I tasted de SRV5 next to the Orchard House yesterday. Both perfect for summer indeed. Similar profiles. The Orchard House is just a touch sweeter I think
Great review! As always, but I thought I would say it anyway 😅 I bought the Turntable purple haze and it’s pretty good so far. I know exactly what you are taking about with Golden / Teddy Grahams! A staple of a healthy 1990s breakfast 🤣 Cheers, Matt!
Thanks for still saying it haha. I have been tempted to pick up the Purple Haze over and over again thanks to the praise it received form Roy. Love that we are seeing more blend love! As you can see I'm in a "catch up on comments" mode haha. Cheers buddy 🥃
Great review Matt. I’m fortunate to have a K&L fairly close, so I picked up both of these (& Maclean’s Nose) back in October. I’ve enjoyed what little I’ve poured, but don’t have a verdict on whether I’d replace them. The Maclean’s might get a nod on crazy good value though ($35)! Glad to hear you’re on the mend. Cheers.
Thanks Tim! As you can probably tell I'm trying to catch up on my comments lol. Having K&L close by is a big plus. I've eyed some bottles at basement prices like the Old Pulteney Clipper for under $15 USD. As I understand it they seem to get some decent G&M Single Casks as well. It does seem like they put quite a high price on the "Redacted Bros" Blends. As such the Maclean's Nose is the ultimate value as you point out, $35 is a phenomenal price to pay for that Blend. Thanks again for watching Tim! Cheers eh! 🥃
Blended Malt is entirely different from blended Scotch. Very happy to get the blended malts, blended Scotch no big fan of. We'd all love to be tasting the Thompson Bros we hear so much about from our friends in the UK. They seem to have made unfortunate distribution decisions that restrict it for us in America.
Yeah, they've made some strange decisions regarding U.S. distribution and the entire lack of distribution in Canada is also, umm, odd. I trust Blended Malts much easier than Blended Scotch as well, but I had to try this TB/BSW as well as the Maclean's Nose. Cheers Sugar Kitty! 🥃
Lol! Weird whisky tasting note specific.... Yep, that is where we are. I have yet to have any Thompson Bros, but given your notes and basically everyone over in the UK, I really need to try. Thanks for sharing!
I've heard you mention it a few times, so in the back of my mind I think I had you resonating, talking about our silly whisky tasting notes haha! Cheers Jon! 🥃
I really loved that Campbeltown Loch, what a great whisky for the money. And the Maclean's Nose I'm just about to post a review of in a few hours. Spoiler, it's pretty darn good like you said. Cheers Andrew! 🥃
Bang for buck, many of best value bottlings are blends. Just visited family in the uk and got to try the Campbeltown Loch and it's flippin delicious!! So sorry to miss you at the Victoria Whiskey festival, Matt. Hope we can fix that next year!
Next year it is happening James. The Festival was outstanding this year and I can't wait for the next. Glad you were able to get back home and try the Cambeltown Loch while there. It really is bloody brilliant. Cheers James 🥃
Nice review Matt, good insights on these. I'm sure they're good and they seem to be good value but the availability is an issue. I'm bypassing the blended malt but the blend itself begs the question of who's it for? They maybe better than your Chivas and JW s but are younger, tad more expensive or on par but are not readily available. So your average 'casual' Scotch drinker won't look too far to find these and go for the classics. Now you and I and enthusiasts will appreciate the effort and the high malt content in these but how many times will you reach for this when you have all the other malts in your cabinet? Now of course I only talk from my own relationship with whisky and I don't daily drink so when I do have a few drams they tend to me more and more single malts. Blends for me are to take to a non whisky drinkers home, to a camping trip less enthusiasts. This turned into a rant, sorry buddy just wanted to share my thoughts on these new wave of higher quality blends. Maybe they'll inspire the old guard to step up, who knows. Cheers my friend 🥃
Thanks for this comment man! I really do think you've got some great points here. Especially in regards to who are these whiskies really for if they can't distribute them in great enough numbers or broadly enough to really be an option for the typical casual blend drinker. I think these blends, above anything else, have served to raise Thompson Bro's profile significantly and have directly resulted in increased sales for their IB single cask releases. They kinda showcased what Thompson Bro's can do at a low cost of entry and as such I think people trusted them with more of their money on other bottlings. Rightly you point out a daily dram isn't healthy and shouldn't be championed, but I'd love to take these on a camping/fishing trip. All said, I loved the rant and the passion man. Cheers my man 🥃
Thanks Lars! Yeah that's where I found myself too. Good enough prices from RMW and others, but the shipping cost to Canada does away with any notion of value in our position. Cheers Lars 🥃
Totally with you Matt. We need a wider distribution of these bottles including to Canada. Hopefully they have a distributor here that can bring these to the great white north. Cheers!
With so many great importers in Alberta, I find it hard to believe they aren't heading there. And yet it seems it is not happening. Perhaps they partner up with a LCBO, BC Liquor or SAQ but it would sure be nice to find them on shelves up here. Cheers Rohit 🥃
I tell ya, I always scheduling these video releases early in the morning when I can't satisfy the resulting whisky-itch till late that night XD Glad you liked them. We gotta make sure the word gets out to communities out here that don't get to share all the opportunities we do =)
The video in the morning is just the teasing appetizer before the whisky tasting in the evening. Thanks again for hooking me up with these. And thanks for the SMWS tasting review on reddit. You did sound particularly perturbed by their pricing this time around. The promised lowering of prices can't come soon enough and July feels a long way away. Cheers buddy 🥃
Cheers Matt just having a TB/ BSW along with your impression of it, for everyone else 😉 happy days ahead if these bottles are successful in influencing your local Distillery.
It would definitely. Maclean's Nose did a great job with disclosure on that Blend. But there's been lots of rumours around the malt content in that TB/BSW. Cheers Dileep!🥃
Great review Matt, I could only get the SRV5 here in Australia, a very easy and tasty sipper, I agree it has citrus and orchard fruit skins on the nose and pleasant palate. However it is not cheap at $130 aud! I’m Still waiting for the TB/BSW to appear on our shores. Good to see you back doing reviews again. Cheers.
Great to see you back Matt. Looks like you had a great time in Victoria. I am no snob and I do appreciate a good blend, the issue is that I find blends a bit drab and uninspired. I know some use the phrase ‘a single malt is like a solo and a blend is like a symphony’. It’s not. Most blends are targeting a homogenized flavour that I find a bit boring. Much of the appeal of single malts to me is the Distillery signature, obviously something blends do not capture. However the blends rHan are cask strength (Big Peat Xmas) and SMWS blends are real hitters for me. So maybe I should give these Thomson Bros blends a go.
