Help needed - choosing some whiskies

[Bozo]

Hi folks - I know you all like to spend other peoples money, so I thought I'd ask for some advice about an upcoming purchase. I've recently got into scotch after visiting Scotland. At the moment, I'm trying to go for some great whiskies, with a view to being as broad as possible. Good single malts are quite expensive in Australia, so I'm putting in a large order from a Scottish online retailer and, to minimise shipping costs, it will be a big order. I'm buying 12 bottles all up (4 are for friends) - I've decided on 5 of the remaining 8 - details below - and I'd love some suggestions for the other 3 - especially if you can think of things I might be overlooking.



Here's what I have already:

- Aberlour A'bunadh batch 27 (love it)
- Highland Park 12yo
- HP 18yo dumpy (unopened)
- Glenfiddich 15yo solera (not a huge fan)
- Glenmorangie Lasanta (unopened)
- Royal Lochnagar 12yo
- Bruichladdich 12yo 2nd Ed (not a fan)
- Laphroaig Quarter Cask
- Talisker 18yo (amazing)
- Talisker 57N (unopened)
- Yamazaki 12yo (not a huge fan)
- Johnnie Walker black
- Jameson 12yo



Here's what I've chosen to buy:

- A'bunadh (again)
- Tali 18yo (again)
- 1990 Signatory cask strength Mortlach
- Lagavulin 16yo
- Ardbeg Uigeadail



So, I'd really love some other suggestions from you experienced Whisky buffs.



I'm thinking of adding another HP to the order, as I absolutely love it - am tossing up between two Signatory bottlings:

- 1990 (17yo Sherry cask) http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/produc ... 0000032307
- 1986 (21yo Bourbon cask) http://www.royalmilewhiskies.com/produc ... 0000031171

If anyone has any experience of these, I'd love to hear about it.




Also up for consideration is Maccallan, but I don't know which one. Well, I'm sure there's plenty I've overlooked - please give me some tips!!

[bredman]

Outstanding bottlings i've had recently have been

Bladnoch 8 Lightly Peated CS
Tomintoul 14 46%
Talisker 57 North
Lagavulin 12
Old Pulteney 17 ( on offer at RMW )
Ardbeg Corryvreckan
Ardbeg SN2010

[MoreDalmore]

My suggestions would be :

Bowmore Tempest 10
Bowmore 15 Darkest
Springbank Madeira Wood 11 ( matured; not finished in madeira wood! )
Glenlivet Nadurra 53.6%

... just to make your choices a little bit more difficult.

[dramtastic]

Not sure why they all need to be bought from OS.

Here are some excellent Independent bottlings that can be had from Vintage Cellars.

Hart Brotherrs Rosebank 15 1990
Hart Brothers Caol Ila 10 1996
Hart Brothers Laphroaig 10 1996 52.9%
Hart Brothers Springbank 11 Portwood
Montogemries Clynelish 1974 32YO
OMC Port Ellen 1983 22YO

The first 5 can be had for around AUD 60 bucks, the PE for about $150.

Also i second Glenlivet Nadurra which is easy to buy in Australia.
Don't forget the duty you will be slugged on your OS order, alond with the shipping costs it won't make that order seem so cheap

[Bozo]

thanks folks - please keep em coming! i will look into each of these.

and dramtastic - thanks - i'll look into vintage cellars! i guess the main reason for ordering some of the "simpler things" from OS is, for eg, a'bunadh costs about 30 pounds without VAT, while its about $110-130 in stores here. if i order 12 bottles it works out to about 6 pounds per bottle, so postage is not such a biggie. the main thing is duty, which is a big unknown for me. they say some parcels get charged and some not, and don't know how it works. if you have any info i'd be enormously grateful!! (i'd expect it to be somewhere in the order of the VAT anyway, which wouldn't disappoint me too much, but yeah i don't know much about duty at all.)

[dramtastic]

Duty is slugged on both the volume and the price, so even though you may only pay 1 dollar for a whisky they will charge you for the volume and sometimes extra for the ABV percentage. Last order of 10 bottles of Japanese stuff was $290 in duty. It's almost certain you will pay duty for orders from the UK. I have only had one slip through from Germany and a couple sent from people I know sent privately that got through duty free.

[Bozo]

crikey - that's a lot! may i ask roughly what the value of your order was? i've just found this document - http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resou ... ostFAQ.pdf - which has a formula for working out duty on alcohol (or other stuff valued over $1000). in their example, an order of $1000 works out to about $170 in duty+GST, and the 8 bottles i've chosen so far comes in at less than $500 in total value. i did a couple of calculations:

a'bunadh - $71.14
lagavulin 16yo - $85.80
talisker 18yo - $111.77

these are total costs including shipping and with duty+GST added, according to the formula on that page. talisker is the closest to the retail value here (about $125 in Dan Murphys), but you can see the other two are savings of $30+ on even DM prices.

BTW I walked into a Vintage Cellars yesterday after your recommendation, and they had some pretty big specials on - best was $60 off JW Gold - $100.

[dramtastic]

Hi Bozo,

I have sent you a private message with some details of Austrailian customs duty. Sorry but you may be in for a bit of a shock. Duty alone will run to about 65-70% on top of what you will pay for the whisky.

[bredman]

Would the UK sellers not deduct the VAT also? I'm led to believe this is done on orders posted to the USA.

[bredman]

I checked another forum and there is a post stating RMW do deduct the VAT on orders to America. Maybe they will for Oz.

[dramtastic]

Hi Lads,

Yes the VAT is deducted but that has nothing to do with the duty Bozo will have to pay to Australian customs I'm afraid.

[bredman]

Hi Lads,

Yes the VAT is deducted but that has nothing to do with the duty Bozo will have to pay to Australian customs I'm afraid.

I know, but it may sweeten the deal if he hasn't accounted for this already.

[Bozo]

yes, i've already accounted for no VAT. from informal sources i had been led to believe that duty would be more-or-less just the VAT coming back on...... but it's looking a little trickier. i will try and get some official info from customs.... thanks for the help so far guys.

[ashleypenney]

If can pick it up get Ardbeg Naim Beist wonderful dram

another one would be Glengoyne 21 year old great distillery great whisky

Longrow CV anothe one to try

Ash

[Bozo]

just got the delivery today... snuck through customs nicely!

[Muskrat Portage]

That's more than 8 bottles! Nice haul!
Musky

[Bozo]

That's more than 8 bottles! Nice haul!
Musky

duly noted! it's 12 actually - i think the 12th got cut off - 1989 balblaire. my other interested parties became slightly less interested, so i had to rouse my own interest just that little bit more. not hard! this will take me forever to finish.........

[dramtastic]

That's more than 8 bottles! Nice haul!
Musky

this will take me forever to finish.........

Maybe we all thought that when we started out. I reckon could knock over the Balblair '89 in a few nights

[Swedish Chef]

Nice haul indeed!
May I ask what the minis are, Bozo?

[Bozo]

signatory is 1990 mortlach, and the mimi's are:
- balvenie 12yo x2
- HP 30yo
- OP 12yo
- ancnoc 12yo
- HP 13yo (Douglas Laing sample)
- inchgower 28yo (Douglas Laing sample)

ok, i've opened one now - a mini balvenie. i just went a week with no alcohol to prove to certain people that i'm not an alco! what is it about that picture that makes people wonder?

[Swedish Chef]

Thanks for the reply Bozo!