The end of own brand spirits in Scottish supermarkets?

[Drago]

There is Laphroaig, and then there is everything else.

 

[jayonabike]

There is Laphroaig, and then there is everything else.

I bought and opened a bottle of their quarter cask today. Fantastic whisky.

 

[Slick]

There is Laphroaig, and then there is everything else.

I won a bottle once and took one drink out of it. Nearly spat it straight back out. More like TCP than any whisky I've ever had.

 

[Slick]

[QUOTE 5228864, member: 259"]I find it minging too. Kippers or what? But to each their own...[/QUOTE]
Yeah definitely. I think I've still got that bottle, can't give it away.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I can't stand the stuff, having got exuberantly ill when I was 14* (drank so much I could have died and at the time I wish I had) but I know a few whisky sommeliers who've tried to educate me. They all insist there's a whisky for everyone and I just haven't found mine yet.

*This is very common and it's why whisky companies deliberately market their product to the over-25s. Most people who overdo whisky at a young age never try it again.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Whisky is awful stuff, and I also know that I have relieved myself in the streams near many distilleries. Just sayin'.

 

[Blue Hills]

The minimum alcohol pricing laws come into force in Scotland on May 1st.. The minimum price of 1 unit of alcohol will be 50 pence, meaning that a 70cl bottle of whisky will cost about £14.
A bottle of "Highland Earl" (no I've never heard of it either) currently on sale in Aldi for £11.50 will go up to £14. The same size of bottle of Bells or Grouse in Tesco will go from £13 to £14.

Is anyone actually going to buy a bottle of Highland Earl for the same price as Grouse/Bells?

I am of course assuming that the supermarkets will be selling both brands at the minimum price rather than whacking a premium onto the better known brands. Especially given that the new prices are not a tax, but simply extra profit for the seller benefiting from Scottish Government rules.

BBC link.

Interesting post. Am south of the border but picked up a bottle of Aldi Bourbon a few months ago and rather liked it.

Haven't read the rest of the thread I admit but my possibly untutored view is that this minimum pricing thing is a bad idea.

 

[Slick]

Whisky is awful stuff, and I also know that I have relieved myself in the streams near many distilleries. Just sayin'.

Just in case the foreigners believe you.
https://scotchwhisky.com/magazine/ask-the-professor/8216/the-importance-of-water/

 

[Blue Hills]

If someone is shopping in Aldi and wants a bottle of blended Scotch, yes. Because Aldi don't tend to sell the big brands. It's not as if they'll be short of other products to sell as loss leaders or to get footall.

.

Am not aware that Aldi sell anything as a loss leader/at a loss. Am aware that a fair few of the other British supermarkets have exaggerated margins and sell crap at inflated prices. And run fake offers that you'd have to have had a skinful of whatever not to spot.

 

[Blue Hills]

[QUOTE 5228842, member: 259"]I'm not keen on Scottish Whisky, but I'm fond of the nice neat poteen my wife's relatives "allegedly" make in NI. [/QUOTE]
Have had some of that. Was given it in a plain bottle after a press trip years ago. It smelled of old socks. Though did the business.

 

[Profpointy]

We spend yestersay evening at a whisky festival in Bristol. Not as wide a range as I might have wished but tried a fair few, and certainly had enough by the end of the evening without being drunk as such.

On the Laphroig point, I still prefer the proper 10 year old. Tried their quarter cask and wasn't so keen. Also tried their Lore special edition. Nice, but for me, not £80 a pop nice. It's quite confusing these days whith each distellery now doing lots of different flavours so you can't just get a bottle of Laphroig without carefully checkjng the label.

Came home with a 15 year old Glenlivet which was very nice (and normal malt price), and a bottle of Mordlach, but sadly an independent bottling of unspecified "Orkney" had run out. That was very nice indeed, albeit a bit pricier.

Various novelty whiskys from Sweden, and Taiwan, and though mostly OK weren't really good value.

 

[Bromptonaut]

First of all you'll never find 'Highland Earl' and the mainstream brands in same place so it's not a simple choice.

Secondly I strongly suspect that if minimum pricing forces up price of bargain spirits, never mind stuff like Highland Earl that's trying to replicate (let's say) Johnnie Walker Red Label, the brands like Bells and Teachers will increase their margin so as to be more expensive - even if that leaves them costing more in Gretna than Carlisle.

 

[Profpointy]

I can't stand the stuff, having got exuberantly ill when I was 14* (drank so much I could have died and at the time I wish I had) but I know a few whisky sommeliers who've tried to educate me. They all insist there's a whisky for everyone and I just haven't found mine yet.

*This is very common and it's why whisky companies deliberately market their product to the over-25s. Most people who overdo whisky at a young age never try it again.

I'm bit like that with white wine, having had a bad experience age 16. Strangely, various over-refresment occurunces with beer have never put me off that.

 

[Slick]

First of all you'll never find 'Highland Earl' and the mainstream brands in same place so it's not a simple choice.

Secondly I strongly suspect that if minimum pricing forces up price of bargain spirits, never mind stuff like Highland Earl that's trying to replicate (let's say) Johnnie Walker Red Label, the brands like Bells and Teachers will increase their margin so as to be more expensive - even if that leaves them costing more in Gretna than Carlisle.

They are on every newsagent shelfs that I've seen.

 

[BoldonLad]

Another reason not to go north of the border.