What whisk(e)y are we drinking? (Part 2)

Black Sheep

The Laphroaig PX was very well received on release, rated highly by some critics. I liked it, but you're right, it's more on the sweet side. I don't think Laphroaig really does an outright peat monster anymore, in the core line-up. Lore is peated, but it's no more punchy than the 10.

The 48% ABV is around my preferred bracket. I'll drink something like that without water. If you persist with trying it uncut then the "punch in the face" element of drinking highier ABV whisky really does recede, and you'll start 'tasting' it in a reasonably normal way again. I think it's comparable with the jump people make when as non spirit drinkers they start drinking lower ABV whiskies. IMO it's worth trying, you'll liberate yourself from needing the perpetual jug/glass of water on the side.

I didn't see the point until Jim Murray convinced me, he'll taste literally any ABV uncut. Most of us will probably still add water if the ABV goes above 55% but even then I've got whiskies or bourbons that are 55-65% and they can be drink neat because they're so mellow.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120559316#Comment_120559316

That really isn't the same. There was a big argument about it on this very thread with the actual producers.

It is (or was, at the time) distilled elsewhere and at no point did they claim that all their product was produced with all of their own barley.

Beware of "shopfront" distilleries - companies who open small little distilleries allowing for tourism and video opportunities. Just because a brand owns a distillery does not mean that all their product comes from their own distillery. And, unfortunately, they are not obliged to tell us either way!

I believe Tipperary do have a working distillery now. I don't know if they still source liquid or not but on this very thread, in the past, they were trying to claim that a sourced whiskey was not a sourced whisky because someone grew the barley. (Until they got banned!)

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120561810#Comment_120561810

I mean from a terroir/provenance perspective. They only got their stills running last year as far as I know, so they obviously couldn’t be selling their own whiskey yet anyway.

I know they were trying to hide the fact their whiskey was sourced. But they also said they were distilling their own grain at another distillery, when pushed on it. Which isn’t exactly the same as just souring and relabelling whiskey from another distillery.

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120561810#Comment_120561810

I didn’t know they got banned, I thought they just dropped out of the argument. I know both Jennifer and her father were posting on the forum.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120562641#Comment_120562641

The father joined boards just to weigh in on the argument - hence the ban.

The other poster was making out they were a "friend". Perhaps that wasn't true.

I won't go into what was going on behind the scenes. Ultimately, it wasn't their best pr day. They managed to turn a passing comment (which I stand over) on a forum that hardly anyone reads into big, public, silly bunfight.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120562606#Comment_120562606

It's still a sourced whiskey.

I called a sourced whiskey a sourced whiskey and they lost the plot! Whatever gloss or spin you put on it, if you aren't distilling whiskey in your own distillery, it's a sourced whiskey. No buts.

Also they didn't confirm that it's exclusively their own barley in their products, so I'm assuming that it isn't.

odyssey06

For anyone looking for Green Spot Quails Gate release, The Loop at Dublin Airport have it in stock. Not sure of the available quantities, but I did a click collect order for a family member flying through and have the bottle now. €72 for internal EU flight.

https://www.theloop.ie/alcohol/whiskey/irish-whiskey/quails-gate-single-pot-still-irish-whiskey-70cl/384619.html?lang=en_IE

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120561765#Comment_120561765

I had to water it down as the glass id poured was quite generous! 😁

JMcL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120554989#Comment_120554989

You'd probably be surprised how many could afford it when getting to silly levels of disposable income - taking disposable income here as being discretionary income after you've paid for what you need to live (roof over your head, food, transport, education etc.)

So if you take Midleton Very Rare which I'd guess wouldn't be considered out of the way for a good deal of the good folks on here. Currently in Celtic Whiskey Shop's website for €250, how much of your "fun" money would you spend on it as a treat? Let's say 2%, which would mean you'd need €12,500 to spare

Extend that to our hypothetical millionaire and you've got €50k x 50 or €2.5m, which probably covers quite a few Irish citizens these days. CSO estimates 223,000 houesholds with net worth of over €1m as of last year. Granted, much of that wealth won't be liquid (sorry), but for all our problems in this country there's still a sizeable chunk of the population rolling in it.

All the above was of course worked out on the hypothetical equivalent of a soggy beermat :-). My own take? €50k is daft money. Nice box though

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575085#Comment_120575085

I could see a scenario as well where an Elon Musk or Japanese CEO guy or Succession territory - has some sort of leadership bonding weekend away and some mega expensive bottle is open and it shows you are part of the 'inner circle' because you are one of the lucky few to get a dram.

JMcL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575092#Comment_120575092

This too. Undoubtedly status plays a big part. I remember being in a good but very unfancy off license in Derry in the mid-late 90's. I was buytng a bottle of wine and spotted a bottle of Louis XIII cognac on display behind the counter - Baccarat crystal bottle etc - for I think STG£1500 (about £2900 today). Having done a double take on the price, I asked him did he actually sell any, and he said they were very popular around Chinese new year and that he'd shifted several bottles.

It's all about what the market will bear as well. For example, I've always had a gra for nice Bordeaux, and for a brief period - again in the late 90s - would have been almost able to afford the odd first growth. That rapidly evaporated come the year 2000 and a sharp rise in demand from the US and Asia. Bringing it back on-topic for the thread, you could pick up litre bottles of single malt - Lagavulin, Talisker and the like - in duty-free for about the IR£20 mark around that time. You could argue that taking into account inflation, the house "cuvees" (for want of a better word) aren't that much more expensive, but given that a lot of the spirit goes to producing premium expressions, are the quality levels the same? I don't know the answer to that one

adaminho

For anyone in the Limerick area.

kuang1

Jesus I haven't seen a product pushed so hard since the covid vaccine.

The Nal

Come to pappa

kuang1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120591438#Comment_120591438

V nice! Where did you pick those up?

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595186#Comment_120595186

Boston. Not sure how available they are in Ireland. I know the Celtic Whiskey shop gets angels Envy in from time to time but its 100 quid or more. $45 in the states.

kuang1

Good business by you!

Never tried the angel's envy. Michters yes, found it delightfully rich and deep bodied for a Rye.

Enjoy!

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595335#Comment_120595335

Yes was pleasantly surprised myself. Makes a lovely old fashioned.

Angels Envy is aged in port barrels so has a nice sweet finish but still holds the classic bourbon notes of nuts, vanilla etc.

conor678

Wass listening to a rugby interview with Dan Leavy and hear he's starting a whiskey company, Ogham Whiskey.

In the interview he mentioned that there s a family farm in Mulingar that his family want to set up a distillery on and that he was up in Dundalk for the first batch of bottling. Presuming by referencing Dundalk he's using Cooley stock.

I wish him the best and hope he gets a distillery up and running. In these instances, were people use sourced stuff to get going with a distillery then start selling their own stuff, I don't mind buying a bottle to help them out. I'll probably get one some day to try it out. Hopefully he sets up a distillery rather then going down the long term sourced route.

Black Sheep

We've obviously had a lot of chat about this subject in the thread, and generally what people want is just transparency - tell us it's sourced, at least, if not from where, and if you're calling yourself a distillery then at some point you better release your own product, and not just as a one off.

In saying that, I think I'm right in saying that a hybrid strategy is going to be in place in a few newer distilleries. I did a distillery tour at Ardara Distillery and they said they would likely continue to source whiskey, some or all, for use in the Silkie line, and then the Ardara single malt line would be their premium own product releases.

From a cost point of view, I presume there's a point where it makes more sense to do it this way, even if it means the final product is less interesting.

In the case of the Silkie whiskies they seem to still be QCing well, and the special editions have generally been very good whiskies.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120606353#Comment_120606353

Dundalk would probably mean Great Northern stock I'd think

the beer revolu

Lots of people claim to be building a distillery but don't actually do it - or just build a "shopfront" distillery that only produces a fraction of their product and is more of a visitor centre for the brand.

Sourced or not, I really like the Silkie products I've tried.

Smurts

The Barrel Club finishing up this year, just got an email this morning.

Tech_Head

When does your membership end? Wondering if people have it right up to the end of the year or not. Mines ending in September.

Smurts

Im trying to remember! I started at the start from 1st and 2nd years, so they are saying the final drop is in June but cant recall if thats the eighth drop, assume it must be!

Would have thought there'd be an option for existing members to extend beyond June/September to the end of the year if there were a couple more further drops.

Tech_Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120611531#Comment_120611531

They’ve said that there’s an exclusive bottling for June and that plans are underway for September. What month does it give in your e-mail?

”We have some great whiskeys in the pipeline for the months ahead, including another exclusive Barrel Club bottling in June. Planning for your final drop in September is also well underway.”

Smurts

Yea the email says concluding in June for me as I signed up from the start so that must be it! I wonder will they give an option for existing members to extend membership to December if there is another 2 drops in September and December.

Black Sheep

I'm sorry it's finishing, it was an interesting exercise in prestige and exploring their product line.

There was a lot of talk about cost and value, but that was never the point, I think. If you needed it to be good value, you weren't the target market.

I had the opportunity to taste most of the high points, I think, without ever being a member myself. When I tried the John's Lane Deconstructed set, and the Christmas Redbreast, I was certainly tempted to join... But then the last release with Knappogue Castle, and a few other more pedestrian ones, put me off.

Justin10

Anyone go to whiskey live?

Taste anything interesting?

Heard the powers rye cask strength and redbreast px CS where special

the beer revolu

I was surprised at the lack of whiskey live chat, too!

I think it's more a sign of the number of people left on Boards than lack of interest in WL.

Anyway, tonight's bottlekill :

Sideways shlt 😕