Help Required - Please Advice - Baby Girl - Oct 2009

[saajanrana]

Dear all,

This is my first post - so please be gentle!

2 months ago I became a proud father of my baby girl 'Autumn'. As a gift to her I would like to buy a bottle of whisky that was bottled / or 'made' in Oct 2009 (the month of her birth). My plan is to give her this bottle on her 21st birthday.

In terms of whisky - I am not too fussed (mixed, single, Scottish, Irish, etc), but I would like it to be a limited numbered bottle (eg 1 of 5,000, etc). I am told that it is better to achieve 'cask strength' if possible.

In terms of budget - I was aiming to spend between £40-60 pounds (I appreciate that this may not be a great deal of money to some of you and what I am looking for may not be possible, but I want to get her something special).

I suppose I am looking for your advice / help / knowledge and guidance. I have tried basic 'google' searches and little seems to be available. My knowledge regarding Whisky is very limited!

Your responses will be genuinely appreciated and welcomed - I think this is a fantastic idea and would like it to happen. Thanking you all in advance.

Saaj

[clicker7]

Yu are essentially looking for a Single Cask whisky. You have two options it seems to me.

1. Look for a whisky bottled in 2009
2. Look for one distilled in 2009 (2009 vintage). That will not be bottled as whisky until at least 2012 (has to be three years in cask befoe it can be called whisky), but is more likely to be bottled and sold in 2017 at the earliest. Nobody, therefore, can yet advise you on that!

Saag: First-- Congratulations on the new arrival.

Consider -- Talisker Distillers Edition bottled 2009/distilled 1998.

It's an excellent whisky, and runs about $80-85 US. I don't know if will hold up as well for twenty years as a cask strength but others on the forum may have more expertise in that area.

Here's a link:
http://www.shoppersvineyard.com/1/40893 ... TCH-WHISKY

Joseph

[Ganga]

Well, Nick, not quite entirely true. Those are the regulations for scotch whisky. I believe bourbon is 18 months.

Anyway, some thoughts on the subject. Look for something distilled in 2009. You should be able to get some reasonable single cask bottlings from Signatory, Single Malts of Scotland, Murray McDavid or one of the other independent bottlers. Take a look at The Whisky Exchange, Loch Fyne Whiskies, and Royal Mile Whiskies.

Hm, which distilleries? Ardbeg, Springbank, Talisker and Macallan are always nice but usually a little pricey. I'd say that your best bet would be to describe a flavor profile you would like for your daughter. Do you want smoke, light smoke, no smoke? Earthy? Maritime (seaweed, iodine, bandaids)? Sweet and nutty? Herbal? At this point, you won't know what she likes so think about what you would like to present to her maybe as an expression of you at this point in time.

[pkt77242]

Saaj, where do you live? as this would help us make some suggestions. Congrats on the new baby. To piggyback on Ganga's suggestion you could also pick some traits you would like her to have Sweet, warm (as in caring and compasionate) etc

Sean

[dramtastic]

Firstly Congradulations!

My Suggestion is a little out in left field. But I am going to suggest.........

Ichiro's Malt The Final Vintage Of Hanyu 2009

This is a non-coloured, non-chill filtered cask strength Japanese whisky of 61.1% abv. Less than a thousand bottles produced and it is a now closed distillery so no more production. It was also an award winner at, I'm pretty sure, the World Whisky Awards 2009.

Despite what the good folk at TWE claim for one of the Japanese whisky's they sell, this really is the final vintage of Hanyu. You can see a picture of this
in the section of the forum, what is your latest whisky purchase, posted today.

Try googleing the name and good luck.

[dramtastic]

p.s the whisky above is in your price range as well.

[saajanrana]

Thank you for all of the advice - I am learning a great deal, however, I am still slightly unsure as what to buy.

In responce to some of the ealier posts - I live in the UK (around 20miles from London). I am not sure about what style - sweet, smokey, etc (to be honest - I am flexible and I would not like that to limit the search), however, I still like the idea of a numbered bottle.

I do apprecaite direct advice eg bottle X or bottle Y (as I do not really have the knowldege to 'evaluate' one Whisky over another).

Initially I would never have thought of a Japanese Whisky (as stated by one of our colleagues).

Do please continue with your advice. I value it greatly (as you have a great deal of expertise in this area).

To extend my question further, once bottled whisky does not improve in flavour!?! So does the price (over time) increase due to its rare-ity?

Thanks again for your posts.

Saaj

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Dear all,

This is my first post - so please be gentle!

2 months ago I became a proud father of my baby girl 'Autumn'. As a gift to her I would like to buy a bottle of whisky that was bottled / or 'made' in Oct 2009 (the month of her birth). My plan is to give her this bottle on her 21st birthday.


Saaj

Hi Saaj, once again congrats from me too. You must be as proud as punch.

Firstly you will not get anything made from October 2009 as explained previously. Whisky needs many years to mature and for most you'd need to wait at 10 years for a good whiskey.

It is also worth knowing you will find it very hard to find something either distilled or bottled on an exact date of the birth also.

The guys suggestion of buying a bottle bottled in 2009 is your best bet.

However I would suggest you bide your time for at least a decade or so before you think about this. Maybe for the time being buy a good bottle of wine next year that will mature over the years but not sure about getting a bottle that will last 18-21 years.

[pkt77242]

Saaj,

So far I have only found one bottle for sure bottled in Oct. 2009 and it is a fair bit out of your price range. Old Malt Cask "Probably Speyside's Finest" (Glenfarclas) 1966 43yo but it is 129 pounds. I will keep looking but it may be a couple of months before we see all the bottles from Oct 2009 in stores.

Sean

[biglads]

I can tell you that whisky is Glenfarclas, and I can also tell you that it is absolutely gorgeous as I have a bottle.

At £125 it is less than half the price of the equivalent 1966 'Family Cask'.

[orangedogofglory]

Single Cask whiskies could be a good option, as they are often bottled at cask strength (or near cask strength), and are often limited to fewer than 350 bottles. Independent Bottlers, as mentioned before, would be a good way to go about that - but to find one bottled in Oct 2009 would likely take a lot of looking at bottles, and they may be trickling into the market over the next couple of months.

As far as Distillery Bottles, Balvenie does a 15 year old whisky that is a single cask (Single Barrel). It would just be a matter of finding one with the appropriate date, or contacting the distillery to see if they bottled any that month.

The downside with single casks (as opposed to a Distiller's Edition-type bottle, in general) is that it can "kind of" be like playing roulette.