is this Black Bottle any good???

[MarianoSabatella]

I´ve found some bottles of "black bottle" (the only ones I could find down here in Argentina ) sitting on the shelves of a wine shop near home, I was wondering about the age of that thing, since both the whisky label and the local tax label seem to be quite old.
Not that I disregard old whisky but as I entered the official webpage I learned that the company changed hands an the blend has change, and now, is ,apparently, better.
My question is: Does anybody know how good this might be? Could lights and poor storage conditions have damaged the whisky?
is there a point in buying that bottle?

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Firstly welcome MarianoSabatella...

I bought a bottle of this as alot of people hold this in high regard as a decent blend. They maybe right but I was a bit dissappointed to be quite honest. A nice bit of peat but not a huge amount but what really dissapointed me was that it seem very sweet and that is probably due to the amount of grain whisky used. So if your looking for something that's not top heavy then go for it but not a good example of Islay for me.

[Leither]

It's highly regarded and very well stocked as a staple offering in many bars across Scotland. It is a decent blend with an Islay profile. Contains malt from all currently distilling operations on Islay with the exception of Kilchoman.

I like it and it is rated highly in Jim Murray's whisky bible - here in Scotland it costs circa £10-15 so if you can get it for similar in your country I would say it's worth buying if you like Islay style blends.

Not being a 'premium malt' I would doubt that poor storage etc would damage the whisky - it comes in a green bottle and has done for many years.

If you find it affordable try it and let us know what you think.

[Ize]

Note that there is Black Bottle and Black Bottle 10yo. The last mentioned is much better than the first. IMHO.

[Deactivated Member]

Note that there is Black Bottle and Black Bottle 10yo. The last mentioned is much better than the first. IMHO.

I disagee - I rate the non-aged version higher.

[Ardbeg311]

A warm welcome from me as well MarianoSabatella,

Sorry I cannot help you with an old no-age-indicated bottle. The only Black Bottles I have had were the 10yo. A couple of years ago the sample I tried was very good. I have bought a couple of bottles since and have been disappointed in both. If you really want to sample of what Islay has to offer than you can do much better than Black Bottle for just a little more.

Again, I regret that I can't be of more help to you. I suspect it can't be that expensive, but you will have to decide for yourself if the bottle is "worth it" or not. All part of the experience of the world of scotch whisky you know! Let the forum know your results.

[bamber]

I found it to be pretty hard work to finish.

[RufusA]

I was very underwhelmed by the 10YO BB at WL London '07 on the Bunnahabhain stand.

Particularly as the chap on the stand said he'd get me a splash of something special, charged me a voucher, and then was suprised when I didn't sing the praises of what he had surreptisiously added to my glass out of sight.

Just came across as being something and nothing. Drinkable, but very characteristically blended without a distinctive taste profile to justify it - like many bright colours mixed together to make a muddy brown. Almost any of the components in the blend would IMHO has tasted better on its own.

Stand it next to a glass of something Islay based from Compass Box, and you'll see the difference skilled and innovative hands make.

I'm probably being unfair to Black Bottle, as I was rather spoilt at WL by all the great single malts on offer.

YMMV - Rufus.

[Deactivated Member]

Honestly, the 10yo is significantly less interesting than the NAS.

[MarianoSabatella]

I thank you all for the warm welcome.
Is not that the whisky is expensive, it just looks like a stray bottle from some shipwreck or something like that.
I'm always on the look for hard-to-find whisky (BB is so down here), and since I read some very high praises to this particular one , then...
I'll give it a try then, tomorrow afternoon I'm buying that thing.
Again, thanks a lot for the kind help!

[Drrich1965]

Bienvenidos a nuestro foro. Aqui, vas a encontrar gente muy ayudante (la mayoria), y informacion tan beuno.

Saludos!

[MarianoSabatella]

Bienvenidos a nuestro foro. Aqui, vas a encontrar gente muy ayudante (la mayoria), y informacion tan beuno.

Saludos!

Se agradece el castellano!
Saludos!

[MarianoSabatella]

I promise a comment and some pictures soon, not that plople gather in the streets waiting for my "tasting notes" , but to show it a bit around the forum and see if I'm able to find some info regarding the bottle's age, not it's contents.If it is anything like the recent stuff, or perhaps it has changed a lot over time (the blend, that is, not that I expect any evolution)...
I'm sure that this bottle is at least from the 1970's!
(some sort of marooned bottle from the twilight zone...ok, ...maybe I went too far, I know)


thank you all for replying!

[Steve Rush]

Note that there is Black Bottle and Black Bottle 10yo. The last mentioned is much better than the first. IMHO.

I have to say that I have always enjoyed an occasional dram of Black Bottle. One of the very few blends that I will happily dram. At Whisky Live this year I managed to get hold of a bottle of the 10yr and I have to say that this is indeed better than the standard and it hurts me to have to acknowledge to myself that it is infact a blend.

[Dangerous_Dave]

I think Black Bottle is an absolute belter of a dram and is better than a lot of single malts on the market. It hasn't won whisky awards for nothing.

Like any blend, there is a certain proportion of grain whisky but the blending is excellent and a large part of the "base" of the spirit is Bunnahabhain single malt. The version sold overseas carries a ten years age statement and - I am informed by the Bunnahabhain distillery guide - differs from the UK bottling by the omission of a Speyside malt (I couldn't get him to tell me which).

My advice would be to buy it and try it. I don't know about Argentina, but over here it is the same price as certain blends I wouldn't even mix with Canada dry. If you don't like it, I'm sure you'll find a friend who does. But beware - I took a bottle camping with a few friends last October and they drank it all up, and left me with the Glenfiddich 18.

[The Fachan]

The malt content of standard Black Bottle is made up of whiskies from all regions of Scotland while all the malt content of the 10yo is all from Islay. Information gleamed from the Master Distiller at Burn Stewart.

[Ize]

it hurts me to have to acknowledge to myself that it is infact a blend.

Why? If it's good, does it really matter if it is blend or single malt?

I try be open for new experiences, although I admit single malts are high in my ranking. And those few exceptions listed;
Redbreast 15yo (4.)
Black Bottle 10yo (23.)
and Redbreast 12yo (30.) which may have too low scoring ...
Ah, and Royal Lochnagar 12yo (32.), Bushmill's Black Bush (38.) seem to be still within top-50.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

So how much better is the 10yo from the nas....

I still have my BB nas sitting there and like Bamber finding it hard to finish

[Dangerous_Dave]

I actually preferred the NAS. I find it a bit more salty/peppery which I quite like from a whisky and there is a nice, big leathery Macallan bottom to it, that I couldn't taste in the 10 yo. I can understand why preferences may differ tho.

Thanks for the clarification, Fachan.