BC Liquor Stores Premium Spirits Release

That is so disappointing that the Macallan Lalilque VI is limited to one bottle per customer.

Lots to like there. If I were in your shoes I would be looking at the Glendronach also, plus the Paul John whiskies, all of the Buffalo Trace Antique bottles, and Van Winkle 10. While I abhor whisk(e)y scalping, all of those Van Winkle prices are pretty good, and miles below secondary market prices.

@Victor , I think my sarcasm detectors are working again!

@Spitfire , assuming that the prices in that brochure are an overall fair representation of your local market, I'd say these are the relative values & good-quality bottles worth checking out:

•Laphroaig Cairdeas 2016

•Compass Box Enlightenment

•Maybe Compass Box Circus

Well, the Laphroiag looks interesting--but I may not be able to access it without several extra hours of driving. We'll see,

Here's how it works. The BC Liquor Stores used to be a government run monopoly on liquor sales in the province, until a few years ago when private liquor stores got the green light--but the BCLCB is well entrenched and still has the largest distribution, with something like 175 stores across the province. This sounds good, but the problem is that if you live outside the main urban centres, the selection can be pretty sparse--and it can be problematic to have a local outlet bring in something even if it's available in other locations.

Then, the premium spirits release happens, but only 30-odd stores participate--and none of them are less than four hours driving time from my home. And the stores that do participate are not allowed to transfer these products to other stores, or even hold them for customers, for the first two weeks of the promotion. Some products which show as stocking over 100 bottles at the main Vancouver store are not available at any other store in the province.

Now this year, I happen to be travelling close to Vancouver and may get a chance to visit the mother ship in Vanvouver--if anything is left, it may or not be available here. I'll find out, I guess.

And yeah, sucks that that Macallan Lalique VI is limited to one bottle per customer--I was gonna get two :-)

Local news story about lining up for release day:

vancouversun.com/storyline/…

@Spitfire You can still get Glendronach cask strength batch 4 there and for $20 cheaper than batch 5 which you also have plenty of. That stuff would not last 10 minutes in Ontario. Not fair...

@Astroke Yes, I bought 2 bottles of the Glendronach Batch 4 last year--just opened my second bottle with friends this past weekend. Will probably buy the Batch 5 "just because," but the Batch 4 might be worth another bottle; there are a few on the shelf in my local store (they don;t seem to sell, I get the feeling the average scotch buyer just wants the well-known major distillery products).

So, picked up a bottle of the Glendronach Batch 5, two of the EH Taylor bourbons (one for a friend), and some Monkey Shoulder (I assume left over from last year's release). Man, the bill adds up fast!

@OlJas that Laphroaig Cairdeas 2016 is one of the very few bottles not available at the "mother ship" store--but there are some at a couple of the stores I do get to every now and then, so we'll see.

Looked at the Buffalo Trace experimentals, they seemed pricey for the small bottles. If I lived here I'd probably try one or two, but as a single lump sum the cost was getting out of hand already,

@Spitfire , those Buffalo Trace experimentals seem designed for (a) the mildly curious; (b) the super-nerds who will actually try all the variants and glean some understanding of how various inputs affect the output; and (c) folks who've run out of other things to spend their money on.

I tip my hat to the (a) and (b) folks. As for (c)...

@Spitfire, the Buffalo Trace Experimentals are certainly expensive. The way I look at it, if the experiment was a bang up success then we'll probably see some very similar whiskey (a long time) down the line for 1/3 to 1/2 the price of the experimentals. If the experiment turned out not-so-well, well then you have just paid a steep price for a not-so-great whiskey. I have tried a few of these and they are certainly interesting...but quite expensive. That said a Canadian Connosr friend of mine has given me a bunch of samples of various Buffalo Trace Single Oak Project bottles, some or all of which i will probably review somewhere down the line.

@Victor @OlJas Yeah, pretty much my feelings on the matter. I'd be in the "mildly curious" box, but with lots of exploring to do--I doubt I'll run out of other stuff to spend my money on anytime soon. And yeah, selling off the "experiential" batches seems a good way to profit from the trial process, whether successful enough to base a new product on or not.