3 whiskies from "Rare malts" collection ?

[Stephane Grialet]

At first, hello to all the members of this site (i have just suscribed) !

I am French, so please forgive the mistakes i will make writing in this forum.

I have the opportunity to buy 3 whiskies from the Rare Malts collection, but i must make up my mind very fast because there is only a single bottle of each !
But for me, the prices are quite high and i wonder if they worth it.

1) Caol Ila 1988 - 57° => 70 euros
2) Clynelish 1989 - 57° => 67 euros
3) Tamnavulin 1988 - 57° => 65 euros
(they all have been bottled in 2002)

HAs someone already tasted these whiskies and are they really that good ?
Do you think their high prices are justified ?

Thank you for helping me, you may answer me directly at "s_grialet@compuserve.com" if you wish.

Stephane

[Jenny]

I would avoid the Clynelish.
The Clynelish is IMHO a very "flat" whisky. Not very complex and not very pleasing. A little bit harsh. It's not the worst whisky (not at all), but nothing I would NEED to buy even if it's "rare".

Jenny

[Deactivated Member]

Hi Stephane,

I would go for the Caol Ila 1988. 1988 was great year, I had the oppertunity to taste some from that year. If you like light and elegance in a whisky then try the Tamnavulin, because Speysiders are very famous for their sweet, fragrance, estery, soft malt whiskies.

Have fun,

Erik

[Gate]

I agree with Jenny: give the Clynelish a miss if you have to pick just one. I had a great bottle of Clynelish once, but that was about 10 years ago, and every time I've tried it since, it's been disappointing - kind of "muddy" and not very distinguished. Caol Ila is a much better whisky than Tamnavulin IMHO, and can be really excellent - but it's pretty peaty and tends to have a sort of "rubbery" edge to it that's not to everyone's taste. "Old tyres on the beach" was one description, which isn't that far from the truth. I really like it - but it takes all sorts....

[Deactivated Member]

Hi,

The Clynelish can be a very good dram, I had some good ones to taste. The fact that Caol Ila comes out as the very best is just a matter of personal taste. It depends who bottled it, and what they have done with it(chill filtration, colouring etc.). It's goes the same for the Caol Ila, I had tasted a very bad one, while it can be a very good whisky. It's just a matter of how!

Erik

[heer.veer]

I'd prefer the Caol Ila, but I was really surprised that they're releasing whiskies from the end of the eighties already in this series

[Stephane Grialet]

First of all thank you for all your answers, they will surely help me in my decision.

But none of you talked about the price...
In France, most of the Single malts 12 years old worth between 20 euros (Glenlivet e.g.) and 35 euros (Macallan and Highland Park e.g.).

And these 3 Rare malts whiskies, though they have quite the same count of age (12-14 years), are at TWICE that price !
Does the fact they are "cask strength" justify this ?

Stephane

[Aidan]

Stephane

It cost more to produce a bottle of cask strength than a 40% abv bottle, because the latter is basically a diluted version of the cask strength.

I think the Clynelish is a lovely drink. What kind of malt are you looking for? That might give people a better idea of what to recommend.

Kind regards

Aidan

[Gate]

Stephane:

I don't think that sort of price is really justifiable for a Caol Ila of that age, because that malt isn't really that rare. Clynelish is a bit harder to come by (although I think very variable in quality, which makes buying a "one-off" bottle a bit risky); and maybe Tamnavulin is genuinely rare - certainly I haven't seen it very often. But if I were in your position, I'd miss out those three "rare malts" altogether. You could buy a "regular" Caol Ila 15-year-old (I'd guess at about 40 euros for that to go by UK prices) which is a great dram, and have enough left over to buy something like the wonderful Longmorn 15-year-old for a Speyside alternative.

Enjoy!

[heer.veer]

If these are really UDRM rare malts, then the price is normal, but there have never been Rare Malts so young, so talking about the price is difficult. Most rare malts I know were worth it, but there are also a lot of not-so-good ones too.

Anyway, there is nothing rare about a Caol Ila of that age or any of the others for that matter.

Maybe the whiskies are FAKE and not really what they´re supposed to be. There is a lot of profit to be made on FAKE whiskies...

I would be careful....

[heer.veer]

Look at this URL: http://www2.sbbs.se/hp/buxrud/serch.htm#rare

Ulf is a collector and announces the following Rare Malts for 2002:

Caol Ila 24yr
Glen Albyn 26yr
Linkwood 27yr
Rosebank 20yr

Looking at these I CANNOT imagine the second batch for 2002 would be such young ones as described above.

I would be careful indeed....(but can be wrong)

[Deactivated Member]

Hi Stephane,

It all depends on the market, the prices you have asked for, and not have been mentioned here. It's also a matter of quality, as we all know that not every cask is the same, and shows the same character.
A cask strength is normaly more expensiver then a regular strength, that's a fact. It also depends sometimes of the name of the distillery, and/or the independent bottler aswell. Many factors are involved with prices of a single malt whisky. Price doesn't realy matter when it comes to buy a good dram, ofcourse you have to keep in mind what you can spend or not. But what I mean is, that if you could buy, lets say, a bottle of Glenwhatever for 25 Euro's and you see the same Glenwhatever for 30 Euro's, with a little more strength in it, it might be worth to think about spending 5 more, and you probably have excellent version of Glenwhatever...

Erik

[heer.veer]

Are those young rare malts real?