TALISKER 175TH ANNIVERSARY BOTTLING

[Deactivated Member]

A normal bottle of Talisker 10yo is about £25 around here. Yet, the Talisker 175th Anniversary bottling is about £55.

What justifies the difference in price tag?

Is the anniversary bottling-

Cask strength - No, the normal 43%
A very limited run - No, a whopping 60,000 bottles

In fact, the only obvious difference seems to be the label, which hardly justifies the extra £30.

Unless you know differently.

[bamber]

Yeh - I looked at that too and thought it was way too much.

[robertk]

The nitpicker strikes, it's actually the normal 45.8%.

Anyway. I'd not call this bottling priceworthy at all compared to the 10 or 18-year old.

When we tasted it this weekend it was similar to the Talisker 10 but with actually less complexity. The sea-character was lacking in the sense I couldn't find much of the sea-weed and salt I found in the 10-year old. The peat was there but not very much more than that.. the body was smaller than the ten.

I'll dig into the bottle some more before saying too much though.

regards, Robert

[Deactivated Member]

Thanks for the tips, guys, I'll give that one a miss (absent any dissenting comments). A cynical attempt to fleece naive collectors, perhaps? A shame, as Talisker have done some excellent limited releases.

[Deactivated Member]

I too think that it's an attempt to palm off a valueless malt onto naive collectors.

And thanks to Robert for pointing out my % error. Oops!

[robertk]

Valueless is a bit harsh though, It's still a good malt and should atleast be sampled but perhaps not bought.

[Admiral]

But by comparison, consider the 175th anniversary bottling for Springbank. Just a different label really, but the price tag was less than you'd pay for normal Talisker 10!

It seems Springbank weren't as greedy!

Cheers,
Admiral

[Deactivated Member]

I think we all agree that this represents a brain cramp by some genius in Diageo's marketing department, at least based on what I read here, and absent any other pertinent information.

[Admiral]

Well, before we accuse him/her of having a brain cramp, let's see what happens. Sadly, not every consumer is as well versed as us, and it may prove to be a big seller. In which case, said genius in marketing department will be warmly congratulated.

Cheers,
Admiral

[SpiritofShetland]

If you want the Talisker 175 a bit cheaper you could always travel to Sweden in November. According to Digaeo Sweden it'll go on sale there for just £40.

[corbuso]

-because special editions sells always good and they want to make more money

and because this bottle is done of vatted talisker from different age ( including 20ich years old whisky)

Haven't managed a bottle yet, but a cask strength version would have been appreciated..

[Deactivated Member]

If you want the Talisker 175 a bit cheaper you could always travel to Sweden in November. According to Digaeo Sweden it'll go on sale there for just £40.

You know a drink is overpriced if it is cheaper in Sweden!

[SpiritofShetland]

One of the few advantages of a state owned monopoly. While retailers in the UK can charge what they want (or belive the customers will pay), the monopolies here in Norway & Sweden are only allowed a small markup (in Norway it's 20% or max 75 NOK=£6.50).

That's why whiskies who are claimed to be collectors items often are cheaper here in the expensive north than elsewhere.

[Deactivated Member]

Fair enough. I do remember inter-railing around Scandinavia in 1990 and finding standard blended scotch cost £40 a bottle in the Finnish Alko shops. Beer was about £5 a half litre. When we suggested to the locals that the prices were rather high, they told us that they were cheap compared to Norway!

[Deactivated Member]

Well, before we accuse him/her of having a brain cramp, let's see what happens. Sadly, not every consumer is as well versed as us, and it may prove to be a big seller. In which case, said genius in marketing department will be warmly congratulated.

Cheers,
Admiral

It may well be, and he may well be...but I'd still consider it a brain cramp, if what I read here is on the level. On the other hand, I've neither heard nor read anything about it except the gossip here, so perhaps I'm jumping the gun. Keep an open mind.

Nick, Mr Picky wants to tell you that while Finland is a Nordic country, it isn't technically part of Scandinavia, as the Finns are more closely related ethnically to the Slavs. Annoying bugger, isn't he? I'm going to go listen to Värttinä and Maria Kalaniemi now.

[SpiritofShetland]

In addition the Finns have cut there taxes after the Baltic countries entered the EU, something the Danes also did. Now the Swedes are thinking about following.

There's a saying that's quite true when it comes to Norway and alcohol: It cheap be rich, but dear to be poor. (Since cheap stuff is very expensive, while expensive stuff is rather cheap).

[Mr Fjeld]

Nick, Mr Picky wants to tell you that while Finland is a Nordic country, it isn't technically part of Scandinavia, as the Finns are more closely related ethnically to the Slavs. Annoying bugger, isn't he? I'm going to go listen to Värttinä and Maria Kalaniemi now.

Different language group as well. I think the one feature that makes the finns "nordic" apart from the geographical vicinity is their drinking habits. When observed you no doubt understand them to be nordic

Skål!
Christian

[Aidan]

I think there's older whisky vatted into this release. It's still available in the shops, so I'm not sure how fast it sold. Nice packaging, though.

[lockejn]

I hate to bring such a long-dead thread back to life, but I see this is still available in some places - Binny's for example at ~$90. I'm curious to hear if it's been more widely sampled over the years and if people's impressions have changed at all? I'd really prefer an 18y, but who knows when that will become available again and at what price.

[Ganga]

I enjoyed my bottle although I think the 18 is a better whisky (for my palate). They seem to still be floating around although some have gone about increasing their prices without changing their stock.

[Bulkington]

It's $50 at Warehouse Wine and Liquor in Manhattan (they have no website)--the same place where the ridiculously priced Talisker 25s can be found.

I think I read that it has stuff as much as 20 years old in it. I understand, given the popularity of the 18, why people would balk at the original price of $100 (around these parts at least), but I prefer it to the 18 and don't see it as any kind of "palming off" of substandard stuff. Now that Warehouse has priced it lower than the 18, I'm a happy stocker-upper.

[jimidrammer]

I've been through a few of the 175th and find it a moody malt, a struggle to decipher, but worth the effort. I think because of the vatting of older and younger malt that sometimes it shows its complexity and other times seems a little brash. It's not one you can define in a sample dram at a tasting, but savor over the course of a bottle. When it's on it's great and at a good price unique enough to keep around.

[clicker7]

I really love the 175th Anniversary bottling, but I love the 18yr. also.

I tasted it first about 3 years ago, and liked it enough to buy another few bottles and stash them away.

I just opened a fresh one for the New Years celebration.

I have a sweet tooth (love A'bunadh, Macallan, Aberlour), and I think the little extra sweetness of the 175th is what appeals to me. I like the Distillers Edition for the same reasons.

I have to confess, I love all the Taliskers I have tasted, finding them sweet, salty, peaty, and complex drams.

Joseph