Roseisle 12yo Origami Kite INAUGURAL (2023 Diageo Special Releases) - Whisky Review 178
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- Опубликовано: 29 янв 2025
- There's a lot to cover on this topic but if you're after just the nosing / tasting notes, that happens at around 13:30
A long awaited release from a much anticipated 'new' Diageo distillery. As expected this is also a pricey one being part of this year's Special Releases. So is it worth it? And how do we define the value of whisky anyway in a world of ever increasing prices...
#WhiskyReview #WhiskyTube #Scotch #Diageo #Roseisle #SpecialReleases #Whisky #WhiskyLock #InauguralWhisky
You took a while to grow on me but now I respect your informative reviews and in my humble opinion, one of the best reviewers on RUclips.
Thanks Sandy 🙏
Interesting discussion re the psychology of the normalisation higher prices for lesser product, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head of what they are trying to do.
Thank you for the review. The analysis of what the special release means was very interesting. I like how genuine you are and I know the long content merely reflects the passion and the outlet of whisky related thoughts. I have been feeling uninspired by some whisky channels but I’m sticking with yours. Thanks Shane 😊
Thanks mate 🙂
The ‘pre amble’ is what makes your channel stand out from the rest and it’s always really really interesting so don’t stop ! I like to listen to this rather than just hearing about tasting notes. Anyway if someone doesn’t want to listen to this and just cares about the tasting notes there is this thing called fast forward..😂. Agree with everything you say about Diageo. They are totally taking the pxss when it comes to price but I have to suck it up sometimes cos like many I can’t say no to the Mortlachs, the Clynelishs and some of the Taliskers but I won’t give them the pleasure of taking my money for these over priced special releases. Having said that the 200ml does help if you really want to try one. Anyway great review and listening as always Shane 👍
Thanks Howard. I agree, the context and discussion it the main thing with a bottle like this one. Let's be honest, most people won't be buying this even if I said it was the best whisky ever!
Mortlach, Clynelish and Talisker are great distilleries with passionate staff and rich histories. A shame how they are run! Cheers 🥃
One of, perhaps the largest liquor suppliers here in Australia is selling the last of their Roseisles at the equivalent of UK£ 60. I have bought three bottles, another large supplier is doing the same with Lagavulin 12, three bottles also. Great drinking for those prices.
I'd buy three at that price too. It's a great whisky for that price. I got a bottle of Lagavulin 12CS in the recent Amazon Black Friday Sale. £50 - which again is a price that would make these bottles very popular with the enthusiasts.
A very thoroughly explained review and the context of the inaugural release. I think Diageo commands high prices for these releases because they can and they are selling them to those who can afford it. I think a fair price for a 12 yo cask strength is about 75 euros. Thanks Shane well done 👍 ciao 👋 S.
Thanks Sandro! 🥃👍
😂😂😂 GlenMordor!!! That cracked me up good. Thanks for the laugh and the review!
One building to distil them all and at Diageo blend them 😂
The quality of your comments are entertaining and make the vid short, really. The comparison at the end is priceless.
Thank you very much 👍
Thank you for the review, very interesting information and wise reflection. Very appreciated!
Price in Germany is about 52 EUR for 200 ml and 140 EUR for the 700ml bottle.
BTW: Love the stuff from the Thompson Bros., honest and serious Whisky for an affordable price. Absolutely no gap here. Happy to give my money to them.
Thanks Bjorn. I must get around to trying something from Thompson Bros. So much positive feedback around that brand. Cheers 🥃
Thanks a lot for the review and thought!
And your right it's to expensive for an 12 year old whisky!
I totally agree! we need to stay focused and we can't accept that kind of narration by the big companies! Greetings from Poland!
Cheers Piotr! 🇵🇱 🥃
Thanks for the review! I’d like to try just it just because of the first release aspect but I’m glad you called out that it’s an amorphous distillery for Diageo that may or may not even have a house style.
And a outrageous price for a 12 that hasn’t demonstrated something along the lines of Springbank or Kilchoman sense of place, by-hand processes, employing more local people etc
Yeah if what Diageo say is true then every Roseisle we get could be totally different. Which is interesting in a way but also makes buying it to see what it's like a bit daft 🙂
I'd be keen to try future releases... but not at this price! Cheers 🥃
Another wonderfully insightful and presented review.
I listen to your opinions on whiskies with great interest.
Thank you.
Thank you! 🙏
Hi Shane,
Just wondered what your thoughts are re Scotch whisky? Where is it heading over the next few years? With evermore expressions from the Distilleries appearing, is a glut on the cards?...& will the the market/customers reduce spend on whisky?...With even more distilleries springing up & with so many Distilleries producing whisky, will some fold & disappear?
I would be interested to hear your views?
Thank you.
@@WhooshFlyingHorse444 I think there'll be good and bad. It's easier than ever to buy integrity malts right now and that's going to continue. On the other hand whisky both in Scotland and around the world is expanding at a crazy rate. So many new distilleries who will all be fighting for the same customers. There will be casualties. But that's just my guess 🙂
Very informative video! The explanation on the “halo” product stood out to me and I hadn’t considered that angle. The compassion of Talisker 18 was right on the money. Cheers, Shane!
There's definitely something going on with these. Almost no enthusiast is buying them and they sit on shelves for literally years despite being marketed as limited edition and pushed heavily. Strange world, strange company. Cheers! 🥃
Fantastic review and commentary. I live in the United States and a local store has a full size bottle for sale. It sounds great, but at that price I just can’t quite bring myself to committing.
It's certainly one of those whiskies that I really wish was a bit cheaper...
We couldn't ask for a more thoughtful and informative review Sean. Well done. I'll stick with the Loch Lomond. 😊
That Loch Lomond DE3 is stunning. You really realise that tasting it next to something like this. Both amazing whisky but only one is great value 🙂 Cheers 🥃
Great channel and reviews of whisky I like to collect a few extra bottles to sell to pay for my whisky tours especially islay as the trips are expensive now
I haven't been to Islay for quite a few years now but I hope to get back soon. Thanks for watching! 🥃
We just have a 1 for 1 offer for the 70cl bottle on most Diageo Special Releases 2021-23 today and this one is SGD 173 or about GBP 101 for 2. Not bad at the price!
That's exactly the kind of price we need for these. At £50-60 I'd be all over this.
I can give insight as I work for Diageo (at Johnnie Walker princes street). The labels are different from previous releases as they’re designed by different artists to represent the overall theme this year of cultures exchanged. So that’s why the Roseisle is understated compared to the Lagavulin one this year and compared to the previous years.
I didn't mean understated in a bad way. I actually like the Roseisle label. Much more than this year's Lagavulin and Mortlach anyway. Thanks Amy 🥃
I didn't mean understated in a bad way. I actually like the Roseisle label. Much more than this year's Lagavulin and Mortlach anyway. Thanks Amy 🥃
Thanks for the honest review on this one! Just tasted it at a master class here in Vancouver!
You're welcome! What's your verdict?
A great review and commentary as always Shane. Thank you.
Thanks Andy 🥃
Ah man I missed the boat on the 20cl bottles! This was the only one I was excited about and like you I was hoping for it to suck😂 Oh well let's see how they fare next year if they'll make the cut or not. Thanks for the review Shane 🥃
Fingers crossed that next year there'll be a totally different Roseisle. Very experimental production with all the details, full craft and £70... but let's not hold our breath 😂
I hope you manage to find a 200ml. You never know! Cheers 🥃
Informatie and enjoyable review as usual Shane.
I'm amongst those that will not buy this one ("most unlikely buy" is even too much hope for Diageo)..
Slàinte mhath
Great review and interesting theory about the Diageo SR strategy…. It is a big ass corporation after all….
Love your channel!
Cheers!
Yep never trust a corporation 🤔 Cheers 🥃
Diageo Death Star 😂😂 love it. They really are the pits but it’s a long list of “Gentrified” products that have suffered similar fates, as always there are always options and that’s why I’m grateful to you and other reviewers for unearthing them.
It's all of our duty to seek out quality and value 🙂
Imagine if all the Diageo distilleries could be run by the staff and given craft presentations. Many of the distilleries make great whisky that's just being held back. A few small changes and we'd be in for a new golden age of Scotch.
Thanks for Sharing your Thoughts and Opinion about this Bottling.
Great analogy. Agreed 100%. Not to be sold but to be talked about and to state : "we can do good things if we want, but it will be expensive. So just drink JW" lol count me out! cheers!
That would be the world's worst slogan 😂 Cheers 🥃
Great analysis. I no longer keep diageo whiskies in my bar. I only purchase integrity whiskies...minimum 46% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural color. If the distillery cannot treat me as a customer, they do not get my coin.
I salute your integrity 👍
Very nice review!
I got a small bottle of this as a gift and agree that it's annoyingly good. You mention that lots of other distilleries could make this stuff, but not many do? What would you recommend as a more affordable alternative? I do think that this style really benefits from a higher abv.
I tried (and bought) a couple of Cadenheads single casks from hogsheads around this age, and they are quite a lot worse.
Thanks! Probably look for refill bourbon matured IB releases from distilleries that normally produce blend components. Perhaps the Singletons. Maybe a cask strength Deanston. Definitely Loch Lomond specials. Good luck!
Great to hear this review - after I bought a bottle lol. Not yet opened. From other reviews, I’d heard much the same - over-priced (cdn $170) but pretty good. The other reviewers said that, personally, they’d buy a bottle and that pricing wasn’t as bad as some of the other diego special releases. Who knows, maybe no-one will buy and we’ll see them all on sale before too long - then I might buy some others. I was tempted to buy the lagavullin but the price here (Toronto Canada) was outrageous (cdn $240/bottle), so I passed. I got the roseisle coz I’d never heard of it before, so it’s a bit of a novelty (to me) for a whisky tasting, which I run 4 or 5 times/year. It will be opened (everything i buy will get opened, eventually) and it will be drunk….
It's a pricey 12yo to buy blind 😁😬 luckily I think it's pretty good and you will enjoy it.
True that it's much more affordable than other Diageo Special Releases... which I personally think is part of their plan to normalise everything costing an arm and a leg...
I would be very pleased to see this one on discount though and yeah it'll probably happen eventually. I'd get a full bottle if the price dips to £90. Cheers 🥃
Thanks for the video thank you for the video. I am going to go to Costco tomorrow and pick up a bottle for $119 Canadian which is 69 pounds roughly. Hope that makes you feel a little bit better about the price.
Sounds like a great price! I would've bought one for that much. Sadly I can't see a discount like that happening in the UK. enjoy! 🥃
Made a mistake. Wasn’t 119 was $145
Going to get it anyway
@@kirbycalgary2844 Still a fair price to be honest. It is good whisky and only slightly more than a lot of 10-12 Cask Strength releases go for these days...
Oh well good to see you on the OSWA show Shane did you whip a Squirrel ?
Not getting into a Diageo thing but our friend Whisky Wednesday did a tasting of Linkwood 12 yr ( flora and fauna range ) and it it is bloody good as is Benrinnes 15 and Blair Athol 12 yr
I know its all 43% but not one is a bad dram IMHO , keep up the good work Lock .
Thanks Gareth. I am truly thankful for the F&F bottlings. A lot of them are great despite the presentation. Prices are also going up but mostly still affordable. I reviewed Linkwood 12 at around the same time as Compass Box Orchard House (not a coincidence!) and really liked them both despite liking Orchard House a bit more. You're right than Benrinnes and Blair Athol are great too. Cheers 🐿
As an example of ‘Premiumisation’ see Mazda, and its working.
Good point. I always think that the main problem with Diageo's 'premiumisation' is that they refuse to improve the presentation and transparency. Prices double but many of their products are still 40-43% and probably coloured and filtered...
Really nice review Shane! I always enjoy your commentary and insights almost more than the tasting notes!
Some good news to report from Ontario (Canada): most of the 2022 special releases did not sell well at all and sat on shelves for many months. Yesterday they reduced the price of some of them significantly to clear them out (and this is province-wide). For example Laga 12 went from the equivalent of £136 down to £98!
Curiously, the 2023 releases have started to appear in other provinces and are priced lower than the 2022s.
Has Diageo learned a lesson from the dismal sales of the 2022 releases? One can only hope....
Price drops on Special Releases is great news. A lot of it is good whisky after all so it's great if actually whisky drinkers manage to get hold of it for a good price 👍🥃
I can't believe it, for once Canada (Ontario) is actually cheaper. It cost's 94 GBP at the LCBO. Monopolies love each other I guess.
Very happy for you! That's a much better price than I'm seeing although still not exactly cheap for a 12yo. Will you be buying one?
@@WhiskyLockthanks, no not cheap. I will probably buy one as the selection here is very poor and we cannot import. Cheers.
Ayyy amigo... what a great video and at the same time what a sad reality you've had uncovered. I think we got to a point of a catch-22 in whisky times.
As much as I love you guys (whiskytubers, blog reviewers, oswas, etc) I think we're indirectly feeding the greedyness of big corporations and distributors (in the case of Springbank).
Many of them just piggyback from all the noise we're making about craft presentations and even from the rant against their basic sanatized juice. And for some reason they get the "free advertisment" of Scotch whisky and since they're a big part of game, their sales, including all the greedy chain jumps to sky.
This industry is just rigged, I don't necessarily mean it for the producers, or even the wonderful workers... I mean it for the taxes and duties, the stupidity of getting an old barrel of Ardbeg for millions, the nonsense of adding an exorbitant value to a bottle of Macallan just because they are who they are.
This is just toxic to me and again, it makes me sad because I really like a good Scotch whisky, so pay the stupid price... I get it 🤷♂️
They are strange and sometimes sad times for whisky. While average quality is probably better than ever, some things have been lost and many people are now priced out of large parts of the experience. Older whisky fans had the privilege of being able to affordably try 18, 21, 25 and older whisky. Now we have upper core range expressions selling for used car prices. Or new car prices! I genuinely feel sorry for people who just got into whisky. And then there's Springbank... now that the 2023 OSWAs are over I can probably be a bit more open: I don't understand why so many people are still voting for a whisky that can't be bought. Well I do... people like being part of an exclusive club. Sad...
I also know what you mean about WhiskyTubers being part of the problem. It's something that I think about regularly and something I am conflicted about. I started this as a way to talk about something I'm passionate about... whisky! And the reason I still do it is to connect with all the great people I've met who share my passion. But even at just 3k subscribers, I do sometimes feel like I'm providing free marketing to these companies. Which is part of why I'm always eager to call out bad value or quality when I see it. And also why I try to avoid some whisky (like Springbank) which is riddled with flippers. When I do get around to reviewing some Springbank I'll be sure to recommend some alternatives which are more available. But then we risk putting THOSE distilleries on a pedestal and moving the problem elsewhere! The solution is really for all of us to stop obsessing over brands and showing off by drinking stuff others can't buy. Won't happen though.
Thanks for the philosophical discussion 👍
Crtyin' about the cost of whisky, lol! I remember when I used to buy quality cask strength Port Ellen's for under $200. EVERYTHING has gone up! Welcome to post-Covid where nothing is going to get better any time soon.
You have a point. It's true that many of us can't afford the quality that we used to enjoy. But this is also far more expensive than most Cask Strength 12yo whisky. The 'everything is more expensive now' argument is being abused by some (Diageo) to hide a lot of outright greed.
What does a normal 12 yr single malt go for is a good question. A Diageo special release price I think has a very clear answer. But for a second, would you pay the equivalent of £80 or even £95 for 12 yrs old? What if I told you in the US those are the going rates for Kilkerran and Springbank respectively? Yet Loch Lomond 12 is £37, Highland Park 12 or Balvenie 12 both right at £50? Some strong shenanigans out there.
The Springbank situation is a painful one currently. Those prices you mention sound like somebody somewhere is making a killing. Personally, as loved, decorated (at the OSWAs... still) and even as good as those whiskies are, I've lost interest until the prices and availability sort themselves out. There's comes a point where the juice ain't worth the squeeze 🙂 especially when there are other options and you know that a fair chunk of what you're paying over retail is going to the people who are causing the problem. Loch Lomond 12 for £37 would be my choice all day long. Great dram, great price 👍
I've not bought a bottle in a year now. I have enough to keep me going for another year
Sounds like you're in the perfect spot. Enjoy that 'free' whisky 👍🥃
The only reason to purchase this one blind is the novelty of a new distillery and that wasn't enough to interest me. I did pick up a bottle of the Glenkinchie 27 because I found it extremely well priced in my area as a 27yo, NCF, no added colour, cask strength whisky from a distillery you don't usually see older releases from. Haven't got it opened yet though.
Agreed, if it had been priced at £80 or below I probably would've gone for a whole bottle (and thoroughly enjoyed it) but £120 is optimistic. Or is that opportunistic?!
Hope you enjoy that Glenkinchie. It is a great distillery that we don't see enough of, as you say.
Agreed, if it had been priced at £80 or below I probably would've gone for a whole bottle (and thoroughly enjoyed it) but £120 is optimistic. Or is that opportunistic?!
Hope you enjoy that Glenkinchie. It is a great distillery that we don't see enough of, as you say.
Halo-product is a spot-on monniker.
Designed to sit on shelves for as long as possible 🤔 Free advertising space! Or am I being cynical?
@@WhiskyLock Not at all. These companies need halo-products. They are not made for profit but to put in glass cabinets in their hallways or meeting rooms, to serve to clients, to be premium gifts to clients, to brag with to their friends or just to drink in public (since almost all employes are forbidden to drink non-company-drinks in public, being brand-ambassadors and all that). So releasing them at a fair price would even defeat the purpose. They were never aimed at a whisky geek audience. That's also the reason they don't bother with foregoing chill-filtration or caramel -colouring.
Late to this party. I picked up a bottle on auction for £60 (£70 once fees included) a couple of months ago. That tells a story right there... For that price, and perhaps controversially, I genuinely think it's worth it. This is a tasty whisky that hits my preferred bourbon cask profile really well. Like you, somewhat annoyed at reaching this conclusion, but if whisky is tasty and decent value, I'm happy to let the flippers make a loss on the RRP and shell out my own money!
Excellent result. I would buy this again for £70 which is really the correct price. Enjoy 👍🥃
I have a couple of bottles of Clynlish left from when they were sold at 32€. Those are the only full Diageo bottles I now own and will not be buying more.
I think a fair number of people are in your situation. I keep waiting for the day when things like Talisker 10 double in price over night and we can say thar Diageo has officially jumped the shark 🙄
@@WhiskyLock Luckilly I am not a huge fan of Talisker or Lagavulin. I do have multiple IB Caol Ila's but otherwise the only one I drink is the Clyenlish, despite the lack of transparency it is still a 14 year old 46% Single Malt at €38.
@@NeilImmortal I used to be a fan of Lagavulin but over the years the price has risen to a level that no longer matches a 43% whisky. Clynelish isn't as bad so far. It's the one they forgot to water down 😉
WOW! I suppose old WT has a few things to say. Let's begin at the beginning. Diageo don't care about whisky. Let's just say it - They don't. Priti Patel used to work for them and that sums it up. Whisky is just a liquid commodity to be traded and used in order to make much money for its hungry shareholders and well paid employees. I've heard Diageo's CEO, Ivan Menezes, talk about his love of Johnnie Walker Red. I wonder why. He really doesn't care about the pot still distilleries that go in it because it makes soooo much more money than any of them. We think Talisker or Lagavulin and Diageo sees an ingredient for a blockbuster money maker.
Secondly, 'Special Release'? Really, what's so special about most of them? What's special about Lagavulin 12 or a Talisker 8 or any number of this stuff? Factor in the price and it's just not special at all. There are some decent whiskies in these releases but they're just not worth it. Typical Diageo but give them some credit for recognising a marketing opportunity to gullible whisky buyers.
How much should we pay for a 12? That's a very good question. I recently splurged £60ish on a Provenance Bowmore 8 because Bowmore are off the radar (I haven't bought one for years) and it was this or nothing. It's really good and I was going to buy another but I put the brake on. It's an 8 year old whisky bottled at 46%. One bottle is enough of that. Laphroaig 10 cask strength is the upper limit I will pay. Lagavulin 12 is a thing of the past. Diageo taking the piss again. By the way, what you say about NAS is what I've always said. There are some good ones but it's a designed as a deceit. I'm attaching a wonderful article by the great Whisky Sponge which I'm sure you will relate to. WT
whiskysponge.com/2020/01/08/casks-and-problems-of-distinction/
WT... that's not like you to have an opinion about Diageo and their prices 😂
Bloody hell... Priti Patel? The cause of the problem is becoming clearer. When are they planning on outsourcing distillation to Rwanda? 🤔
Agreed that the SRs aren't all that special. Or at least not as special as they need to be for the price. It's no secret that I'm not in love with Lagavulin 12CS. I liked that 19yo Glendullan quite a lot and I tried a Pittyvaich and an old Dalwhinnie from previous years but the common theme is that the price is hard to justify. Often impossibly hard.
That Bowmore sounds very interesting. I've bought one bottle of Bowmore 15 in the last ten years (special offer at a very good price) and I think that's it. I find it hard to get excited about watery peated malts. Which is a shame because Bowmore could be great.
Thanks for the link. A nice spot of lunchtime reading. Cheers 🥃
@@WhiskyLock I'm adding this as a cautionary note. The Bowmore is worth a punt if you really want to try a proper Bowmore. I really like it. It costs more than it should but it's just within radar. A good whisky.
p.s, it's not that peaty. Reminds me of Bruichladdich Organic or Bere. It's far from a peat bomb.
@@welshtoro3256 as lightly peated as that? 🤔 curiouser and curiouser! I am still intrigued, good whisky is good whisky after all and it has been such a long time since I've had a good Bowmore. Thanks for the info 👍
Shane hi ! Good review , like . Slainte !
Thanks LP 👍
@@WhiskyLock Greeting from Georgia , Tbilisi )))
I'm usually pretty anti Diageo (despite being from an area with a Diageo distillery close by) I purchased the lagavulin 12 mainly because it was only 20 dollars more than the 16. Which is vastly overpriced at this point. I purchased the roseisle solely because its an inaugural release
That said, is the clynelish and mortlach offerings good? I'm more of an Islay and speyside guy but I've yet to pull the trigger on either of those distilleries
IMHO both Lagavulin 16 and 12 are crazy overpriced. I guess the price of the 16 does make the 12CS more reasonable but that's only because of other high prices skewing our perception. I think Lagavulin 8 is the only reasonable whisky to be had from that distillery. I like it a lot and buy it regularly. I'm probably done with the other expressions.
Mortlach is an amazing distillate but hard to find with good specs and generally overpriced. Perhaps a Mortlach 12 on offer would be worth looking for. Clynelish 14 is still pretty affordable and an easy recommendation. Both Clynelish and Mortlach are very characterful distilleries worth trying.
@@WhiskyLock thanks for the info, I generally steer clear from Diageo for the most part, especially after getting past the beginning stages of my whisky journey. Maybe if their pricing was more reasonable I wouldn't find it so difficult to pull the trigger. Maybe later in the new year I'll bite the bullet and seek out a mortlach and clynelish.
I think for a CS 12 yr old $90 is a fair price. Which is what I can buy Redbreast 12 CS for.
Honestly I think what has happened to prices over the last five years has put a lot of people's idea of what is fair all over the place. Myself included, sometimes I struggle to judge what's fair and normal anymore! There's just so much deviation.
Technically this Roseisle has around 40% more actual whisky in the bottle than a 40 ABV whisky. If we ignore the cost of the bottle, bottling and transport (which don't increase for CS bottlings) take Diageo's own Singleton 12 (40%) which sells for £38 at the moment of Whisky Exchange then +40% is £53. The Roseisle though is £120 or $150.
IMHO distilleries who were using age as a reason to rip us off are now seeing their stocks of old whisky dry up and they're moving on to ABV as the new reason for tripling prices.
To be fair I did enjoy this whisky but £120 is more than I think it should be. Just my opinion.
I definitely agree that is a crazy amount, honestly for any whisky under 18 years old and cask strength.
I will grant a small premium for employing more people like Springbank or Bruichladdich but I refuse to pay secondary prices or buy the crazy one off releases.
Also if it is from a new craft distillery that is small and more or less independent I would like to be a little flexible in the price but haven’t bought a bottle yet. Though I don’t plan to pay more than $80 for one.
Impressive presentation and analysis as always. Unfortunately these 200 ml bottles are not released in my area or USA in general so lucky you my friend.
In a glass case at one of my local retailers have 3 “special “ Ardbegs…
1) Ardcore 46% @ $140
2) Heavy Vapors 46% @ $160
3) Anamorphic 48.2%@ $220
All NAS
Must be good, better, best…. Right???
Another example demonstrating these are not priced to sell but to anesthetize the consumer into accepting artificially high prices for relatively common juice presented in a glass case like fine art.
The Ardbeg cult seems to still be supporting these ridiculously priced gimmicks.
Ardbeg “ Heavy Marketing “ special limited release coming soon…. Or is it already here😳
Cheers 🥃
Thanks John. I've decided to give Anamorphic a miss. Same high price for another 'unaged' whisky as Ardbeg like to call it. Getting quite tiring!
Anaesthetising the customer to high prices is exactly right. Reminds me of visiting Bowmore. When I was there they had some crystal encrusted bottle revolving in a glass case with an absurd price tag. Almost nobody paid it any attention. But I bet it made a few people feel more justified in buying a bottle of 18yo. Always easier to sell someone the 'middle option'! Cheers 🥃
@@WhiskyLock “whisky in sv” just reviewed the Anamorphic and like so many special releases…he says A10 is better than this one(he collects them all)
@@justwhisky I'll give it a look 👍
@@WhiskyLock he does a good job
I had a look at the death star, very impressive. Imagine if that was used to produce whisky with a broad range of flavour, if "special releases" were different, interesting, quality and priced reasonably. Geeks would love the place.
It could become something really excited and experimental. I'm sure Diageo will be conducting some science experiments there themselves.
Although, and call me pessimistic if you want, I have a feeling Roseisle releases will be scarce and opaque in future with most of it disappearing into Diageo blends...
Sounds like Arran 10…but 3x more expensive 😂
🥃👍🏻😊
You can replicate style, but to replace and keep a geographical name and stay within the law and out of the SWA death rays - thats a different matter. Sounds like they are destined for blends mostly and most distilleries should not be worried.
Good point. They wouldn't be able to sell Roseisle under the name of another distillery or as anything other than Highland or Speyside. But most Diageo distilleries contribute to the Diageo blends. Some of them are used almost exclusively in blends. There are only a few flagship distilleries that are only for single malt. So Roseisle may one day pose a threat to some of them. Especially considering that Diageo have a history of closing distilleries and bottling plants and laying off hundreds of people in the interests of improving their profit margins.
@@WhiskyLock - In today's environment I suspect if they did try to close a distillery someone would snap it up (and hopefully turn it around). It's more likely that they are trying to maximise output at "named" distilleries to single malt sales since it should always have higher value than blends.
With the increase in prices Im finding myself to be less thinking of any whisky purchases.
Don't blame you at all. There is still value to be had with some whisky and rum but it's getting harder to not feel ripped off..
@@WhiskyLock its about finding old stock here in the US
@@31446963048 I used to get some real bargains like that but I think there are too many people around here who know what's what now. Very rarely see dusty old bottles anymore unless they're overpriced!
Great insight as always, absolutely crazy prices on the Special Releases this year and the label art is just plain ugly in my view.
A few of them are just bad at this point. I don't mind this kite label for the Roseisle but Lagavulin and Mortlach are pretty cringey this year 😬
Never bought diageo special releases due to the price. Plantation rum special releases 15 year old for £70 bought 2 years ago are much better value.
Your rum sounds like much better value. To be fair most things do 😂
Hi Shane, interesting Halo-theory! I am completely annoyed with the Diageo Special Releases this year. High prices aside, Diageo have gone completely bananas with their wood finishings this year. Lagavulin in a Tequila cask?!? (Actually, the Roseisle is probably the best offering of the bunch: the cheapest in the range, with an age statement, and from refill wood). Normally I select three or four offerings of Diageo’s SR range and then buy two bottles of each: one to drink immediately, one to keep for later. Of the rest I then (try to) buy samples. But this year I won’t do that. Just one bottle of Lagavulin (as I buy that one every year), and just samples of the rest. Very disappointed about Talisker coming from a Port cask this year (I loathe Port Ruighe…). And you call out the price of this Roseisle, but what about the Clynelish? €175 for a 10 year old? Last year’s 12yo, which was €200, was not very good. I am sorry Diageo, but you have lost me as a loyal customer….
If I mentioned the prices of the rest of the range the video would've been an hour and thirty (and angrier) rather than the thirty minutes it is 🙂 They are, or course, insane. When I look at each years Special Releases range I rule them out by price, then by cask and then consider what's left. Usually not much.
I agree about all the casks. I think that is my greatest wish for the future of whisky. We need a cull on the popularity of cask finishes and whacky casks in general and a return to quality distillate as a priority. Especially with older premium whisky. If distilleries want to create something interesting then do something special with the stills, barley and washbacks. Of course they won't because that involves educating the consumer (or having faith in our intelligence). Whereas everybody knows what a wine cask is so it's easy to sell as a feature. We can but live in hope. Cheers Wouter 🥃
@@WhiskyLockShane, I could not agree more, Sir. So: long live the Independent Bottlers! Cheers!
too expensive for me I am out
Me too in a way. I decided that £120 was a little too much and that I'd only review it if the 200ml bottle appeared. Shame as it is good stuff 😕
13 m 15s of pre amble before you even poured a dram to discuss, a bit too much Shane 🥃
I disagree but all opinions welcome and you can always skip to the chase as it were.
It's fine if you want to skip to the tasting notes (time mentioned in video and description). I feel that with this one the discussion is at least as important as the actual whisky though. It's a sign of the times. Thanks for watching.