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

Black Sheep

The Kilchoman and Glenfarclas collabs were from those distilleries, but just sold exclusively at M&S. Not under an M&S own brand name.

I'm in the ROI but in UK a fair bit.

Hodors Appletart

I've a Dunnes voucher for 50 which I'll be spending on whiskey. I don't mind adding a tenner or a fiver, and I see Green Spot is 55 at the moment.

Would that be a good use of the voucher, or would you recommend something else

https://www.dunnesstoresgrocery.com/sm/delivery/rsid/257/categories/spirits/irish-id-49631

Lester_Burnham

That's what I'd use it for.

ZV Yoda

I bought a bottle of Paddy's Share (at €30 I think) a couple of months back. Only opened it recently. A lovely drop and easy to drink, even though it's 47% ABV.

No idea how I haven't tried it before now. I'm really surprised how much I liked it. A new "must have" for the shelf I think. Somebody mentioned above it's €25 in Supervalu at the minute. It's an absolute steal at that price.

Justin10

Agree on Paddy's share above. Great bottle of whiskey.

Picked up a bottle of Ardfallen 10, very nice drop. Didn't get huge flavour out of it, but a very easy to drink whiskey

Bahanaman

There's another Ardfallen whiskey in Aldi with a green label with a very pale colour. What's that one like?

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122922689#Comment_122922689

Saw that, I picked up the 10yo instead.

Description of it here from Irish Independent:

Ardfallen Triple Cask Whiskey, 40pc, €24.99 Produced exclusively for Aldi and new this month is this creamy, toffee-toned triple-cask blend, with virgin American oak spice and Oloroso sherry cask-dried fruit character. Look out from mid-November for its bright and rich 10-year-old Ardfallen whiskey with a moscatel cask finish.

https://m.independent.ie/life/food-drink/five-irish-whiskeys-that-warrant-being-savoured-straight/a967206001.html

2011abc

Paddy’s Share at €25 and Aldi Ardfallen 10 at €30 is like Sophie’s Choice ! The Paddy’s is for the more obvious Sherry bomb fan while the 10 will probably appeal More to quirky (?) whiskey drinkers ( Foxes Bow etc )

2011abc

I’d say spend the extra fiver in Aldi to get the 10 to be sure of satisfaction .That other Ardfallen could be pretty basic

Bahanaman

Bought the 10 year old Ardfallen. Will test soon!

janiejones

I haven't had the paddy's share, think I need to, following everyone's comments. I love the ardfallen 10 though.

The (far superior) brabazon 1 has something similar, sherry finish but since sherry barrels now are "seasoned" because no one actually drinks sherry I'm liking a lot of red wine finishes. Star of the show is the green spot leoville Barton but also I just picked up an achill bordeaux finish I really like and irish malts put their single cask teeling bordeaux pot still on sale from 90 to 65. Not sure of my point but I think it's that red wine finishes could be my sherry bombs.

Having said that, has anyone tried the busker small batch from the "good" oloroso casks?

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122923547#Comment_122923547

What do you mean by, "sherry barrels are now 'seasoned'"?

Black Sheep

I think they're talking about the fact that there has been a practice whereby some casks used for whiskey aging have not contained commercial sherry people drank, but instead bodegas would prepare casks purely intended for the whisky industry. Some of the stuff used, at times, has been far from commercial sherry in nature, and might not have been able to be legally called sherry, but was an attempt at mimicking it.

Accreditation programmes were brought in and there were various efforts at ending the most cowboy-like instances of stuff that couldn't legally be called Sherry being used. My understanding is the worst period for dodgy seasoned casks was probably the 80s-00s, and morso the 80s to mid 90s.

But.. In saying all this, there is plenty of high quality PX and Oloroso finished whisky out there, it's sitting on my shelf right now, so I'm not really sure I can agree this is a significant and ongoing problem. I've also had quite a lot of stuff from the 80s and 90s that was fine.

Boann used some really excellent legit vintage PX barrels, I'm sure there are other examples.

I think if you're a sherry or marsala finish fan, the bigger issue is sulphur, although that again seems to be a declining issue.

I also wouldn't see a Bordeaux or other wine finish as being a logical thing to swap over too, to be honest, the taste profile you end up with is quite different.

DARK-KNIGHT

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122923547#Comment_122923547

when did you see that single cask on sale? not on sale at the moment from what I can see?

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122924622#Comment_122924622

I've tasted sherry from a sherry cask and, for sure, you wouldn't be drinking it. I'd imagine the sherry goes towards sherry vinegar, blending or brandy production. This, as far as I know, isn't a new practice. Whiskey producers have been sourcing barrels and paying sherry producers to fill them for a long time. I'd say it's a couple of generations since only discarded sherry casks that contained drinking sherry were routinely used.

The advent of the PX finishes and named sherry house casks has perhaps brought it to people's minds that most sherry casks are not what people assumed them to be.

I think the only recent change in practice is that some sherry casks used for premium bottlings did actually contain drinking sherry.

Black Sheep

The big Scots distilleries used to have deals with various bodegas for supply, but I would guess yes, extensive use of seasoned options, maybe exclusively in some cases.

You come across smaller distilleries and bonders who will say they've gotten access to stuff from a vintage solera system.

Once seasoned barrels are not prepared according to the worst of practices that went on in the past, the final product doesn't appear to be that problematic, so the whole issue is somewhat moot.

The commercial sherry bodega cask vs seasoned is also somewhat complicated by the fact that there's people who say the former are actually not that good for aging whisky, and that contemporary seasoned casks are better options. It's a bit of a rabbit hole to go down.

janiejones

Must have been a black Friday thing. Back up to full now

OldRio

Hi everyone. Anyone tried this from Aldi? Thinking about trying something different and at this price we'll it would be bad manners to ignore. Any thoughts?

IMG_20241205_135827.jpg

Duchas 24.99 euro

DARK-KNIGHT

Im extremely sensitive to cheaper grain whiskey so unsure about buying any blends.

Whats the ardfallen like? i know its only 30 euro but i dont buy whiskey blendfs unless I know they agree with me

I got a sample of Paddys share and havent looked back but interested in the ardfallen 10 now

The Nal

Its going to be a good Xmas

the beer revolu

Given all the love the Ardfallen here, I thought I'd give it a shot. I took a detour to Aldi on the way home from a Christmas party only to find they had none. Not impressed!

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122928353#Comment_122928353

That's a pain… In my store they just had the boxes on shelf, empty, you brought up box then asked for bottle.
It's possible they have bottles in the back just no box on shelf.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122928363#Comment_122928363

I did ask. Once we got over the fact that I wasn't looking for a €10 whiskey, we established that they didn't have any (as far as he was concerned - he wasn't particularly helpful or knowledgeable, really).

redshift-rider

Ardfallen 10 came in 3 weeks ago, advertised as limited stock. It wouldn't surprise me if stock is thin on the ground by now.

It was the same with the Puca last year. You really want to pick it up on the weekend of release to be safe. Obviously with a new release it's understandable to hold off and wait for reviews. But wait too long and it'll be hard to get.

Black Sheep

Based on the rate people are buying, in this thread, I'm not surprised its getting thin on the ground!

Buddy97mm

Got a bottle of the Ardfallen 10yo yesterday, but it was a struggle tbh.

Got one of the empty boxes on shelf and brought it to till (have done this regularly with other such specials), person on till firstly charged me for empty box without checking, then said if there was nothing in box it meant they had no stock. I said that in the past I had got such specials by bringing empty box to till, where they then got the bottle to put into it. Again, was told there was no stock if box was empty. Luckily, the manager walked past at that moment and said they had got new stock the previous day, went and retrieved a box of said bottles and gave me one. Ironically, he then lamented the fact that they had no empty boxes into which to put the new bottles, until I pointed out there were numerous empty boxes still on the shelf.

Long convoluted way of saying it is worth persisting when being told there are none available. Tonight, I will find out if efforts were worthwhile!

Lester_Burnham

I actually got a bottle of Ardfallen 10yo from my neighbour yesterday. He doesn't drink whiskey so he throws the odd bottle my way. (I give him gin or a good wine in return to keep him sweet).

I liked it but at the end of the day it's a €30 whiskey. Easy drinking but really no depth to it. It really doesn't seem to have picked up any character from the aging.

Spending my own money, for the same price I'd buy Three Swallows, Power's Rye or Roe and Co.

2011abc

Just bear in mind Duchas is only 500ml.The Ardfallen 10 is 700ml and all agree it’s a fine drop .Any feedback on the Duchas ?

2011abc

That empty box story is the worst example of ‘computer says ‘no’ ‘ I’ve heard in ages !

Black Sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122929647#Comment_122929647

Once I went to a warehouse store for a company I work for, to collect a piece of expensive equipment. The guy in charge wouldn't release the item to me, as "then he would absolutely none left in stock".