Advice on buying an older bottle

I don't know anything about those particular bottles, but generally, for old whisky, better values are to be found from the independent bottles than from the officials.

@Nickh, I haven't tasted either one of the two whiskies you are considering, but I expect that both of the choices you are considering will work well, given your friend's taste.

As @Ol_Jas alludes, it would be good to consider independent bottlers as well. If I am spending the money on a 30 yo bottle, I will be reading some reviews of that particular bottle first. "Old" isn't necessarily "good".

Thanks. Good point about independent bottlers. I'll do a little research!

Glenfarclas ages very well, in my opinion, with lots of chocolate type flavors and complexity showing up around 30 years old. I've never had the 30 year old official bottling, but I'd choose that one in a heartbeat.

I would not worry about the quality of an official Glenfarclas I had not tasted. They're an excellent company. With independent bottlings you are taking more of a gamble, in my experience, with little or no correlation between price and quality.

I'm not an Auchentoshan fan, and have never had a sherried one, so I don't know how those turn out generally.

Thanks. Like you we are big fans of Glenfarclas. Someone came up with the great idea of getting him 2 bottles of 25 year old Whisky. I think cost wise I'm pretty sold on the idea! One will be the Glenfarclas 25 (which seems to be available for a good price at the moment). So just looking for another 25 year old!

The Glenfarclas is the best of their range up to 25 in my opinion. It's a winner.

Another 25 year old? I like the Glencadam 25, Highland Park 25 and Talisker 25.

@Nickh, if someone offered me a 25 yo whisky of my choice I would choose Highland Park. That is really one of the relatively few bottles which I do not own which I would very much like to own. And yes, I have tasted it more than once...that's why I would like to have it.

But, @Victor, there is HP 25 then there is HP 25. Currently the bottling listed is bottled at 48.1% and priced at $900.

I've seen an HP 25 bottled at 53.5%. I would have a hard time believing they were both different batches of a cask strength expression.

And don't you find some HPs tainted with sulphur? I get a sulphury note in some of the 12s I've tried.

@Nozinan, certainly I run from sulphur in whisky like the plague. I haven't yet encountered it in the Highland Park 25 yo, happily. Yes, Highland Park is capable of putting out sulphured malt. Dark Origins is a good recent example.

As for whether that is Cask Strength status of the different versions of the HP25, I really don't know. I have a bottle of Laphroaig 25 Cask Strength which is bottled at 45.1% ABV. So it is entirely possible that an HP 25 yo could be Cask Stength at 48%

As for the $ 900 price tag, I said if someone ELSE were to give me a bottle...otherwise I would be looking to trade inflated value for inflated value. Pappy Van Winkle 15 year old, anyone?

Thanks. Very tempted by the Highland Park 25. I've had the Highland Park 18. Which I liked very much. Would have to be the lower alcohol bottling though. Talisker is a possibility although I've never tasted a Talisker. Might be wise to develop my taste for pleated Whisky first before jumping in though! Other possibilities are the BenRiach 25 and the single cask Glenrothes 25 I've just spotted on Master of Malt.

There is also a Mortlach 25 currently available. I like Mortlach generally, but have not tried this one. But I saw it on a store shelf last night.

@McTeague, the Mortlach super-thick and lush sherry house style is just my cup of tea, but if you can smell and taste sulphur you have to be super careful of all Mortlachs. Many of them are sulphur-ruined, for those who are sensitive to the smell and taste of sulphur. I would taste before buying Mortlach. Of course if you are sulphur-blind, as quite few people are, it probably won't matter to you.

Ha! ...last post correction: "...as quite A few people are...."

The Mortlach looks interesting. I've never tasted one before. I have no idea whether I'm sulphur blind or not!

Actually, correction: the Mortlach I saw was the Gordon and MacPhail Mortlach 25. Also a sherried Mortlach and about one third the price of the official bottling.

I had a sherried Mortlach from SMWS not long ago and it was beautiful. I like a sherried whisky where the base malt is distinctive enough to not get lost in the sherry. This one had a pleasant chalky flavor that counterbalanced the sherry perfectly.

Interesting. Gordon & MacPhail do a 1988 Highland Park. At a seemingly reasonable price. Has anyone tried this?

thewhiskyexchange.com/p/23866/…

@Nickh, that is an excellent collection of new additions to your cabinet! When the time comes to taste them, please let us know how you are finding them.

Thanks Victor. I've been trying quite a few samples. I made some purchases to be opened 'sometime in the future'. Some at an auction which was quite good fun. May not be for a while but will keep you posted.

By the way i pounced in the Highland Park 25 when the price dropped significantly on Amazon recently.