travel retail / Duty Free Only....

[Cosmic....]

was thinking today about the whole travel retail market or duty free only stuff, like the jameson signature reserve, and was thinking it might make some interesting discussion.

is it just a dumping ground for second rate whiskies, or is it done to give certain expressions an air of exclusivity (e.g. bowmore mariner or jameson signature) or even a whole brand an air of eclusivity (Travel retail seems to be the best place to get johnny walker blue!)? or even a bit of both, mutton dressed as lamb sorta thing (again johnny walker blue!)

More importantly, I was also thinking any recomendations on travel retail stuff? I have one or two friends travelling soon and was going to hit them with a shopping list.....

cosmic....

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

It always depends where they are travelling to or from. Dublin has the best selection of the irish Airports but still fairly basic. I was travelling back through Luton lately and they have a fair selection but the prices were excellent.

Jameson Gold £30.99 , Midleton £62.99

No Jameson signature though. Most scotch was very good value too thinking especially of Dalwhinnie 15yo and Dufftown Singleton but typically the one I wanted Talisker 47 North was expensive and pretty much the same as the UK high street prices.

In relation to Jameson Signature I think it is a middle man between say Jameson Regular(NAS) and Jameson 12yo so yes you are paying for the exclusivity of the bottle but you do get a Litre so it is not a rip off either. I don't think any distillery can afford to pawn off 'second rate whiskies' in the travel retail market and would not agree with you on that point. Exclusive retail bottles are big promotional tools for brand awareness and it is in the distillery's interest to have a quality product. This is a representation of the Distillery and would be used as an example in this case of a better whiskey than say the regular bottling and if people taste the signature and see the difference they might go up another level again etc ..... or at least create an affinity to the brand for repeat sales. I reckon that is the sole reason these are created. But that is just my opinion and I cannot say for sure.

[John]

Hi lads,
Just to confirm - that Midleton price - I take it that it is a Duty Free Price and not a Travel Retail one!
J.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Both of the Midleton & Jam Gold were travel retail prices and not duty free which is amazing. Don't know if it was on special or anything but there was very little difference bwtween both the Travel retail and Duty prices in Luton for both of those, where as there was nearly twice the difference between the Travel retail price of the Talisker 47north than the Duty price. I talked to the Manager about what seemed like a strange situation and he said that it was just the way it was and that they would get special discounts of certian lines at certian times for Travel retail.

It could be a scenario that this is different from the other retail travel outlets. i.e. the irish travel retail outlets certianly don't offer these prices and I heard that World of Whiskey does not offer big discounts on Travel retail items either but they do stock a great choice.

[stephen leddy]

The travel retail bonanza seems to be pan Uk. I travelled through Heathrow terminal 1 and 5 last week and spotted the same prices for Midleton (£62) and bushmills 16 yo (£31). Noboby in the shop seems to know why the prices are so low although they did say that the duty free / travel retail difference had gone (for whiskey anyway).

I purchased a bottle of Glenmorangie signet for £105 yum yum!

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

This I might have lunch in Luton airport some day

Just buy a cheap same day return, empty bag and load up on the way back

Glenmorangie signet sounds interesting enjoy

[cathach]

Just to let you guys know that the same offers apply in Gatwick. I was returning through there the same weekend as IWC, and picked up a Jameson Gold for £30.99 and 1 litre of Talisker 10yo for £29.99. I was so flabbergasted by the prices I spent 10 minutes with the staff getting confused over whether I was in the duty-free section by mistake. I wasn't so, had I had the cash I could have bought as much as would fit into my carry-on.

Jameson Gold was a bit of a disappointment I must say. Nice but no cigar, given the price vs. pot still equation.

[Cosmic....]

on the subject of Duty Free,

I am travelling to Berlin next week and was looking up to see what i could find in the Airport over there. WHiskey Magazine had an articel in the april issue about the new berlin whiskey shop so i dont know if the prices i am looking at are the most up to date.

the other thing i did, which is a bit obbsessive and a touch sad, is put together a spreadsheet that gives me a percentage difference on price based on the prices i found online. so i dont know what is up to date prices and I dont have local price for them all, but so far a bottle of Balvenie double wood at 38.50 for i litre represents a 43% saving compared to prices for a 70 cl bottle locally. that and its tasty whiskey.....

has anyone tried the Bowmore surf or Mariner? the marketing and naming of these has me interested and just wondering what they are like as I am a fan of bowmore generally.

Cosmic....

[TheWhiskeyBro]

I'd recommend a trip to Cadenheads shop in Berlin while your over, I was there last summer and picked up some of the Cadenheads Cooley's. From what I'm hearing the 16YO is a fine dram, but I know the other vintages are quite popular amongst the few lucky enough to have sampled them.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

They seem to have the 12, 13, 14, 15, & 16yo versions on their price list which is excellent.

I've had them all except the 14 or 15 yo (Can't remember which) and as WhiskeyBros said all are fine whiskey. These are a step above Connemara if you ask me. Possibly more heavily peated than normal Connemara. Basically more pronounced and individual flavours. It has that underlying cooley sweetness in the malt but with a punchy smokey effect on it. Some of the tasting notes mention smoked kippers but I don't know what smoked kippers are like ??? I would get saltyness and smoked bacon possibly touches of iodine. For me the 13yo was the standout one so far but then I'm relying on my memory as I've had very few of them against each other.

I still have one of each plus the earlier 10yo so maybe worth using in a tasting later on in the IWS calender if people are interested.

[Liam Murray]

Greetings all from Utrecht Netherlands. I am here visiting family and local whiskey shops and have just purchased a bottle of Te Bheag for 17.99. I shall squirrel this into my suitcase and set up a tasting when I get back to Kilkenny.
The shop concernced is Gall and Gall Wine Merchants and they are on the web. Tot ziens!

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I think Gall and Gall are a chain of off Licences in Holland and usually stock a decent range. However the one off Dam Square is very expensive.

Enjoy the Te Bheag and the rest of your Visit.

By the way can you give me a shout when your back I need to talk to you Kilkenny heads to see if it is possible to organise something for ye if ye have the numbers.

PM me and we can swap email or Ph. numbers.

Cheers

[Liam Murray]

I am now back in Kilkenny. The phone number for the Wine Centre Kilkenny is 056.7722907. Here are some special offers in Schiphol Airpost at the moment. Glenfiddich 15 yrs old is 34Euro. Bowmore Enigma 12yrs old 28Euro and Bowmore Mariner 15yrs old 41Euro. I also spotted Bowmore Surf for 25Euro, all litre bottles, by the way.
Regards, Liam Murray.