Collection

[agoldf]

This is NOT a joke.
A friend of mine just sold his bussiness for a huge payout. He decided he wants a scotch collection. I am therefore looking to buy and suggestions on what to buy in the "over 200 quid" range, he is looking for old stuff almost without regard to taste. (don't ask).:
Thus far:
Macallan Lalique 50 x2
Macallan Lalique 55 x2
Macallan 46
Macallan 69 Celtic Heartlands
Macallan GR 1979 ( I snuck this in)
Macallan 25, 30
Fiddich 40 x 3
Bowmore white x2
Bowmore black x2
Bowmore 68/37
Bowmore 71/34 x2
Bowmore 30 Ceramic
Balvenie 71,72,76,78
Balvenie 25, 30
Laddie 40
Laddie 70 x2
Laddie 73 x2
Laddie legacy 3,4,5,6
Ardbeg Provenance
Ardbeg 65
Gelnmo 71
Glenmo 75
Glenmo 77
Glenmo 81
Glenmo 25
Glenmo Tain
Glenury 50
Glenury 36
Springbank 25
Springbank 21
HP 40 x2
Cragganmore 29
Dahlwinnie 29
Brora 30 (2007)
Brora 25
PE 2,3,4,5,7,8.
I still have a large budget but I am looking for good prices. For example I paid 1800 quid for the White Bowmore and $17,500 for the Macallan lalique SETs. But I am willing to deal.
This is not my collection, that is listed on another thread.
Thanks

[jmrl]

Hmmm, we-ve got a 1937 50yo Glenfiddich at about £5, 500 and a Campbeltown 1919 at £50, 000.

Worth a punt.

[agoldf]

He is specifically looking for a fiddich 50. I know there is a new one coming out and there was one bottled a few years back but I am unfamiliar with the 37/50. Can you post/send pics?
Thanks!

[jmrl]

I'll check out the details tomorrow. Where is he? UK or overseas?

[agoldf]

USA but can pick up anything in the UK.

[papercrack]

Not old but I have

4 x Ardbeg Corryveckan
1x Ardbeg Lord of the isles
1 x Ardbeg Mor ist release
1 x Millburn rare malt 1969
2x Rosebank 20 year

PM if interested

[agoldf]

As there seems to be some confusion, the list is stuff I already bought, I may take a second bottle, but I'm really looking for stuff not on the list.
Thanks for all the repies, your help is much appreciated.

[DukeofSandwich]

Honestly, I think your friend is a fool (if he even exists). The satisfying thing about having a whisky collection is the process of collecting it and the knowledge gained along the way. To just decide you want one without any appreciation for what you are buying and then have someone else do the actual buying is senseless. And to have all that whisky in the hands of someone who knows nothing about it (and doesn't even care if it tastes good) is a damn shame.

[jmrl]

Think of it like he is preserving it for future generations of whisky lovers. If collectors didn't hoard things I'd never have got the chance to taste some great drams from the past. But I agree its a detatched way of hunting gathering.

The 50yo is somewhere over £5 500. I'll ask my boss today. The box it came with mentioned owner's priveledges at the l, I'll have to dig it out to confirm the details.

[agoldf]

That sounds really good. And if anyone needs references, just ask.

[jazz lover]

I must agree with Dukeofsandwich.

[agoldf]

For what it's worth I mostly agree with him too. But my friend is not a hoarder. He will drink almost all of these bottles, more than once, I have seen him spend $25,000 on scotch and have it drunk in a single night (admittedly on big occasions). He is a cynic however, and thinks that 99.99% of people cannot (or at the time of consumption will not due to circumstances, i.e. most people don't sit swirling and nosing their scotch at a closing party) tell the difference between most decent scotches. Thus, to him, it's almost all about the label and since most people neither know nor detect the value of a macallan gran reserva, that is not his focus.

[johan brugge]

After reading all this I have to agree with DukeofSandwich and jazz lover. Your friend is a fool indeed.

[Jobi]

Your friend is a fool indeed.

A fool who can invite me over anytime...

[gemmalee23]

I have a Macallan 55 year old Lalique for sale.
Any offers?

[Whiskytaster]

I would like to present an alternative view for this discussion.

People derive pleasure in many different ways. Just because we, as 'collectors' enjoy the search and acquisition of sought after bottles, that does not mean that the pleasure, or gratification, someone else gets from just buying various expensive items is any less or more valid.

It does not make them a fool, they just have a different set of values, potentially where the 'collecting' bit is less important, and the knowledge that they are drinking the 'best', is more important.

and, it also has the benefit of supporting the market, especially if they are consumed.

[johan brugge]

Well Whiskytaster, that is an interesting point of view but I still don't share it. I'm sure that 99.99 % of all the collectors/whisky lovers buy, drink and collect whisky because they love it. I'm proud of my bottles and I sure as hell never bought a whisky just because of the label. I know I'm certainly not the only one here. If his friend claims that about 99.99 % of all the people can't tell the difference between most decent scotch whiskies doesn't make him a cynic but arrogant. The fact that he has spent 25.000 $ in a single night comes across (to me) that he doesn't appreciate the value and importance of these whiskies. I feel that's condescending to all the collectors who're spending their hard earned money on whisky (exclusive or not) for the love of it all. It makes my hard bleed really.

[agoldf]

I expected and enjoy, this discussion, especially as it has been, for an online forum, quite civil. I disagree with your assertion of arrogance as I have tested numerous (around 10) scotch afficionados to score scotch and get hugely varing resuls, often depending on the price of the bottle.
Just look at the hugely varying scores on MM there are consistently 15 point variations. Also belying the taste is everything issue is why are all 40 yo more expensive? Oh so you don't buy those automativcally, only those that are "good?" but inevitebly every overage whisky is "good" because it tastes "younger." In other words, if it tasted 40 yo it would be bad. So, taste wise it is like a 25-30 yo, so the only value is non-taste i.e. that it is/says 40+ yo. So do you buy any?

[Ganga]

Much can be made of the ratings from the Malt Maniacs to Jim Murray to Michael Jackson. The inherent flaw in any of these subjective ratings is personal preference. I have had 40+ yo whisky that is lively and spritely, to the point that it fools you into thinking that it is closer to 25 yo. Others are past their prime and you are paying for the NAME and AGE rather than the quality, especially with the official bottlings.

Very few people can afford the ultra exclusive official bottlings coming out today. I have gone after several exclusive bottles including a split of a Ben Wyvis bottling.

My hope for your friend is that he enjoys the whisky for what it is regardless of how much was spent.

[agoldf]

"I have had 40+ yo whisky that is lively and spritely, to the point that it fools you into thinking that it is closer to 25 yo."

That was my point. A "good" 40 yr old is one that tastes like a 30 yo. yet I daresay many if not most scotch drinkers WOULD pay more for the older malt. So they are paying for the "age" (aka label) rather than for the "quality."

[desouza]

My take on this is that old is good to a point - then we have deteriorating factors that come into play, such as wood flavors, which mask the overall enjoyment of the whisky. The older whiskies "worth their salt" combine the smoothness of aging, the deep haunting flavors embedded in the malt itself and the vitality of youth!
The variables , in my opinion are flavors that come to life vs those that fade away and the "umph" vs the mild, smooth and mellow!
All these factors have been found in only a couple of malts I've tasted,(out of a population of several thousand malts I've tasted) - a private cask bottling of a 21 yr old and a 35 yr old cask strength Springbank!
Having said all this I must add, that the normal expectation of an older malt is that "there would be some influence of wood".

[adogranonthepitch]

If this guy wants to buy some fancy expensive bottles ... then good for him. Most of us take the pleasure of seeking the said 'interesting' bottles and scraping together our pennies (or cents) together to buy such bottles. If tihs mans wants to buy a 'job lot'; ... then good for him. if he wants to drink the bottles or stare at them ... then again ... that is his choice.

One mans collecting is another mans .................

[irishwhiskeychaser]

I feel that's condescending to all the collectors who're spending their hard earned money on whisky (exclusive or not) for the love of it all. It makes my hard bleed really.

You could also say the same of collectors ... i.e. they buy bottles to keep in collections and prevent drinkers from having it. I'm convinced a fair few collectors buy with the intention of never opening certian bottles as if they were honest are to expensive for them to open ... is that not an insult to the drinker. How many ardbeg collectors are going to open the frightfully expensive 1965 .. very few I'd suspect.

This person obviously enjoys their whiskey and eventhough they may not seem to appreciate it could well be buying expensive bottles more for status than anything else but at the end of the day this person is obviously wealthy and they will get a far bigger satisfaction from super expensive bottles than a 300dollar bottle or regulat 25-30. It all down to where your priorities are.