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

Did it give a date of when due in store?

Edit - I see it, Thursday 10th November.

https://leaflets.aldi.ie/view/813573591/4/

Has anyone tried the Lough Ree whiskies? Is it a bit overpriced or just in line with rising cost across the board as above?

TIA.

100%. The costs might make a lot of the less established players cost prohibitive especially when discretionary spending is down. It would be such a pity to see the Irish whiskey revival stall due to outside influences beyond our control. Only time will tell I suppose.

Stop spending my money @Cazale 🤣

That does sound very interesting, I don't fully appreciate the difference between the grains so it would be cool to have them alongside each other, if it's not too expensive

Maybe I'll drop some pre-Christmas hints to my wife!

FYI, tesco seem to have a good sale on whiskey currently, picked up a bottle of method and madness single grain for 40 and a 1l bottle of jameson for 32 earlier today.

Lagavulin 16 It was around the 70 mark for years. I would agree with you, I would never pull the trigger for that price now. I bought a bottle at the distillery only last April for £60 or so. I think I e bought my last bottle so will hang on to it for a while.

It's a class whiskey but it has still has added colour and the abv is quite low for the price, especially now. It's hard to get a comparison for a 16 year old sherry influenced Islay, but you could consider Ardbeg An Oa or the Laphroaig 10 sherry finish? Failing that Caol Isla 12 is a good alternative. Ledaig 10 also solid. Surprised you didn't like the Uigeadal as with the right amount of water that's an incredible whiskey with a great sherry influence but its hefty too so fair enough.

Tried to get family to pick me up a bottle of Lagavaulin 16 in France recently, where it was €58.27. But they were out of stock, and palmed him off with a "celtic" whiskey, made in France. 😪

I finished off a bottle of Uigeadail last week. Really loved that whiskey. Never really felt the 54.2% when drinking it.

The Uigeadal is pretty special stuff! The Corryvreckan is incredible too, a bottle i got recently is easy to drink neat even at 57%! Very different though.

Edit: been meaning to try Kilchoman for some time might look about it for Christmas

Jesus - €110 for Lagavulin? That's some jump form the €70 I've been buying it at for years. I bought my current bottle in late June from Mitchell & Sons for €80. I see it's listed there now for €100 (but is out of stock).

It's one of my favourite whiskeys, but it's hard to justify a €40 hike over just 12 months.

I was up north recently & grabbed some bargains up there (the best deal was £20 for Johnnie Walker Black Label). We really are getting fleeced down here with taxes/excise.

Love the black barrel proof. Makes it tough to go back to the regular. Nah, everyone's down in Cork or Clare. Used have some work colleagues going to London semi frequent but that's all stopped, mix of covid and cost cutting. Hear lots of talk about Cotswolds single malt and the new English whiskey in general. Good price, good product. None over here yet that I know of.

I did pick up the tesco finest 12 yo irish single malt for 35 and was pleasantly surprised. It's been a while since I had cardhu 12 but it reminded me of that. No frills, apples and pears, pleasant. Hopefully cardhu and talisker have their annual drop to 30 although maybe 42 is as good as it gets this year

Tesco comes in a west cork bottle but "whiskey chaser brian" on YouTube reckons it's Cooley stock

Well the Irish whiskey awards results are in. https://twitter.com/WhiskeyAwardsIE?t=ydC5APoN_rRo08kkF_Tz2g&s=08. Some strong results for dunvilles, teeling and redbreast there.

Haven't tasted all the winners, but love the dunville's px10, oloroso+px 20. Got to taste the teeling chestnut px at an iws event (paired with ice cream) and absolutely loved it. Interesting to see two stacks winning, haven't tried polaris but I've been impressed by anything I've tried from them (smoke and mirrors was excellent).

Did anybody get their hands on whiskey tasting sheet? The one that tells you what whiskey A1, A2 .. were? I did the iws tasting for the awards and would move to see what was what. Think @Cazale sent it to me last year. Cheers.

I got a bottle of the Cotswolds single malt in Sainsburys in Newry during the summer, actually only opened it this week and drinking that, it really is good stuff, fruity, malty and very well made. Was only £37 aswell which i think for its quality is exceptional value.

I also got a bottle of the English whisky co. single malt in Marks and Spencers in Liffey valley for €35, again, very well made single malt. Was vibrant, touch of peat but only barely, and really tasty! Definitely recommend!

Ive had the Tesco 12 year old too, i reckon its bushmills stock that West Cork bought, i say this because its pretty much identical to the Aldi 12 year old reserve that sold a couple years back, and that was ex-bushmills stock. Tenner cheaper in Aldi but was very limited. I think it absolutely beautiful single malt, really fruity, like an orchard, slightly dry but also sweet, still a bargain at €35 even in this day and age!

I tried some Bart's from Lough Ree last night which has a small peat component and I was very impressed. Very subtle peat but it really adds to the overall flavour and finish. Dunvilles 1808 also has a small bit of peat but its a little harder to pick it out and its another really enjoyable drop.