https://youtu.be/5GMj6Lcp_xs

Giants being slayed in the whisky industry seems to be a 50/50 split between outrageous pricing from multinational conglomerates, or underselling a product for years in a supermarket and then watching your cask quality decline into the ninthe circle of hell. Or maybe it’s both at the same time?

Ardbeg 10YO. Glenlivet 12YO. Highland Park 12YO. Glenfiddich 15YO. Eagle Rare. Sazerac Rye, and our subject of the day, Lagavulin 16YO.

I’m not one to air negative reviews, well, maybe one a year, at most. But with two seperate rounds of price increases from Diageo, woeful stock availability for almost a year and mass undercut selling from huge retailers for years, is it any wonder that Lagavulin 16YO has been the victim of its own success?

What was once lauded as the finest of product from Islay is now a thin, veiled shadow of itself. Does it still taste good? Yeah, it does. But that becomes bye-the-bye when you factor in everything else that is peated and availabile in the world of whisky.

Welcome to this week’s episode of the show. As nothing new is happening at the moment I have taken advantage of that to dig out a selection of distillery bottled samples to review.

https://youtu.be/nZjX7B0TwYM

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 480: Wolfburn Love Potion

Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, tries a relatively new Wolfburn. When he visited Wolfburn in September 2022, he had the misfortune that the Bottle Your Own was not available. The previous cask had been emptied a few days before by the visitors and they had not yet had (made?) the time to prepare a new one. Mark felt quite disappointed. But in the shop, there was a bottle that he hadn’t seen before, so he took it with him. Nice Valentine bottle, it seems, this Love Potion.

https://youtu.be/Y_8JcBILPdw

ralfy review 960 Extras – It’s YOUR taste that really matters.

ralfy review 960 – Isle Of Arran 10yo @46%vol (OSWA winner 2022)

https://youtu.be/jED9KNxUX8w

Teeling have always been a brand that look to do things a little differently. After being recommended the full range by several viewers, here I am….with an experimental release. Having previously held the Teeling Small Batch Rum release, the barrels were shipped over to Umberella London where they aged their house ginger beer in them for two years. Once emptied, the barrels were sent back to Dublin where this whisky was finished in them for six months. Quite a journey those barrels have been on. This whisky is fun, it’s relatively affordable and there are only 700 bottles of it. That’s a nice limited amount that people can enjoy and not shelter away for the cupboards.

Whisky Ramblings 479: Two Islay from the Magnificent Five

Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, tries two very different Islay. Two years ago, Magnificent Five – a West Flemish whisky society – already bottled an Islay Blended Malt of 8 years old. It was sherry hogshead #LAP29, which suggested (rightly) that it was a teaspooned Laphroaig. And now look… they could lay their hands on sister cask #LAP30 which had been sleeping for 11 years. Mark puts it head-to-head with another of their new releases: a sherry matured Bunnahabhain. After 13 years on a sherry hogshead, that yielded 178 bottles at 55%. Mark used to find the combo sherry and peat very difficult. But practice makes perfect. Nowadays he even finds sherry and peat something to look forward to or even actively look for.

https://youtu.be/eKmf4lf9K88

ralfy review 959 Extras – Tasting a batch variation.

ralfy review 959 – Port Charlotte 10yo @ 50%vol

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 478: Caol Ila 9 Year Old 2013 Smoking Buffalo

Mark Dermul, Belgian whiskyblogger, tries a very special Caol Ila. We had to wait a long time for it (honestly, Mark thought that the series was coming to an end with number 10, bottled in 2018), but here it is: the Smoking Buffalo 11, in honor of the 2022 Cup Final of KAA Gent, his local football club. It is once again a Caol Ila, this time distilled in 2013 and bottled at cask strength. He hurried to order it, not only to keep his Smoking Buffalo collection complete, but especially because he is very fond of this malt. In Mark’s opinion, you can never taste enough Caol Ila!

https://youtu.be/OHaUm8iLR0s