To end this series on Holiday Season shopping tips, I’m putting the focus of attention on pricier whisky. The case at hand I’ll be coming to shortly is a whisky retailing for (just) over a €100 / £100 from one of my favourite distilleries. But before I get into that, I feel it’s time to discuss value for money a bit. This is quite a subjective and personal thing, obviously. Now there are some crystal clear examples of whiskies that are absolute great bang for buck, like the Indri Trini I discussed just a few weeks back: whiskies that are punching well above their weight for the price point, regardless of most people’s budgets. Where it becomes quite tricky, subjective and complicated quite fast, is when we look at the value for money proposition from the other side of the spectrum. Where do you set the bar when it comes to ‘affordable’ to start with. Even if you were to simplify it to something like ‘affordable = disposable income’, almost immediately half a dozen other questions arise. ‘Do you get your money’s worth?’ being the main one, probably. And it becomes rather hopelessly complicated when we start adding other variables (like age, presentation, ABV,…) into the equation.
Take Glenallachie’s recently released 4 yo peated expression. A whisky that was released as part of the limited series celebrating Billy Walker’s 50th anniversary in the whisky business. Now this is likely one of the first ever releases at Glenallachie that carries Billy Walker’s signature throughout the whole process (all the way from the stills to the bottle, so to speak), rather than Billy doing his cask magic to successfully lift older stock from the Pernod Ricard era. And I’m not taking anything away from these releases, because man did they did put Glenallachie on the enthusiast’s radar. But a bottle of whisky symbolizing the full craftmanship from Billy Walker is something worth celebrating I’m sure. Then again, the price tag - £80 – seems steep to say the least. I’ve not tried it and therefore can’t make any claims about such a price tag being justifiable in regards to the quality, but personally, and I do feel I’m not alone on this one, I dismissed it, solely and purely on the combination of a 4 year old whisky being released with an 80 quid price tag attached to it. It may well be the mistake of a lifetime, but the value for money proposition didn’t seem right to me. (And now I’ll likely never, ever get to try it as the secondary market vultures have snapped up just about all remaining bottles of the 10,000 that were released, shamelessly doubling or even tripling the price).
I think it’s fair to say that what feels right and what doesn’t when talking price is a psychological, individual process more than anything. Also, I’m well aware of the fact that I’m very much contradicting myself. Time and again I’ve argued that an age statement shouldn’t be seen as an indication of quality, and I have indeed tasted £40 whisky that was absolutely brilliant and tasted £80 and more expensive whisky that was 3, 4 or even 5 times the age of this particular release which turned out to be frankly piss poor quality.
Also, while I’m at it, why is it that while snubbing a 4 yo, £80 whisky, I’m at the same time perfectly happy to cough up €50, or even €60 and more, for a lot of these new distilleries, releasing whisky that’s even barely whisky? Is that €20 gap really that hard to bridge? Is it because I’m happy and excited to get my hands on something new? To be able to taste ‘the future’ of whisky? To be up to date on all the exciting new endeavours happening in the world of whisky? Because I understand why new, often smaller capacity distilleries have higher overhead costs compared to the Glenlivet’s and Singleton’s of this word? Probably it’s all of the above. But it doesn’t make an awful lot of economic sense to be buying 5 or 6 yo whiskies from the new cool kids in town while at the same time complaining that Clynelish 14 yo is now sitting at a similar pricepoint while it was just about €40 not even that long ago. What these new distilleries have as an advantage, is that they don’t carry the burden of comparison. We can’t moan about their releases being €10 or €15 more expensive than 4 or 5 years ago, simply because they weren’t around 4 or 5 years ago. And yet we curse Clynelish and Lagavulin (and Diageo) for upping the prices of their 14 yo and 16 yo single malts to be on par with a bottle of 6yo Ardnamurchan?! Like I said: tricky, subjective and complicated.
A lot also comes down to our frame of reference. Over the years I’ve bought hundreds of bottles of whisky and tried even more. While I didn’t keep track, I’m pretty certain that the vast majority of my purchases would have been bottles sitting in a price range of somewhere between €50 and €90. Some were cheaper, and even less would have been more expensive. Now, again, it’s a fairly individual thing, but generally speaking I’m willing to take a punt on a bottle which I have little or no prior knowledge about up until a price point of about €65-€70. That’s pretty much as far as my comfort zone stretches. Anything more expensive and I’ll likely have done my research or it should have come as highly recommended by trustworthy whisky folk. Preferably both. Take it a step further and for every bottle with a 3 digit price tag, a whole array of variables and considerations are being weighed on the inner decision scale: do I really want this? If I pass up on this now, will I ever get another change of trying it? Should I buy this, or rather get 2 other bottles of quite good whisky for the same price? Is this something the flippers will likely take out of my reach, or will it still be here half a year from now? And last but not least: am I getting my money’s worth, and how the hell am I going to explain this one at home?
So a lot of considerations, thoughts and second thoughts come in to play when I’m about to splash the cash on a bottle of booze. And that’s just for bottles I buy for myself. I do feel that anyone who gets gifted a really expensive whisky (and to me, that’s indeed anything north of €100) should be aware of the difficult, often agonizing mental process that came with it. It’s torment, I tell you!
Glencadam17 yo Reserva de Porto (2004-2021), 46 % ABV, natural colour, UCF, ex bourbon American oak, finished in port pipes. 7770 bottles, app. €120
Glencadam is a perfect example of pretty much everything I’ve just described. Their 10 yo expression is a champion in many ways: it’s a very rewarding, softer, gentle whisky, yet it has depth and character. It’s also affordable – about €40-€45 and it’s usually readily available in most markets. As a consequence it has become a staple in my cabinet, and I tend to pick up at least a bottle every year to enjoy over summer, when the lighter style fits the weather conditions perfectly. The other core range expressions are more limited in terms of availability, and also tend to lose some of that ‘value for money’ proposition. Intrinsically the 15 yo is a damn good whisky, but seeing how it’s often retailing closer to €70 than it is to €60 around me, it’s already nearing the edge of what I’m comfortable with. In my neck of the woods, both the 18 and 21 yo (the other 2 ‘core range’ expressions) are (well) north of €100. As I argued above, that makes them a bit of a folly.
This limited release came out last year, and, Glencadam being Glencadam and not Springbank, is still fairly available at the original MSRP. I chipped in on a bottle split to get my hands on a decent sized sample, and therefore won’t be giving a score but rather a first impression.
Nose
Apricot jam, followed by a wide array of sweetness. There’s pastry notes here like sugar coated pies, but also a sense of strawberry candy and confectionery sweetness. Add in some pink bubble gum, why don’t you. Sweet red fruits and tropical fruit notes. If olfactory sensations would have colours, this would likely be pink. Balancing things out, there’s a clear wood note adding depth. Truth be told, the nose has a spot on balance between sweetness, wood, depth and fruit.
Palate
At first the sweetness from the nose manifests itself, but in a far more generic manner. Just general, unidentifiable sweetness… A dry mouthfeel coming from a soft oaky note adding a hint of bitterness. I’m not exactly overwhelmed by this. Luckily, it opens up nicely with a bit of added water, lifting things up significantly. This is now far better, restoring the fruity notes along with some dark chocolate, roasted coffee and nuts.
Finish
Medium long and drying , sitting on echoes of treacle and oak.
Final thoughts
This is a good whisky, with a lovely profile and a great balance, making for a rich yet also delicate experience. The nose is delightful and wonderful, although perhaps the palate can’t completely live up to that. I’ll argue that it might be about a tenner too expensive. Also, seeing how the bourbon cask matured 10 yo is my benchmark to measure all things Glencadam, this limited port cask finish does give you a different take on what they normally do. As a consequence, I can’t but feel it also lacks that signature Glencadam note a bit. It’s interesting, well balanced and very enjoyable, but, coming back to where this review started (and keep in mind this is based on a sample): I do feel like I might rather have 2 bottles of the 10 yo instead.
And on that bombshell, this series comes to a conclusion. To end the year, I’ll be probably doing something somewhat Christmassy. If you’re in the States: I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. If you’re anywhere else: I hope you have a great Thursday!
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