Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Wierdo I'm looking forward to the "farmyard funk". It is a flavour element which I associate with Port Charlotte and on a more nuanced level with, early, 2010-2014 bottling of Springbank 10. I'm also interested to see how the peat aspect compares to the Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength Bourbon Cask at 55.7%. I consider the Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength Bourbon Cask as one of the better example of a clean, young, and balanced , spirit driven whisky. I wasn't much a fan of the Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength Recharred Oloroso Sherry Cask 57.1%. I suspect that it needs air time in an open bottle for the flavours to integrate a bloom.

@fiddich1980 @Wierdo - I have a sample of @Wierdo's peated bottle and a sample of the oloroso one courtesy of @cricklewood. My plan is to do a h2h at some point. I shall report back.

@RianC regards the Victoriana. Thanks for the offer but I plan to open my bottle this weekend. When you get around to opening the 105 though I wouldn't mind trying a sample of that

@Wierdo - done! If it's anything like the last bottle (and Serge seems to think the quality is still there) it will be very enjoyable and very soft for 60%. Can't go wrong for £40!

@fiddich1980 I completely agree with you there - the KK8 CS bourbon cask is much more to my tastes than the 57.1 recharred sherry cask. I did however really enjoy blending them together! Give that a go if you still have each of them. I do hope they release some more 100% ex-bourbon at cask strength.

I'm excited to have been able to grab one each of these. The KK8 56.9% was released in January this year, the KK HP batch 4 58.6% in April. They both become available here just this week (and were sold out in minutes). I opened the KK8 CS straight away - wow. So much superior to the previous batch of 57.1 from recharred sherry. It's dirty, meaty, nutty, and has a touch of sulfuric funk. That was just the neck pour so we'll see how it goes with some time and air. I loved the previous batches of the KK HP so I'm excited to see how the latest measures up.

Benromach vintage 2009 cask strength batch four. 57.2%

Not had this one before but read good things about the previous batches. A cask strength whisky for under 60 quid seems reasonable value these days.

Just poured a dram and that classic Benromach leather, a touch of smoke and a slightly fusty but bright, forest fruit note on the palate is still there. I love the way this spirit character binds the core offerings together.

Happy with this one. Cheers all.

@Timp I think this expression replaced the Ben 10/100. In the far reaches of my mind I believe I remember trying them H2H but I don't remember if I had a preference.

@Nozinan I still mourn the loss of the 10/100. Haven't yet tried the replacement, but it sounds good from @Timp's impressions.

@Timp - not tried the new bottling but glad to hear they're still decent.

@RianC can send you a sample mate in the next swap if you want? Having another dram tonight. It’s not bad. Got my missus to get me a Ben Nevis 10 today and I think this was one you liked? Never tried it as it was difficult to get hold of for a while. Looking forward to trying it.

@Timp - that would be tremendous, cheers! Yes, loved the Ben 10 and still kick myself for not stocking up - it was £30 not that long ago. New prices have put me off a bit but would happily have another.

@Nozinan @BlueNote I did a head to head a while ago with the Benromach 10 100 proof and the first of the vintage releases. The newer releases have a lot more sherry influence where as the older 10/100 had a more savoury or herbal aspect alongside the more bourbon cask forward flavours. Both good but I loved the old 10/100.

I currently have a bottle of batch #1 of the Benromach cask strength open. I did actually save a sample of my last bottle of the 10/100 so I'll have to do a side by side comparison.

The Ben CS is very good just perhaps not quite as good as the older bottle. As others have said the recipe seems to have changed a little. To my mind the old 10/100 was a bit more 'old skool' than the newer bottle.

Also I have to say that Benromach is a brand that to my mind is being mismanaged by Gordon & Macphail.

It's every inch an enthusiasts malt. Leather, tobacco, a bit of smoke, dunnage warehouse notes, bitter orange. If you gave this malt to someone new to whisky you'd put them off the drink forever.

Stop pratting around spending God knows how much unnecessarily redesigning the bottles and just increase the abv by 3% from 43% to 46%. And stop chill filtering the stuff. Bingo you've got a malt that enthusiasts love and Benromach as a brand is up there with Springbank, Arran, Glenallachie etc in terms of the love it gets from the community.

The sort of people who will drink Benromach don't really care too much what the bottle looks like. But they do want a little higher abv and for it to not be chill filtered. First rule of business. Give the customer what they are asking for.

And we've seen that the enthusiasts market tends to drive the casual drinkers market. What we all buy and rave about today is what your rich collectors buy in 5-10 years.

And finally when you get a customer engaging with you about your product online. Don't insult them.

@Wierdo Yep, with you on all that mate. What's the back story to the on line engagement comment? It's things like that, that put me off their products. Thought the same about the general G&M line rebrand they carried out a few years ago and the demise of the brown tubed cask strength range.

@Timp a couple of years ago when they did the rebrand a Facebook ad for the 15 appeared. A guy commented that he didn't like the new bottles and wished they'd kept then as they were.

This chap responded quite aggressively that everyone was entitled to an opinion but if he didn't have anything positive to say he should keep his opinion to himself.

I thought it seemed a bit of an extreme reaction so I clicked on the chap who responded's profile. He was a Glasgow based graphic designer working with the drinks industry. So it seemed he was probably behind the rebrand and wasn't impressed with people criticising the work he'd probably charged G&M a lot of money for.

Then I made a comment that I liked the 15 but I wished that when they had rebranded they had increased the abv to 46% and made it NCF.

This lady responded that the 15 was 'award winning' I said they made nice whisky but I thought it was kind of a purists whisky and would be even better at 46%+ like many other whiskies do. I then listed a few Glenallachie Springbank, Arran etc.

She responded why be the same when you can be better? I said I didn't think that Benromach was better than those whiskies and that even if it was it wasn't because it was chill filtered and bottled at 43%. I added that I was the sort of person that was the natural market for a whisky like Benromach and that market tended to want 46% NCF, Natural colour etc and that I would probably buy more of their whiskies if they made those changes.

She responded that I was a child who stamped his feet if he didn't get everything his own way.

Again I thought 'why is she so bothered?' So I stuck her name into Google with Gordon & Macphail. Sure enough she was a manager at G&M.

So I responded that I didn't think it was appropriate for a G&M employee to be insulting customers. That the whole point of them being on social media was to have direct interaction with customers. That the feedback they would get good or bad would be important to the business and I was actually telling her directly what as a customer would make me buy more of the product her company produced. So instead of insulting me she should be happy for any direct feedback from people who buy their products.

She deleted her comments and the entire conversation.

@Wierdo That would put me off Benromach for a very long time...

@Wierdo thanks for explaining and like @Nozinan puts me right off too. Very poor response indeed.

I haven't bought a Benromach for a few years now, not since the demise of the 10/100. I was surprised, however, to find a bottle of the pre-rebranding 10 year old in the back of my cupboard. It must have been in there for about 4 years. What surprised and disappointed me most was that the pre rebranded version was 43%, chill filtered and coloured. Not sure why I bought it. I might gift it to one of my whisky newbie friends.

@Wierdo I had a very similar interaction on Twitter with someone from Highland Park. They denied that sulphured casks were an industry-wide problem, and if I recall correctly they may even have claimed that the whole idea of sulphured casks was invented by critics to slag "successful brands". The rep also contacted me privately to ask for the email address I used to contact them about a bad bottle (I had publicly stated that my emails had been ignored when I contacted HP). When I gave her my contact info, she came back and said "I work in customer service and there's no record of anyone with that email ever contacting us". Maybe it's the internet being wonky, but I doubt that my email "was lost", since I'm on their mailing list and get their emails every other week promoting some NEW LIMITED EDITION NAS Viking something or other.

@BlueNote I wouldn't get rid of that pre-rebranding Ben 10 just yet. I have gone through two of those - ok, one of them crash-landed on a driveway - and the one I bought to replace it was tasty. I have another (part of the collection of bottles associated with @nosebleed) that I will eventually H2H with the 10/100, and for 43%, it packs a lot of flavour.

It’s great to have people who have your back.

I picked this up as the result of peer pressure. It was released in one location at the “KGBO” in a small town.

@fiddich1980 picked up a case and offered some around. I made a game-time decision and said ok.

I like peat and I like Sherry, and I like Uigeadail and Laimrig, so it was worth a try.

Thanks again @fiddich1980 !

@Nozinan yep the Benromach 10 is a damn tasty bottle. I bought one in the new label (bottled 2021) and it is fantastic and has even more industrial dirtiness than I recall from my previous bottle. Don't write it off just yet!

@Hewie @Nozinan You guys have convinced me to rethink my position on the original Benromach 10. Sounds like a good Christmas dram.

@Nozinan that is a low risk bet. Seriously, when was the last time ANYONE said, "Oh, that Laphroaig was BAD!" ?

In 12 years I have tasted one Laphroaig that I thought was "meh". All others were good, very good or excellent, averaging very good.

@Nozinan I can only hope that those of us limited to online buying can get some of those Laphroaig 10 Sherry Cask bottles. I’ve sampled that one before and it is very good.

@OdysseusUnbound Laphroaig’s equivalent of Uigeadail? Or is the Laph heavier on the sherry?

Just got a Penderyn Madeira cask finished for £25 in a local supermarket. Had a mini of this years ago when in Pembrokeshire walking and enjoyed it. Can’t go wrong for the price really.

It’s young and you can taste it but the Madeira gives it a nice sweet fruity touch that rounds it off nicely. Not bad at all.

@BlueNote I think it depends on the batch. My last bottle of Oogie wasn't as sherry-forward as previous batches. I believe Lore is the Laphroaig equivalent of Uigeadail.