but don’t look at much other than age, and then have a look online at how it’s rated.

I then buy it, and either love it, or think yeah it’s not bad. Thankfully I never hate them.

It would help no end, if I could get my head around all the types etc. I know I prefer single malt to anything else. Don’t mind a bourbourn, or an Irish whisky, and at a push some of the Asian stuff. But that’s where my knowledge ends. How do you even go about knowing the other stuff?
 
Dobblemackem said:
Must admit, that’s where I struggle. The whole peated, Islay, Sherry cask, bourbourn cask etc. It boggles my mind slightly, I can’t pin down and get my head around how it all works.

I’ll usually stick to the £30-50 range, but don’t look at much other than age, and then have a look online at how it’s rated.

I then buy it, and either love it, or think yeah it’s not bad. Thankfully I never hate them.

It would help no end, if I could get my head around all the types etc. I know I prefer single malt to anything else. Don’t mind a bourbourn, or an Irish whisky, and at a push some of the Asian stuff. But that’s where my knowledge ends. How do you even go about knowing the other stuff?
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Some good websites, plenty of decent books ( for those new to the stuff as well as more experienced)
Some very good youtube channels as well. First Fill whisky ( a Kiwi) is engaging, relatively new to the whisky and has done quite a few videos where he will take people through differences in cask type etc, but all done on a quite basic level which might be good wanting to know a bit more without being overwhelmed
 
Dobblemackem said:
Must admit, that’s where I struggle. The whole peated, Islay, Sherry cask, bourbourn cask etc. It boggles my mind slightly, I can’t pin down and get my head around how it all works.

I’ll usually stick to the £30-50 range, but don’t look at much other than age, and then have a look online at how it’s rated.

I then buy it, and either love it, or think yeah it’s not bad. Thankfully I never hate them.

It would help no end, if I could get my head around all the types etc. I know I prefer single malt to anything else. Don’t mind a bourbourn, or an Irish whisky, and at a push some of the Asian stuff. But that’s where my knowledge ends. How do you even go about knowing the other stuff?
Click to expand...
I subscribed to a few monthly tasting sets to get a better idea where my preferences lie. Master of Malt do one that is about £20-£25 per month for 5 or 6 drams. It was then a case of identifying what I liked and looking for the commonalities to home in on the characteristics.
Plenty of places do tasting sets and it doesn’t take long to work out where your preferences lie.
 
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FC United of Manchester said:
I subscribed to a few monthly tasting sets to get a better idea where my preferences lie. Master of Malt do one that is about £20-£25 per month for 5 or 6 drams. It was then a case of identifying what I liked and looking for the commonalities to home in on the characteristics.
Plenty of places do tasting sets and it doesn’t take long to work out where your preferences lie.
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Really like the idea of this, you got any links to decent ones mate?
 
Dobblemackem said:
Really like the idea of this, you got any links to decent ones mate?
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try Spirit Embassy for more "specialised" tasting sets, as @FC United of Manchester says MoM do either subscription or loads of others to buy

thespiritsembassy.com

Tasting Sets

The Spirits Embassy is an online retailer of unique and hand-selected whisky, and other premium spirits and liqueurs. Specialising in single malt scotch whisky from top brands. Our shop is Whiskies of Scotland in Huntly.
thespiritsembassy.com thespiritsembassy.com
 
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Dobblemackem said:
Really like the idea of this, you got any links to decent ones mate?
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Really depends what you want. For branded distillery stuff do a Google search for master of malt pour and sip club. They do a monthly pack with tastings of them hosted on YouTube.
A lot of independent bottlers have something similar if you want to go down the indie route.

Edit
Pour & Sip
Dobblemackem said:
Really like the idea of this, you got any links to decent ones mate?
Click to expand...
Also if you want to PM me an address then I’ll happily make up a tasting set of some of my bottles for you. @shakerman did something similar for me back in the day and I’m more than happy to pass some of the love on :)
 
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FC United of Manchester said:
Really depends what you want. For branded distillery stuff do a Google search for master of malt pour and sip club. They do a monthly pack with tastings of them hosted on YouTube.
A lot of independent bottlers have something similar if you want to go down the indie route.

Edit
Pour & Sip

Also if you want to PM me an address then I’ll happily make up a tasting set of some of my bottles for you. @shakerman did something similar for me back in the day and I’m more than happy to pass some of the love on :)
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What a great gesture. I’ll drop you a message mate, thank you very much. Once I’m up to scratch (if ever) I’ll pay it forward with the gesture.
 

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