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

Hogzy

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Is this some sort of Harry Potter thing?

Dont be ridiculous! Its Lord of the Rings 2 Return of the Jedi

Black Sheep

Technophobe wrote: »

Only catching up with the thread now but whaaatt?

There are people on here with great taste who don't like Game of Thrones?
Ye know who ye are..
I hope the White Walkers get ye on the way home from the pub some night..

Speaking of white walkers, of course the other GoT whisky that's outside the "set" is the Johnny Walker special editions, including the White Walker.

Like Dalwinnie Winter's Gold, they recommend serving it out of the freezer....

odyssey06

Black Sheep wrote: »

Speaking of white walkers, of course the other GoT whisky that's outside the "set" is the Johnny Walker special editions, including the White Walker. Like Dalwinnie Winter's Gold, they recommend serving it out of the freezer....

Actually the White Walker was included in the sample set I got.
It's Johnny Walker with malts based on Clynelish & Cardhu.
I put it in the freezer for 90 minutes before hand. The taste was quite sharp (orchard fruits?), but it had a lovely long sweet finish on it. Reviews mention "caramelized sugar" for the flavours, almost in bourbon territory for me rather than typical scotch. No smokiness \ peat to it at all.
Again, was nice to sample but not one I'd be buying a bottle of for €60.

ps With the Dalwhinnie I just added an ice cube.

Black Sheep

odyssey06 wrote: »

Actually the White Walker was included in the sample set I got.
It's Johnny Walker with malts based on Clynelish & Cardhu.
I put it in the freezer for 90 minutes before hand. The taste was quite sharp (orchard fruits?), but it had a lovely long sweet finish on it. Reviews mention "caramelized sugar" for the flavours, almost in bourbon territory for me rather than typical scotch. No smokiness \ peat to it at all.
Again, was nice to sample but not one I'd be buying a bottle of for €60.

ps With the Dalwhinnie I just added an ice cube.

Did you get samples of the Song of Fire and the Song of Ice too?

I gather they went light and grassy for the Song of Ice and supposedly the Song of Fire has more of a smoky element. I've tried neither.

odyssey06

Black Sheep wrote: »

Did you get samples of the Song of Fire and the Song of Ice too?
I gather they went light and grassy for the Song of Ice and supposedly the Song of Fire has more of a smoky element. I've tried neither.

Yes they are in the set as 'Blended Scotch Whisky' from Johnnie Walker.

Just based on the nose, seems to be as you say in terms of grassy for Ice and smoky for Fire.
Must put them onto the list to try next!

mik_da_man

Cazale wrote: »

Belfast Whiskey Week have put some passes up for sale for this years festival. Costly enough when you don't know what you are getting. They have a video on Facebook explaining it. Bit convoluted and confusing to be honest. I think they are getting a bit carried away with themselves.

https://bww.thewhiskeyhub.com/

Pretty accurate description tbf!!
I know myself and a few buddies are staying away from it this year as it's all smoke and mirrors (not to be confused with the Two Stacks release )

There's a definite feeling of packs being padded with unnecessary "extras" and it will be a downfall

mik_da_man

Cazale wrote: »

Bob Dylan is 80 tomorrow so I had some 80 year old Irish whiskey to celebrate.

This is a 35ml sample of a Powers 30 year old that was distilled in the long closed Johns Lane Distillery in Dublin.

Lucky to have that!!
I'd say it was an experience.

odyssey06

Seeing as you asked me about the Johnnie Walker Song of Ice...

Like the White Walker, this is based on single malts from Clynelish in the northern Highlands.
But it's a very different whisky... in contrast to the tart but long finish of the WW (which includes Cardhu malt), this is a light crisp scotch with hints of orange zest.

I'd agree with the review here:
"The best place to start is how refreshing this Scotch was. One could envision pouring an entire pint glass of it over ice and not bat an eye until it’s too late. The lightness and fruit certainly do lend themselves as to the name A Song of Ice."
https://thewhiskeywash.com/reviews/whisky-review-round-up-johnnie-walker-song-of-ice-song-of-fire/

This is priced at €54 here so if you want to buy one Game of Thrones tie in bottle this might be the one to go for...

Hogzy

Cazale wrote: »

Belfast Whiskey Week have put some passes up for sale for this years festival. Costly enough when you don't know what you are getting. They have a video on Facebook explaining it. Bit convoluted and confusing to be honest. I think they are getting a bit carried away with themselves.

https://bww.thewhiskeyhub.com/

Its bizarre! Spend 200GBP for a mystery box or 2,000GBP for multiple mystery boxes. BWW has traditionally been good value for money but this form of package pricing is mad! Reminds me of that scene from the Simpsons:

Cazale

mik_da_man wrote:

Lucky to have that!! I'd say it was an experience.

Very much so. I sat there sniffing it for about an hour before I drank it. Definitely a taste profile that doesn't exist anymore. Up there with trying Knappogue Castle 1950 and 1951, Dungourney 1964 for me.

Cazale

mik_da_man wrote:

Pretty accurate description tbf!! I know myself and a few buddies are staying away from it this year as it's all smoke and mirrors (not to be confused with the Two Stacks release )

Hogzy wrote:

Its bizarre! Spend 200GBP for a mystery box or 2,000GBP for multiple mystery boxes. BWW has traditionally been good value for money but this form of package pricing is mad! Reminds me of that scene from the Simpsons:

Don't like getting personal too much but your man is an absolute dose. ****ening on tonight again on YouTube. If I can get some cheap whiskey or some rare stuff I'll pick it up. I'll pick up some ear plugs too.

Cazale

Speaking of Johnnie Walker I picked up this tasting set last Christmas. Paid £100 for the set which I thought was good value considering it would cost about £3.5k to buy full bottles of all six. Has anyone tried any of the samples before?

Hogzy

Cazale wrote: »

Don't like getting personal too much but your man is an absolute dose. ****ening on tonight again on YouTube. If I can get some cheap whiskey or some rare stuff I'll pick it up. I'll pick up some ear plugs too.

Yeah I wasnt impressed with one of his streams at BWW last year. He was having a fair bit of private jokes with one lad he knew to the exclusion of everyone who had paid to be there. Thought it was fairly immature and unprofessional to say the least.

Hogzy

I was lucky today, nice little surprise email from the Birdhouse!

cloudatlas

Hogzy wrote: »

Yeah I wasnt impressed with one of his streams at BWW last year. He was having a fair bit of private jokes with one lad he knew to the exclusion of everyone who had paid to be there. Thought it was fairly immature and unprofessional to say the least.

Yes heard that some of the sessions overlapped and started late and one of the lads presenting was off his face. Sounded a bit funny alright. Their pricing model this year is insane.

Padraig Mor

Hogzy wrote: »

I was lucky today, nice little surprise email from the Birdhouse!

Same here!

Cazale

Hogzy wrote: »

I was lucky today, nice little surprise email from the Birdhouse!

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Same here!

I forgot about this until I saw your posts. Called you all the names under the sun too. Checked there and guess who is in the Dream Cask club too :D:D

killbillvol2

Bastards. (No offence!).

BonnieSituation

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Bastards. (No offence!).

Looks like we're not invited to the party. Boooooooouuurrrnnnsss

cloudatlas

I hope the dream casks turns to boiling lava in your mouths!!!!

I didn't get any

Cazale

I'll be drinking it. Maybe not straight away but it won't be on any auction site. 11,000 people applied for 924 bottles. €520 for a 500ml bottle though so not everybody will follow through with the purchase. There might be a Willy Wonka style golden ticket scenario yet for those who missed out!

Edit - All paid for now. Hilarious that Irish Distillers charged €8 postage on a €520 bottle!

Hogzy

Cazale wrote: »

I'll be drinking it. Maybe not straight away but it won't be on any auction site. 11,000 people applied for 924 bottles. €520 for a 500ml bottle though so not everybody will follow through with the purchase. There might be a Willy Wonka style golden ticket scenario yet for those who missed out!

Edit - All paid for now. Hilarious that Irish Distillers charged €8 postage on a €520 bottle!

At least there's a box with it this year! Even that caused controversy. People were annoyed that their new dreamcask wouldnt look like their other dreamcasks :pac:

I got a dreamcask last year in the re-ballot so dont give up yet!!!

Cazale

Some Bushmills 16 tonight.

killbillvol2

Highland Park 12 watching the match. The correct result will merit a drop of 18 hopefully...

NIMAN

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Highland Park 12 watching the match. The correct result will merit a drop of 18 hopefully...

Sure have a drop even if its the wrong result, drown your sorrows.
Its a win-win.

killbillvol2

NIMAN wrote: »

Sure have a drop even if its the wrong result, drown your sorrows.
Its a win-win.

Paddy and red after that kick in the balls!

Cazale

Celtic Whiskey have announced a Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Tasting. One I've always wanted to try so I've signed up. Not for the faint hearted at €100 but that's not bad for the chance to try all six as they go for mad money even if you can source them. Might not live up to the hype but you never know till you try.

This tasting pack features samples of the Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year Old, Old Rip Van Winkle 12 Year Old, Old Rip Van Winkle 13 Year Old, Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old, Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Old and Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Old.

FileNotFound

cloudatlas wrote: »

I hope the dream casks turns to boiling lava in your mouths!!!!

I didn't get any

Guess we were out of luck.

BonnieSituation

Cazale wrote: »

Celtic Whiskey have announced a Pappy Van Winkle Bourbon Tasting. One I've always wanted to try so I've signed up. Not for the faint hearted at €100 but that's not bad for the chance to try all six as they go for mad money even if you can source them. Might not live up to the hype but you never know till you try.

This tasting pack features samples of the Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year Old, Old Rip Van Winkle 12 Year Old, Old Rip Van Winkle 13 Year Old, Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year Old, Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Old and Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Old.

Was tempted by that as well. Pretty much for why you've discussed above.

I'll hold off yet while the re-ballots are still in the offing.

Cazale

BonnieSituation wrote:

I'll hold off yet while the re-ballots are still in the offing.

I'm on pot noodles for a week after the last couple of days purchases!