vPub Live - OSWAs 2024: What's Missing?

[@marksaliba4194]

Hey Roy, after all these years, I finally scored my 1st 10 on one of your quizzes. Aced a Vin quiz and the Chad and Sara quiz, but never yours until now. Didn't use the chat because I was driving. Gonna celebrate with an OSWA worthy dram. Excellent topic as usual. The main underrepresented malt in the OSWAs for me is Glenallachie. It's always a good value in Canada, and my main choice for a Speyside. Slainte from 🇨🇦🥃

[@JimmyMactvish]

Hi Roy, I’m a Bruichladdich fanboy and I completely agree with you. I purchased the Port Charlotte 18 because I was a fan and it was easily twice as expensive as any other bottle I had ever previously purchased. Since then I don’t even look at their releases purely because of the price. It feels like they have gone corporate price gouging and I’m looking elsewhere for my peat at the moment. It feels like if Springbank were to take part in the price hikes directly rather than it being part of the secondary market… such a shame and they have managed to turn me off as a fan until prices correct.

[@peterfinucane8122]

In New Zealand PC 10 is much more expensive than Ardbeg 10 and Ledaig 10. Shame

[@utoobia]

Was it good, irrespective of value? The whole industry is out of whack so, an 18 year, at cask strength, at £150 seems close to normal now.

[@michaelwood3203]

Good evening Roy. Finally caught up. Good Vpub and it is absolutely right to keep showing love and respect to those who failed to make the Oswa cut. We all have special favourites which are lesser known and not universally available. The Old Ballantruan is very interesting but not on the radar for example and I am impressed with the Talisker Parley wilder Seas. Also there are really good blends which rarely get seen in online reviews. As a generality, the whisky community is great at raising awareness and respect for those who try hardest to bring high quality and good value to the market, whilst undermining those who are exploiting the consumer with inferior product disguised by the illusion of being from a great brand. Finally I must tell you the monkey did not win, but sadly I failed to beat the wretched thing.

[@marcwhiskey]

I like the bit about being bored of premium. It's true. There's nothing rare or premium about the whisky. The "rarity" is a marketing choice. Its more evident in the US with bourbon for me. Every distillery I visited 2yrs ago were saying how many rickhouses they were building that hold 20-50,000 barrels. Some are building several per year, and immediately filling them up. There's no shortage coming. There's no rare whiskey under a certain age. There's PLENTY of whiskey. Spend wisely.

[@lotrswgot]

As an American, love seeing Westland on the shelf with all of the other scotch. They’re making some of the best single malts in the world.

[@DominikK45]

LVMH: "We have listened to our customers and that's why we are releasing Ardbeg 17 for £160..." Diageo: "Hold my beer... Lagavulin 14 Jazz Fest for £240!!"

[@jaime_hi-meh_not_jay-mee7095]

The most surprising to me was the non-appearance of Bunna 12 in the best value category. In my market (Philippines) I can get for as low as £32, including taxes. Price to quality ratio is out of this world!

[@_adwerty]

Really hope people buy that Jura or we'll prove their experiment wrong.

[@koski1885]

It sold out on Loch Fyne in minutes and then they had to re-stock…

[@SimonneNZ]

Interesting take on what's missing. I'm not surprised Bruichladdich isn't there. They are just too expensive in my market. PC10 was OK value a couple of years ago at $110 NZD though still pricey compared to other 10-year-olds. However, it is also 50% where others are 46%. But now I think the cheapest I can get it is $126 and most retailers have it at $130-150. For comparison the Glen Garioch 12 at 48% is retailing for around $100. The Classic Laddie has also increased in price in the last 2 years. It's also interesting to see Jura and Fettercairn putting out good bottles. If more whisky companies do this, it will be interesting to see if any of them get nominated in future. Got 7/10 on the quiz. Happy with that, it was a tough one. Cheers!

[@crrobbo1]

I'm glad you mentioned Clydeside, been a fan for a while and are second on my best new distillery list. Going to their distillery tour next weekend in which having a few drams there might just bump it to my number one spot

[@gerbenblokker1917]

What a great Vpub, i enjoyed it tremendously

[@stevelandwonder4760]

Fascinating and considered as always. Cheeky question Roy - if you can't in all conscience bring yersell to buy another Laddie 18 at £150 should you be nominating it as Whisky of the Year?

[@hellswidd4628]

Cheers Roy, great chilled Vpub! Looking forward to seeing you next weekend ❤! Much love as always from the two of us

[@leojudkins2040]

Q: What's missing? A: The best 10 year old whisky on the market...

[@NZDave]

Back in the upside down, so back on replay. Surprised that Speyburn didn't appear in the OSWAs but do agree with you on the Balblair. Have that 15yo and its magic, slainte

[@ZacChastain]

Campari has left the core Wild Turkey (101, Rare Breed, Kentucky Spirit, younger Russell’s Reserve) alone. But the special releases (Master’s Keep, RR 13/14/15) have had huge increases in RRPs, now in the $240-300 range. I hope they leave the 18 yr Deanston/Ledaig/Bunna alone.

[@NeilImmortal]

Looking at whisky prices in general maybe the Ancnoc 24 should have been in the Best Value category? ;)

[@DileepB]

Jura 16 over Lagavulin 16!

[@chrisjepson5050]

Great Vpub Roy. I too am enjoying Glenglassaugh 12 which will become a permashelf bottle. I have visited 3 distilleries this year; Ardnamurchan, Kingsbarns and Lindores Abbey. I wonder what the connection is 🤔

[@davidowen2834]

Hi Roy, great VPub that I caught on the replay. Hope that Jura 16 comes to Germany, looking forward to trying it. I did enjoy the superstition a few years back. I think that why many of the big producers don’t get nominated is because they don’t put out whisky that appeals to the enthusiasts. Sad really. Slàinte Roy.

[@danw1086]

Another whisky for me that is out of the OSWA conversation that really should be included but due to distillery/company policy rule themselves out are Bladnoch. Like with the new Jura 16 they brought out that cracking 10 year old a few years back. Natural presentation. Seemed to be aimed at the enthusiasts market. It was a bit pricy but not so overpriced that people weren't prepared to stretch their budget to grab a bottle. It seemed like we had a distillery that hadn't really been that relevant that might suddenly be a distillery we could have a bottle or two of in our collections. But from that moment on they just ramped up the price of pretty much everything. The 10 yo was replaced by an 11yo and gained £5-10 in the process. The 14yo is £110! The 19yo will set you back around £170+. I don't know who they're aiming their pricing at, but it seems to me like maybe they're trying to chase the luxury market and take some of the Macallan dollar. No idea if they're managing to sell much whisky in that market or not. But from what I can tell they're not selling much whisky to enthusiasts like us. And they don't even get a mention at the OSWAs. Shame because it seems to me that if they were a bit more realistic with their pricing it could be a distillery we were all really excited about.

[@majornut9728]

Catching the replay and as always interesting to hear you charing your thoughts and love for whisky.

[@carlossandiego7925]

Who doesn’t stay for the quiz at the end? I’ve learned so much from just the quiz by itself. I love it. I even got an 8/10 today. Lots of luck though.

[@Whiskyanalyse]

Minute 25:30 Why? Because mostly they don’t produce „Integrity Whisky“.

[@hellswidd4628]

Cheers Roy, great chilled Vpub! Looking forward to seeing you next weekend ❤! Much love as always from the two of us