Awesome video! - and got me curious to try out some of the f & f bottles.... now I'm waiting for the postman to deliver my Benrinnes 15 and Linkwood 12, and I can't wait! Even if I end up not liking the whisky (which i doubt) the bottles just look amazing I my opinion.
Awesome Kasper - I'm gonna take a leap of faith and pin your comment, we'll wait the weekend in anticipation of your honest and frank feedback - I love whisky delivery days - excited for you! Thanks for watching and commenting. I really, really, hope you like those drams!
Well, I got my f&f bottles today and decided to try out the Linkwood. Holy cow I really enjoy this glass! The texture of the whisky is fantastic, and the intense booom of sweet and sour really hit the spot. (Also i have been kind of stuck on islay whisky for some time, so it's really nice to try something different) Thanks for the great content Roy and thanks for the recommendations
Wow Kasper I'm really pleased you liked it (and as always a little relieved! 😅 ) I think you'll find the Benrinnes every bit as engaging! Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.
Wow long ago, love these style of videos. I know but love to see more. 😉 thnx to this vid I got the Dailuaine 16 a few years ago on discount, great expression!
My first experience with single malt Scotch was in the courtyard of the Strathmill Distillery in Keith, Scotland. It was 1980, and I was a young American tourist wandering around the British Isles, backpack and all. I knew that I wanted to get off the train somewhere near the 'Whisky Trail' and I'd seen the Chivas Regal tank cars on the rail siding just before Keith. I spent the night in a guesthouse and the next morning I visited the Strathmill Distillery on the edge of town. I'd been redirected there, instead of going to the Strathisla complex nearby. I got a personal tour from the distiller after stumbling on to some confab in the courtyard of the distillery. After we returned to the gathering, the team presented a beaker of amber liquid to the gent who'd given me the tour, noting it was 15 years. He nosed it in the beaker, and then turned and handed me the beaker...It was my 'free taste'. It was probably a good four ounces, at least. I told them I had to catch a train... He laughed and told me to drink what I could handle; they would dispense with the rest any way.
Brilliant Roy! Thank you for this. Was always curious about Flora & Fauna hearing it mentioned from time to time. But never understood what it meant. Til now.
Whew. What a great video. I know that I will return to this over the years and watch again if I have an opportunity to pick up something from the Flora & Fauna collection. It would be awesome to have all of these on hand, just to tell the stories. Thank you for recording and sharing it!
You don't have to send any samples although I appreciate the thought. There is a SMWS Bar here in DC and they have some it I am sure, they seem to have everything.
Roy, a very nice and informational video on the Flora & Fauna series. There are certainly some very interesting bottles in this collection. Unfortunately, I have never seen one of these bottles here in Indiana. I guess another reason for a return trip ✈️ to Scotland 😄 to try and find some. 👍
Glad I finally found this video and thank you for it. You mention F&F often and I searched for that as if it was a brand, never finding anything nor really understanding.
Great video Roy. I really didn't know anything about the Flora & Fauna range. Certainly not about the history of them. Very informative. Nice 'Drambassadors' list at the end too!
Thanks again for a really enjoyable and informative video. For me, knowing more about F&F makes me even more confounded about the way Diageo presents whiskies in the Singleton range. And in addition to the A/B/C/D concepts, it's great to tie your ideas here back to the Recycled Reviews of F&F empties. Bravo! (Also, can't wait for the next edition of Recycled Reviews.)
Roy, I have recently gotten into my journey in the Flora and Fauna range, and even though I have seen this video several times already, I keep going back to it to help guide me to my next purchase from the range. This is hands down the best video on F&F out there and I want to thank you for making it. Sláinte!
I think I have my next targets for my collection thanks to this (and the sample of Daluiaine 16) as soon as I have killed off a few bottles. I have a G&M Linkwood 15 to open yet so will need a 12 year old to compare it to. Great to learn some of the history from a guy that has a real passion for Scotch whisky. Cheers Roy.
Gotta say, the Blair Athol - 12 Year Old is one of my all time favourite whiskies, do you have one in the Flora & Fauna range? I tried the Pittyvaich - 12 Year Old as well but thought the Blair was a little better.
I hope to one day have a bottle or two of the flora and fauna range in my collection. Love the history behind this. Now I know what to be looking for if I spot some of these on a shelf. Superb as always Roy! Thanks!
Superb video as always Roy, thanks for sharing. I feel privileged to have been able to enjoy your masterclass in the Flora and Fauna range in person! Cheers, Ed
What great Video! I didnt heart anything before about Flora and Fauno but bought now the Strathmill 12. I hope you will upload more, fantastic stuff. Thank you. Cheers Peter
👍👍👍 Just fantastic Roy! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Please take note #Diageo!!!!! As I love all our whisky tubers could someone call the RU-vid Emmy committee and nominate this vid! 😃
Greay video Roy, once again! I’ve been intrigued by the f&f series for a decade now but never got a hold of a bottle. Also I thought the whole series was dead and gone a long time ago. But it’s still going apparently, good news. Maybe i can still get a bottle one day!
I have only ever seen two bottles of Flora and Flora range here in Israel and they were in two stores opposite each other and both very old bottlings of Glendullan 12 YO. I bought them both up. (Neither of them came in the box though). That was 3 years ago. I still have them.
Roy, I have to say... I think you are the best positioned to separate from the whisky tuber pack. ...with all due respect to the others, of course. I know it's not a race, but your knowledge, presentation, production value, are top notch. Dare I say... The "current" whisky generation's technology advanced Ralfy. Keep up the great work!
Nice words my friend, really! I think the other guys have clear abilities (and I'm not just talking about their ability to deliver far more content than I can!) that I don't have. As hosts to an awesome community, I think we work pretty well together! Thank you for taking the time!
Very professional presentation here. Ralfy has his malt mate character, but some whisky guru's are presenting themself to the world plain from the bedroom, like Foodquig. De gustibus, as romans used to say
So last week I finally tried some F&F. The Dailuaine and the Linkwood. Really enjoyed both but the Dailuaine was gorgeous. Really layered, chewy dram. Just had to give them a go having watched this. Slainte chap.
Sometimes it is difficult. However, I put it into perspective.......it’s not about the destination, it’s the journey that’s important. It’s not a problem if there are a few detours that take you on better routes! 🥃👍🏻
Great video again Roy. Last Saturday I saw them for the first time in real in a store here in Spain. Didn't now that much about them so didn't spend too much time looking at them, but next time I'll be there I'll take a look if they have one of the ones you recommended.
Very cool Roy. I never knew there were that many. My local pub still has a bottle of the Auchroisk which I am the only one who has the 3 drams out of the bottle. Am genuinely thinking of offering the new owners an amount to take the bottle home with me.
Thanks for the knowledge drop Roy! I haven't had any of them but would like to try the Mortlach, Benrinnes, Blair Athol, Dailuaine, and the Balmenach. I agree that they should switch to NCF, natural color, and 46%. Which one in your opinion is the most sherried and which is the most peated?
Interesting video and very nice produced as always. I have a bottle of Dailuaine and I like it very much. I also tried a dram from the Teaninich which I remember as a quite tasty one. I would love to try more from the range. The only problem is they get a lot of competition when it comes to which-bottles-to-pack-in-the-suitcase when leaving Scotland :)
A common dilemma WW!. I've heard of people booking extra luggage just to stuff with rolled up t-shirts padding out bottles of whisky! Thanks for watching as always!
Thank you Roy! I love the content you're producing. Question for you... I don't have the Flora & Fauna line in my area (Texas, USA), but I'm finding some independent bottlings of the distilleries I want to try. I can get Berry's Benrinnes 16 or 17 yr. I can also get Berry's Strathmill 23yr or Alexander Murray's Strathmill 24yr. Would you recommend any of these over the other? Thanks again for all you do for the whisky nation!
Roy, nicely done. These videos are great quality. Want to see at least twice a month, please 🙏🏻 If you are reading this, please give this comment 👍 if you agree with me.
I hear you Jez. The wife gave me all day Saturday at the weekend, I'd already had this planned for a while, so I sat down and story-boarded it. Wrote out a rough script and shot the whole thing by dinnertime. I edited on Saturday night and most of Sunday, shooting the stills, photoshopping the overlays and filming a little b-roll too. I finally finished it and left it to render as I went to bed, so I could upload a 2GB file this morning. All told, I'd guess 28 hours. I'm getting faster, but that's why it's so infrequent. Thanks for your patience. I could shoot for more, but you and I both would need to have difficult discussions with my wife. Thank you for your continued support Jez!
Roy: Thank you for the Tour through Flora & Fauna. As an American, even living in NYC, I have very little knowledge of these and it was wonderful to have an intro! As a whisky drinker who prizes my experience of a malt, as most serious whisky drinkers do, I agree that these should be NCF at 46% ABV. SLÁINTE Mike
Quote of the video: *"and it could just be ever so slightly....MUCH BETTER!!!"* Regarding your criticisms, I totally agree. Someone at Diageo just doesn’t get it do they! This is a limited release, nichemarket product. (1) this range is produced in order to sample the local product of a distillery that does not have a regular official bottling range. (2) Buyers will be mainly serious single malt whisky fans. With both these two things in mind, the whisky really should be bottled in its most natural form at higher alcohol strength, natural colour and non-chilled filtered. If anything, the range competes against the independent bottlers such as Gordon and McPhail who also bottle whiskies which you could not normally obtain. However, they will bottle at high alcohol volumes, natural colour and will barrier filter only. Not only is the colouring and chill filtering NOT attracting customers, it is probably losing customers! It shows a lack of professionalism and market awareness on behalf of Diageo.
Excellent review of an interesting and charming range. The first one I ever tried was the Inchgower. Watching this puts me in the mood to purchase a replacement. I completely concur with your suggestion of an updated upgrade of the range. I can see where Diageo were coming from twenty years ago but the whisky landscape is transformed these days. It's also quite easy to buy independent bottlings of these distilleries especially online. I doubt many people other than maltheads buy these whiskys so Diageo would do themselves a favour by increasing the strength and doing away with the filtration. We're only asking for an extra 3% abv for Pete's sake. C'mon Diageo, we'd buy much more F&F whisky if you did.
Hmm, to me the reopening looks a bit like trying to capitalise on the big names Brora and Port Ellen even further while they are running out of old casks that they can sell for several thousand moneyz per bottle. I hope you have enough reach for some Diageo representative to stumble by and relay the feedback to the right people. :)
Excellent overview of the flora and fauna range Roy. I was looking for a view on the Auchroisk 10 before going ahead and buying a bottle, so i'm glad to see you are a fan. Picked up a bottle for £31 from loch fyne, which is a bit of a bargain.
Really enjoyed that Roy. I think on my journey, I'm still trying other things. Like you say, I do try and get whiskies following your ABCD. Very interesting video though Roy. Maybe someone's watching and heard your suggestions, that would be fantastic. All the best chap.
You know you’re doing something right when you make a slightly pro-Diageo video, but still 7k views in and you have 300+ thumbs up and literally zero downvotes. Highly excellent content!
Fantastic video, I have always wanted to know more about that series. I believe I have only seen one of those in my local stores, if I see it again I will definitely pick it up. The G&M Linkwood 15, would that get your recommendation in place of the Flora&Fauna Linkwood?
The G&M (in my experience) tends to be a little more inconsistent, but I've never had a bad one. Yes, and they're usually good value. Thanks JK for watching!
Just discovered this particular video. I was having a nose arouns the web and remember seeing Flora and Fauna series...looking for my next reasonable purchase and tempted by Dailuaine 16...as i know nothing about it and it seems good value on the face...great informative video!
Roy is the Flora and Fauna series available in the US? I have of it and read Michael Jackson's books on them, but never actually seen any of those bottles here. I have independent bottles of most but no direct products from them.
Honestly I'm not sure. A friend form NY found some once (the old Mortlach and another) but I don't know if they were official export stock. For the US they would need to be 75cl, and I've never actually seen a 75cl bottling. You could try Abbey Whisky or The Whisky Barrel to see if they could ship?
Great video, Roy! Background, subtle colouring, body language, t-shirt, facial expressions and Glaswegian accent are all nicely tweaked for optimum effect. Oh, and the whisky's not bad either. I've only had the Benrinnes, Glen Elgin and Blair Athol expressions, but do enjoy them all heartily. Many thanks for the tips concerning others worthy of a try. Finally, I hope Diageo are listening in and taking note. As a specialist series, It would certainly prod me to start buying more of these if the presentation (46%, no artificial colouring and no chill filtration) were tweaked in the direction of the artisanal approach. And one final request - please Diageo - release some Mortlach that is not sold in tiny bottles at over-inflated prices (take a leaf out of G&M's book). This wonderful whisky deserves so much better! Cheers.
Hey Rafael - wondering where you'd gone! I appreciate you making the effort and I know how tricky the timezones can be, we'll hook up when it's right my friend!
Great video. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Excellent video editing. A++ By the way, in a recent live show you mentioned my Icon. I'd love to explain, since it's one of my favorite subjects. This is my aircraft, a Lake Buccaneer. "Lake" is the aircraft manufacturer. It is a Hull Amphibian which is sort of a rare thing. The body of the aircraft floats in the water. The landing gear is up, and out of the way, and two sponsons (floats) hang down from out near the end of the wing. These keep the wings from dipping down into the water with waves splashing around and such. The engine is mounted above the cockpit and behind, and it has a pusher prop. This keeps the prop out of the water. (One could not have the engine on the front of this aircraft.) When the landing gear is lowered it's a 'tricycle gear.' Land at any airport, and the ground handling characteristics are very mild. It's a great regular aircraft, you don't have to even use water or a lake. The nose landing gear compartment is sealed, this means the doors which cover the landing gear don't have to be watertight (they're not, and that would be difficult). The front landing gear swings forward when "gear down" is selected. All this last bit just so I could mention a 'cool' feature of this amphibian aircraft. When you're floating around on a lake, you can idle up to a beach or a boat ramp and you can put the landing gear down while you're in the water. A hydraulic sound, the gear goes down, locks, and there's no difference, the aircraft floats the same with the landing gear down... so then as you approach the beach, you apply a little engine power and the aircraft drives out of the water and onto the beach. Or do this at a boat ramp if there's clearance for the wings. The process can be reversed. You can idle down a boat ramp (mind the rather wide wings) roll into the water, float, idle away from shore, and then raise the landing gear. Ready for a water takeoff. Loads of fun! I have my Seaplane rating, obviously. The aircraft is nice, because it has an IO-360 engine (the most popular aircraft engine in the world) it's fuel injected, and it drives a constant-speed prop. That means a governor controls the pitch, holding the engine RPM constant, so that is like having a continuous set of 'gears' from maximum climb pitch to maximum speed pitch. Aircraft with these features (and the retractable landing gear) they call "Complex Aircraft", just meaning more to learn, but higher performance. I've flown what we call "The Duck" across the US on 5 full crossings back and forth, for fun, during vacation. I was working in Silicon Valley as chip architect, bought the aircraft in New Hampshire, flew it to California, then came up with the bright idea of reversing that trip during vacation, for fun. Each summer I would do a repeat, but Jet back to work so I took an early summer vacation flying the Duck one way, and a late summer vacation flying it back. I'd always fly to Vermont, my family being there, and I would take the aircraft to a lake in Vermont where my family has summer homes right at the water's edge, so that was an awesome reason to fly across the country. It's a LA-4/200, 4 place, and here's a link to the Wiki page "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Buccaneer" Long story... I tell long stories. If you read this far, using the aircraft image as my icon makes sense. This aircraft is just so awesome, and it's incredible being able to fly this all over the US, traveling to lakes or regular airports, splashing down all over the place. One of my favorite 'tricks' is to fly to a lake in the summer, stop just anywhere on the lake with the canopy hinged open and (with bathing suit on) jump into the lake and swim. It's really weird swimming around in the middle of a lake, holding on to your aircraft that you were just flying. Then you get back in, dripping, (have some towels) and you eventually strap in, start her up, and take off. Try that for real... it's awesome. I like this subject so much, I'll probably even mention related stuff at times. I can't help myself. (Aircraft costs about the same as a new Mercedes sedan, and that's considered affordable for a lot of people.) Drive a used Honda car, and own this aircraft... Ha! Cheers!
Ha! I'm glad you enjoyed this. It's probably a shock when someone uses this comment space as email. It actually works if you don't have someone's email address. There's no limit on how much someone can type here. This might seem off-topic but I want to mention, I am extremely lucky, and I look back and realize I always have been. I guess that is from paying attention to the great things that occur and sort-of forgetting about the bad. That leaves one pretty happy. I'm an extremely lucky guy. I enjoyed sharing this great experience of owning "The Duck." (Even the Scotch Test Dummies don't know about "The Duck" and they know me from email outside of my anonymous Raster handle. I wrote to them when sending them a couple of bottles.) Cheers!
Of all the fancy, expensive whiskies I have, the Flora & Fauna Blair Athol 12 and Benrinnes 16 are two of my favourite "everyday" whiskies. Minus points for colour and chill-filtration, but that, in my opinion, is not reflected in the experience. Great value/experience for money. 👏🥃
Great video, now 2021, i reminisce : few of these F&F ever came to Ontario Canada, but early 2000s quite a few of the UDRM (United Distillers Rare Malts - black box series) all at Cask Strength. . . i still regret NOT picking up a Teaninich CS. Then a gain, back then , few of these channels ever existed but the books of MJ (not with the glove) or the . . . a-hem. . . Whisky Testament ! !
Hey Roy, what’s your favourite F&F? Mine is either the Benrinnes, Dailuaine or Inchgower. I’ve two complete collections with one of them having 19 out of the 26 first editions (13 white caps). Would love to try the Speyburn but have contented myself with Inver House bottlings.
Thanks for the history lesson. I was reading Michael Jackson's beer guide books going back to the early 80's did not know he did whiskey books as well.
Great to see you in your element. Passionate yet humble as usual. I'm convinced! It's time I lost my virginity to Flora & Fauna. Tossing a coin between Teaninich and Strathmill :)
Roy, you're mistaken! I think I demanded a lot of attention last Thursday ;) Remember the invasive questions about your drinking and non-drinking schedule? We also had a bit of a phonetics game with Zuidam/Souwtdàhm (which you nailed by the way). I've seen all your vids via my old account (probably visible to you) Bart Damen - bartdamen1984@gmail.com. I've only recently decided to start anew, with some Whiskytube ambitions of my own, waiting in the wings/on the docket.
Had some of those and their independent bottled siblings and can't fight the feeling they know why they put most of it in the blends (and some not...). Not really bad for sure, and interesting to discover those "parts" on their own, but in the end... parts. But maybe that's only me and I don't regret trying, that's what it's about.
Hey Roy! Great stuff again! Some of your facial expressions in there cracked me up! :D Unfortunately, I have not had a F&F yet and ought to change that - the Blair Athol has been on my list for a while based on your recommendation. :) But the others also sound interesting enough to give them a try. From a theoretical standpoint I agree with all your points. F&F is an enthusiast brand, matter-of-fact presentation, available only if you seek them out, distilleries that only enthusiasts have heard of. Why not make it that last bit more appealing to enthusiasts, drop the colouring and the chill-filtration (at 46%)? I don't have an ideological problem with 43%, but I'm sure some of those whiskies would have their sweet spots more towards 46%. Alas, Diageo seem to be making some really good products but often fall just a wee bit short of making them a "perfect". Here's another instance of my inner curious pedant asking the whisky linguist: Does the "ch" in Auchroisk turn into somewhat a "th" sound?
Everest314 thanks for the watch and comment! Yeah, I think we're aligned in our thoughts for what this could be. Regarding the pronunciation of Auchroisk, it's in the second pronunciation video I did, but you can pronounce it "arthrusk" or "ahthrusk". No one cares if you say "ockroysk" either though, but the former is best.
Out of these, I've only had the Blair Athol 12 so far and I did enjoy its dry and spicy aromas. I'd put it at 8-8.5 out of 10. It's the favorite whiskey of one of my closest friends.
Well done! I like your video production values and the unique malty content themes ;-) [Always quality over quantity.] I notice that the F&F bottlings of Caol Ila and Clynelish that your are holding in this video have tax stamps. Quite reminiscent to the Italian ones. Are these the ones you found on vacation in some Italian store under the dust? [so I remember you told such a story in one of your previous videos or live-streams]
Aqvavitae Cheers. Brand new and West Midlands based, but honing in on the Greater Black Country region. We're just getting off the ground at the moment. Hopefully selecting a home base for regular tastings very soon, as well as activating a few other ideas swirling around in our heads. Always on the look out for followers and interesting whisky people like yourself. Twitter - @BlackCountryWS should get people there if anyone's interested. Looking forward to more of your videos now ! Very best wishes. 🙂
