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

Happened to be in Dublin City centre today & popped into Celtic Whiskey shop. Decided to treat myself to a bottle of Dalmore King Alexander iii. They didn’t have any in stock, so on impulse, I picked up a Bunnahabhain 18. I haven’t tasted any Bunnahabhain before, but it seems to get a lot of love on here.

Cazale wrote:

Yeah 56 places available. Didn't last two minutes.

Applied through celtic whiskey club for some of their spaces. Closing for entries on Tuesday. Haven't heard anything back yet on if I've been selected

TheG0AT wrote:

Applied through celtic whiskey club for some of their spaces. Closing for entries on Tuesday. Haven't heard anything back yet on if I've been selected

Fingers crossed for you!

Cazale wrote: »

Great deal spotted in Tesco today.

Come back to us when the price gets closer to its name

Cazale wrote: »

Midleton have launched a new whiskey club today. €500 a year.

https://www.barrelclubmidletondistillery.com/

1 YEAR MEMBERSHIP

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP:

WELCOME GIFT PACK
Shortly after sign up you’ll receive a unique welcome pack featuring one of our special edition whiskeys personalised, for you to share with a friend, if you can part with it!

QUARTERLY SHIPMENT
Every three months a new box of whiskeys will arrive at your door for you to discover. Each box with a unique theme contains a 700ml bottle along with three 50ml samples. Get ready to enhance your Irish whiskey knowledge.

DISTILLERY EXCLUSIVES
We’ll be providing you with exclusive access behind the curtain at Midleton Distillery, meeting our Makers, hearing their stories and exploring our process from grain to glass. At least once per year, you’ll receive a distillery exclusive liquid as part of your quarterly shipment box.

VIRTUAL TASTING EXPERIENCES
Following the delivery of your quarterly whiskey boxes, our Makers will host a virtual tasting and conversation which will explore the flavours and stories behind the liquids.

BEHIND THE SCENES DISTILLERY EXPERIENCE
You’ll be invited through our distillery doors for a Behind the Scenes tour at our home in Midleton, Co. Cork or a Blending Class at the Jameson Distillery on Bow St, Dublin, where you will taste, touch, smell and interact with our whiskeys.

ACCESS TO RARE FINDS
When you become a member, at least once a year you’ll be granted access to some of our most interesting bottles. These releases will only be available to Barrel Club members.

WHISKEY EDUCATION
Throughout your journey with us, you’ll step through our distillery doors, physically and virtually, to uncover the expertise we’ve been cultivating since 1825. Each drop will contain detailed tasting notes for the whiskeys included.

So is it 5 bottles you get? An initial one and then 4 each quarter? Realistically you'd get one M and M tasting set? A redbreast set? A powers set and maybe a Midleton set or else Jameson?

You'd wonder what amount of the €500 is an exclusivity premium or just pure money for jam for IDL

Cazale wrote: »

Midleton have launched a new whiskey club today. €500 a year.

https://www.barrelclubmidletondistillery.com/

1 YEAR MEMBERSHIP

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP:

WELCOME GIFT PACK
Shortly after sign up you’ll receive a unique welcome pack featuring one of our special edition whiskeys personalised, for you to share with a friend, if you can part with it!

QUARTERLY SHIPMENT
Every three months a new box of whiskeys will arrive at your door for you to discover. Each box with a unique theme contains a 700ml bottle along with three 50ml samples. Get ready to enhance your Irish whiskey knowledge.

DISTILLERY EXCLUSIVES
We’ll be providing you with exclusive access behind the curtain at Midleton Distillery, meeting our Makers, hearing their stories and exploring our process from grain to glass. At least once per year, you’ll receive a distillery exclusive liquid as part of your quarterly shipment box.

VIRTUAL TASTING EXPERIENCES
Following the delivery of your quarterly whiskey boxes, our Makers will host a virtual tasting and conversation which will explore the flavours and stories behind the liquids.

BEHIND THE SCENES DISTILLERY EXPERIENCE
You’ll be invited through our distillery doors for a Behind the Scenes tour at our home in Midleton, Co. Cork or a Blending Class at the Jameson Distillery on Bow St, Dublin, where you will taste, touch, smell and interact with our whiskeys.

ACCESS TO RARE FINDS
When you become a member, at least once a year you’ll be granted access to some of our most interesting bottles. These releases will only be available to Barrel Club members.

WHISKEY EDUCATION
Throughout your journey with us, you’ll step through our distillery doors, physically and virtually, to uncover the expertise we’ve been cultivating since 1825. Each drop will contain detailed tasting notes for the whiskeys included.

Thank you, have just subscribed to it!

Missus okayed it as an alternative to her buying me bottles for birthdays, anniversary, etc.....works great, she never takes the hint for what I actually want

The tasting glasses look very delicate though, don't think they last me very long anyway!

BonnieSituation wrote: »

I was in CWS on Friday and I actually picked a bottle of that up... then I saw the price and put it back down.

Wouldn't blame you!

It had been in my head for a while to get a bottle and the temptation was too great passing a place I knew sold it.

It seems to cost at least double US price anywhere it is available over here. I guess there is not much of a market for it.

Black Sheep wrote: »

I suppose “value” is always subjective, 500 may not be a stretch for some people. If you take out the value of the four bottles plus the quarterly samples there’s also the ability to purchase the rare offerings I guess.

Every business is in it to make money, goes without saying.

To me all these clubs are to do with recognising the value of “super fans”, not just in terms of locking in their spending but also fostering that sense of exclusivity, buzz etc. Those quarterly samples will be discussed on here, no doubt. A lot of distilleries are doing something like this now, maybe the Scots were a bit ahead on it.

Looking at the site you get a few hints as to what the bottle each quarter would be. They list a "Spanish oak" theme which the bottle is strongly hinted at as being yellow spot, a "Diversity of pot still whiskey" theme which may center around a redbreast bottle (similar to the single pot still set that's produced) and a "John's lane deconstructed theme" (a great tasting by the way!). My own guess is the bottle each quarter is a 60 to 70 quid bottle on average (distillery edition, yellow spot, method and madness, John's lane) so 300 to 350 euro for bottles at RRP and samples on top (25 quid a quarter maybe).

Access to purchase a Midleton Rare each year would be a good benefit at present.

I think it's a fair deal if you like the IDL stable of whiskey

Hogzy wrote: »

Iv been doing a little scoping on this Midleton Distillery Barrel Club, the promo photos on facebook and the Barrel Club Website are showing Jameson Distillery Exclusive and a Yellowspot in the gift boxes. I really hope its something a little better than those bottles considering their value and the cost of the membership.

Photo of Jameson Distillery Exclusive

Photo of Yellowspot

Well if you get an instant delivery of YellowSpot personalised to you on joining that's say 80-100 EUR at retail prices, plus 4 quarterly deliveries of 1 full bottle and 3 samples is another 100 a go that's your 500 straight away.

Everything else is bonus territory.

Sign me up for that craziness...

Hogzy wrote: »

The welcome pack which contains the personalised bottle is your first quarterly delivery, so you only get 3 more quarterly deliveries after that.

The way i read the below is one welcome and then a quarterly delivery i.e 5 deliveries.

WHEN WILL MY WHISKEY SUBSCRIPTION ARRIVE?
Subscription boxes are posted out at the beginning of September, December, March and June and are dispatched via DHL.
Once dispatched, we will let you know your whiskey is on the way, and your subscription box should arrive within 2-5 working days.
New members will also receive their welcome pack within 4 weeks of joining Barrel Club.

1 YEAR MEMBERSHIP

WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP:

WELCOME GIFT PACK
Shortly after sign up you’ll receive a unique welcome pack featuring one of our special edition whiskeys personalised, for you to share with a friend, if you can part with it!

QUARTERLY SHIPMENT
Every three months a new box of whiskeys will arrive at your door for you to discover. Each box with a unique theme contains a 700ml bottle along with three 50ml samples. Get ready to enhance your Irish whiskey knowledge.

DISTILLERY EXCLUSIVES
We’ll be providing you with exclusive access behind the curtain at Midleton Distillery, meeting our Makers, hearing their stories and exploring our process from grain to glass. At least once per year, you’ll receive a distillery exclusive liquid as part of your quarterly shipment box.

VIRTUAL TASTING EXPERIENCES
Following the delivery of your quarterly whiskey boxes, our Makers will host a virtual tasting and conversation which will explore the flavours and stories behind the liquids.

BEHIND THE SCENES DISTILLERY EXPERIENCE
You’ll be invited through our distillery doors for a Behind the Scenes tour at our home in Midleton, Co. Cork or a Blending Class at the Jameson Distillery on Bow St, Dublin, where you will taste, touch, smell and interact with our whiskeys.

ACCESS TO RARE FINDS
When you become a member, at least once a year you’ll be granted access to some of our most interesting bottles. These releases will only be available to Barrel Club members.

WHISKEY EDUCATION
Throughout your journey with us, you’ll step through our distillery doors, physically and virtually, to uncover the expertise we’ve been cultivating since 1825. Each drop will contain detailed tasting notes for the whiskeys included.

Well I'm in :-)

The initial bottle is a personalised Distillery Edition and a Masterclass Blending, straight away you're at €125, plus the 2 glasses.

Then 4 bottles afterwards with 4 * 3 50cl samples of specially themed samples then I don't think I'll be griping too much in a years time when it comes to renewal time.

It won't have been my worst whiskey investment

TheG0AT wrote: »

The way i read the below is one welcome and then a quarterly delivery i.e 5 deliveries.

Maybe youre right, it was on one of the facebook groups that the welcome pack was part of the quarterly deliveries, reading the FAQs of the Barrel Club would suggest the welcome pack is in addition to the 4x Quarterly packs. Iv subscribed anyway so fingers crossed!

Wouldnt it be great if one of the deliveries was a bottle of Johns Lane Cask Strength :eek::pac:

Definitely a fear of missing out but I can't justify spending 500 without having an idea of what's included. I know I'll regret it though when I start reading the reports on here.