Games of Thrones Whiskies

Do i want to? Heck yeah! Am I going to give in to the obvious marketing gimmick? Not sure yet...

Curious about the laga 9 and Talisker. I suppose they hold promise of plenty sex, dragon fire and dusty metal...

@RikS like you I would like to try the Talisker and Lagavulin. Perhaps the Clynelish is on my list as well.

@DaveM i dont have experience of that one, but hey, always willing to expand my horizons!

Likely Not

I’d like to say I won’t fall for it, but I likely will. I love GoT, so...

@OdysseusUnbound Ultimately it's what's IN the bottle that counts, not ON the bottle. Unless it is offering something different from the usual offers I don't see the draw.

@Nozinan I agree completely.....but I’m such a huge GoT fan that the temptation will likely prove too strong. I’ll likely pick up a Talisker and/or a Lagavulin, if the KGBO gets any...

I've been meaning to post about these for some time, while it's clearly a big marketing gimmick, as @Nozinan said it's the contents that will be important.

There seems to be so little info about the vattings, casks, ages of these malts, it seems to be all about the marketing of how each malt represents the said house in GT. So I am guessing it's less about the educated spirits consumer and more about the part of the venne diagram where casual whisky drinker meets GT fans.

I am most curious about the Clynelish since it's so rarely presented as an OB and it is bottled at 51.2%, the Lagavulin could also be fun but if it's an all ex-bourbon vatting I don't see how different than the 8 yr old it will be. I have been underwhelmed by much of the Talisker NAS so I'm not holding my breath.

@cricklewood Remind me to pour you some Talisker 57 N (NAS...). You may lose that skepticism

@Nozinan while you have generously shared some 57N with me, I wouldn't say no to another taste . I should have added that precision, my beef was rather with the Storm, Dark Storm and Port Ruige offerings.

I can't wait to see Ralfy's take on the gimmick of Diageo releasing Game of Thrones whiskies

I reckon he'll have an aneurysm mid video!

I'm a little skeptical of this marketing ploy. Since GOT has only been around since 2011 and it took awhile to develop a cult following I find it hard to believe that all these distilleries purposely produced a whisky for GOT. If they did, then it is going to be one young, immature offering. I,for one, am going to take a pass.

These programs wait too long before they trot out these products. They did the same thing with The Sopranos. They released cigars as the show was getting ready to end. The cigar companies are still trying to unload those smokes.

@PeterG7 Diageo has millions of litres of whisky maturing everywhere. I’m sure the GoT whiskies weren’t distilled with GoT in mind. Now, would it surprise me if these (mostly) NAS whiskies were a dumping ground for sub-standard stuff? Not at all. Will I still buy as many as possible? Yes. Am I a total sucker ? Also, yes.

Aren't they also doing a Johnny Walker White Witch or something? I heard about that the other day but this whole line up was new to me. I used to watch GoT (or, and I'll use the polite term, 'Boobs and Dragons' as my better half calls it ) but lost interest a bit just as those ice people came on the scene.

Agree with @OdysseusUnbound in that they are probably dumping ground for lesser stock so I'll be staying away but I can see the appeal if you're a big fan. I never bit the bullet but I was tempted a while back with the JW Black that was 'made for' the new Blade Runner film - at near £100 though . . . na!

@RianC There was also the recent “Jane Walker” that Diageo released. It had a female on the white carton and was supposed to be a collectors edition. It was exactly the same whisky as JW Black. It was supposed to attract females to the joys of whisky drinking. Yeah right! Like they don’t sell enough of the JW Black.

I like the GoT series, yet I'm not excited by this cross promotion. The re-packaging of already existing NAS expressions is yawn inducing.

What I am excited by is an OB Clynelish 51.2%. If I find it, I will buy it.

@OdysseusUnbound You're absolutely right about the millions of liters already in casks and that's the point I'm making. I don't know anything about what's in the bottle. So, in reality, what I'm buying is the label. Pure and simple it's a marketing ploy to attract GOT fans.

@PeterG7 You are 100% correct. But of course the same can be (and has been) said of all NAS whisky.

Now, wouldn't it be amusing if one or two of these expressions turn out to be great and very popular.

Some detail about the bottles

multivu.com/players/English/…

The Clynelish looks like it could pique my interest as did the Lagavulin but given the price and abv why not just buy the 8?