GLENFARCLAS CASK STRENGTH 40YO - IS £150 REASONABLE?

[Deactivated Member]

The SMWS is currently offering a cask strength 40yo Glenfarclas (d65 b05) for £150. Is that a good price ?

[The Dazzler]

Eelbrook, the official bottle of Glenfarcals 40yo from a few years back was ten times the price of the SMWS bottling.

Slainte

[The Dazzler]

Eelbrook, the official bottle of Glenfarcals 40yo from a few years back was ten times the price of the SMWS bottling.

Slainte

[WestVanDave]

To misquote Crieftan from another thread:

Crieftan wrote:


and to add my own comments


... Sounds like a great deal...please run and grab this and report back...

Cheers, Dave.

[Deactivated Member]

You see, that's why I don't join the SMWS. I could not possibly refrain from jumping on something like that. I'd have the credit cards maxed out in no time.

[Admiral]

150GBP = AUS$357

The OB 30yo Glenfarclas, at 43%, retails for over $400.

So:

30yo OB at 43% = +$400
40yo SMWS at cask strength = $357

Sensational value, I'd say. And you know the best bit? I get to taste some in a few weeks!!!

Cheers,
Admiral

[bamber]

But it is just one cask. Quality may be a bit hit and miss. I would certainly feel safer with an older OB, if decidedly worse off (financially).

[Lawrence]

I very much doubt an older cask from the Society will be bad, in all my purchases of Society whisky, especially the older ones, none have been off. They seem to cherry pick the industry.

[bamber]

I'm sure you're right, but I'd still want to try a dram first. I had a dram of one of the 38yo Glenfarcli (what did we agree the plural was ? Mr. T seemed to know) and as good (great) as they were I would not have bought a whole bottle. When it comes to SMWS bottlings age seems even less relevant than usual to me. Don't know why

[Admiral]

Bear in mind also that the OB 40yo Glenfiddich retails for $3000 !!

[Deactivated Member]

I had a dram of one of the 38yo Glenfarcli (what did we agree the plural was ? Mr. T seemed to know)....

I believe we each have our own plural for Glenfarclas, having agreed to disagree. Mine is "Glenfarclæs". You'll need Icelandic or some such on your keyboard; or "Glenfarclaes" will do. Pronounced -farklies.

[MGillespie]

I treat Glenfarclas like "deer" -- it's the same singular or plural...

Mark

[Deactivated Member]

The gentlemen parkèd their carcasses
For a vertical taste of Glenfarclases.
They drunk themselves blind,
Right out of their mind,
And thereafter were seen wearing darkglasses.

[Admiral]

Mr T's attempt at a limerick
Seemed to me quite a gimmick.
They couldn't get blind -
Glenfarclas is too kind.
Surely they were drinking Glenfiddich?

[MGillespie]

Admiral shoots, he scores!!!

Mark

[Deactivated Member]

"Attempt"? Attempt!?! At least mine scans!

Fair enough on the Glenfarclas ...but it's too bad you couldn't rhyme "limerick" with "Loch Dhu"!

[Admiral]

That doesn't make sense, Mr T...

Who could keep drinking Loch Dhu to the point where they got drunk on it?

[MGillespie]

Admiral's right...one drink of Loch Dhu and most people are heading for the porcelain altar...

Mark

[Deactivated Member]

That doesn't make sense, Mr T...

Who could keep drinking Loch Dhu to the point where they got drunk on it?

Nobody said "drunk"--just "blind".

[Deactivated Member]

The bottling may be very good (I don't know, I haven't tried it), but the 40yo OB is not the best price yardstick to use. The Whisky Exchange has a 46yo OB on at £300 a bottle, and an independent 40yo at £199 and an independent 50yo at £495. On that basis, it looks as though the SMWS bottling is pitched at a fair pricepoint.

One of the independents had a 40yo called Ballindalloch that I tried at Whisky Fringe. It was ever so over-oaked - so definitely worth waiting for reviews or tastes before committing to the SMWS offering.

[Deactivated Member]

In my very limited experience, "official" distillery bottlings are often overpriced. Viz "Talisker 20yo" at £90. I guess that its pure demand and supply economics. If they can get it, why not continue to charge it!

[Deactivated Member]

In my very limited experience, "official" distillery bottlings are often overpriced. Viz "Talisker 20yo" at £90. I guess that its pure demand and supply economics. If they can get it, why not continue to charge it!

I can't imagine what other yardstick could be used. It's always supply-and-demand economics. It's like saying "The only reason I'm so heavy is because of gravity."

Big companies like Diageo can afford to put a higher price tag on some bottlings, because they can afford to keep stock around for a while. In some cases, I think it is actually more desirable for them to have 200 bottles of some 40-year-old expression seen worldwide with a £5,000 price tag, than to actually sell it. At the very least, they'd like a relatively unusual bottling to last in the marketplace for a while, at least until it can be followed with the next one. The IB's, I think, would have a slightly different motive--they'd want to sell the stuff relatively quickly. It's their bread-and-butter, just as the standard bottlings are for the big guys.

[Deactivated Member]

I'll freely confess that the marketing/publicity side of expensive "OBs" hadn't crossed my mind. But there's a degree of logic in what you say.

You gasp at the "Glenfiddich 1937" with a £10k price tag. But it fixes the distillery name in your mind.