Feis Ile 2008

[adogranonthepitch]

lol!

[Spirit of Islay]

It's Day two in the Feis Ile Household , Shortly the Housemates will be making their way to Jims place to face their yearly challenge , what will Jim have in store for them this year ?









Only 362 Days till Feis Ile 2009.....

[les taylor]

Enjoy the day Gordon. Have you have time reports later would be good.

[Spirit of Islay]

Enjoy the day Gordon. Have you have time reports later would be good.

Les , i'm posting (or hoping too ) daily reports on the festival part of my site .




Still 362 days till Feis Ile 2009......

[Willie JJ]

Still 362 days till Feis Ile 2009......

[Newbie]

The last couple of days have been a bit hazy with 1000 miles driven in 2 days and very little sleep! But fear not, my mind may be numbed with sleep depravation but I will endeavour to give you my account of Feis Ile 2008!

Sunday - Bruichladdich Day

Fantastic weather, great seafood (islay oysters - yum!), whisky wasn't bad either!

Lots of people queuing up for the X4+1 Valinch, was disappointed the other Valinches I wanted were not for sale. After a tour of the distillery with Lyn McEwan, who is extremely passionate about Bruichladdich, she convinced me to buy one.

X4+1 - has matured extremely well for a 1 year old! No trace of feints and aromas associated with new spirit but still rough around the edges. Now I know why they bottled at 66%, powerful kick from the alcohol and no water available to water it down! Fruits and fizzy lemonade.

Went to the sales team masterclass where we tried a range of Murray McDavid Ace'd whiskies.

Clynelish 1995 - 12 yo Bourbon/Madeira/Sherry
Glen Scotia 1992 - 15 yo Bourbon/Rum
Highland Park 1989 - 17yo Bourbon Grenache Blanc
Caol Ila 1991 - 17yo Bourbon/Chenin Blanc
Macallan 1990 - 18yo Bourbon/Chateau Haut Brion
Bunnahabhain 1976 - 31 Fino Sherry (not Ace'd)

All the whiskies were very good, but the star of the show was the Bunna! Very complex with hints of sweetness and brine with a smooth/oily body. The chap next to me failed to turn up and since nobody wanted his dram of Bunna...

..well it would have been criminal to waste it

[les taylor]

Enjoy the day Gordon. Have you have time reports later would be good.

Les , i'm posting (or hoping too ) daily reports on the festival part of my site .




Still 362 days till Feis Ile 2009......

Gordon a really good read so far. Thanks very much. Wish I could be there.

[fishboy]

Regarding the X4....

Does the decrease in percentage alcohol from 88% (or 92% depending on who you talk to) to 65.4% in 16 months sound like a lot?

Not once you realise that they've poured a lot of water into it for bottling. Shame IMO.

If they have reduced it then you're right Willie, its a real shame. I tasted it from the cask when it was around 16 weeks old - Jim wouldn't let me add any water at all just to get the whole experience. Even at that very young age I thought it was interesting and very promising. It had a wonderful mouthfeel and had none of the burn I was anticipating. Does anyone have any tasting notes on the valinch bottling?

It's a shame I won't be able to get my hands on a bottle as I'd like to see how its coming on, but unless I change jobs its next to impossible for me to get to Islay for the festival. I certainly won't be resorting to eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bruichladdich-Val ... otohosting

[Newbie]

The X4 is a fascinating experiment, but I don't think its quite ready yet! I am sure it will be ready in a few years.

Second part of my Feis Ile 2008 report!

Monday - Caol Ila, Laphroaig, Lagavulin & Ardbeg

The alarm was set for a 9:00am start at Caol Ila to pick up the single cask Port Ellen, was woken up at 7:30
Beautiful day so we headed off to Caol Ila early. Luckily we did as there was over 100 people there already! By 8:30 they were turning people away! Cheers went up as the first guy proudly paraded his bottle Port Ellen. They share staff between Caol Ila and Lagavulin and they doubted if any of the single cask Laga was left.

Quick dash to Lagavulin and I procured one of the last bottles of the single cask! To Laphroaig!!!

We missed our morning tour at Lahproaig and couldn't make the afternoon one as we're expected at Ardbeg - drat! We go around taking photos and unexpectedly bump into the end of the morning tour. So we stuck along Good thing we did as at the filling house we got to sample some new make direct from the cask!

Laphroaig new make 63.5% - initially the feinty, sweaty taste associated with new make with a blast of extreme peat after a few seconds in the mouth - fantastic stuff!

Infact so many people turned up that they organized an impromptu tour - very glad they did as the tour was fantastic. Best part was the maltings and the peating kilns. When we got to the filling house all the barrels were gone!!! Luckily we tried the new make earlier! To Ardbeg!

Got to Ardbeg 30 mins before our tour, quickly ordered at the Old Kiln Cafe before bumping into Gordon (spirit of islay), nice guy wished we had more time to chat. The Ardbeg tour was the best tour of the festival. The content of Laphroaigs was better but the knowledge of the young man who led us around was astounding! Learned alot about whisky production and the secrets of Ardbeg! The drams at the end were good, tried the Uigeadail and Renaissance, then went shopping

Uigeadail - The sweetness of the sherry coming through immediately on the palate, almost too sweet, before the peat comes through to rescue it. After a few more sips it becomes less sweet and the fruit and the peat becomes more balanced.

Renaissance - Drier than the Uigeadail, the citrus fruits are less pronounced and more in sync with the malt and the peat. Beautifully balanced with a lingering after taste of smoke. Simply Brilliant!

Stocked up on my Ardbeg supplies and off to the ferry!

This has been an amazing two days with great people, whisky and an once in a lifetime experience! Would I return? Right now I would say no, as the journey is extremely taxing and my finances took a huge battering! But by 2009 I am sure I would have forgotten all about these things

[Deactivated Member]

Today is my first day back at work sadly after a trip over to the Feis. I was there Sunday - Monday and needed yesterday to recover!!

Sunday

Top day! Ferry arrived into Port Ellen to a lovely heat. The sun was shining, a slight wind but nothing to put us off the day ahead.

Went to Port Charlotte Hotel to drop off our stuff then headed to the Bruichladdich Open Day. Superb day, lots of nice people chatting away, lots and lots of tourists from all over the world adding to the atmosphere.

Have to give credit to the band - Maverick Angels. Superb!! Look forward to getting hold of their CD somehow, does anyone know the guys? They were at the PCHotel on Sun night playing a wee bit in the bar aswell.

After a few hours we nipped along to Bowmore but nothing was happening there. Picked up this years bottling and headed back to the Open Day.

Got a couple of Valinch after standing in a massive queue, filled up the bottles myself!! Think my mate was after a job as he filled in for the girl labelling whilst she went for a fag!!


Monday

Caol Ila was the first stop of the day. Lovely drive up, sun beaming down and not a cloud in the sky. Being new to the Feis, i duffed this one as by the time we got there the queue was massive!! The girl came out counting those in line and said there was only 67 left with about 100 infront of me. Supposedly, out of the 200 only 170 went to the public as staff reserved 30 of them. We decided to leave as there was no point hanging about. I left my details though asking anyone selling one for SENSIBLE money to get in touch!! lol!! Fat chance of that me thinks!!

After Caol Ila we came back down the coast and stopped off at Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. Have to say, Laphroaig is one of the nicest distilleries i have been in. Great little beach which the dog loved to bits.

Have to say credit to the guys serving the customers in the shops. All friendly and greeted you with a smile. Got some good banter with the girls up at Ardbeg and managed to get me a Corryvreckan too after some negiotiating!! Happy Days!!!

The island is such a lovely place to visit! Im going to get booked up for next year asap. The part i loved the most was that when you drove around the island, all the locals wave in passing. Something you just dont see in many other places in the world, nevermind Scotland.

Heres to Feis2008 and to Feis 2009!!

[corbuso]

Monday

Caol Ila was the first stop of the day. Lovely drive up, sun beaming down and not a cloud in the sky. Being new to the Feis, i duffed this one as by the time we got there the queue was massive!! The girl came out counting those in line and said there was only 67 left with about 100 infront of me. Supposedly, out of the 200 only 170 went to the public as staff reserved 30 of them. We decided to leave as there was no point hanging about. I left my details though asking anyone selling one for SENSIBLE money to get in touch!! lol!! Fat chance of that me thinks!

I was in the queue since 8h15 and there was probably 20 behind me who managed to get one bottle too.
Arrived back yesterday from Islay and got a very nice day.
Anyway, I will try to post progressively my reports of the first day on Islay on my website (http://www.whisky-news.com) starting tonight.
Gordon, It was a pleasure meeting you again in Islay and I hope that you will enjoy the rest of your stay.

Corbuso

[Newbie]

Nice Corbuso, I was talking to Gordon at the Old Kiln and he mentioned that someone took his bottle to get signed at Port Ellen maltings - was that you by any chance?

Unlucky you missed out FeisIslay, I wasn't planning to arrive until 9am but luckily the fates sent an angel our way!

[corbuso]

Nice Corbuso, I was talking to Gordon at the Old Kiln and he mentioned that someone took his bottle to get signed at Port Ellen maltings - was that you by any chance?

That was me, this is correct So I you see a single cask bottling of Port Ellen containing a few signatures on e-bay, then you know that this bottle has been stolen.

[Newbie]

Its unfortunate that we didn't meet up in the queue and have a chat Corbuso. I was chasing Jim McEwan around all day trying to get him to sign my Valinch, in the end I think he simply ran out of excuses and had to sign it! He thinks I'd probably sell it on ebay - but theres no chance of that!

[Spirit of Islay]

Gordon, It was a pleasure meeting you again in Islay and I hope that you will enjoy the rest of your stay.

Corbuso

Hi Patrick ,
it was a pleasure seeing you again !
Hope you enjoyed Mickeys Tour , we watched you go by as we were sunning ourselves on the Barrel Chairs , We've got Mickey this afternoon . We're having a ball here , certain events make this festival and we had 2 of them yesterday !
Lagavulin Warehouse in the morning , Willie seemed to enjoy this one........especially the people going to him "would you like to finish our 1966 Lagavulin ?"
Then we had Johns Warehouse Tour at Bunnahabhain in the afternoon , Bunnie do some cracking drams and shame on anyone who doesn't venture past the 12/18/25yo !

Full report in the Festival 2008 section of http://www.spiritofislay.net
358 days till Feis Ile 2009.......

[corbuso]

Hi Patrick ,
it was a pleasure seeing you again !
Hope you enjoyed Mickeys Tour , we watched you go by as we were sunning ourselves on the Barrel Chairs , We've got Mickey this afternoon . We're having a ball here , certain events make this festival and we had 2 of them yesterday !

Then we had Johns Warehouse Tour at Bunnahabhain in the afternoon , Bunnie do some cracking drams and shame on anyone who doesn't venture past the 12/18/25yo !

Full report in the Festival 2008 section of http://www.spiritofislay.net
358 days till Feis Ile 2009.......

I have seen on your website that you have enjoyed the Corryvrekan as much as I did
The Tour with Mickey was excellent. We spent 1 h in the distillery and 1h in the warehouse chatting. The Ardbeg 1975 sherry sample was excellent, in the same league as the former Feis Ile single cask bottlings.
I was last year at the warehouse tour in Bunnah with John and I can only agree with you. They have some craking Bunnah, much better than their regular range. In particular, I had fond memories of the sister cask used for the Bunnah Anniversary bottling.

Cheers

[peatjunkie]

Hi guys

I was in the same line to pick up a bottle
8 people in front of me the last bottle was handed out

If anybody want's to part with his bottle and cash in send me a pm

Geert

[corbuso]

Hi guys

I was in the same line to pick up a bottle
8 people in front of me the last bottle was handed out

If anybody want's to part with his bottle and cash in send me a pm

Geert

Hi Geert,
You flew to Islay on that day is it correct? A friend of mine did you the queue to get an extra bottle for me, unfortunately he was just behind you and did not get his bottle.

[Spirit of Islay]

Was down at Bunnahabhain this morning , apart from the blending class that i was doing (great fun!) , got to try the 21yo Festival bottling . Not as good as last years imho , definitely not worth £200 , also got to talk to Alison from marketing , at least she had read the e-mails that were forwarded to her , she appreciated my point of view about the price and took aboard (i hope) a few suggestions , like we want more Bunnie ! I also know Willie had a wee word with her and a few others i gather .
We'll just have to wait and see......

[enzot]

Was down at Bunnahabhain this morning , apart from the blending class that i was doing (great fun!) , got to try the 21yo Festival bottling . Not as good as last years imho , definitely not worth £200 , also got to talk to Alison from marketing , at least she had read the e-mails that were forwarded to her , she appreciated my point of view about the price and took aboard (i hope) a few suggestions , like we want more Bunnie ! I also know Willie had a wee word with her and a few others i gather .
We'll just have to wait and see......

Hi Spirit of Islay

I've really enjoyed your daily reports from the Feis Ile 08.
You say £200 is too much for the Bunnahabhain festival bottle but can you imagine Ardbeg releasing a 21 Y.O with only 512 bottles available ?
Just look at the hysteria caused by the Corryvreckan release and that was 5000 bottles.

Cheers
Enzo...

[Spirit of Islay]

Hi Enzo,
The Marketing Dept (and a few others who have talked about festival bottlings on various forums) have lost sight of what a festival bottling is , it's a momento / reminder of the event , something to take home to remind you of the event and something that shouldn't be too expensive as people have already spent a lot of money to get to the place .
Everyone who tried this Malt that i know said the same thing , lovely dram , not as good as last years , way too expensive .
Ardbeg did release a few 1975's a couple of years ago (2005 ?)for the festival at £180 a bottle if i remember rightly , they were 29/30yo , i didn't buy them they were too expensive !
Before E-bay rose it ugly head and Marketing decided they wanted a piece of the action the festival bottlings were excellent value for money......
here's a few examples :-
1965 35yo Bunnahabhain £95 (drunk it!)
1966 35yo Bunnahabhain £125 (drinking it !)
1963 40yo Bunnahabhain £195 (didn't buy one too expensive) .
1997 6yo Bunnahabhain Moine £60 (Drinking it)
12yo Port wood Finish Bunnahabhain £60 ( not touched it yet but will )
14yo PX Finish Bunnahabhain £60 (drinking one , one for the future)
1990 Bunnahabhain Oloroso cask £95 ( not touched it yet but will )

Ardbegs offerings:-
1976 25yo Cask 2390 £70 ( Drunk one , another to go....)
1976 25yo Cask 2398 £100 ( Drunk one , another to go....)
after this the prices went silly on the 75's in 2005.

Bunnahabhain were the first to introduce a festival bottling in 2001 , since then the rest have followed , i think it's slightly unfair to compare Bunnahabhain and Ardbeg bottlings , Bunnahabhain doesn't have the speculators chasing bottles the way Ardbeg does , it's not as popular , but i still think the BSD has dropped one almighty clanger with this bottling , Below the price of the 25yo O.b. and i would have one sitting in front of me !

The price won't put me off Bunnahabhain but i think what they've done (BSD Marketing not the distillery) could be more negative for them than positive .

[Newbie]

Wow some of those bunna's sound amazing! Especially the prices for the 35 year olds, if they had something like that I would have snapped them up.

I've said in the past that prices are getting a bit ridculous for certain whiskies. For festival bottlings they sell direct from the distillery and as such I think they should be able to offer a wholesale/discounted price for the loyal customer who has managed to make it to Feis Ile and has supported the distillery in the past.

A good example of this is Diageo with the single cask 27 year old Port Ellen bottling. They could have released this at £300 and it would have sold out. They could have released it at the same price as the annual releases (£115), but they didn't and released it at a very decent price of £100!
Good going guys

[enzot]

I agree with most of your comments Spirit.
I managed to get a few of last years Feis Ile bottles.

Ardbeg Mor
Laphroaig 1989 17 Y.O.
Lagavulin 1993 Single cask
Port Charlotte First cut
Bunnahabhain 16 Y.O.

All excellent value.

As to this years bottles I only managed to get the Laphroaig from their website.I'd love one of the Port Ellen bottles....none on e bay...yet!

P.S. I've seen one of the Bunnahabhain 16 Y.O bottles on sale for £450 from a well known dealer.

Cheers
enzo...

[vitara7]

well, i was over for the festival and got a few bottles, i was one of them in the queue for the port ellen, didnt go and start queueing the night before like some well known whisky person did, but got one. also, on the PE theres more than 200 bottles as i know someone in the queue i was talking showed me his bottle number 220.

did have a look out for a few faces, but never seen any, think i might have seen gordon at the bruichladdich day, but wasnt sure, and didnt want the red neck of asking, only to be told it wasnt

being honest, its my 5th festival, and i dont think ill be back next year, this is the first year ive not booked the accomidation at the end for the next. the reason being, as someone picked up on in a previous post is that, i enjoy getting the festival bottles, but when you can buy them online whats the point, save yourself a journey. as i recall, when the festival first started, the idea behind the bottles, was to get folk to the island, to put some money into the local encomomy and that, but now, youcan get them even of the distillery web site, ie laphroaig.

also, with a few folk stepping down from the committe, i thought maybe the effort wasnt there this year, take the festival guide as an example, much poorer than previous years, and from talking to locals, that was their veiw too. im not saying i wont be back to islay, i enjoy the island, if i do go itll be when the festivals not on, and maybe in a couple of years or so, i may try the festival again.

on a seperate note, went to the machrie two night for dinner, wow, the food was rubbish compaired to every time id been in it before.

On a plus note, good to see the port ellen hotel is no more, and their making progress with the new building on the site.

[Spirit of Islay]

Would've liked to have seen you Vitara7 , shame you didn't ask (if it was me....) .
You've got a lot of fair points there , haven't been to the Machrie for a meal for a while so can't comment on that but i know you've said to me in the past how good there food is !
On the food front i can comment on these .......
Port Ellen Curry Place - Probably the most expensive takeaway we've had and one of the worst , we threw most of it away !
Bridgend Hotel - great food , good staff , but no atmosphere at all in the Restaurant .
Port Charlotte Hotel - Great Bar meal but the prices are starting to creep up .
An tigh Seinnse - Fantastic Bar meals and they've still got the 1990 Bunnie at £11 a shot !
Didn't bother trying the White Hart Hotel , still can smell the fried food from last years visit.......

I heard that they weren't doing a guide this year so was surprised to see the folded sheet but it was a bit of a waste of time .

[Deactivated Member]

Gordon - I'm sorry you didn't get a bottle of the 1963 40yo Bunnahabhain. I hope you have had the chance to try it, though. I shelled out for a dram at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre and was really surprised by the taste - dry, smoky, peaty. Plenty of other interesting flavours going on (as I recall - and as you'd expect in a 40yo whisky) but very much a taste of a different era. The price was high, but compared favourably to some other 40yos I could mention.

[Spirit of Islay]

Gordon - I'm sorry you didn't get a bottle of the 1963 40yo Bunnahabhain. I hope you have had the chance to try it, though. I shelled out for a dram at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre and was really surprised by the taste - dry, smoky, peaty. Plenty of other interesting flavours going on (as I recall - and as you'd expect in a 40yo whisky) but very much a taste of a different era. The price was high, but compared favourably to some other 40yos I could mention.

I haven't had a chance Nick but it sounds wonderful !
I've thoroughly enjoyed the other 1960's Bunnies and i have to say the Auld Acquaintance is my Favourite .

[sampaiocaleia]

I can't take it no more!!!!.
Finally the Islay Festival 08, as finished!!.
I known, I known, ....the envy is one of the seven deadly seens!!!.
But I can't take it no more!!!.
Next year You'll see!!!!

[Newbie]

For those who missed out on Feis Ile here is a taster of what you missed!

http://www.whiskyfun.com/

Check out the Caol Ila picture below the Port Ellen tasting notes. In case your wondering I am the 81st guy in the queue

[enzot]

One of the Feis Ile Port Ellens has finally popped up on e bay but I think the seller is totally off his (or her) rocker.

Starting bids at £698.With a reserve.

Enzo...

[Deactivated Member]

One of the Feis Ile Port Ellens has finally popped up on e bay but I think the seller is totally off his (or her) rocker.

Starting bids at £698.With a reserve.

Enzo...

I know of someone who has already turned down £1000 for one.........

[Deactivated Member]

You again, tout?

[Deactivated Member]

You again, tout?

Tout? Hardly!

Sadly i never managed to get my hands on one of these or else i really would be laughing in Nicks glory!! Im guessing you never got one of those either Nick, not doing very well are you son.

[Deactivated Member]

For those who haven't been following the progress on Collector's Corner, Feis Islay is a whisky tout who buys up stocks of limited edition whisky and then tries to sell it for vastly inflated profit. He has been buying up stocks of a certain bottle, hyping up the value on these boards (and probably on ebay, where he may well be the customer who is buying up all the stock) and then trying to flog the whisky here. He cites the high prices paid on ebay as proof of the whisky's long term investment potential, but since he is the one who is paying all these high prices it makes one wonder...

He has no interest in whisky - he is just here (by his own admission) to make a fast buck.

[Deactivated Member]

For those who haven't been following the progress on Collector's Corner, Feis Islay is a whisky tout who buys up stocks of limited edition whisky and then tries to sell it for vastly inflated profit. He has been buying up stocks of a certain bottle, hyping up the value on these boards (and probably on ebay, where he may well be the customer who is buying up all the stock) and then trying to flog the whisky here. He cites the high prices paid on ebay as proof of the whisky's long term investment potential, but since he is the one who is paying all these high prices it makes one wonder...

He has no interest in whisky - he is just here (by his own admission) to make a fast buck.

For those who havent been following the progess of the topic that has now been locked due to Nicks constant personal insults and abuse (big man eh!) i have bought various bottles from this years Feis 2008. I went to the festival because my mate whos girl is pregnant to buy bottles for him and his collection. I also bought a stock for my own collection.

Now, all i have done is sell a few bottles in order to cover my travelling costs. I dont see the big deal in it, the trip cost me over £300 just to get and stay on Islay.

Nick Brown is so narrow minded he cannot accept the fact some of us got hold of the Queen of the South ltd HP that was brought out. He didnt get one and is now VERY VERY bitter to say the least. So, even though i havent sold any on ebay, he is trying to belittle the sale of those who have put their bottles on ebay. Why? Because he thinks if he does, one will appear cheap enough and he will get his grubby paws on it. Sad really.

So, thats the real version of the story and just to highlight the point, i sold a bottle of Bowmore 8 Year old that i picked up at the Feis to a collector on this forum this very morning for the price i paid. No inflated price, just what i paid.

Does that sound like a dishonest piece of untrustworthy scum which is just some of the insults i received yesterday?

I will let you all decide for yourself....................