Best 2014, 65 Euro/85 Dollar Scotch Whiskey

@Benancio. The problem with your question is that the same whisky will be tag at different prices all over the world. The Laphroaig 18 is 168$ in the province of Quebec, so it is way over your target. Putting that aside, here are three whiskies that I really enjoy this year: the more expensive Yoichi 10 yo (114$) and two more affordable, Big Peat and Benriach Herodotus. Finally I give a special mention to Lot 40.

@Robert99 I thought the price difference by region around the world will make it interesting. I know there is whiskey in Scotland that I will not be able to obtain at that price range.

I think we will fall into different regions. Some regions will clearly have the best scotch available while others of us will have to be envious.

I think Aberlour A'Bunadh is probably available most places within that price cap. Not in Ontario, of course.

And I did find a Mac CS in Calgary for $73.

And of course, before the distillery closed, Bladnoch 10, 11,and 12 year old expressions were all below that price, and bottled at ( or slightly diluted down to...) 55%.

All well under $85 USD in the American Midwest—if you know where to shop:

•Ardbeg Corryvreckan $80

•Springbank 12 Cask Strength $70

•Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength $60

@OlJas Those are very good prices on very good scotches, all my favorites. I just purchased Corryvreckan for $70 at Hi Time Wine out of California. Where can I get Springbank 12 Cask Strength $70, Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength $60, mail order?

@Oljas @Benancio Please stop! Seeing another great price will make me weep. I can't stand it... Please stop!!!!

@Robert99

Ardbeg Corry is $187.95 at the LCBO....I picked one up online for less than $80 last year in the US. But I had to have it shipped to a friend, who is my scotch mile. He brings me one bottle per trip. Right now I have 8 Bladnoch waiting to make the trip "home" and 2 Booker's which I bought for 45 dollars each from the same merchant.

Wow, ipad autocorrect sucks....

He was my scotch mule, not mile. And on reflection, I think the Booker's and corry were bought earlier this year...

@Nozinan You are very lucky to have such a nice mule! Oh! Oh! I mean friend... Seriously, I saw those deals on the net but not being able to take advantage of those is frustrating. I know the prices of LCBO are the same as the prices at SAQ, so I weep with you on all the lost opportunities offered on the net.

Heh, can't even get a bottle of Ardbeg TEN here at that price! I suppose the best buy would be Talisker 10 or Glendronach 12 (for those who like it).

@Benancio, shop online at K&L, Hi-Time, or Binny's. All the prices I gave are from Binny's. K&L always has killer prices on Ardbeg, but I've never had a big enough potential order from them to make it worthwhile. In my opinion, you need at least three bottles in an order to make the shipping worthwhile, but that math will of course vary if the online prices are much lower than your local prices. (And I've said this elsewhere, but it must be repeated: Binny's is currently offering some great sale prices, some of which are clearances. Their site has a filter for sale items.)

Back on the main subject here: I rather missed that the original question was specifically about 2014. I don't drink enough new releases to give a full answer there, except to say that the latest Port Charlotte NAS (the Scottish Barley) is quite good. Diluting only down to 50% ABV helps a lot. I think that's the only NEW bottle I picked up this year.

@OlJas Those are 3 great places to save money on whiskey. If I order on line I'll buy 6 bottles otherwise the shipping not worth it. If the price + shipping is well below your local price your ahead. A friend and I sometime go in together on a order.

@Benancio

That's how I felt about the Booker's and Ardbeg Corry I bought online in the states. Total 5 bottles so $5 shipping per bottle. Booker's still came in $25 less than LCBO, and Corry came in over $100 cheaper!

Of course, had I bought nothing, I would have saved even more, and since my friend still has all but 2 of the bottles....

@Nozinan Life is Long, Enjoy

@Nozinan Where did you find a site that delivers to Canada? I am not even able to order from Kensington Calgary!

@Robert99

This is the weak point of my system. You can't get delivery to Canada. You must have it sent to a US address. So I have it sent to a friend in Florida. He comes to toronto once or twice a year, usually checking luggage, and sometimes his wife comes. So I get 2-3 bottles "muled" to me per year. Trouble is, I have been buying more than he can bring.

I panicked and bought 6 BLADNOCH in March when the distillery closed. So between all the orders of the last few years he now has 10 bottles waiting to come over.

It was better when he worked at his previous job, because he would go over to Europe, and I would have 1.1 litres delivered to his hotel, and he'd stop here before going home. That's how I originally tasted BLADNOCH...

As for KWM in Calgary, they are good but there are other stores with better prices. I think the tide is turning and soon it will be ok to order between provinces. For now my brother in law helps. I use liquorconnect.com to find where the bottles may be, I phone and find prices, and he purchases. On my last trip to Alberta I was essentially a mule for another connosr, bringing back 12 bottles (6 that I had accumulated for me).

The key is to develop a trusted network. I rarely travel to Montreal but if I did I would transport something I or another person picked up for you.

Maybe we should start a discussion on whisky networks. After all, to paraphrase one of my Connosr mentors, they are part of what makes the hobby fun!

@Nozinan, thx for your answer. I think you're right about the network. Unfortunately, I myself is an alien among my friends for loving Whisky. So my network is nonexisting. So, I usually plan one or two trips a year to the US and am my own mule. I would gladly be a mule for one friendly connosr member but I doubt I could be helpfull to a US member. Victor was saying that he can't find Glenfarclas 15 and we usually have it in Quebec, but I doubt any US members would accept to pay our price. In any case, I like your idea and you can count me in.

@Nozinan "we should start a discussion on whisky networks" You should start that discussion.

That's exactly what I was wondering. We are networked around the world and people travel. If you had a trip planned to Albuquerque you could bring some of that great Canadian Rye Whiskey and I would have Bourbon, Scotch or Tequila ready for pickup or trade.

Trade another great idea for a discussion. I have a bottle of Stranahan's I'd be willing to trade. How can we go about trading?

@Robert99, my good friend and your fellow Montrealais, @CognacFan, came down to Toronto this past February to visit with @Dramlette and me and with a bunch of our Toronto buddies. We had 11 tasting on Friday night, 6 Saturday night, and 5 of us Sunday. Lots and lots of whisky. Make a friend...and be a friend. There are lots of Canadians in this Connosr club...and lots of Americans.

@Benancio, much is possible when you take the initiative.

@Victor Thx for the advise. I will try to get involve with others. As you said before, whisky shouldn't be a solitary experience.

@Robert99, your SAQ Glenfarclas 15 price is only a little more than it would cost for Glenfarclas 15 mailed and insured from the UK to the US. My sister bought a bottle at SAQ in Beaupre 16 months ago for about Can$ 72, as I recall. I love Farclas 15. I only have about 8 oz left from my LCBO bottle, but my sister has 1 1/2 bottles on hand, to which I have access for drinking purposes.

If I were you, and I wanted to form a whisky network from scratch, I would first try the local bartenders. After that I would recruit newbies, as necessary. Bartenders are a great resource for finding people with some knowledge and some curiosity about trying more whisky. It is good to lead from strength, so tell the bartenders about what great, expensive, and/or rare whiskies you have to offer them if and when you all get together. They, of course, should supply some bottles of their own.

The point is to make friends...and also to taste whisky.

Look for 20-22 year Bowmore. Total had that last I checked. Ardbeg Uigeadail is nice for a peat luva. For sweet tooth a bottle o glendronach or benriach px cask, older the better. Vatting can be fun. Four parts Highland Park 12 and one part Caol Ila. Let mingle for one week in in third mixer bottle. When the HP runs out, try glendronach 12. Caol ila mixes well to add smoke and peat. I like adding complexity with a little Ardbeg uigie along with caol ila. In which case four parts hp one part caol ila and one fourth of one part uigie.

Laphroaig 18 is $89 in Oregon

@rigmorole, yeah 10% cheaper right now in Moco, Maryland...Lag 16, Laphroaig 18 and CS 10, Ardbeg Ten, Uigeadail, Corryvreckan. No, we don't ship from this VERY politically correct state.

These sales are why I get to see my friend @Nock 2 or 3 times a year.

@Benancio, at the risk of stating the obvious, I want to add that the main benefit I see of ordering online is the selection. Not just the prices.

Southern Wisconsin is an OK place to shop, but its collective retail offerings are no match for any one of those big online retailers. For a common bottle like Ardbeg 10, I'd just as soon buy from my local guy rather than go online and pay shipping to save just a couple bucks in the end. But for less common bottles, I go online. For example (and because I like to reminisce) these are the unavailable-in-my-local-stores bottles I've bought online since discovering last year that I could do this: Springbank Claret, Longrow CV, a Binny's Caol Ila CS single cask, a Binny's Glen Scotia CS single cask, Big Peat CS Christmas 2013, Kilkerran WIP 2013, Hakushu 12, a Binny's English Whisky Company peated CS single cask, Benriach 17 Solstice, Charbay R5 hopped whiskey, and Edradour Ballechin port finish. Fun stuff.

Binny's and K&L especially have a lot of single casks that they get bottled themselves.

@OlJas You are correct the selection is the main advantage to ordering on line, price is a very nice bonus. In no way am I saying not to support your local liquor establishment. I enjoy sharing with my local liquor retailer in return he lets me know when new items arrive. In my original post I listed the price I recently paid at one of my local store.

My original posting was a curiosity of mine to see what people around the world like to drink for I consider a nominal price for a bottle of Scotch.

@Benancio, we all did a very poor job fulfilling the idea you had for this thread, myself included! Lots more talk about prices and acquisition schemes than about solid scotches in your ~$85 sweet spot.

I do think you're right that this price zone (or its equivalent in various markets) is the sweet spot for value. As a whole, whiskies get much better as you approach that price zone and the law of diminishing returns kicks in after you pass that price zone.

Unless you really wanted to focus on bottles that were new in 2014, maybe we could just try to identify those that exemplify the sweet spot. And since we're talking in 2014, they will obviously be cited in 2014 prices. :)

Here are some that I think people would say are significantly better than their cheaper counterparts AND significantly better value over their more expensive counterparts:

•Old Pulteney 17

•Laphroaig 10 CS

•Aberlour a'bunadh

•Bowmore Tempest (or Dorus Mor in the US)

•Glenfiddich 15

•Ardbeg 10 (compared to Islays in general—not the non-existent cheaper Ardbegs!)