Bargain Buys (whiskey, whiskey books, etc)

[rathbeggan]

Tesco currently has Power's Gold Label 70cl for €18, down by €4.99 on normal price.

[TallyB]

Sainsbury's are doing a 20% off selected whiskies here in Northern Ireland.
Don't know if this applies in the South. Got a Jameson Redreast for £22.

[DavidH]

Don't know if this applies in the South.

No Sainsbury's down here, I'm afraid!

[DublinGus]

Hi DublinGus,

To be honest, I don't think you got any bargains there. The €160 for the Midleton is the RRP, as I'm almost sure is the case with the Redbreast 12yo? The 15yo is a different kettle of fish altogether, and there is another thread on the forum regarding why the current release is priced at €75 - I won't bore you by re-hashing it!

Typically this thread is used to highlight opportunities for members to avail of discounts etc. on offer from time to time by various retailers - both high-street and travel.

Cheers,
J.

Hi John,

Your entitled to your opinion. The fact is you will not better any of the prices I quoted, I can give you a list of shops that are over 10-20% more expensive.

[John]

Hi Dublin Gus,
My point is that if you purchase at the RRP level you cannot be considered as getting a bargain. I can get the Midleton BCL for €135 if I want to (i.e. duty free), in my opinion it still doesn't really constitute a bargain. You yourself published a price for the Redbreast 12yo earlier in the thread (Dunnes Stores €37) which was cheaper than the one we are talking about at the moment (Smithfield €42) so I don't know how you can think you still got a bargain? In my opinion, a bargain is where the retailer offers to discount the RRP, or where they include a promotional item with the main purchase. To be fair, the RB15 yo at €75 is certainly significantly discounted, however, this is probably attributable to the poor sales due to the market perception of the prevailing quality of that particular release.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

John I would disagree on the RB15, €75 is the RRP for the Irish Release, you have to remember that the 2005 was initially for the French market RRP c.€55-65 afaik and some Irish retailers either obtained stocks from the continent or managed to procure a limited amount here, hence the €100-€120 price tag here at the time, which by the way was too expensive for most even though what was in the bottle was magnificent.

[John]

We'll have to agree to disagree so!

Any and all feedback I received on the RB15 batches post the original 2005 release was that they didn't measure up in terms of quality. That, coupled with what was considered a dramatic increase in the RRP, only served to constrict demand. Hence the 'recent' drop in the selling price to the €75 mark.

The same mechanism was at play for the recent Midleton releases. The product retailed at €150, demand dropped, there was over-supply in the market, consumers believed that the product wasn't measuring up. Proof of the pudding there is the fact that if you go to purchase a 2011 release, there is still reasonable chance that you'll pick up a 2008 (maybe) or more likely a 2009. Suddenly we're seeing price drops to €135 left, right and centre.

Right price + Right Quality = Strong sustainable demand. IDL haven't balanced that equation yet unfortunately.

Jmho of course!

[TheWhiskeyBro]

I think you missed my main point, IDL never marketed RB15 at the higher price in any market afaik. It has always had a RRP of €75 or below dependent on market.

The pricing point was driven by independent whiskey retailers who assumed that no more RB15 would be released and variously priced their remaining stocks accordingly.

[John]

What was the sales price for the 2008 and 2009 batches in Ireland? Was it not also above €75?

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Hi John, I think WhiskeyBro is correct I don't think there ever was never an official release or RRP for Redbreast 15 in Ireland until the 2010 edition (Possibly even the 2009 Edt). Prior to that it was always sold as a collectable at a collectors price. A retailer in Galway even had it on sale for €200 a bottle.

La Maison Du Whiskey had sole rights to the Original batch and they as a Distributor only did so in France, Germany and Netherlands as far as I'm aware. Original RRP in LMDW was originally circa €59Euro and I paid €56 from my first bottle in Germany.

However after about 2 years a bit of hype finally got going behind it and as it became more scarce and there was no sign of another Batch even some of the German retailers rose the price to €80 a bottle.

Ally Initially sold a couple of cases sourced from France for €90 Euro then the next few were €110 going up to €150 even but Ally could have been paying European retail prices hence his further markups to include Irish VAT and his profit margin and this was all prior to 2008 (I think) but when he got a slightly larger lot he dropped it down to €120, he may well have got these directly from IDL but it was not an official release. At this stage there was a hype and a market for this bottle as a classic and a collectable so he could charge a premium for it.

When IDL realized that there was a market for the 15yo they officially released it in Ireland/The World in 2009/2010 (Again I'm not sure which year).

[IainB]

Just to add to all of the above the Redbreast 15 has for some time been available in the Midleton distillery shop - as far as I recall it was both the first (2005) and second batches at different stages. When they were on sale initially they were €80. They then went to €120. I think they're back at €75 now but I'm not entirely sure.

Given that this is IDL's shop would this constitute an RRP in Ireland?

[John]

Hi Iain,

The €120 sounds like a very official RRP to me. Given that the Distillery shop would have had access to whatever stock they wanted it gives little credence to the 'dearth of supply' argument for the original price hike. Maybe this is a chicken and egg situation in terms of who saw who getting €120 a bottle and decided to up their price to match the other?!

The subsequent drop to a general RRP of €75 must therefore have been sponsored by some other factor - and in my opinion, that factor was market perception of the lesser quality of the later releases.

Anyway, I think we're getting off topic a bit here; unless anyone wants to merge the last number of posts with a relevant RB15 one?!!

As always, jmho!
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Popped into Kilbeggan on Tuesday and nothing majorly new there.

However I did notice that their little miniature packs seemed quite good value.

Both the Connemara x 3 + Glass and the nicely packaged 4 pack of Tyrconnell, Kilbeggan, Greenore & Lockes(I think) are both €10

Grabbed myself a Connemara pack

[DublinGus]

Popped into Kilbeggan on Tuesday and nothing majorly new there.

However I did notice that their little miniature packs seemed quite good value.

Both the Connemara x 3 + Glass and the nicely packaged 4 pack of Tyrconnell, Kilbeggan, Greenore & Lockes(I think) are both €10

Grabbed myself a Connemara pack

Disappointed with what was on sale in the shop/pub last time I was there, CWS would put it to shame. Will pick up the mini bottles when passing next week.

[IainB]

Just to add to all of the above the Redbreast 15 has for some time been available in the Midleton distillery shop - as far as I recall it was both the first (2005) and second batches at different stages. When they were on sale initially they were €80. They then went to €120. I think they're back at €75 now but I'm not entirely sure.

Given that this is IDL's shop would this constitute an RRP in Ireland?

Popped in there on Friday and it's €75. What's more interesting is that it's the 2005 edition. And there are still quite a few of them.

[IainB]

Sure this is a steal - I mean you get 2 bottles!

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/select ... hisky.aspx

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Would just under €700 for a Midleton 26 year old be considered a bargain? i got it in the recent whiskyauction.com auction.

[JohnM]

Not bad. I think the ones on whiskyauction were a little ragged, condition-wise. But the whisky will be the same.

[rathbeggan]

Tesco have Jameson (red seal) 70cl for €20, White Bush 70cl for €19, and Paddy 35 cl for €11.

[DublinGus]

Dunne Stores White Bush €16 700ml

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Writer's Tears at €27.99 just got in today.Jurgen's Whiskyhuis in Belguim.
http://www.whiskyhuis.be/catalog/produc ... ts_id=3085
I was trying to source some locally but couldn't til yesterday.
A rep from Dillan's was in the pub and gave me Shane number from The irishman's company who produces it.
He also gave me a bottle of a new spiced rum by Bacardi called Oakheart.Smoked oakey spiced rum very tasty i have to say.but it was free.........

[JohnM]

This looks like a bargain to me - http://www.whiskybroker.co.uk/acatalog/Islay_Malt.html

[zapb]

Just to add to all of the above the Redbreast 15 has for some time been available in the Midleton distillery shop - as far as I recall it was both the first (2005) and second batches at different stages. When they were on sale initially they were €80. They then went to €120. I think they're back at €75 now but I'm not entirely sure.

Given that this is IDL's shop would this constitute an RRP in Ireland?

Popped in there on Friday and it's €75. What's more interesting is that it's the 2005 edition. And there are still quite a few of them.

Going to Midleton on Saturday. How do you know it's the 2005 edition?

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Going to Midleton on Saturday. How do you know it's the 2005 edition?

Remove the bottle from the box and check if it has a date printed on the inside of the carton.
The original had 06OCT2005 printed on the inside. I've check the one bottle I have at hand and I can't find a bottle code imprinted on the bottle as is usual with IDL bottlings

but there is a basic code on the label of

20005915

and bar code of

5 011007 019518

Not sure if these are different from further releases though as I don';t have any to hand?

[IainB]

Going to Midleton on Saturday. How do you know it's the 2005 edition?

Remove the bottle from the box and check if it has a date printed on the inside of the carton.
The original had 06OCT2005 printed on the inside. I've check the one bottle I have at hand and I can't find a bottle code imprinted on the bottle as is usual with IDL bottlings

but there is a basic code on the label of

20005915

and bar code of

5 011007 019518

Not sure if these are different from further releases though as I don';t have any to hand?

You could check that, or you could look at the recycle logo on the back. If it's on it's own that's the 2005. If it has a picture of a pregnant lady drinking with a big red X then it's a later one. Probably easier than remembering the bottle code.