Whisky Live Glasgow 2009

[McKay]

I am just home from the whisky live Glasgow event, i enjoyed the afternoon but have to say there was a serious lack of exibitors for what should be the best of the whisky live events.

The highlight for me was getting to taste the new Ardbeg Corryvreckan which is to be released next week i think. I will certainly be getting a bootle of this.

Mckay

[William]

Hi Mckay

Due to the poor turn out of the whisky companies at the event, i probably tried some whiskies which i may not normally have had, for example i had a few Japanese whiskies.

Ardbeg Corryvreckan - I had to try a few of these Ardbeg will certainly have another hit with this one i think, i can highly recommend this one if you are a Ardbeg fan

I enjoyed tasting the new Kilchoman Inaugural Release 3 Year old Sherry Finish but getting some info on the new bottling and Kilchomans plans for future bottlings from the guy at the Kilchoman stall was like pulling teeth, i got the distinct impression from the guy at the stall that he did not consider me a potential customer. i actually observed him being like this with others who approached his stall but with some people he could not have been more helpful and forthcoming with info. I hate this type of behaviour, where a you are sized up and the decision whether to be helpful or not is made depending on whether in their opinion you are a potential customer. Well everyone who paid £22 for a ticket for the event was a potential customer and should have been treated like so. They have made the whisky they just need to learn who their customers are.

I had a few from the Suntory Hibiki and Yamazaki range, i tried the Yamazaki 12 and 18 year olds, and the blended Hibiki 12 and 17 year olds. They where all decent whiskies but to me they all had a common flaw, the overuse of caramel. This type of tasting where you are tasting so many whiskies close together can sometimes not be the best way to judge whiskies but i did find that caramel was a powerful note in all 4 of the Suntory whiskies i tried, i was a bit disappointed. Dont get me wrong they where all enjoyable whiskies and all worth a try, if only they would ease back on the caramel it detracts from the other notes.

The Douglas Laing stall was by far the best stall on the day, Fred Laing and his team couldnt do more to help every single person who approached there stall whether they were a whisky expert or novice, other companies would do well to take a leaf out of there book. They also had the most new products at the event.

Their new products which i tried which impressed me was the new range of Double Barrel, before the show i was only aware of one bottling of Double Barrel but there are 4 different bottlings. For those of you not familiar with it the Double Barrel it is an intriguing combination of contrasting single casks vatted together by Douglas Laing.

If i remember correctly all 4 bottlings where bottled at 46% and are 8 years old, they are Double Barrel Laphroaig and Macallan where as you would guess the Laphroaig wins the battle here to get to the forefront, Double Barrel Bowmore and Highland Park where this is more a equal battle to get to the forefront and the 3rd one was Caol Ila & Braeval and the 4th bottling was Ardbeg & Glenrothes but unfortunately they did not have any of this to try on Saturday.

The other new whisky from Douglas Laing was The Big Peat blended malt which is a 6 cask maximum vatting of Islay whisky. DL actually tells you on the bottle some of the whiskies that is in the vatting, they are Ardbeg, Bowmore, Caol Ila and Port Ellen whiskies. Whats it like? Well it is very well named, i enjoyed it and i think it was going down well with all at the DL stall on the day, i can recommend it. I also had a taste of the DL Port Ellen 26 not because it is new but because i just love the DL Port Ellen bottling.

Overall it turned out a good day but the amount of big names that were missing was very noticable and this has to be sorted quickly or what should be Scotlands premier whisky event wil be no more.

William

[Charlie]

I also had the Ardbeg Corryvreckan, loved it.

William I agree that he wasnt a very approachable character on the Kilchoman stand. Unfortunately you get people like this at tastings and in whisky shops. The difference here is you buy a ticket and expect to be offered info on the whisky.

I have had a few Japanese in the past not overly impressed but it somehow picks up these best whisky awards, maybe i havent tried the right ones. I always thought it is like scotch but with something missing or maybe i should say something added like caramel.

I agree the team on the Douglas Laing stand was great very helpful and the only company there to not ask for a voucher. The Duncan Taylor stand could do with some lessons fron Douglas Laing, when i asked the girl to tell me about the Imperial they had on display her response was that is one voucher, i then tried it and quite enjoyed it. I then asked her about the Glenlivet 29 year old she had on display her response was that is 3 vouchers in a looking down at me tone, again not what i asked her. I must say she pissed me off i felt she was saying that whisky was out of my league, anyway it pissed me off enough to try it, which turned out to be a mistake as it was not at all special. But the experience has put me off Duncan Taylor.

I can maybe see why diageo doesnt want to show its face in Scotland at the moment but where were the rest of the distillers, very poor turn out.

Charlie

[Charlie]

I meant to say i also enjoyed The Big Peat from Douglas Laing, forgot to ask what price that sells for, anyone know.

Charlie

[Bookie]

I very much enjoyed the event but it was a shadow of what it used to be. The Thistle hotel was way better than being at the SEC. But they really need to have a lot more companies there to get me interested in future.

Bookie

[Lewis]

I did enjoy the day also but as already said there should have been a bigger choice of distillers there. Even the likes of Glengoyne didnt attend and they are only just up the road. There has got to be something wrong.

Lewis

[Mark]

There was a noticable lack of exibitors. William i know what you mean about how some of the whisky reps treat you different than others, and i did notice the Kilchoman guy was not very communative.

Why was Bowmore not there, the other Morrison Bowmore brands were there? I asked the guy at the Auchentoshan stall if they were there as i hadnt seen them yet and he repied "I wish they were" . Then when i get home i find a promotional Bowmore DVD in my whiskylive goody bag. The DVD is very nice but i would have prefered if they had been there instead, i wouldnt have minded trying the new Bowmore Tempest.

Mark

[William]

[Charlie]

Cheers William

I have had a look around but cant see it in any of the usual online shops yet.

Charlie

[chriskelly87]

big peat is available here for £38.99
http://www.whiskyshop.com/Shop/Detail.aspx?pid=2616

[Charlie]

Thanks Chris, hopefully they will have it in the Glasgow shop and i shall pick a bottle up next week and save myself postage.

Charlie

[Martin G]

After reading this post I just had a look at the Douglas Laing Big Peat and Double Barrel bottlings on there website, they do sound interesting. I had the Islay version of Clan Denny vatted malt earlier this year from Douglas Laing and if the Big Peat is as good as that it should certainly be worth a try as the Clan Denny was excellent IMHO.

Love the label on the Big Peat sort of says this peat will blow you away

Martin G

[Alastair]

I see what you mean about the label on the big peat Martin, i notice the whisky shop is out of stock so it must be selling well.

Alastair

[butephoto]

I didn't bother this year as the list of exhibitors was woeful. Diageo haven't been involved for a couple of years now and I'm surprised to hear that Glengoyne didn't bother as they were there last year. Like other they must have finally had enough. It's pretty embarassing for a Glaswegian like myself to not have a good whisky festival in my city.
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http://www.glasgowswhiskyfestival.com

[Frankie]

I got myself a bottle of the Big Peat this week, the peat isnt as big as what the name suggests but still a nice peaty dram.