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Single malts

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Was scanning the latest Lidl flyer and noticed they were highlighting a 16 yr Islay Single Malt going by name Ben Bracken. Pitching it at £34.99. I was taken aback on the price thinking even for an own brand it was a bit steep. So I've read a bit about it and the normal malt comes in at £17.99. It gets a good write up. Has anyone able to give an opinion on its taste?
 

Mate of mine who likes his malts was drinking Ben Bracken which is a single Islay malt from Lidl, he reckoned it was okay and at £17.49 it's got to be worth a try, there's not many distilleries on Islay, they're all decent and it's surely got to be from one of them and it's guaranteed to be peaty and smokey.
I'm going to get one to try myself next time I'm passing.

Nice one mate. Will pop in next time I go passed one.
 
Just opened a bottle of Bunnahabhain Stiuireadair, tastes a bit like a thinner, younger, less rich-tasting version of the 12yo to me, with some earthy and peppery flavours that aren't in the 12yo. Nice enough, but reckon the 12yo is worth the few extra quid.
 
I don't have a malt whisky taste bud but I do like a Black Bottle which, though a blend, is supposedly the closest to a malt in ingredients. This I was told by a man on Speyside - possibly erroneously - who worked in the distilling industry.
 
Having heard of this whisky and having an eye for a bargain I bought a bottle.
The bottle states it is distilled and bottled in Glasgow so how it is called an Islay malt is beyond me.
I like any Islay malt but this one is overpowering, it tastes like it's been distilled and then the flavour has been added, I am now having the occasional tot just to use it up, can't say I'm enjoying it.
Would be interested to hear someone else's take on it.
My current favourite is a bottle of Glengoyne that my youngest lad bought me for my 60th.
 

Having heard of this whisky and having an eye for a bargain I bought a bottle.
The bottle states it is distilled and bottled in Glasgow so how it is called an Islay malt is beyond me.
I like any Islay malt but this one is overpowering, it tastes like it's been distilled and then the flavour has been added, I am now having the occasional tot just to use it up, can't say I'm enjoying it.
Would be interested to hear someone else's take on it.
My current favourite is a bottle of Glengoyne that my youngest lad bought me for my 60th.

I've been to the Glengoyne distillery a few times - their tasting tour was a good place to take visiting friends/family when I lived in Glasgow. Once had a dram of their 40 year after chatting to a lawyer from Denver who was their to "visit his barrel". He'd bought his own sherry cask that they'd held for him, it was around six years into a twelve. The 40 was his present to himself, it seemed, and I think it was around £3k for a bottle - it was good but, knowing the cost, I probably would have thought it was good if he'd poured me a glass of his own urine.

Their 18 (more my price) is a favourite of mine. To my surprise, there's a pub in my pretty small Sussex village that has a bottle.
 
Nice one mate. Will pop in next time I go passed one.

Having heard of this whisky and having an eye for a bargain I bought a bottle.
The bottle states it is distilled and bottled in Glasgow so how it is called an Islay malt is beyond me.
I like any Islay malt but this one is overpowering, it tastes like it's been distilled and then the flavour has been added, I am now having the occasional tot just to use it up, can't say I'm enjoying it.
Would be interested to hear someone else's take on it.
My current favourite is a bottle of Glengoyne that my youngest lad bought me for my 60th.
Sorry It was the Ben Bracken I was referring to.
 
No distillery on Islay by that name, for starters...someone's being funny (German's). One of Lidl's brands, apparently. Make an infinity bottle out it...had to do that with some Glenlivet that was was worth what I paid, which wasn't much.
Good idea with the infinity bottle, will try that one.

I have noticed Asda do a cheap own brand Islay which stated on the packaging that is from an Islay distillery and is very good for the price, currently £22 in Scotland so maybe cheaper elsewhere.
 
Good idea with the infinity bottle, will try that one.

I have noticed Asda do a cheap own brand Islay which stated on the packaging that is from an Islay distillery and is very good for the price, currently £22 in Scotland so maybe cheaper elsewhere.

Could be wrong but I think Caol Ila is usually the distiller that gets put in to most other "Islay" bottlings as their production levels are like double of anyone else on the island and you don't see a whole lot of their single malt everywhere, compared to Laphroaig/Lagavulin etc...at least here; I'm sure it's different closer to the distillery.

Just be careful with the infinity bottle, since it's a peated whisky they tend to take over the whole thing...just like if you do a flight you usually gotta' save the peat monsters until last.
 

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