Are there any purchases you regret making?

I have to add the recent release of the Laddie Ten to this list. It's kind of gross. I'm going to have trouble finishing it.

Funny. After reading this, I'm kind of curious about the Jura Superstition. Had not interest in it until now ;-) My biggest regret is a Highland Park 1994. It's a duty free only bottle, and I decided to use the opportunity to get something I hadn't tried before. What a mistake that was. Nose was a little smoky with bit of honey. The palate was dry and slightly metallic, and the finish was more like a disappearing act. No complexity at all. This really surprised me since I like the 12 year old is a very good whisky and the 18 is excellent.

@stakenblocken. Don't give up on the Laddie 10. It needs a fair bit of breathing time and a few drops of water. I really like it now and didn't much care for it at first pass. My big regrets are Longmorn 16, Glenlivet 21 (the 18 is way better) and JW Double Black which for some weird reason I bought at a duty free instead of Ardbeg 10, Lag. 16 or the HP 1990. The Double Black is a real dog compared to the Green, Gold or even the regular Black.

Canadian Club 12 yr old. Bought it with my tips from work as I'd been missing having a good Canadian whisky and it had scored very well in the Whisky Bible 2012 and was very eager to get it home. First smell of the open bottle and my wife goes "smells like a permanent marker" Sadly quite abit of that flavor along with maple syrup and honey now, but not in a good way. Gives me a massive headache with just a sip and it's the only whisky that I've had in the last 10 years that NEEDS a cook to be semi drinkable. Waste of money!

I hated it at first, liked it for long enough to rate it in the 90s, tried it again last night and can now confirm that I really do not like A'bunadh Batch 21. It is quite bitter and over sherried even when knocked down with a good dash of water.It's been in my cabinet for 2 1/2 years and is still half full. I am now afraid to pop the money to try another batch.

Glengoyne 10y : It just tastes like bootleg rubbing alcohol. The sink looked like it liked it though. I don't know what the problem was since it's a fairly well reviewed bottle.

Arran Sherry Cask : I have a lot of much better sherried bottles and this one just doesn't compare.

I recently purchased and opened a bottle of Glenmorangie. I was excited to try a new whisky. feeling good about the nose, I drew in the first taste...Sulfer. what an awful taste. two drams later, still more sulfer. the bottle was then given away. thus far the only single malt that I did not care for.

Ha, I'll add one to the collection of McClelland's here - the Highland. The only bottle I ever poured down the sink...

I paid 100 euro for a 19 yo Glenfiddich Madeira finish. It's a whisky with lots of flavours, but only bottled at 40% ABV. So all of those flavours are drowning in water. For that price, you would expect a much higher ABV.

@Volcardi Was that Glenfiddich from an independant, if so which one?

I once seriously overpaid for a Port Ellen from Gordon and McPhail that was bottled at 40%, it was like drinking a very heavilly diluted Lagavoulin.

I am probably going to be down-voted to hell for this one, but I must say Highland Park 12 Y.O. I bought this by assumption that it would be good since everyone recommend it everywhere, but I couldn't stand it. The taste is, what I imagine, licking sweat feet with salt on it must feel like.

I add a bottle of Mortlach 16 a couple of years ago. So, when I saw this bottle of Old Malt Cask Mortlach 12, I bought it without much thought. But it isn't so good. It doesn't have this big meaty Mortlach personality and it is too much sherried. The good news is that it is almost empty! Still looking for a real Mortlach.

Got to know the taste of canadian whisky @SquidgyAsh . Since most of the canadian whiskies are from continuous distillation and rye, it tends to be very low on taste profile compared to scots and very spicy. I'm a Canadian and don't like canadian whiskies much. Wisers Legacy is very good quality for a canadian whisky but well below scotch by taste comparisons.

@bgadfly I actually had a similar experience. I purchased it because it seems like everyone liked it. Though I don't find it as bad as drinking sweat, I don't prefer it and will be happy when the bottle's gone.

@bgadfly

I didn't care for the (recent) first tasting of my Highland Park 12 bottle either. Fairly average and forgettable initially but then an unpleasant sour bitterness creeps up on you. I intend to have a few more drams out of it and then it leave it to open up with some air in the bottle for the next 6 months then try again.

Purchases I regret making are: Any Glenlivet and Glenfiddich .. My opinion these makes are not a pleasant underground taste ... living on the old famous. The basic ones (12yo) are the ones ok .. spending double or quatriple for a just tiny wee different dram is a waste of yout hard earned cash.

@bgadfly give the hp12 some time to open...the first 1/3 of my bottle was a let down that I ignored until it suddenly turned the corner and became the whisky everyone was talking about.

My regrets? An impulse Arran Amarone cask finish...thanks a lot Jim Murray. Lol. Bowmore wine cask was another let down. That's about it though...everything else has been what or better than I expected.

@bgadfly My friend as I think you just found out you don't have to worry about being voted down just because you disagreed or said something negative about a popular bottle. Connosr I'm happy to say is a very different online whisky experience then quite a few of the forums I visited before landing here. Feel free to have your opinions, good and bad, about any and all whiskies. No one will think less of you.

@JoeVelo the sad thing my friend is I started my whisky experience on Canadian whiskies, starting with Canadian Mist, McNoughtans and Crown Royal. Mind you I mainly used them for whisky and cokes. Only reason I picked up this bottle was Jim Murray rated the bottle a crazy 91.5 and I wanted to be able to introduce my family and friends over here to a good Canadian considering all the other ones we'd tried were god awful. Jim Murray lied to me on this one haha. I have heard that Wisers Legacy is a pretty decent Canadian, but as you said still quite abit lower then other whiskies. But thanks a ton for the heads up!!!

Bells, the famous grouse, and teachers

non-alcoholic liquids with coffee being the one exception

@Andrew No, it's a limited bottling from Glenfiddich itself. They call it Glenfiddich age of discovery.

shop.glenfiddich.com/products/…

@Volcardi I was debating picking that bottle up. I also know my wife was looking at it for my birthday. Really bad whisky? What would you score it out of the 100 scale if you don't mind me asking?

Auchentoshan Classic. My tastes run almost exclusively to the Islays, but occasionally I do want something lighter, especially during the summer. I keep trying this stuff, and trying it, and trying it, and all I seem to get out of it is both a nose and a palate of paint thinner. There is such a strong medicinal and gasoline-ish taste to it that all other flavors are overwhelmed. Glad I bought it on sale!

@SquidgyAsh It's not a bad whisky. Sometimes i taste a lot of flavours in it and at these moments i find it an excellent whisky. But then there are moments when i just taste a really light whisky. If you like a lot of whiskies at 40% ABV, then it might be a great whisky for you. But my experience is that a full flavoured whisky needs at least 43% ABV.

My personal tasting notes(not the official notes)

• At first : orange and banana
• The finish : strong, fresh peppery notes

Pro : -It's a whisky that evolves in the mouth as you are tasting it -It's really different from all the other bottles of Glenfiddich(more complex than even the 21 year old)

Contra : -It's really expensive for a bottle that doesn't really have a long aftertaste(only the peppery notes remain) -Sometimes it tastes really watery and you really have to look for the flavours

Conclusion : if you're used to whiskies bottled at +40% ABV, you should probably not buy it It's hard to give this whiksy a rating. One time i really tasted the complexity of the whisky and at that point i would have given it 85%. The next time i tasted it, the flavours just faded away. At that point i would have given it about 75%. At at least 46% ABV, it would have probably been one of the best whiskies i've ever tasted.

@stakenblocken The ten has what i would call an off note which some people dont mind. If you drink a lot of there stuff you will find it is the house style (as discussed in the Edinbugh whisky blog " ‘Playdoh’ note (you’re calling it rubber and a stale protein shake)"). Sounds yum eh?

I regret buying the clynelish 14 i found it very spirity and rough.

I try to get minatures or a sample from a friend before i buy bottles now. For example i have just spent the past couple of weeks working through samples purchased online and managed to rule out four bottles which i had been planning to buy.

I was really disappointed by The Dalmore Gran Reserva. Too expensive for what it is IMO. The Glenrothes Robu Reserve was a bit disappointing too, too light for me.

Finally maybe the Highland Park 1990 20 year old (duty free only), it is good but I was expecting something with more power, more breathtaking.

@Volcardi Thanks for the reply!! Oh well it sounds like it's a good whisky and my wife really doesn't care for the really high ABVs so it might be a good whisky for her to enjoy. I'm now hoping she gets it for me for my birthday! :D:D It would be nice if they had maybe released a higher ABV bottle though for those of us who like our whisky with some stronger flavors.

@two-bit-cowboy Agreed. McClelland's Islay is vile. Tastes like cigarette butts. I wonder if I'll even finish it. Luckily, it wasn't expensive.

I may regret buying Bushmills 16yo. Not because it's a bad whiskey, not at all, I just don't like notes of roasted chesnut in it. I guess it's because of port finish.

I recently bought a bottle of white whisky (which barely counts, but whatever) from a new distillery. It had won some awards already and it was made with corn, apparently, and I thought I'd give it a try.

Didn't like it at first, but then it started to grow on me a bit... but then its total lack of complexity really turned me off.

Luckily I discovered that it tastes pretty good when mixed with ginger ale, so it's not a total loss. Still... I wouldn't buy it again.

@HeartlessNinny It's amazing what good things ginger ale can do for bad whisky / purchases. I would have to say that I've been able to get through several regrettable purchases that way. I'm just glad that it's not been that often I've had to do so. :)