I don't find Total Wine to have a great selection of smaller brand Scotch malts and their selection of high end good rums you can count on one hand. the overwhelm there is all of the bourbon that they have and I don't really care about bourbon and find it mostly not in the league of high end rum or malts. Fabulous selection of beers there and that is mostly what I have gone there for. They have nixed almost all of the lesser known malts when they did a reset about 2 years ago. they weeded out a lot of stuff and won't bring it back. K&L and Mission are the kings in SoCal and Remedy and Hi Time are pretty decent also but K&L is my favorite store for liquors
It's hard to beat K&L! I can't wait until they open their Culver City location! I did notice that the Scotch selection at Total Wine seems to have gotten less diverse over the years. There's the occasional bottle that catches my eye but for the most part, they have pretty readily available scotches.
It's the same story down to the tequila isle. Hundreds of choices, most of which are not good. My only complaint with Total is that they try hard to sell certain labels that they have relationships with. Very rarely do these labels live up to the expectations. Just as you said, its best to do your own research and make your own decisions. If you do see and entire shelf holding only one brand, chances are it's not to going to be that great.
In my neck of the woods, Australia, there's a duopoly (our nation is prone to duopolies...) that diffracts into 5 major liquor stores. The biggest store is the equivalent of your Total Wines. The range of whiskies there is not great, though, except in the 'premium' stores located in higher income areas. We have a hard time obtaining quality North American whiskies. Interestingly, we get a fair range of Mexican stuff. My favourite specialist spirits store went 'online only' during the COVID years, which is regrettable because I used to hang out there quite a bit. Cheers, Robyn.
That is interesting that you get a good amount of Mexican spirits! International distribution is weird... I wish we had a wider selection of Australian spirits. Has your specialty liquor store opened back up? Or stayed online only?
@@RobynSmithPhDThe former physical store will remain online only. It shifts a lot of units and interestingly is still a family-owned business. Contrariwise, two small online specialty stores in my city joined forces a year ago and opened a physical bar, hosting tasting events. So that's pretty cool.
Robyn, I agree that Total Wine can be a trip. I walk around with filters in my brain to narrow down my choices. First, if it’s Single Malt, I filter out chill filtered whisky (under 46%), no caramel coloring, and value (my walk away is $80). Balvenie never makes my list. ABV too low, therefore chill filtered and probably colored. If American whiskey, I look for Bottled in Bond (50% ABV, at least 4 years old). Evan Wiiliams white label always passes the filter. Now the 100 bottles are whittled down to about 20 and I can google them and watch whiskey tube reviews from channels I trust. At Total Wine, I research my store at home, put my suspects in the cart, browse anything that interests me at the store, and usually end up buying my cart. This strategy saves me a lot of blunders and impulse buys. Thanks for the video, I am a fan!
That’s an amazing strategy and sounds like what I tend to do too! I don’t always have a plan, but the experience is so much better when I do! It helps that we have portable computers in our pockets that allow us to do research on bottles while we’re there (haha).
Robyn, he best way to attract a sales person at my Total Wine is to stand in the aisle with your phone open. They may think you are a hired comparison shopper. This happened to my wife who used to carry a clipboard stuffed with wine articles BPC (before portable computers). They almost booted her out of the store!
First time viewer/commenter. RU-vid suggested the video, and glad they did! I completely agree, I can walk into a TW and eliminate 50% of what is on the shelf, and I’m by no means an expert. But the average person doesn’t know, those are the customers that TW preys on. Almost every employee I encounter(and I entertain) tries to sell me on their “distillery select” products and they ALWAYS say it tastes like or better than Buffalo Trace. Never mind it’s almost all Barton. Great video! Cheers!
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my video! I think every consumer would benefit from finding a local bottle shop with knowledgeable owners/buyers to build relationships with. And that’s especially true for consumers who aren’t going to do the research and learn about the spirits they’re interested in.
People who aren't enthusiasts don't get overwhelmed, i walk right past the wine and think no more of it, i walk past the bourbon, i walk past the rye, i walk past the vodka and gin, no tequila or mezcal can distract from what scoctch is behind the glass door......where the super rare live and slowly get rescued
it would have been nice for that 15 year to be bottled at around 48% ABV like some of the other limited's that they have done. the 15 year single cask sherry are pretty nice and about 48% and non chill filtered.
That would have been nice! But it's still really enjoyable at 43% ABV... at least it's not 40%! I feel like I'm always wishing that limited releases that aren't bottled at cask strength were bottled at a higher proof than they are hahaha
What I do appreciate from the Mega liquor store, is if you are an educated consumer they have the variety and ability to find those great bottles. My locals do not carry Clarin, Charanda even Cachca etc. The average consumer is just going to grab what they know anyway. Those of us who do not live in a very large city ( mine is 300k) do not have speciality liquor stores like K&L or The Wine and Cheese please in STL or Westport in Louisville. I can’t even get a local to grab a lot of these because they have to buy a case from the distributor.
You're right there are definitely benefits to liquor stores like Total Wine... I feel lucky that I have some really great, small bottle shops that carry a great selection of spirits!
@@RobynSmithPhD I know K&L from their website. I don't live close enuf to have ever just 'found' their store. How do you discover a good local indy retailer that doesn't have a web presence? Bcs the avg local store is, let's face it, sad. Then, there are stores that have fancy websites, but their actual physical stores are nasty, like Del Mesa and Chips. It's really discouraging. So, for me, I wind up at TW because they are clean and professional, and I live with their limited 'variety'. Is their some treasure hunting skill I'm missing?
Apart from a few specialist stores, finding quality spirits in my country is ridiculous, living in the antipodes has some disadvantages, but sometimes you get to meet expats who brought their collections with them. Best drop I ever had was a 64yr old speyside malt, that was a $1 a milliliter 😍 but thanks to our government a 1125ml of Captain Morgan generic dark rum is $89 a bottle, so jealous of the options available overseas, Total wines sounds like heaven compared to our best likka stores! 😊
Oh my gosh a 64 year old Speyside malt 😍 do you know what distillery it was from? I think the oldest scotch I’ve tried was a 50 year old Dalmore and I remember it tasting so rich like cough syrup hahaha
@@RobynSmithPhD sorry, I wish I could remember what make, (was 31yrs ago) all i remember is it was a 40ounce bottle, and I "had to" drink 8ounce glass, was 42 or 43%, cork stopper, and gold "bond tag", was from a small distillery that batch brewed, no 2yrs the same sort of deal. Unfortunately I can't get hold of the person who treated us to it as he died 20ish yrs ago 😢 I just remember it was a speyside distillery. Was the smoothest whisky I've ever tasted, and I've only ever had one spirit that has come close to it for smoothness, a bottle of "Old Fitzgerald" "bottled in bond" that was 18years when bottled, and 43yrs when I pulled the cork for my 30th birthday(and I'm not a bourbon drinker!!!)
This tasting glass was actually a collaboration I did with a local artist (and one of my close friends)! I still have a few available over on my website if you’re interested in grabbing some! They’re my favorite glass to use for tastings! www.thisblogsneat.com/shop-merch/p/neat-humanform-taster
Have to cross the river to Washington to get into a Total Wine. Oregon is a controlled state which is actually good -- close to MSRP pricing and no additional tax. At Total I have to pay whatever they want to charge + 8% sales tax and 25% liquor tax. I also happen to work at a liquor store. We have a HUGE selection (over 2800 bottles of distilled spirits, plus beer and wine.) It's hard to keep track. I spent two weeks in Scotland a few years ago and brought back a TON of bottles. Sadly most were stolen in a break in. I was only left with a few 200ml and 375ml bottles from independent bottlers. Those things are a great way to get some small batch and otherwise impossible to find bottles!
I forget that every state has its own liquor laws surrounding liquor stores (I always think about them from a distillery perspective). It's interesting that consumers have to pay 25% liquor tax in Washington... distillers in WA also pay the highest taxes of any other state. Is there someone at your liquor store, like the buyer, who keeps everyone who works there informed about the inventory? I'm so sorry to hear that your bottles from Scotland were stolen! That's terrible! You're right that independent bottlings are a great way to taste some amazing spirits. It's really great when you can find an indie that has similar taste preferences to you! That way you know that you'll like almost everything they bottle!
First, have you gotten your hands on the Hampden 8-Marks Collection yet? If there was a more target audience than you I couldn't think of one. Second, Total Swine does two things. One, it loads its shelves with a bunch of obscure, exclusive house-brands that are usually as mediocre and middle-of-the-road as possible. Two, it has a sales staff trained to push overwhelmed, bewildered consumers to its house brands for maximum profit. The key to defeating their graft is to get comfortable with a line of spirits and you'll soon learn who the standard brands are and who the generic knock-offs are. You can also look on the label to see where it was distilled and if you see Indiana, you usually know it's a re-bottled MGP, Third, there may be thousands of craft distilleries, but their distribution is often limited both in number of bottles and geography. Fourth, what bottles do I recognize on your shelf? I see a Class Laddie Scotch, a Kill Devil or Golden Devil rum, a Clairin Sajous rum (I think), a Habitation Velier rum but I can't see which release, a Rhum J.M. VSOP, a Worthy Park rum, a Barrel Spirits bourbon. Others might recognize more.
I'm pretty sure Santa is bringing me the Hampden 8 marks Collection and I cannot wait!! Honestly, it feels like Hampden released this specifically for me haha! Yeah, you're right that TW sales staff can push their bottles... there's a reason that I don't ask them for suggestions and prefer to just google bottles that I haven't heard of. The label can tell you so much about what's in the bottle! Yup, you spotted all those bottles... would you like me to list out the rest of them?
@@RobynSmithPhD Yes, would love to see your collection and hear a brief synopsis of how you regard each spirit (whether you like it or not and if you only regard it as educational, enjoyable or both). I find by looking at others collections I get to fill in the holes of my own collection and discover new spirits I've never heard of before. For example, Arminder at Rum Revival introduced me to Rum Fire which we don't normally get here on the East Coast.
@@bdwilcoxolds@@bdwilcoxa decent amount @@bdwilcoxsome aged Jamaican rums up there: @@bdwilcoxMonymusk Classic Gold, Worthy Park Single Estate, and Appleton Estate 8 year. I think the Appleton, Worthy Park, and Monymusk are great intros into aged Jamaican rum for a very affordable price (I got the Monymusk for $10!). I always have Smith & Cross on hand because it’s funkiness stands up in cocktails and it’s great on its own! You also spotted the bottle of Golden Devil, which is a single cask, cask strength 13 year old Port Morant pot distilled rum from Diamond Distillery. It’s exactly as good as I hoped it would be! Then there’s Rhum JM Gold Rum, which I think combines the oak ones of a bourbon with the grassiness of rhum agricole. And finally there’s a couple of American rums: Medford Rum from Boston and Kristend Bitten Cold Brew Rum from Matchbook Distilling in Long Island. They both are so different from one another. The Medford Rum is a good intro rum for people who like whiskey and Kristend Bitten is reminiscent of a very smoky mezcal. I’ve posted videos tasting most of these rums on the Savor at Home: Rums playlist!
The whiskey advent calendars are fun! Every year I put together a regular, premium, and top-shelf calendar. There are 12 different whiskeys in each calendar and they are mostly American, Scotch, and Irish whiskeys. I've added Australian and Welsh whiskies into some of the calendars and this year I snuck in an American rum and an American brandy. I try to stick to less mainstream distilleries, so most people who get the advent calendars haven't tried any of the whiskeys before! Are you interested in which whiskeys I used exactly? Or are you asking about the vials, bags, etc. that I use to assemble the advent calendars?
Super cool! I Like the Idea of using less mainstream stuff. Definitely curious about what vials, etc used to construct it. Looking to make one with rum for a friend :)@@RobynSmithPhD
@@whyattn That's awesome! I ordered a lot of the stuff from Amazon, which makes it easy. I would send you links to everything I get, but they typically come in packs of 100 and I'm not sure you want that 😂 But here's a list of items that I get and how I construct the advent calendars! -25 mL glass vials -Label maker to label each vial 1-12 -Mini canvas gift bags (3"x4") -Puff paint and rhinestones for adding decorative numbers 1-12 on each bag -Coin envelopes that I label 1-12 to hold the description of whats in each vial -Spritz Tabletop Thankful Tree from Target (only available before Thanksgiving) that I modify to be structurally sound enough to hold the bags -Mini (15 mm)key rings that I tie on to each bag so that they can be hung on the branches of the tree -Twist tie Christmas bow to decorate each bag *For the Top-shelf whiskey advents calendars I put the little bags into the bed of a red Christmas truck (also from Target) instead of on the tree *I've also made 6-days of whiskey advent calendars and used a little wooden hanging sign that I grabbed from Target (I think it said "Let it snow") and then screwed in some little hooks into the bottom to hang the bags. Here's what they end up looking like in the end (these pics are from a couple years ago, so they look more refined now, but you'll get the idea): www.thisblogsneat.com/shop-merch/p/whiskey-advent-calendar It's a lot of work, but I think all the little touches are worth it! Let me know if you'd be interested in me just sending you everything so that all you have to do is fill up the vials and mark down what you put in each vial!
