Vatted Malts- Good idea or bad idea?

[susywong]

Trying to do some research into Vatted Malts. Can anyone give me their thoughts? Good Value? Expensive, Quality?
Cheers!
Susywong

[BruceCrichton]

Six Isles, from Ian MacLeod, is very good and you can smell and taste the Ardbeg.

Gordon and MacPhail's 'Pride of Orkney' is superb. Sweet and tangy Can't vouch for other ones in their 'pride of' range.

Had Whisky Galore's 10 yr old Vatted malt which was cheaper than a single, was cheap and tasted ok but I wouldn't buy it again.

Famous Grouse malt and Bell's Special reserve are quite similar in character to their respective blends albeit smoother, obviously.

Johnny Walker's green label is very good but quite expensive. It is 15 years old.

I'd recommend starting with the Six Isles and the 'Pride of Orkney'.

[Stephen]

Ballantine's Aged 12 Years, Pure Malt
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/b ... ky334.html

Compass Box's products, ex. Asyla,Eleuthera, Hedonism and Juveniles.
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/c ... ky881.html
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/c ... ky882.html

The Century of Malts
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/t ... y1329.html

Famous Grouse Vintage Malt Whisky
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/f ... y1338.html
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/f ... ky923.html

BLACKADDER SMOKING ISLAY
http://www.blackadder.nu/newidx.php?pag ... i&site=INT

[Admiral]

The three whiskies from Jon Mark & Robbo are very drinkable vatted malts. Their price is a little bit on the high side, but I've been trying them regularly for over a month now, and they always seem to hit the spot.

The Compass Box offerings are the most over-priced, ordinary tasting whiskies I've come across.

Johnnie Walker Green is quite pleasant.

The Famous Grouse Vintage Malts (1987 and 1989) were also pleasant enough, and good value for the money.

Cheers,
Admiral

[susywong]

What's the most you would pay for a decent vatted malt?

And what do you look for in a vatted malt when you're in the store?

[Iain]

Islay Mist was about £14.99 last time I bought one - I don't think I'd pay more unless the "new" one was better than my favourite!

Century was a very good vatted malt but it was pricey in UK, probably to cover the cost of all the marketing hype and over-fancy packaging.

[BruceCrichton]

Islay Mist is blended whisky not vatted malt.

I paid £22.50 for the Pride of Orkney 12yr. That's about as high as I would go. I know what was in that obviously. It is cheaper than that in Gordon and MacPhail's shops.

I might go a little higher if the whisky was older but not many distillers and bottlers would make an old vatted malt.

Itr's greatest attraction will always be that you can get 8 yr old malt for a cheap price - like in supermarkets.

[Iain]

Oops. Sorry about the slip. It used to be a vatted, but not for many, many years. Or decades...

It's still better than most vatteds. IMHO, of course!

[BruceCrichton]

Rifling through my old WM collection, I find issue 23 where vatted malts are discussed.

Eleuthera by Compass Box is the one I missed out.

It's quite good and I polished it off quickly enough when given it for my birthday a couple of years ago. I do think, however, you would be better off with a medium peated Islay like Caol Ila or Bowmore or the W&M Bruichladdich instead. or possibly even Clynelish which has a reasonable level of peat though. It had a slightly 'cancelled out' feel to it.

It's worth comparing with G&M's Pride of Islay though. That is a fair buy though not one to satisfy lovers of peat monsters.

Ben Nevis have one called Glencoe at 8 yr old and 58.5%. I've got a miniature of it which I will crack open sometime. I was at the distillery today for a wee day out.

Ben Nevis will be at Whisky Live so they could have samples of it available to taste.

[Stephen]

The Six isles Pure Island Malt
http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/t ... y1964.html

JM gives it 94 points!(P.142)

http://www.ianmacleod.com/brands/other_ ... six_isles/
'Best New Scotch brand' : "One of the most important new whiskies to have come out onto the market for a very long time. This is island whisky to the max!" - Jim Murray (Whisky Expert), Whisky Bible 2004

A TRUE reflection OF THE ISLES

Contains 100% malt whisky from the 6 islands where distilleries are situated: Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Orkney and Arran.
Bottled at natural colour and unchill-filtered.

[Lawrence]

I've only had the Century, JW Green Label and the Famous Grouse vatted malt. Of the 3 the Famous Grouse was the best with a hint of sherry and reasonably priced.

[BruceCrichton]

Available to try at the Whisky Fringe are the Praban Na Linne range.

The unchilfiltered ones are by far the best. The 12 and 21 year old are excellent, thick and chewy.

The chilfiltered ones are rather like poor man's Talisker.

12 yr old is about £25.

21 yr old is about £50.

Both a pretty good buy.

[BruceCrichton]

Glencoe 8 yr old 58.5% needs a splash of water and is decidedly bourbony in taste. It wasn't my cup of tea but could be someone else's - especially a bourbon drinker.

[BruceCrichton]

Having tasted it again at the Whisky Fringe, Poit Dubh is the daddy of vatted malts. I had the 12 yr old version.

If I had been a bit more cunning, I would have brought you over a sample to taste.

[bamber]

Safeway's Islay - JM's right on this one - fantastic.