Lee's summed all the tasting notes up nicely so I have little to add on that front. Do I like it, yes it's a great whiskey. Definitely 4 for taste. The issue I have is two fold. The price is astronomical - $125USD and it's older much cheaper (nearly half the price) brother just walks all over it for value. I tried the 16 year straight after and despite its being a wopping 13.8% less ABV it more than held its own with a richness and complexity that dwarfed the 12. Yes they are different beasts but would I buy a bottle of the 12? No unless they cut the price in half. Factoring in value I can't give it more than a 3.5. Like its older brother I'll round up as I can't quite give it a 3..but I just think the pricing is getting a bit ridiculous these days. Interestingly for a cask strength I think I preferred it without a few drops of water. It didn't really need it to open it up at all.
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Cheers :-). Yes good point was just thinking from a drinking point of view. Be interesting to see what the prices are like in a decade or so!
I would gladly pay, well not gladly, but I'd pay $600 USD for that 25. I believe the last time I price checked that it was sliding past $1200 here. Now will it be worth it? Probably not, but I sure would pay $600 to mothball it away for a decade and hope I easily double my investment. Great review, soba. Cheers.
oh and I just saw the price for a 25 year Lagavulin here in nz. $600 USD!!!
I definitely don't mind if they go all out get expensive casks, blend in much older whiskies (For a NAS), smoke with an exotic peat or something and charge a premium but this is a bog standard lagavulin as far as I can tell, uses standard ex bourbon and is only 12 years old! I just thank our lucky stars that the 16 year and other classics like the ardbeg ugie and laph 10 established their price points before the pricing madness took off as god knows what we would be paying for them now. When I first started buying and collecting I tended towards more expensive is better but now I'm realising that it's just not the case
You're right...all of these Diageo special releases are over priced. Yet...they sell out, so not sure there's a reason for them to drop prices.