New Bowmore anounced in Germany

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

as I am no moderator I was not able to start this thread in the "News". So excuce me if I speak here of whiskies I have not yet tasted.

The German importer for Morrison Bowmore has anounced three new whiskies from MB for autumn/fall.

Bowmore 1989 "Non Chill-filtered" 16 years 51.8% vol.

vatted from 134 barrels, mostly Bourbon, price about 80.-€

The following notes from Bowmore I translated back into English as I could not find the information on MBs home page.

"A rare example of a Bourbon dominated Bowmore. The result is a Bowmore of a light straw colour with very complex aromas: Candied fruits, toffee, marzipan held together by the unmistakeable smokiness of Bowmore. On the palate surprisingly delicate with traces of vanilla, soft fruits and lightly peaty. The finish is light, elegant and mellow. Lean back relax and enjoy this unique limited vintage Bowmore."

The post states that it is a limited edition of 36.000 bottles worldwide.

Bowmore Vintage 1971 34 years old 51% vol

limited edition of 960 bottles worldwide in a black wooden box price 590.- €

"Notes from Bowmore:

The last 34 years the malt has slowly matured in the best sherry casks. Matured in the deep dark warehouses of Bowmore Distillery next to the Atlantic, shelterd from the atlantic storms, ice cold winter mornings and long calm summer days. It became a bowmore with the colour of dark mahagony. Phantastic complex aromas, sweet treacle, cinnamon and fruits and a hint of the typical Bowmore smokiness. On the palate it is warm, with oaky smoke, sherry and exotic fruits. The finish is warm, delicate, mellow and never ending."

Auchentoshan 17 years old Bordeaux Wine Finish 51% vol price ca. 90.- €

rather limited edition with 3.600 bottles worldwide

"This whisky has slowly matured for 8 years of its life in Bourbon casks and after that it spent 9 years in the best Saint-Julien Bordeaux red wine barrels. This careful maturing process created an exceptionel complex and delicious Auchentoshan.
Deep mandarin red, the red wine finish is present in the nose with aromas of ripe fruits, additionally apple-toffee and dark brown sugar. On the palate dense aromas of concentrated preserved fruits and a trace of vanilla. The finish is warm, silken-smooth and long, outright comfortable. A truly rare pleasure"

I hope I managed to water your mouths sufficiently.

By all means something to look forward to. Not very cheap, though.

Greetings
kallaskander

PS All errors in translation are my responsibility. The spelling might be not up to my usual, was kind in a hurry.

[Mr Fjeld]

Sounds great Kallaskander! Maybe the "Non chill-filtered" is becoming a selling point! I imagine it will be more common in the future! Very exciting whiskies - unfortunately I doubt they'll reach my shores

Skål!
Christian

[bernstein]

Maybe the "Non chill-filtered" is becoming a selling point!

Yes, these whiskies sound interesting, but - mmmh, I don't know: 80 € for a 16yo at around 52%? 36.000 bottles - there are 'more limited' (comparative) editions out there! What are they up to? Is MB trying to get us accustomed with pricing like this? I know, Christian, in Norwegian terms this sounds quite usual - around here it's (still) clearly beyond the pricing of other 16yo, not to say 'over the top' - and that even bearing in mind, that it's not a typical standard.
The "non-chillfiltered thing" is of course good news. Trendsetters like these are always welcome.

[Mr Fjeld]

Is the quoted prices suggested retail? If not then it's expensive even for our price level!

Skål!
Christian

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

in a German whisky forum the members celebrate the 16 ncf as a success of our constant nagging about Bowmore taste and quality (see the Bowmore FWP thread here). The price of 80.- € is what you and me will have to pay and the Germans in this other forum do already grumble. The sentiment that 80,- € is way too high for a 16 year old is shared by me wholeheartedly. As to the Auchentoshan - well you know what I think of wine finishings in general and so the 90,- € will not really bother me. But out of solidarity with all here in this forum who would like to try the Auchentoshan 17 at a reasonable price let me state that I think this outright ridicolous even if I can imagine what these empty barrels must have cost.
As to the 34 year old... don´t really know what to say. I know of other whiskies in this age group which are far less expensive. I don´t know what they are up to, really.

Greetings
kallaskander

[Deactivated Member]

Well, you can't really compare them to standard-bottling 16yo's; regardless of the actual number of bottles, it's a one-off, and should be compared to others of the same type.

--Which gets me to thinking that we're seeing a lot of these "limited" editions precisely because there are so many of us out here who will try about anything once and then move on to something else. It might be, in this current single malt market, that it is getting harder to move standard, year-in-year-out bottlings. You can be very cynical about this, if you like, or you can regard it as just good business sense. And just maybe, it's better for the whisky to treat each bottling as a distinct release, rather than trying to make all your vattings exactly the same. But that's without taking price into consideration.

Nine years in wine casks after eight in bourbon? I'm not sure what I'd call that, but "finish" doesn't seem the right word. It might be more appropriate to call it a "bourbon start"!

[Admiral]

The pricing thing intrigues me.

Would it be fair to say that - in our respective countries and mindsets - 1 dollar = 1 pound = 1 euro?

In other words, if I go to McDonalds and I pay 5 dollars for a Big Mac, does this mean that people in England will pay 5 pounds, and people in Europe will pay 5 euros?

If this is even roughly the case, 80 Euros sounds a great deal for the Bowmore. AUS$80 would be a bargain for a 16yo at 51.8%!!

(By comparison, 16yo Lagavulin is now retailing for around $90)

Cheers,
Admiral

[Deactivated Member]

Would it be fair to say that - in our respective countries and mindsets - 1 dollar = 1 pound = 1 euro?

I do tend to think that way when I travel, Admiral, which is to my benefit when I'm in Canada but kills me when I get the credit card bills from Scotland. But realistically speaking, a pound stirling is worth more than $2.30 Australian. Yes, my eyes tend to bug out when I see a relatively low number after the £, and somehow I can justify paying £99 for a bottle I'd never consider paying US$175 for...but it's an illusion.

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

the Pound to Euro ratio is oszillating around a factor between 1.40 und 1.50. Depending on the exchange rate we Euros have to multiply the amount in Pounds by this factor. Or the other way round you could say that 1 Euro buys between 65 to 70 pence. If the Pound is weak against the Euro it could even pay off to buy whisky in the UK despite the high taxation on alcohol there.
Usually whisky is cheaper in Germany than in Scotland.

Greetings
kallaskander

PS The UK is not a member of the common currency, yet whereas Ireland is. As I do love Britain and her people dearly I may be allowed to say "Of course not!" in her case.

[MGillespie]

The pricing thing intrigues me.

Would it be fair to say that - in our respective countries and mindsets - 1 dollar = 1 pound = 1 euro?

In other words, if I go to McDonalds and I pay 5 dollars for a Big Mac, does this mean that people in England will pay 5 pounds, and people in Europe will pay 5 euros?

If this is even roughly the case, 80 Euros sounds a great deal for the Bowmore. AUS$80 would be a bargain for a 16yo at 51.8%!!

(By comparison, 16yo Lagavulin is now retailing for around $90)

Cheers,
Admiral

I think The Economist used to have a Big Mac Index with a similar premise of comparing the economies in different natiuons based on the cost of a Big Mac in each country.

Could we do something similar with Scotch? It would probably have to be a blend that's generally available in most countries to make a valid comparison...say the JW Black Index?

Mark

[kallaskander]

Hi there,

Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 years is around 25,- € in Germany.

Greetings
kallaskander

[Admiral]

Precisely! You've illustrated my point exactly

JW Red is AUS$25.

So if JW Red is $25 here and 25 Euro in your country, then I still maintain that relativity applies, regardless of the exchange rate.

$80 for the Bowmore still strikes me as being great value, so I'm surprised that 80 Euros raises some eyebrows?

Cheers,
Admiral

[MGillespie]

And the 750ml bottle is priced between $25-30 USD here...depending on local taxes.

Based on the exchange rates today...1 Euro would be equal to $1.23 US...making that comparable bottle of Bernie's cost $30.91 in US dollars. On the other hand. the Admiral's bottle would cost $32.66 in US dollars based on the US dollar being equal to $1.31 in Australian dollars.

By the way, Bernie gets a better deal if he flies to Australia...since 1 Euro is equal to $1.62 Australian...he'd get $15 dollars in change back after converting his 25 Euros to get $40.39 in Australian dollars. Of course, that doesn't count the cost of the plane ticket, hotels, etc...

And for our friends in Canada, the same bottle that Bernie pays 25 Euros for should cost $37.48 in loonies and toonies...

The relativity doesn't quite work out, but I'm not ready to say it's importers trying to take advantage of weaker currencies in some markets.

Disclaimer: these figures are based on today's markets rates and do not take taxes of any kind into account...

Mark

[lambda]

Actually, he said black label
The JW Red is about 15 euros (in Germany) I think.

[Admiral]

On the other hand. the Admiral's bottle would cost $32.66 in US dollars based on the US dollar being equal to $1.31 in Australian dollars.

Hi Mark,

I think you may have converted the wrong way...

AUS$25 actually equals US$19.

It's been a very long time since the Aussie dollar was stronger than the greenback! (Mid 1980's)

Cheers,
Admiral

[bernstein]

This thread has found a resumption here. (Thanks to Christian!)

[MGillespie]

Admiral:

I think we're on the same page, actually...at the current exchange rate, it would cost you $1.31 Australian to buy one US dollar. That's the same as the $19 to $25 comparison.

Also, I used JW Black Label for the comparisons...since it's a "staple" whisky that's available in almost every market (and because I like it better than JW Red). In my area, a 750ml bottle of JW Red would cost about $20 US...which would change the overall calculations somewhat.

Mark