With the 2013 release having been named World Whisky of the Year in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible 2015, this is a hugely anticipated release of Sherried Japanese whisky. Just 5,000 of these sought-after bottles will be available worldwide.
This bottle was part of a private collection
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Our original allocation of this was split between a 3cl dram lottery [4 bottles' worth], a bottle lottery [1 bottle] and an auction (where everything over RRP went to charity) [1 bottle]. Why all the fuss? Read more on our blog.
Raisin, sun-dried tomato, clove, cocoa.
Deep, rich, sweet and sour, chocolate with hazelnuts.
Long, bittersweet, sour.
Deep richness, mellowness and complexity of flavours.
The problem is with Japanese Whisky in general. Prices have skyrocketed in recent years. As good as Japanese Whisky might be it is certainly not worth £200 a bottle let alone $2500. This is purely marketing shenanigans to create artificial demand. Of course all retailers outside Japan are willing to indulge...and jump on the bandwagon. I hope buyers will wake up and sabotage any brand or retailer that manipulates prices like that. Having said that, the sale here should be restricted to UK residents only. As for the auction this is a joke. @MoM if you want to donate to charity do it from your own pocket. Don't force it upon your customers.
After the BTAC fiasco last year, there's no perfect way of allocating these highly sought after bottles, and while it pains me to see UK retailers following the American lottery system, I think this is the best way to allocate bottles, and I commend MoM for taking this step. Having said that, I agree entirely with the comment below - please MoM, if at all possible under EU trade laws restrict the lottery to UK buyers only. There is a huge amount of global demand for this whisky and as one of the most acclaimed online retailers in the world, there will be a huge interest for places in the lottery from all corners of the globe. If I had to guess, I think there will be less than 10 bottles available to the general public to buy in the UK once VIP customers, bars and hotels have received their priority allocation, and if this is the case, I think wherever possible, UK retailers should try to ensure British customers are given priority over international customers.
As their are only 198 bottles expected to come into the UK and 2 of the main suppliers have already allocated all of their stock to their VIP customers. I can't see there being more than 50 bottles left for your average drinker, with some being auctioned off to people with the deepest pockets there will only be a handful of regular people who manage to get one.
Just hope for a lucky day!
Auctioning is all that is wrong with the whisky world at the moment. Crack all the seals and then only the drinkers will be interested not the profiteers.
