OCAU Whisky appreciation

[millsy_c]

Will be visiting duty free this week, any suggestions for must have's that are a good price there?

I enjoy glenmorangie, yamazaki etc

[Ma Baker]

A'Bunadh would be a good choice, not sure if it's in duty free though as it depends on the strength.

[millsy_c]

Originally Posted by Ma Baker

A'Bunadh would be a good choice, not sure if it's in duty free though as it depends on the strength.

Shall keep an eye out for it

[dockwizid]

Just posting a reply to the start of this thread about blended whisky. The process of blending whisky is an art in it self, these are guys highly prized for there expertise in creating top qualitiy blended whisky for our enjoyment and should not be belittled as a cheap whisky that they produce.

[theSeekerr]

Originally Posted by dockwizid

Just posting a reply to the start of this thread about blended whisky. The process of blending whisky is an art in it self, these are guys highly prized for there expertise in creating top qualitiy blended whisky for our enjoyment and should not be belittled as a cheap whisky that they produce.

If blends were 100% malt, I'd agree with you. But most aren't - they're majority-grain blends whose only purpose is making whisky cheaper to produce (if not to sell *coughJohnnyWalkercough*).

So sure, good on the blenders, I'm sure they're great at their jobs, but at the end of the day, the best you can say about a blend is "Wow, that hardly tasted like grain whisky at all!".

[millsy_c]

Originally Posted by theSeekerr

If blends were 100% malt, I'd agree with you. But most aren't - they're majority-grain blends whose only purpose is making whisky cheaper to produce (if not to sell *coughJohnnyWalkercough*).

So sure, good on the blenders, I'm sure they're great at their jobs, but at the end of the day, the best you can say about a blend is "Wow, that hardly tasted like grain whisky at all!".

The stuff always makes me feel sick when I have a sip, it's rather frustrating.

I ended up getting a Glenmorangie Lasanta (12yo single malt matured in sherry casks, smells amazing) and a Macallan Select Oak.

Quite happy with the purchases

[Febs]

Anyone else going? I've got my tickets

http://www.whiskylive.com.au/

and

http://www.worldofwhisky.com.au/cont...-show-2012.seo

There's also the Oak Barrel's show, but I think 2 will be enough. Lineup at the World of Whisky one looks pretty decent.

Cheers
Febs.

[redslert]

For the price of the ticket I could buy a pretty damn good bottle.
Also only 4 hours?

[Febs]

Originally Posted by redslert

For the price of the ticket I could buy a pretty damn good bottle.
Also only 4 hours?

Yeah they're not cheap - but pretty consistent with shows of a similar nature around the world. Decent selection and a good way to try a variety of whiskies IMO (and talk to distillers etc) - cheaper than trying them all at a bar or visiting the distilleries (which I've done for a fair few of them - it's a bit of a hike though ).

[GarethB]

Originally Posted by theSeekerr

If blends were 100% malt, I'd agree with you. But most aren't - they're majority-grain blends whose only purpose is making whisky cheaper to produce (if not to sell *coughJohnnyWalkercough*).

So sure, good on the blenders, I'm sure they're great at their jobs, but at the end of the day, the best you can say about a blend is "Wow, that hardly tasted like grain whisky at all!".

Grain whisky can be good, *IF* the distilleries making the grain whisky put in the appropriate effort. One of the main problems is that very few distilleries that make grain whisky use good casks to age it. Mostly they use old casks that have been used several times before to age single malt, then the casks get used for grain whisky (there aren't many grain whisky distilleries in Scotland in the first place, and they are all owned by the big distilling companies that own multiple malt whisky distilleries and own most of the blemded whisky brands, so they send their good casks to the malt distilleries first then send the casks to the grain distilleries when the malt distilleries have finished with the casks).

There are exceptions though, but normally not from the "big name" distilling companies. You're more likely to find good grain whiskies being released by independent bottlers (they buy batches of whisky from distilleries, age the whisky in their own casks and bottle the whisky when they think it's ready).

Compass Box is an independent bottler that has an all-grain blended whisky (no malt whisky in the blend) that is fairly well thought of, called Hedonism, and it's not the only all-grain whisky on the market. Cooley distillery in Ireland makes a corn based single grain whiskey called Greenore (it's made in the same basic way as a single malt Irish whiskey but uses a combination of corn and some malted barley instead of just malted barley). The grain distilleries in Scotland also release official bottlings of their grain whisky but they get very little attention compared to single malts and the number of bottles they release is much smaller compared to the malt distilleries.

Grain whisky isn't always bad.
http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/cat...?cat_id=W_GRAI

Having said that, I recently found the web site for an online whisky shop in Bendigo (Vic) that appears to specialise in single malts that aren't commonly available through the usual retail outlets. For example, Aberlour 10 year and A'bunadh are available from a lot of retail outlets in Aust, but the other Aberlour releases like their 12, 16 and 18 year single malts aren't widely available. This place appears to be filling in niches for versions of single malts that the usual retail outlets don't stock, or from distilleries the usual retail outlets here rarely stock at all (eg Scapa, a neighbour distillery to Highland Park, Hakushu in Japan, Glann Ar Mor in France and the Timboon Railway Shed which is a small distillery in Timboon, Vic.) I haven't ordered from them yet, but I expect to once I've cleared out some of my current open bottles. The prices that I've looked at compare well with places like Dan Murphys (I have no personal connection with this retailor, I'm mentioning it as a place that sells some of the less easily available whiskies here in Aust).
http://www.smwhisky.com.au/index.php

[Febs]

Originally Posted by GarethB

http://www.smwhisky.com.au/index.php

Actually stumbled across that site a few weeks ago myself and was pleasantly surprised at the prices compared with other specialist whisky shops in Australia. Can see myself buying a bottle or two from them.

On an unrelated note - has anyone seen this in Australia yet?
http://www.singlemaltsdirect.com/gle...very-2034.html

I've got the first (Madeira) one and held off on getting this on a recent trip (got an Ardbeg instead) as I was told it wasn't going to be a limited release. Still haven't seen it in Aust yet though.

Cheers
Febs.

[gra55hoppah]

Originally Posted by Febs

Actually stumbled across that site a few weeks ago myself and was pleasantly surprised at the prices compared with other specialist whisky shops in Australia. Can see myself buying a bottle or two from them.

On an unrelated note - has anyone seen this in Australia yet?
http://www.singlemaltsdirect.com/gle...very-2034.html

I've got the first (Madeira) one and held off on getting this on a recent trip (got an Ardbeg instead) as I was told it wasn't going to be a limited release. Still haven't seen it in Aust yet though.

Cheers
Febs.

William Grant Rep has mentioned it at my work, i cant imagine its too far away... seems a bit odd they are releasing it so close (to normal retail at least) to the Madiera finished one though.

[Febs]

Originally Posted by gra55hoppah

William Grant Rep has mentioned it at my work, i cant imagine its too far away... seems a bit odd they are releasing it so close (to normal retail at least) to the Madiera finished one though.

Yeah, I was pretty surprised when I saw it in Singapore in May. Unfortunately I was heading back to Malaysia so could only buy 1L, otherwise I would've picked it up as well!

Hopefully the price stays relatively close to the UK price, like the Madeira finish did.

Cheers,
- Febs.

[millsy_c]

Yeah that glenmorangie matured in sherry casks is delicious, not so scotch tasting as others, but I like the extra sweetness to it for a change

[ir0nhide]

Originally Posted by millsy_c

Yeah that glenmorangie matured in sherry casks is delicious, not so scotch tasting as others, but I like the extra sweetness to it for a change

http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_...e-quinta-ruban
Agreed, love this one!

http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_...-scotch-whisky
Just picked up this on a whim, I think I'm in love (relatively) cheap single malt with a beautifully smooth mouthfeel and a nice sweet finish, great for an 'everyday' scotch Not that interesting character-wise, but I don't mind.