FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ENJOY A GOOD SCOTCH......

[chief38]

While I am not a fan of Scotch, I was recently walking through the Bourbon section of our "Total Wine & More" liquor store and they have a section dedicated to high end stuff (inside a locked cabinet of course). I saw this and was a bit taken back! The Sales Associate in the store heard me over saying to my friend "who in their right mind would pay $32 K for a bottle of Booze" and he responded with "Sir, we have already sold 2 bottles of that exact Scotch"! Just goes to show you, there's a buyer for almost everything!

 

[hoc9sw]

I couldn't pay that for any bottle, but if I had unlimited cash, you'd better believe I would. That bottle comes from the days when craftsmen made and were proud of great Scotch whisky. Not today's automated systems to push volume over quality.

 

[kscharlie]

I think a $100 bottle of Glenfiddich 18 year old single malt would be just about as good, while saving me $31,899 to boot! Guess my palate is not refined enough.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I couldn't pay that for any bottle, but if I had unlimited cash, you'd better believe I would. That bottle comes from the days when craftsmen made and were proud of great Scotch whisky. Not today's automated systems to push volume over quality.

Not all the Scotch whisky distilleries have gone the automated route. There are still fine craftsmen and women making fantastic whisky the old-fashioned way.

 

[Golddollar]

While I am not a fan of Scotch, I was recently walking through the Bourbon section of our "Total Wine & More" liquor store and they have a section dedicated to high end stuff (inside a locked cabinet of course). I saw this and was a bit taken back! The Sales Associate in the store heard me over saying to my friend "who in their right mind would pay $32 K for a bottle of Booze" and he responded with "Sir, we have already sold 2 bottles of that exact Scotch"! Just goes to show you, there's a buyer for almost everything!

I wish I had the money to buy a $32,000.00 bottle of Scotch. I'm not going to buy any Scotch, I just want the money.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

...paid $42 for one of these the other day...

...it will last me a long time...

 

[BAM-BAM]

...paid $42 for one of these the other day...

...it will last me a long time...

That's a "blended" whiskey......what were you thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You must be of "English" heritage!!!!!

 

[BAM-BAM]

While I am not a fan of Scotch, I was recently walking through the Bourbon section of our "Total Wine & More" liquor store and they have a section dedicated to high end stuff (inside a locked cabinet of course). I saw this and was a bit taken back! The Sales Associate in the store heard me over saying to my friend "who in their right mind would pay $32 K for a bottle of Booze" and he responded with "Sir, we have already sold 2 bottles of that exact Scotch"! Just goes to show you, there's a buyer for almost everything!

What the heck; only $1300 an ounce........ want yours on the rocks or straight up???????

 

[Absalom]

Not all the Scotch whisky distilleries have gone the automated route. There are still fine craftsmen and women making fantastic whisky the old-fashioned way.

I'm going to respectfully disagree here. All major scotch (and bourbon) distilleries are automated to a degree now, and that has significantly improved the quality of the product. Glenlivet, the largest single malt producer by volume, has about a dozen people working per shift.

Today's whiskies are much better than anything that people drank 50 or 100 years ago. In fact, for over a century, until the 1960s, scotch was blended scotch and very little single malt was bottled, because the stuff was considered too uneven, unpredictable and inconsistent to sell as such.

Even today over 90% of all scotch sold is blended, not single malt.

Large, industrial distilleries don't make bad whisky. The only bad stuff one encounters occasionally comes from so-called "craft distilleries" mostly in the US, who try to ride on the coat tails of the craft beer wave. The innovation is awesome and there is some interesting local stuff, but some bearded guys in flannel shirts selling too-young whiskey, babbling about passion, handmade, and craftsmanship, don't measure up to the deep experience you find at traditional places like Jim Beam, Buffalo Trace, Barton, or Bowmore, Balvenie, Macallan and others in Scotland.

One exception in Scotland is Kilchoman on Islay, in Scotland; it's good stuff, and I seem to remember Bob is a particular fan. Peat smoke is great at covering up most of the sins of youth, so they've been getting away with selling 5-year-old single malt for about the price of other 14- to 16-year-olds. The "farm distillery" marketing doesn't hurt either these days

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Good memory Absalom!

Last I knew, blends comprised about 93 percent of the market.

Kilchoman tops my list for great, hand-made single malt Scotch. I've met Anthony Wills and his sons. It's a real treat to attend one of their classes to learn how they do what they do. Great guys committed to doing things the right way.

Other distilleries that aren't much bigger than Kilchoman turn out fantastic young whisky, too. You don't often encounter them in the U.S.A., but they're a treat.

Every one I'm thinking of sells all its malts as single malts, no blends for them. Yeah, their malts are a bit rich, dollar-wise, because they don't make vast volumes.

Some of the best malts come from independent bottlers who fill however many bottles they can get out of one cask of whisky. Typically a distillery will sell a particular cask to the independent guys and gals because that cask doesn't fit the distillery profile. Oftentimes the resulting whisky is far better than the desired "profile."

I haven't been "in the business" for about three years, but I keep my hands wet helping others learn and experience great single malt Scotch whisky. I'm partial to the ones most have never heard of.

Shots are me at one of the many Victoria (B.C.) Whisky Festivals and my personal collection of Kilchoman malts -- some as rare as a registered magnum or a single digit Chiefs Special.

 

[Absalom]

.....
Some of the best malts come from independent bottlers who fill however many bottles they can get out of one cask of whisky. Typically a distillery will sell a particular cask to the independent guys and gals because that cask doesn't fit the distillery profile. Oftentimes the resulting whisky is far better than the desired "profile."
.....

Now the independent bottlers are a case unto themselves. Back in the 1990s when the whisky boom was not yet discernible, large distilleries were quite a bit more willing to sell barrels to independent bottlers than they are now, and those bottlers like Andrew Symington (Signatory) who've sat on those barrels are now bottling some amazing old scotch as single malts at great value if you can find them. I usually get mine from Europe.

I'm currently working on a 20-year-old Dailuaine from Signatory. Non chill-filtered, natural color, 46%, blows any distillery bottled Speysider away. And Dailuaine doesn't even have a distillery label, it's a large malt distillery that's been producing only for Diageo's blends on an industrial scale. Next up will be a 20-year-old Inchgower, same story. And for about the price of a bottle of Sanaig

(Sorry, stock photos, can't take pics of my bottles now)

 

[lkabug]

What the heck; only $1300 an ounce........ want yours on the rocks or straight up???????

Just a dram of water please!

 

[joe44va]

I'm thinking of sticking to Jameson or Powers.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Just a dram of water please!

A wee dram at that my lad!!
Good scotch like good bourbon is proof positive that God loves us

 

[Peak53]

I'm in a pickle and need advice. I recently did a favor for a good friend and he is threatening to bring me a bottle of Scotch whiskey that I "like so much."

Granted, he served me some of this stuff, I don't remember what it is except very peaty and smokey or whatever it is they do to that stuff over there to make it drinkable, and I made the mistake of saying "Hey, that's really good!" out of good manners. I gather its seventy or eighty bucks a bottle. So, it better be good, in my cheap book. The only problem is, what I meant to say is that "It's pretty good for a Scotch. On the Kentucky scale, its about a 4." I don't really want this stuff. I would do the favor many times over for my friend and think nothing of it. Gentlemen, what do I do now?

 

[hoc9sw]

...
Next up will be a 20-year-old Inchgower, same story. And for about the price of a bottle of Sanaig

I have a 40yo cask strength somewhere in the pile, think I saw it while looking for something else today. Come by and we'll have a dram.
Otherwise we can settle for a 1990's bottling of a Balvenie 15yo.

 

[RPB1953]

I'm in a pickle and need advice. I recently did a favor for a good friend and he is threatening to bring me a bottle of Scotch whiskey that I "like so much."

Granted, he served me some of this stuff, I don't remember what it is except very peaty and smokey or whatever it is they do to that stuff over there to make it drinkable, and I made the mistake of saying "Hey, that's really good!" out of good manners. I gather its seventy or eighty bucks a bottle. So, it better be good, in my cheap book. The only problem is, what I meant to say is that "It's pretty good for a Scotch. On the Kentucky scale, its about a 4." I don't really want this stuff. I would do the favor many times over for my friend and think nothing of it. Gentlemen, what do I do now?

Just decant a small amount in another container. When he comes by offer him a drink. He'll see that some has been drunk and likely assume it was you. In any case, you'll have on hand something nice to offer those who may appreciate Scotch.

 

[Clarke Hammer]

I'm in a pickle and need advice. I recently did a favor for a good friend and he is threatening to bring me a bottle of Scotch whiskey that I "like so much."

Granted, he served me some of this stuff, I don't remember what it is except very peaty and smokey or whatever it is they do to that stuff over there to make it drinkable, and I made the mistake of saying "Hey, that's really good!" out of good manners. I gather its seventy or eighty bucks a bottle. So, it better be good, in my cheap book. The only problem is, what I meant to say is that "It's pretty good for a Scotch. On the Kentucky scale, its about a 4." I don't really want this stuff. I would do the favor many times over for my friend and think nothing of it. Gentlemen, what do I do now?

If he gives you a bottle, be gracious and say "Thank you."

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Andrew Symington (Signatory)...

I'm currently working on a 20-year-old Dailuaine

I've been fortunate enough to sit in on Andrew's classes, too. What a peach of a guy! What he's done with Edradour distillery is nothing short of miraculous.

His Signatory bottlings are probably the best "deals" on the market.

If you get a chance to try anything from David Stirk at the "Exclusive Malts" you'll love it. His Dailuaine 21 is the best I've ever had from that behemoth that's normally only destined for Diageo's blends.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I'm in a pickle and need advice. I recently did a favor for a good friend and he is threatening to bring me a bottle of Scotch whiskey that I "like so much."

Don't play games. If you don't like it man-up and say so. You'll save your friend a lot of grief in the future trying to find "that next best bottle" for you.

 

[Absalom]

....
Granted, he served me some of this stuff, I don't remember what it is except very peaty and smokey.....
...I don't really want this stuff. I would do the favor many times over for my friend and think nothing of it. Gentlemen, what do I do now?

Since it's going to be free, just take it graciously. And give it an occasional try. Not liking something is rarely a virtue.

When I tasted my first peated scotch some decades ago, the consensus even in Scotland, where I had it, was that the stuff was not potable for non-natives and only good for spicing up blends. Some distilleries that made peated scotch closed in the 80s because they couldn't give their stuff away; Ardbeg, nowadays an iconic label in high demand, stayed closed for a decade, and Port Ellen never reopened, surviving barrels now drawing 1000s or even 10,000s of dollars per bottle.

People's taste changes, so can yours. Take the easy way out and just accept the gift!

 

[joeintexas]

I can't see it being worth more than 25k, must be a middle man taking a cut. Just kidding, not being a scotch drinker I know nothing about it. Heck, I still think 10 bucks for a case of Coors is high. A nightly nip of Rebel Yell does go down good though.

 

[moosedog]

I highly doubt that it's 32 or more times better than a regular premium Scotch.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I highly doubt that it's 32 or more times better than a regular premium Scotch.

I don't believe it is, either. Rather, it's more about the experience.

The year of the Queen's diamond jubilee several independent bottlers in Scotland pulled out casks of 60-year-old whisky. The whisky I'm familiar with was put in the cask five days before Her Majesty's coronation and bottled on the 60th anniversary of her ascent to the throne -- about four months before my birth.

I'd gotten to know the managing director of the independent bottling house, and one evening at the Victoria Whisky Festival as I approached his table he had a special glint in his eye. After we'd exchanged pleasantries he motioned me behind his display table, pulled out a magazine with an article about a particular whisky and asked, "Do you know what that is?"

"Of course," I said, "I have that magazine."

He pulled the bottle from a box of supplies and poured a wee dram for me.

"Only 88 bottles came from that cask," he said as I nosed the whisky. After all those years in the warehouse, the angels had most certainly enjoyed their share of the spirit.

A gaggle of folks approached his table, and I took my leave to find a secluded spot in the hotel lobby to enjoy that dram. It was, as expected, exquisite. I took more than a half hour to savor that half-ounce pour.

A bottle retailed for $32,000. Was it worth it? Not to me, certainly, but it did make my list of one of the 10 best malts I've tried. The greatest travesty to me will be the bottles that sold to be squirreled away in some prized closet, only brought out to show off for special friends -- but never to be opened and enjoyed. Rather like not shooting a gun!

 

[Absalom]

I highly doubt that it's 32 or more times better than a regular premium Scotch.

You're perfectly right.

With those kinds of bottlings it's no longer just what's in the bottle. People who drop that kind of money pay for the experience Bob so eloquently describes, but also rarity, collectability, and in many cases simply to show off that they can.

Those several thousand dollars for a Registered Magnum really don't get the bullet to the target any faster either

 

[chief38]

ANYONE who pays $32K for a bottle of ANY Booze is (IMHO) NOT buying it to drink, but rather to show the world he can afford the bottle (bragging rights). I whole heartedly agree that there is no Booze that would taste all that much better than a premium bottle costing a few hundred. After all, there is only so much you can do to any fluid sitting in a wooden barrel. I would think it's maybe 5% better at 100 times the cost. I STILL thought it would be a cool post and show the bottle.

 

[03hemi]

I bought one and it tasted like Chivas Regal.

 

[S&WOkie]

I'm perfectly happy with my $76 bottle of Lagavulin 16.

 

[Bekeart]

How can your intentions be honorable when the scotch is older than the girl you are giving it to??

Bekeart

 

[vmumford]

I'm thinking of sticking to Jameson or Powers.

That's by fare my favorite in the cost spectrum. $33 for the big 1.7 @ Costco and by the way, Signature whiskey isn't to bad either.