Hey, all.
Those sounds that have been keeping you up at night? Yeah…probably me. Sniffles, coughing, throat clearing. My bad. I’ve battled one cold after another for weeks now. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that my wife works in a virtual petri dish of kid germs and somehow manages to smuggle home enough to share with me. Lovely lass, ain’t she?
Anyway…lest ye think I’ve turned tail and run for the hills, I do have a couple of partially written reviews coming in the next wee while (as soon as I feel my senses are back where they need to be). Look for some Elements of Islay (as requested), some more Cadenhead releases (again…just cause you asked) and a few peated gems to share the word on.
In other news, I’ve been shopping around my second novel and am 30k words deep into my third. Blogging’s fun and all, but fiction is where my heart is.
But let’s not wait for reviews to trigger dialogue here. I’m curious as to which distilleries – in this age of delusion and nearly unfathomable prices – you feel are still worth the investment of loyalty and income. Share your thoughts. Don’t be shy.
All Things Whisky 
If I were to go drop a couple hundred buckeroos on whisky right now, it would probably go in these directions:
•Kilkerran
•Springbank
•Caol Ila (IBs)
•Bowmore (IBs)
•Talisker (DE or 18)
I guess I would break it up by genre.
For Scotch, Benromach (10 can still be reasonably priced in some parts) offers good value. But I have to admit i’ve Been setting my sights in other directions recently.
Amrut seems to have stabilized and most of their expressions are excellent.
For Canadian whisky Wiser’s Legacy, if you can still find it, and a few bottles of dissertation are still around. The newer special releases have jumped in price by about 30% from last year.
And as for American whisky, many premium bourbons remain available for less than $100 Canadian, my favourite being Old GrandDad 114.
I think I have to agree that there are some better Scotch deals among the IBs
Good to know you’re still writing and fighting.
As for what is of interest on the horizon, I’ll go with the odd bunch.
-The Burns Stewart set (Deanston, Tobermory, Bunnahabhain) : A much deserved investment has been made in these ugly ducklings and it shows in the caliber of their releases. Sadly there’s premiumization afoot too but that’s everywhere.
-Loch Lomond group (Glen Scotia & the Lomond Behemoth): Same as above, while we will likely continue to see a lot of odd stuff coming from them it seems that someone at the head finally cares about what’s being released and how.
-Benromach: Ok not everything they release is essential but that 10yr old is a gem and i feel that the best is yet to come.
Kilchoman: Yes the prices are high but the quality of their standard line-up has really peaked, last couple of years. Their new malting floor is going.
-Springbank Cadenhead & co still doing the right thing, still curious to see how Kilkerran will grow.
Still got mad love for Bruichladdich…Just saying. There’s plenty more but that’s what I can think of right now.
I’d love to hear your opinion of Compass Box No Name, as well as Ardbeg Grooves, Glenfarclas 15, Royal Brackla 16, and Balvenie triple cask.
What I’m buying on the regular…
-Octomore
-Lagavulin 12
-Bunnahabhain
-Springbank & Kilkerran
-A’bunadh
-Arran
-Glendronach
Would love to hear your opinion of Compass Box “No Name” and Ardbeg “Grooves”, as well as Glenfarclas 15.
Pretty long cold.
Better get that checked out
Three weeks out from a third hernia surgery. Just back to work and just back to sipping. Patience, friends. I don’t do this for a living. When life gets scrambly this little side project is the thing that has to give.
Third hernia! you only have 2 groins!
Oh, my!
Yup, you get a pass.
But we do miss your participation.
Recover well…
Out of curiousity:
Has anyone else noticed a decrease in their eagerness to purchase whisky over the last year or so?
Absolutely – between being NAS-ed out at the low(er) end, priced out at the higher end, and not seeing many of the remaining new products having much of a shot of being better than the bottles I’ve already purchased and haven’t got to yet, there’s often not enough curiosity left to pull the trigger. I do like the Ezra Brooks Old Ezra 7 that became available lately, but the summer’s been a bit of a wasteland beyond that.
Sláinte!
Not really in my case, but that’s an artifact of location. When I was out in Edmonton at the start of summer I was only limited by suitcase space and horrific pricing at the airport (Cloud 9 in YYC is a bargain by comparison). Were I able to be sitting on all I wanted then I’m sure I”d be the same. But I do have an awful lot sitting around the house that needs to be consumed but building stock was part of the plan.
Hi there,
interesting. We feel or read the consequnces of the industry policy of ever more over-premiumisation in the form of many a blogger quitting or over at the reddit whisky and whiskey threads beeing cobbled together because of a lack of participants with new reviews.
Enthusiasm in whisky is dwindling and it is not the fault of the consumers.
Here some borrowed plumes on the subject.
http://www.divingforpearlsblog.com/2018/08/life-changes-blog-continues-unasked.html
Never the less Asia with its overflow of spendable money keeps the whisky industry in business for the moment. But that can not gloss over that whisky is becoming more and more boring.
Greetings
kallaskander