The Dalmore 12!

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. Hello while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of the Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Folks, Steve is not with us again. We have my friend Ryan back. Hello. Going through some scotches. Dalmore, uh the Dalmore is actually one of the more popular, uh, it's like the McCallan, it's more of a popular single malt scotch. And a lot of their stuff is gonna be finished like most scotch. I mean, aged and cherry butts of those things. So uh, but this one is finished in rare and aged Olaroso uh sherry casks.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

It's sherry. Middle West does that a lot too, doesn't he?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Uh yeah, Middle West does. But it's not that's the standard 12-year, it's not like uh specialty 12-year-old.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

That's just the the standard 12, but they finish it in, as they say, rare and aged Olaroso sherry casks. So hard to get ones. Probably aged might be like uh they let it dry age so that it sit out and dry before they put it in there to finish.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

That might be the case, or like they accumulate these for future uses sitting in their storage, but the double marketing, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:34

It is all about marketing, and they actually don't put any of that on the bottle itself, if I remember right, it's just on the box that the bottle comes in. They put all that information on. I don't think it's to hide anything, I just think it's a it's they stand alone and what they do, and what they do is what they do really well. But the the Dalmor and Glenn Fitdock both have a dear it's a popular logo, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Dalmor is a little bit more pronounced, right?

SPEAKER_03 2:01

It's pronounced, but this was actually a uh the 12-point royal stag is what this is, and it proudly adorns every bottle, and it was appointed to them by uh the one of the kings. It was a gift of one of the kings. So as it as it is said, the legacy, it's King Alexander the Third is who gave them this this appointed them this this stag. But back in 1263, it was bestowed upon Colin of Kintale. He's the first chieftain of the clan Mackenzie. I guess it started the Dawn War. But he saved the life of King Alexander from a charging stag. So King Alexander the Third was like, hey, you know what? You saved my life from a charging stag. I'm not gonna buy you a bottle, like Chris talked about earlier, or you and I talked about, Ryan. Uh I'm yeah, I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna appoint you this symbol. Does it does it say how he saved it? What did he shoot the thing? Uh no, it just uh saved him from a shot the stag. Tackled the king out of the way of the charging stag. He saved the life of King Alexander the Third of Scotland from the fury of a charging stag. That's straight from their like history on their website The Fury.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

You've have you read uh Robin Hood, the book.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Well, yeah, I mean by which author. Yeah, I have the original, but like uh do you remember how he gets in trouble? Well, yeah, he's shooting the king. They shoot well Rob, I don't think Robin shoots the King's deer, but the but the merry men in Sherwood Forest shoot the King's deer, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

He stumbles upon the King's Guard, taking uh basically accosting a female, trying to get money from her. And he's like, hey, like chill out, guys. And he was on his way to the castle to be like buddy buddy with you know the sheriff and all that. Like the like he was going there to like do any at any rate, as he's like cost, like, hey, you have plenty of money, you don't need to like deal with this woman. A stag jumps out and is charging at one of the men, and he shoots and kills it and saves the guy's life. And he's like, All right. So anyway, what is your name? And he's like, I'm Robin Hood. And he goes, Well, you are now charged with shooting the king's deer, and he runs away and he becomes an outlaw. That's how he becomes an outlaw by saving by saving the life of uh shot the deer. Well, but they were it just goes to show you how freaking messed up they were, but that's how it was.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Well, yeah, it was based on rank.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Like, yeah, if I And they were they were being over, they were over overstepping, they were over taxing, they were over penalizing.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

They were, yeah, there was corruption. But in general, in this in the system, the system was based on well, uh like I I recently came across um somebody talking about this about the medieval period, which is you know, Robin Hood times. Like sin was not rendering what was due to someone, was kind of the way they understood it. Withholding. Yeah. But that was based on what was due to someone was based on rank. So if you were a peasant and you and you wronged another peasant, that was like one level of crime. But like, if there was like a knight who who was like ranked above you, or a nobleman who may or may not be a knight, um, like and you did the same exact thing to him, that was worse because you are offending a person who is like worthy of more of your respect and honor. And if you did that same exact thing to the king, that was like the ultimate bad thing you could do because you were doing it to the person who was who was of the highest rank, the highest honor, who you owed the most allegiance to. And then and then God, if you sin against God, then that's like the ultimate, ultimate thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

It was called the caste system. Oh, uh the caste system.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

You ever heard of it? I guess well, yeah, I'm not they're following it. They were following in Hindu, they have that as well. Or Hindu theology, they have the cast or system.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

You have different levels of of of stand standing in society. And for a for a peasant to harm a peasant was one thing, but for a peasant to harm a nobleman, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

That's next level.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Or a lord, that's a whole nother thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

So shooting the king's deer was an offense against somebody who's death, yeah. I mean, yeah, that's why it was death, because it was the king. So yeah, how how bad a crime was was based on how high your rank was, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Right, right, which is ridiculous, yeah. Also, there was no room for like, well, I did this to save your life. Well, it doesn't matter. You shot the king's deer.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Well, that's that that's a punk move right there, though. I mean, they that that's a sign of the corruption. I don't think I think I think they could have like overlooked that if they wanted to, but the sign of the corruption was that they decided to apply that punishment to someone who was doing a good deed.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Reading between the lines in Robin Hood is King Richard is away on the crusades. Prince John is stepping up, he's overtaxing people. But reading between the lines, they're all taking a cut, right? So your taxes is 25%. Now I'm gonna charge, I'm gonna tax you 50%, sometimes 100%. And I'm taking my cut and I'm giving my Prince John the rest. He's taking his cut and he's giving the crown the rest. You know what I mean? So that's what it was all about taxes, which is funny. And we actually revolted due to taxes, like, and now look at us, like we're taxed out the ass. So we're gonna we're due for another Robin Hood, you know what I mean, where this scenario.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

There it there, I don't think people typically think of taxes as being like uh subject to morality.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

It totally, it totally is. When Robin Hood stole from the fridge to give to the poor, he was taking their taxes back. He was taking the money that they weren't supposed to, like he was really just giving back what was rightfully theirs. And then when King Richard finally comes back from the crusades, he's like, hold on, hold on. We don't overtax these people because a because it's wrong, but also because I know it's not long-term beneficial for anybody.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

But that's that's why King Richard pardons Robin Hood. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

It's because he he acknowledges somebody took advantage of the system, and you made it, and and and you were yeah, and you were you were doing the right thing at the end of the day. So, but yeah, anyway, all that to say, I bet that's the same story with the Dalmore. Somebody shot some. I there was one guy in history, right? There was one dude who shot some charging stag and saved somebody's life, and everybody else's life is based on this story.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

This is the this is the fury. They were probably on a hunt, though. If you're on a hunt with the king, you're good. You're good. Yeah, okay, yeah, it's all clear.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

Well, so it gets even better, right? So this distillery, they then opened the distillery in 1839 after saving the king's life and getting this symbol endowment. Yeah, the owners of the distillery are located in spaceside, but according to the history, they didn't want to stay within the comfort of spaceside, so they moved to the Highland region. And uh where he decides to locate apparently pretty harsh, uh, right on the waters, lots of uh hefty winds. Uh the hefty winds is important.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Uh front property, huh?

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Yeah. Uh well the the British Navy then decided in 1917 to put a factory up right beside this distillery, and it was sea mines that they were building. Sea mines. Explosive mines for the ocean. Right beside a distillery. Sounds like a good idea. Keep that in mind because uh as the story goes, there was one day that they were uh making these sea mines that one decided to go off and caught the distillery on fire.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

That's bad news.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

So extreme winds, protein mines ethanol laying around beside a distillery. So the distillery catches on fire. Um and in 1920, uh, much of the distillery was actually destroyed in the explosion of this this bomb-making site, uh, which then took them years uh because there was a legal battle between the owner of Dalmore and the British government over this explosion trying to get things repaired. They didn't want to have to pay for the repairs that they caused. That's what it sounds like. The damages that they're like, ah, it wasn't really our fault. They're like, did you have insurance? No, it wasn't your fault. There was there was a strong wind that day. You got insurance, right? So it took it as far as going to the House of Lords. Uh apparently back then that was a pretty extreme thing to go to the House of Lords fighting over this uh legal matter.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

That's like going to Judge Judy, man. Stepping it up a notch.

SPEAKER_03 11:20

I have a bitch and I want to gripe. Might be the only distillery that I know of that lost some of their distillery due to an explosion from a British Navy having seam mines built next to the distillery. Didn't uh again, did no one think that went through? Like we're building explosives besides something that can explode. No one thought that went through. I appreciate that no one thought that went through. But they've got a fun history with explosions, and apparently the government wasn't happy that they decided to move out of spaceside. Maybe that's what it was. Uh out of the comforts, as they say, out of the comforts of spacide.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

It's just funny, like very much a tangent and side note here. I'm at least preferencing it this time. This is gonna go out in the left field. It's interesting how um the king and queen, the royal family, the Brit British or whatever, treat the Scotland they've always treated Scotland like peons and pieces of crap. Just funny that uh they go all the way over to freaking Canada to be like, yeah, you guys, Canadian, like you know what I mean? Like Canadian whiskey, that's gonna be our uh because they're always like by the appointment. Like they never went this anywhere in Scotland and did that. They ever you have you ever heard any Scottish distillery that was like oh I was gonna say, unless you know of one, I don't I can't think of any Scottish distillery that because you know, like they went over. Remember that story we talked about with Canadian Club? Or not Canadian Club, but uh Crown Royal? Crown Royal. And they were like uh yeah, they came over and did this whole thing and did like there was a parade, and they were like, Yep, you have our seal of approval. Did they do that anywhere in Scotland?

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Log Volun or not Log of Freig has well Freig was King Charles' favorite.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Did he make it like a big spectacle like he did with Crown Royal, though? Not as big. Maybe even Crown Royal has the crown on it for crying out loud.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

Well, Freud has kind of like a seal from him of like this is my favorite, but not to the extent of Crown Royal.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Well, because Crown Royal was like, we're to the for the family. Right. They're like, we are the we designed it for you. We are the uh you know, whiskey brand for the royal family, uh however we read it when we did that podcast. Just a side note, like they're they're close, Scotland's closer, but they've always treated them like crap. That had to have been a PR.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

You have all these distilleries, or to go to Canada, yeah, or to put the British Navy bomb a little pat on the head for Canada.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

That's what I'm getting at. They're putting British Navy bombs next to the distilleries, they go all the way to Canada and they're like, we love you. It's totally uh you're right, it's totally a PR thing because they're like, we're not here in Canada, so we gotta make it last, you know.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

Because I think the story of even Crown Royal is like they sent them on their way back on train with Crown Royal. They don't connect. Canada doesn't connect. There's the freaking ocean, right? Right. So what train line were they taking to get back?

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Good question. But meanwhile, the the British Navy's like, hey, they're treating like Scott, like Scott, Scottish people are like, Yeah, we'll put these bombs next to them. Bomb making right next to a distillery. Who needs a distillery? About 30 distilleries per island or per peninsula.

SPEAKER_03 14:29

My question is, did uh did the explosion happen because the guy that was working on it was working at the distillery previously that day?

SPEAKER_02 14:39

On his lunch break, he stopped by the distillery.

SPEAKER_03 14:41

He had to he had to taste a few things and then went and did the bomb making. I feel like that's a bad idea. There's one other place or company that we've talked about. Don't know if it was on the podcast or not. Uh Compass Box. I think we've done a Compass Box. We did. We didn't. Uh so we talked about their whiskey maker. Their whiskey what? Whiskey maker. They don't have a master distiller, they have a whiskey maker. And I thought that was just special to them. The Dalmore has two very important people on staff: a whiskey maker and a head distiller. That's all you need. They pretty much do the same thing. Surprised there's not a third person. The Trinity.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Well, then they'd have to change the bottle shape. That's already been patented. Trademark.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

We're stuck with putting a big deer on in the front. As they describe it, the whiskey maker for them is sounds like an apprentice to the master distiller. Eventually he would take his job. Right. Eventually he'd kind of take over. Which is, if that's the reality of it, that's not a bad idea. Because then you always have someone that's learned from the previous and under the previous master distiller that when they leave, then it takes over.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Unless that guy's a Joe, though.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

They're probably pretty careful about hiring their whiskey.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yeah, but you imagine getting like two years in, you're like, well, we're too far to like get this guy out of here, but he's also not gonna be the good fit for the next however many years. I guess you gotta pick, yeah, you gotta pick your apprentice the right way, like they used to do back in the old days.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

They can pump out 4.2 million liters. So here's the weird price called the Dalmore, not Dow Less. Dow less.

unknown 16:21

That one got it right.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

And at one time they'll have 65,000 casks aging. 65,000. Now I did some research. Beam, and this may be all of their product, but at the beam distillery, all of their warehouses that they have can hold, so they they produce roughly 436,000 liters of whiskey a year. Or a year. And that was in 2015. And at that time, their rack houses held 1.9 million barrels. So you got Scotland that produces more but holds less casks, and you got Beam that produces less but holds more.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

But well, well, no, because Scotland, they age their stuff way longer than America.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

But they're also constantly blending. Whereas America, we are blending, but we're only blending four years together. We're blending five years together.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

I wonder if it's one of those things where we work a little harder day to day. Like we're producing more per day, but they're like more, they're relying more on like the aging aspect of things.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

But we're also talking beam, that whole idea of how much they're holding, that's for the whole distillery. So that could be bookers, that could be bakers, that could be beam, that could be basil Hayden. Oh, it's it's all the substance versus Dalmor is just their stuff.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Well, and Dalmor doesn't make much more than a few different things, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Oh, they they do they do a decent amount but they go up in age, they don't do so. The Dalmor doesn't do experimental as much as they do age range.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

That's what I was gonna say. I feel like uh in Scotland, it would they would be more focused on or fixated on where to age things because they're always pulling stuff from crazy amount of years old, right? And they're blending that stuff with things that are less aged and everything else. But the Dalimar 12, there's a good chance that there's 12, 15, and they go all the way up, I think they go up into the 30s, like they don't, unless it's a single malt and stuff, like a lot of times there's blended. Well, even single malt. Well, even single malt as long as they came from the same plate. Yeah, so it's there's very like it's you're not getting a 12-year-old, most of the time, you're not getting a 12-year-old whiskey in a bottle. You're getting a blend of blends of a lot of other ages, and 12 is the youngest. Yeah, right. So you think in Scotland, you talked about on the last podcast, there was that one island that had third or the last two, or maybe it was two podcasts ago. There was like 30 distilleries on this island. Like, where in the hell are they storing this stuff? Because it's all about storing it for 15, 18, 12, all these years. Where are they putting this stuff to like not don't touch it?

SPEAKER_03 19:04

Right, like you know what I mean? Don't mess with it.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

I don't know. It's we it's strange. It is strange. You don't see big, I mean, nobody you see pictures, you Google Rick House, you're gonna see a bunch of rick houses in Kentucky. Aging barrels. You don't see that in Scotland. Where are they aging this stuff at?

SPEAKER_03 19:20

The only thing I can think of, if if if you look up I think it's Baumore, LaForig, Logavin, maybe even Ardbag, if you look up those like pictures for those distilleries, you see what looks like a huge long lengthwise building with their name written out on the site. And that's where they're aging it. And I wonder if that's where they're aging it. They don't go high, they go long. Is that as big as like can is it comparative comparative to Kentucky? Well, see, I don't know if that's we can only see one side of it and it actually is like so deep.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

I wonder if they're aging more underground and just not talking about it too.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

That would be interesting.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

If they age underground, the other thing is they don't really specify in the size of their casks. Uh and you gotta think when they they do a lot of X wine casks, which are huge, which are huge. I wonder if they're throwing massive effing vats in in into aging. Well, if they're doing the Solera process and they're doing it in vats, and less less like, you know, bourbon barrels. Right. I don't I don't know. I don't know. It's just it's not something you ever stop to think about, but there's more distilleries in Scotland than in America. Scotland is smaller than America, right? Where the F are they aging this stuff?

SPEAKER_03 20:33

You know what? Maybe that's where Jefferson's ocean got its idea. Maybe they're throwing it on the sea.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

They're all just sitting there docked. What are all them boats doing there? Those are our whiskey houses. Yeah, that's our whiskey. So we know we're all right.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

We just have to worry about the sea mines in the ocean at this point.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

The sea monsters. We don't throw any in Loch Ness.

SPEAKER_03 20:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

There's a marketing gimmick.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

I thought about that before too. Why is there not a Loch Ness bottle? Are you kidding me? Aged in the sea? Aged in the sea monster with the sea monster, you know what I mean? Gently rocked by the waves generated by the Loch Ness's tail.

SPEAKER_04 21:14

My Nessie's tail.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Yeah. My Nessie's tail. Yeah. Rocked to sleep every night. There's a lot of marketing to be had for Scottish whiskey. But anyway, that's a down a rabbit hole, but it's just interesting when you think about it.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Kind of their history and what they do. Now, here's the interesting thing. I made a comment at the beginning that the Dalmore is almost as popular and well known as McCallan. You guys have obviously tried doors. What do you think? What stands out or doesn't stand out? I'm very curious.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Without going too far into it, I guess I prefer the I prefer McKellen. The Dalmore is good. Uh another interesting point and maybe a tangent that we would could potentially get off on. If you notice the cockiness behind this bottle, have you figured it out yet? Have you figured it out yet? You have Glenn Fittick, you have uh all these other uh you have um give me some other examples. I don't know, I'm I'm I'm uh Lafroig, Lavoe, right? Are you talking about Scott? Yes, yeah, bottles. This is not Dalmore, this is the Dalmor. Do you see that? And it always is the Dalmor. It's not Dalmor, it's the Dalmor 12.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Everything the LeFroig. You never, yeah, you do you ever see?

SPEAKER_00 22:26

The Glen Livitt. The Glen Livitt. You know what I mean? The Glenfittick. You know, you it's just Glenn Fittick, Glenn Livitt.

SPEAKER_03 22:33

But they were they were gifted that. They were appointed that they are symbols the Dalmor.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

And so I've I've always, always, always, always had an impression of Dalmor as being pompous, cocky, kind of self-inflated. Uh, I'm better than you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I've always, and they're always like priced at a decent point. They've got the fancy crap, you know, with the stag and stuff. Uh did you ever feel this way, Nick? I always felt like they're a little pretentious.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

There's a reason I asked this question.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Yeah, you knew you knew I was gonna get into this. They're they're a little pretentious. I've I've talked about this before. Well, I think me and Nick actually had this discussion in a liquor store one time, and the guy that was a clerk was standing there listening, and he was like, You make some valid points. I'm like, I was like, I was like, you tell me, has anybody ever come in here and bought this bottle and not been kind of pretend? You've been like, that guy's pretentious, right? Like, he's like, Well, you make a valid point. I'm like, I think I do. Like, it's D Dalmore, right? It's it's it's not bad, it's just a little pretentious. If you look at all the bottles that we have or have had today, it's got a bling, it's got bling on it.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

But there's been two that have been a uniquely different bottle shape.

unknown 23:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Glenn Fittick. And this one is drastically different from Glenn Fittick and anyone else. Everyone else is just like, hey, we got a green bottle, a tall green bottle, we got a tall glass bottle.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

It's the shape of it's all right, but it's it's got to stand out. Very big um elk deer, whatever you called it. It's the fury stack again, and it's chromed out, it's chromed out, it's the fury, and it says the Dalmor 12. Like, not those other fake Dalmores. This is the Dalmore, right? I feel like if I were to walk in a liquor store and be like, Do you guys have the Dalmor 12, right? And he was like, Yeah, it's over there. You know what I mean? Like, oh, um I'm gonna get the Dalmor 12. That would be what I would like today, sir. Kind sir, you know what I mean? Just it's a little bit of a please fetch me the Dalmor. Oh, oh, what is that? Glenfit? No, no. Get me uh Rufus, get me the Dalmor. That's it, butler. Pour it in a glass. Saint Charles, please give me this. Yeah, Charles, come hither. Give me the Dalmor. It's not uh it's not Dalmore, it's the Dalmor, the Dalmor. Anyway, I digress. I feel I feel like it's a bit pretentious. It's good, it's not bad, it's not crazy, it's not wowing me. It never has. I've never had a Dalmor that I'm like, oh my god, oh my god. It's just good. Yeah, and uh, I think they're not cheap, right? Which we'll get into later. What do you think, Ryan?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Okay, so Nick brought this to the club a couple of months ago. I've I've never tried it before. This is the only thing I've had, so I don't know what else they do. I've seen it in stores, it's never been like priced at a at a spot where I thought, like, oh yeah, I'm ready, I'm ready to do that one. So I've never had it before, but it didn't strike me as pretentious necessarily. I make some valid points. Definitely a a a little bit, it communicates like we're a step above. It's got a silver stag head on the front of the bottle that is like it's not just like a sticker, it's overcompensating. Yeah, it's it's like um what would you call that? It's a it's a silver piece that is attached to the bottle.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

A hood ornament?

SPEAKER_02 26:06

A hood ornament for the bottle. It wraps around like when I look at that, I thought like, like, okay, this is like next level stuff, it's priced a little bit higher, and so I expected it to be quality. The first time I had it, I was like, what is this? So you weren't blown away. But the first time I had it, I was like, it is good, it's really good. Scott this is different, yeah. Like, it's not just the run-in-the-mill thing, it's a unique thing. I was really impressed, and yeah, I'm I'm still enjoying it, but I don't know. I guess I can't say I know what oloroso sherry casks add in particular. I don't think I've had Olaroso sherry, so I don't know how to identify that particular flavor. But yeah, that bottle did impress me as something like good and different and uh worthy of consideration. It doesn't just blend in with all the other bottles on the shelf in terms of the flavors and stuff. It's like it stands out as being its own thing. So yeah, I I I really appreciate that. Now, are are they are they uh getting a little too big big for their britches? You know, that's a different question, but like it's you know, it's uh it's the question of maybe um like somebody who's just all talk being too big for their britches versus somebody who like actually can back it up, back it up and then so so you're like okay, I respect you, but then you can also be too big for your britches even if you are good, right? Right, and so maybe that's the case, but I I would say if they're too big for the britches, it's because they are good, and but maybe they're just a little too cocky about how good they are.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

I don't think I sp I don't think I get spoke to that point. I I think when you're thinking quality scotch, first thing, flavor-wise, in my opinion, there's nothing crazy going on here. It's scotch, okay? And in my opinion, it's uh what a baseline scotch would be. However, when you're thinking quality scotch, this is quality scotch. It's not anything crazy one way or the other. It's not unique one way or the other. If you were to like think scotch, what is scotch? This is quality scotch, a quality version of what scotch should be. That's what I think it is. But I think you hit the nail on the head with as far as I do think that they're a bit of a like, look at me, look at me. However, they can back it up. So it's like that guy that tells stories that seem like tall tall tales, and then you come to find out that they happened. It's like, well, the guy probably shouldn't brag about himself that way. He shouldn't brag about it. He shouldn't brag about himself that way, but like he it did happen. It really did, it really did happen. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? Like, well, I have, you know, uh I'm into classic cars and I have a garage full of this, that, and the other. And you're like, okay, sure, dude. And then you come to his house and he's like, okay, you got the cars, but you're still kind of a douche. You know what I mean? That's totally the down, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

It's good stuff, but it's Highland, right? You didn't you didn't talk about the move to Highland yet, Nick. Is that is it here's your segue.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

You talk about have they gotten too big for their britches or their ego, right? Are they have they just gotten too big and they think they're better than what they are, or they really gotten too big because they're so good? I mean, it's a highland, yeah, and it's this good. So I asked you about the flavor and what you guys think because they got their start in 1839. Right, that's when they got their start. It's always 1800. Until 1982, they had their own malting floor and they were doing their own malting for their barley. Now, uh in 1956, uh, they switched to uh this new uh style of doing it where it wasn't a malting floor, it was a box. Uh think of like a smoker where they throw the big container. Yeah, they throw the malted barley in like a smoker instead of on a malting floor, and they dry it out in this box. However, today seems a little forced. So here's where it gets very interesting. In 1982, so 1956, they use this box. 1982, they stopped malting their own barley and they now source it from someone else. And very seldom do they actually use peat to dry out their barley. I was gonna say this is very not peat. So you ask if it's from Highland, and they moved to Highland, but they moved from spaceside to Highland. And I think when they did that, it also brought the culture of space side of no peat.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Uh have they continued with that? Because I was gonna say, I'm not getting it today. They don't they don't peat, they do not dry out their own barley. Uh aspects that has no peat in it. This is one of those. It's not super smoky, but there is smoky scotch, but there is a lack of peat.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

So I I have tried several Dalmors, and every time I've tried it and go, that's good. But it's lackluster. There's something missing, and I think that's why they're so pronounced and well known for their finishes, because without the Olaroso Sherry, I don't know that this would be good.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

It's white bread.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Yes, which again, I think it's nothing against them. Nothing against them. Going back to what I was saying, this is kind of the market it's playing to. It's very clean uh spirit. It's very it's refined, it's clean. It's this is marketed towards the dudes that think that they can shoot in the 70s on the golf course and and have a bad day and they shoot in the 85. They shoot 85, and you're like, oh, that was because of a because of the rain and it was wet. Pour me that Dalmar 12, that that the Dalmar 12. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? I feel like they're a little, they're self-inflated a little a little bit. You know what I mean? Like, not that it's bad, but it's it's it's geared towards the people that think that they like scotch, but they couldn't hang with a PD scotch.

SPEAKER_03 32:14

I already say the this this is for the people that say, I like whiskey, I like scotch, but you hand them a Lafroig or a logovelin and they go, What the hell did you just give me? This tastes like crap. And they're like, Give me my Dalmor. I give them drink triple IPAs, and you give them the Dalmor, like, oh, this is Scotch. This is what I remember, this is what it should be. It's the McCallan.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

It's it's very McAllen esque.

SPEAKER_03 32:40

It is. It it it's it's scotch for the non-scotch people.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

A lot of times people will even say, I have the McAllen 12. It's again the like you don't even hear a lot of people say I have McAllen 12. I've I've got the McCallan 12. You pretentious. This is really good bourbon. Well, I don't know if I go that far. That's a that's a stretch, that's a stretch. It's still Scotch.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

This is really good bourbon. Oh dang, dude. I don't know if I'd go that far. I'd go that far to say I don't I don't know that I could sit here and try it compared to other scotches or other whiskies and go, that's a highland scotch. This is not meat and potatoes. This is not scotch.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

Wait, are you saying like this is not a good representation of Highland because it's unique? Or are you saying I don't think it's a good representation of scotch?

SPEAKER_03 33:30

That's a stretch. I don't know if I agree with that. Okay, I think it's good. I don't get me wrong, I think it's good, but I don't think it's $90 good.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

I think this is not he let me rephrase this for you. I don't think this is a good representation of what Nick Berkey believes scotch is.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

Do you think it's a good representation of what people should think scotch is?

SPEAKER_00 33:50

This is a quintessential scotch for non-scotch drinkers.

SPEAKER_03 33:54

So is it can it really be scotch at that point?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Yeah, absolutely. You handed this to Mary or Laura or Ryan, and they drank it, and they'd be like, and you'd be like, what is that? They'd be like, this is scotch, you know what I mean? Like it's for them, it's scotch. It's just not. We are so like pampered and spoiled with the peediest, smokiest effing scotch out there that we're like, this is this has no peat. This is more scotch, this is more quintessential scotch than uh than high than most space-ide scotches out there. No, yeah, I think so. Absolutely. You put this up against you go out in my bar and please do uh and take the space scotches out of my bar and try them side by side. This is more scotchy, scotch-esque than those.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

So let's let's take out the Alluro Sochery finish. Without that, would you say the same thing?

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Well, how about we take out uh one of the wheels of a car and see if you can drive on the road?

SPEAKER_02 34:54

A three-wheeled car.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

See how far you get to town. Well, take take on that one. I can walk there. I don't need to take the car. I think I think the way that this is formulated, let's leave it at that, is what it is. It's the Dalmor. So you have to consider this as a whole product, a rose o' sherry or not. This is the product, and the product itself is a quin, in my opinion, a quintessential basic scotch that's trying to be a little bit more refined. That's what it is. It's not bad. Yeah, I think it exceeds, I think it for people that have money that don't really know what the hell they're doing, this is a great bottle.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

So let me take it a step further.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Yes, there is a little, it does seem like it's priced to appeal to people who are like, I'm not paying $60 for a bottle of sky.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

I'm gonna hurt myself here saying this because I am a sweater vest kind of guy. But if you need to give a gift to a guy who wears sweater vests on the regular, this is it, this is it. And I'm a sweater vest guy. I'm saying that. I agree. You give this to you give this to some dude with a sweater vest and a pair of spectacles, he's gonna be like the Dalmor. How did you know? This is one of my favorites. Yeah, you get what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 36:17

In previous episodes, we have ragged on two different companies.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Have we really? The Ladeg for making an unpeded scotch. That one rightfully so.

SPEAKER_03 36:28

We but we never tried the unpeded scotch, unpeated losers, and then we also birdlotic they were very proud about being unpeded. Birdlotick also does an unpeded, and we have ragged on both of them saying that's not Scotch word, that cannot be admitted.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

It's missing something.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

But I think the the finishing is this one.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

We're talking non really non-peted. You can't drink this and not say it's scotch. If I poured this, if I poured you a bourbon blind tasting and I and I threw this in the mix, you'd be like, what the f is this?

SPEAKER_02 36:57

There's more going on.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

So would you, after having this, Chris, that's non-peted. I mean, on the nose alone, it's scotch. So would you say that there's there is a market and there's a space within the market of scotch for non-peted scotch? There, okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:13

After having this, we worked on two of them. Always been a place in the scotch market for people with their noses stuck up in the air. I don't think anybody would disagree with that. And I think there's plenty of people that will buy uh a well overpriced bottle of scotch because it is the overpriced bottle of scotch. That being said, those bottles are still scotch. What pulls scotch away from bourbon or anything else is some certain basic quintessential uh flavors. It's not the Trinity, you know, it's not air, water, and barley or whatever the frick it is. Uh it's this, it's the smoky aspect. And it's the um, and and I always say I get a bit of a sea salt in in a scotch. I've always said that. It doesn't matter what scotch I have, I always, always, always get a bit of a sea salt. Uh I think that has something to do with the water that they use. Uh, but I I think that there's certain basic truths, right? Up is up, down is down, the sky is blue. Scotch tastes a certain type of way. Um, peted or not peted, this whiskey that has a bit of a smoke flavor and a that sea salt to me is scotch. And I've said before that uh I Irish and Scotch have very they're distant cousins. And if you were to add smoke, and we've done we've talked about this before, if you add smoke to an Irish, you are awfully close to a scotch. Awfully freaking close because they have that sea salt in common. If you were to add smoke to a bourbon, not so much, just not so much. It's just the smoked bourbon. If never ever had anything on a bourbon, then I'd be like, this is awfully close, like awfully damn close to a scotch. I might say this is reminiscent of a scotch, but not awfully damn close. Uh and this is still a scotch. A scotch with less things and trying to be more refined than it is. And I think they leave out the peat to make it more refined because I think peat in itself is kind of a air quotes dirty flavor. It's a it's it's it's it's it's a dirty, it's a by like a byproduct almost of a cigar or a pipe. It's a uh a dirty kind of a flavor. Uh I like that dirty flavor. I think that it is a flavor that could potentially take something that is super refined and muddle it down. Okay. It's it's garnished where it doesn't belong, if that makes sense. This is very clean. Without it, it's kind of refined. However, it is still a very quintessential scotch flavor. And I think that that there's a market for that kind of a flavor for people that think that they like scotch that could not handle a peted scotch. This is for those guys. And then you up the up the price and up the refinement so it's worth the money. And then people all of a sudden they call it the Dalmor. And I drink and I drink only uh single malt scotches from the Dalmor. And uh this was a $250 scotch. So I'll scotch scotch. You'd get and I feel like that's the same. They lead with the price tag, like yeah, I feel like that's what I'd try some of this $250. You would never say, Let me pour you a scotch or what, and they'd be like, What is it? It's the Dalmor. You would never be like, it's Dalmor 12. You know what I mean? Like those people would not be like that. It's it's the Dalmor more. I think that that makes the difference. And I think that that's why it's unpeated. I think because if it was peted, it'd be a good scotch. Um, but it would be less pretentious for yeah, and it'd be less for those types of people that actually can't hang with something that that that is that flavorful. But Highland isn't that peedy. Normal. Highland is peedy, not smoky. Not smoky. Highland is fairly peated. Okay. Uh Isla is more smoky. Uh, this falls into an in-between area between a space side and, in my opinion, uh an Isla, kind of, because there is some smoke to it. There's just it's lacking a component, and that is peat. But I think that that keeps it clean. It's very clean. This isn't like an over like how an overpriced bourbon can be clean. You know what I mean? Would you be okay? With lacking flavor, lacking in flavor.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

Would you be opposed to trying other unpeated scotch whiskies?

SPEAKER_00 41:27

I I talked about it when we talked about the Ladeg. Why would you, right? That's like um using a prophylactic. It's still all right, but let's be honest. God help me. I don't know who's listening to this. We all know. I mean, we're all adults here. It's all right. It's not the way God intended. I want some damn peeps. That's my opinion. But yeah, you cheer for this. So so I I'm gonna cheer, I'm gonna cheer for this for where for who it's for.

SPEAKER_02 42:07

So were they trying to maintain the spacide flavor profile even though they went to Highland?

SPEAKER_03 42:14

I think so. As they tell their story, their history, they left the in the in their words, they left the comfort of spaceside to go to Highland. I think they took the comfort with them. Yeah. I think that's a good way to put it on. They took the comfort with them. They left what they were what they knew as far as location, but they took everything else with them. So this is this is this is like this is like my family. We don't leave Indiana, we don't leave northern Indiana, but we move out of the town that we grew up in. So we were adventurous at that point, but we still live 45 minutes away. They took the comfort with them. You brought the Amish with you. Yeah, they thought they left the comfort, they took the comfort with them. That's how I feel about this. Is they left the comfort, but they took it with them.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

That's a really nice way of saying it. I think they're trying to market toward friendly, friendly, friendly, friendly, friendly, friendly 12-year-old scotch that's a little overpriced, and buy it, buy it, damn you, and put it on your shelf and pour the Dalmore for other people.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

You go after like 30-some years, and it's like thousands of dollars.

SPEAKER_00 43:18

That's what it is. I think they're trying to be a friendly, high-end scotch. Without being scotch. Well, without being your version of Scotch. Without being true to the region in which they're in. True. Which can you think of other things that would could say the same thing? Yes, many things. They take out that part that makes them who they are, but they're trying to be something more than you, right? You get what I'm saying? Yeah, I think of uh I'm just gonna say it, country music, right? I love country music and I like new country music. But it's changed. There's a lot of country music nowadays that is not country music.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

It's more rock.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

They do a few things to keep them in the genre, right? But they've lost a lot of. The things that keep them actual country music. And that's why so many people that don't like country music will listen to them because it's very much pop. But they've kept a little twang in there, or they've kept a little this, or maybe they're they talk about an old red barn. You know what I mean? It's not country music, it's just the genre. And it's it's it's a late, it's allowed to be classified country music, but it's not that that's the Dalmore, right? This is hitting the masses.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

It's pop country.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

This is hitting this is pop country. This is hitting everybody, whether you like scotch or not. It's the Dalmore, right? You might be feeling a little frisky. I'm gonna get myself a scotch. Well, this is the one you want to grab because technically you have a peted scotch, you're gonna hit the floor. Yeah, because you ain't the guy for that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Ironic to this uh this bottle and how they got the stag on there. This is you're what you're saying is this is the bird shot versus the buckshot.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:59

Um, this is the bird shot.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

This is the bird shot. The bird shot will hurt a little bit, but you're gonna walk around.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

We're gonna but we're gonna hit the masses. We're gonna spread out and hit everyone. Oh, that's the buckshot. We're just gonna hit one thing, right?

unknown 45:10

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

You're gonna feel that. Yeah, you're absolutely right. Laura, this is this is marketed like the McAllen. Yep, this is marketed for the masses. Uh, there's a lot of people that will will um non-Scotch people that think they're Scotch people that will buy this. I think it's the same thing with McAllen 12. And it's become a name, it's become a look, it's become a marketing ad, advertisement, and magazines. It's become you uh you look at cigar videos uh and you will see a lot of cognac. Sure, you will see a lot of Dalmor 12 uh in the in the background of these cigar videos because it is one of those, and I I love cigars, but it's we could be talking about that too with cigars, like these cigar people that that are pretentious and stuff too. Same thing, you know what I mean? Like they're they're the type of people that won't smoke something that's not a $15 stick, you know what I mean? But they got the Dalmar 12 sitting there, along with, you know, uh a crazy expensive brandy, which look, I like brandy, but my god, I am not spending $350 on a bottle of brandy that I can drink in 15 minutes. Not gonna do it. It's good stuff, but good lord. You should see some of these brandies they have in these videos. Crystal freaking decantered brandies. The brain the bottle alone is worth like 300 bucks, you know. Then they throw some brandy in it, and you're like, why are you drinking that and smoking a cigar? Yeah, like how much money do you have? You know, like and do you are you even really like really appreciating the flavor there at that point? I don't know. I don't know. I digress. I think at the end of the day, I think it's a good scotch. I think it's got some good scotch flavors. For me personally, does it leave out uh the big the big part of the peat? Yeah, absolutely. This is missing the mark, but I can see what it's for. I can see what it's for. I the price point is for what you're getting is not new. This is not something I would buy for the pro, I mean, because they're not it's not cheap.

SPEAKER_03 46:59

I'm talking 80, 90 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 47:00

Yeah, it's not cheap for an unpeated scotch. No, thank you. No, thank you. But that's my opinion. Uh, but I do think that there is there a market for it, yes. Is it good? Yeah, I think it's good. I don't think I'm not shitting on it. I think it's fine. I think it's great. Is it great for the price? No, but are they selling it? Yeah. So can you blame them? Absolutely not. If if I own this company and I was selling it, I'd be like, oh yeah. Yeah, you can't buy the Dalmore unless you got a shirt and tie on. Get the hell out of here, you know what I mean? If I'm selling, I'm winning. You know what I mean? Oh yeah, we won't put no peat in there. Well, what can I do to make this more advert, like more advantageous for you? Oh, you want to make it sweeter? Okay, here you go. I'll make it sweeter. Whatever gets you to buy this, right? I think. But I it's not terrible. I've had bad scotches. This is not one of them. It's good. I would never pay the money for it. I think that this is a great. Uh, you take the, in my opinion, again, this is me personally. If you want to keep it unpeded for whatever reason, um take the Dalmor off there, make it just Dalmore 12. It's like 60 bucks. 60 bucks. I might be okay with it, but then again, you're losing everything because then like this is their this is their basic offering, right? You go up from here and you get the Dalmor, whatchamacallit, you know what I mean? The Dalmor, this, the Dalmor, that they do one-off stuff, and then and it goes from like 80-90 bucks to like 180. Like it jumps like a hundred bucks every time.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

But they look at age and they look at finishings, so like they're big and like cigar finish.

SPEAKER_00 48:31

You could get like a cigarette, a $300 Dalmor and be like, this is good. Is it $300 good though? For somebody who likes flavor, no, no, it's not.

SPEAKER_02 48:41

But for somebody who's trying to pre- impress somebody else, somebody who's trying to impress somebody else, you bet you're this is that uh LaFroy 25 year.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

Yeah, that's the Dalmor without the flavor.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

Like at least the LaFroy 25's got some damn flavor, you know. But it's good, it's good. It's it's good. It's uh it's not bad. It's this is very Ruth Chris. I like Ruth Chris Steakhouse. It's good. I've had way better steaks from other places for the same price, if not more. But it's really great, but it is pretentious and it's overpriced for what you get. And they do some things that are unique, kinda. But at the end of the day, I've had better steaks for less, the same quality. Um, but it there's a minimum. You go walk into a Ruth Chris, like minimum, uh, you're not spending anywhere under a hundred bucks for yourself, at least. Minimum, period. Like there's just that's just what it is. Like the steak alone, just a steak will cost you 100 bucks. And then if any sides or drinks, so like a Dalmore 12 would pair perfectly with a Ruth Chris ribeye or flay or whatever. You know what I mean? It'd be perfect, and it's good, it's not bad, but I've had the same quality, actually, better quality, like more flavorful steak for 60 bucks at like a better steakhouse, you know, or 80 bucks or whatever, you know, like in my opinion. That's what I think of it. Oh, and I think of I think Ruth Chris and Dalmar 12 go perfectly together. It's that same pretentious kind of a thing. It's it's the status. I went to Ruth Chris last night. I have Dalmar 12, the Dalmar 12. Same comment I do.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

Do you think there's any advantage to being a Highland Scotch that pretty much functions like a space sign?

SPEAKER_03 50:20

Uh, do I think there's advantages to it? Uh I don't I mean like as a bridge.

SPEAKER_02 50:24

Well, I don't know as like a space in the market. Like if they're like we're Highland, but we're friendly.

SPEAKER_03 50:33

See, that's the hard part because I I look at Scotch and I look at the different regions, and people are very like particular. I like this region because of this, I go to this region because that, I search out this one because of this. I don't know anyone that goes, I look for a highland scotch that isn't Petey.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

Right. I was just about to say, I feel like if you were a space side and you were looking to move up from flavor, why would you grab this?

SPEAKER_03 50:59

Well, so the to pair with Chris. If I'm moving up from a space side to a highland, this bottle does not scream me. This bottle screams still screams uh expensive, pretentious, and uh from a space side up to a highland. I I'm not gonna go for this. I'm gonna look at something else. I'm gonna look at this and go, that that I think that's that's way out of my depth.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

I'm gonna try something else. I think you go from space side to like I really want something more strong. And you go to Highland Park.

SPEAKER_03 51:26

I was gonna say Highland Park is normally priced decently, but even the look of Highland Park, you're like that fits in with my space side kind of feel. It's just a step up, it's not overrefined. This is like, oh, this is this is the Johnny Walker blue. Obtainable from uh from everybody, yeah. It's and it it's mainly because of the the the look of it. Like Chris has been saying, like, this is the Johnny Walker Blue. This is like I'm not as good as Johnny Walker Blue. Johnny Walker Blue, it's a status bottle, but I'm gonna look the part, I'm gonna play the part, and hopefully, yeah, you realize that and you want that. You know what I mean? I don't really know that there's a place in the market for Highland Scotch to not be a Highland flavor and scotch, except for the status, except for the status, except for the status, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

I think again, I don't want to shit all over this bottle. If I wanted to, I would. I I just don't think I need to because I don't mind it. I do it's not that I don't like it. I don't I there's things, aspects about it I don't like flavor-wise, though, it's not bad. It's better than most space sides that I've had. Um it's lackluster when it comes to spice, it is absolutely not worth it, and I just can't get over my head like if I wanted a non-peted scotch, you know, I'd just go with a space eye, you know what I mean? Which I wouldn't do because I don't like that. So non-peted scotch is just weird. It's like a gluten-free anything. Like I get that look, and I and I can't have gluten, but I uh get getting something, but I've never eaten a gluten-free anything and been like this is better than when it was gluten. No, it's not. The gluten version's better. Anybody that says this is better than you're lying to yourself or you've forgotten. Like, no, yeah, this gluten-free pizza is good. Go to Chicago and tell me that. Like, you're gonna you're gonna realize that's not the truth.

SPEAKER_02 53:07

When I first had it, I didn't really know what it was. So you're you're just like, hey, check this out. So I poured a glass and I was like, this is cool, this is fun. Like, yeah, wow, what is it? Yeah. But like, I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know like what the background was or like what the context was. So just like as something to drink, here's something to drink. Like, oh it's not bad, right? Yeah, but when you but when you're like this is an $80 bottle, but it's but it's an 80 or plus 90 90 bottle and it's scotch, I'd be like, hmm.

SPEAKER_03 53:46

Something's not adding up. The math isn't adding up, yeah. Like it's fun, but would you when you tried this, would you have said immediately, ooh, this is Highland? Or that's just a good scotch.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

I don't even think I knew, I'm not sure I even knew what it was.

SPEAKER_03 54:01

Right.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

Like scotch or not. I mean, I enjoyed it, but no, it didn't, it didn't like stand out as being like, you know, maybe maybe it was because I didn't know what it was that I wasn't I wasn't comparing it to scotch, you know, like I was just thinking like this is I like this, this is a good flavor. This there's like something going on here.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

Like old putty 12. This is decent.

SPEAKER_02 54:27

This is yeah, but I wasn't thinking like very broadly, right? And like knowing like putting it in context does kind of change the game a little bit. I don't know if that's like unfair to them. Like, like, are they making a good product? Yeah, I think they're making a good product. It's a good product.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Are they overselling it and and marketing the hell out of it?

SPEAKER_02 54:49

Yeah, but then yeah, you you add all of that and it's like, oh, okay. They're like it's a little, yeah, this is something box, it's something different. If you only care, if you just think about like what does this taste like? Wasn't it an enjoyable experience? Yes. But then when you put add all the other factors in, it's like, oh, that kind of changes something, you know.

SPEAKER_03 55:13

So uh this is uh we we talked about the Trinity, the Holy Trinity. This is the non-alcoholic communion wine. This this is the non-alcoholic communion wine. Like this is and do you like grape juice?

SPEAKER_02 55:28

Yeah, but if you're if if somebody says like, oh, but but we call it wine, you'd be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on. You want to you want to put that label on this? Right. Let's just call it something different, you know.

SPEAKER_00 55:41

I get it being a symbol, but this isn't the blood of Christ.

SPEAKER_02 55:44

Yeah, like what you call it does matter.

SPEAKER_00 55:48

That's not I hope that's not blasphemy. I'm not trying to you know what I mean. Like, like, yeah, anybody that's had communion in the Catholic Church and then gone to like a Baptist church. Right.

SPEAKER_03 55:59

It's like this. Oh, wait, communion wine. That was grape juice. That was grape juice.

SPEAKER_00 56:04

Gluten gluten-free wafers. We get gluten-free wafers wherever we go.

SPEAKER_02 56:10

Yeah, I like grape juice and I like wine, but don't call the grape juice wine.

SPEAKER_00 56:15

That's that's how I feel about this. This is lack good. This is lacking transubstantiation.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

It hasn't undergone the miraculous change.

SPEAKER_00 56:30

Where are the bells?

SPEAKER_02 56:34

Yeah, yeah. I can I can agree with that.

SPEAKER_03 56:38

I like it.

SPEAKER_02 56:38

Don't get me wrong. So you wouldn't buy it again. Not for that price.

SPEAKER_00 56:42

I think it'd be a great gift bottle, you know what I mean? Especially for somebody who doesn't know anything about alcohol. Or if I was gifted this bottle, I'd be like, cool. I don't think I'd ever drink it myself. I think I'd pour it for people, but it's it's a cool, it's a great gift bottle. Although there's better gift bottles out there, yeah, in my opinion. I think honestly, if you were to put this side by side with McAllen 12, they're similar. But I think McAllen 12 edges it out easily, and it's the same price, if not sometimes you can get on sale for cheaper. You know, that's that's my opinion. I I've had the McAllen 12 before and actually enjoyed the hell out of it. Um, and I I could enjoy the heck out of this too. I just would never pay for it. Unless maybe I don't even know if I'd gift this. I don't I I I've gifted the McAllen 12 a few times. I don't know if I'd gift it down more just because it's a tough one.

unknown 57:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

I've definitely given like the McAllen 12 to people that were like kind of into whiskey and they've enjoyed the heck out of it. Because of what again, it's a status bottle for those people, and it's decent enough they can drink it, it's easy enough, they can drink it. Like I can think of like two people specifically who think they're into alcohol and they're not. And they loved the McCallum 12. And they were in there, and I give and I gave them the Callend 12 and they loved it. You know what I mean? Perfect for them. And they probably love the Dalmar as well. But if you gave them like an actual scotch, like, oh thanks. Yeah, this is dirty Petey. So would you say entry level? To a degree. I think I think the non like the people that flirt with alcohol a little bit, flirt with scotch a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

So it's if you think as entry level as somebody who is heading deeper in, you wouldn't call it entry level because they're not really entering.

unknown 58:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02 58:26

They don't intend to go deeper in. They only want to just hang out around the doorway on the porch.

SPEAKER_00 58:34

Somebody who has four or five bottles on like a shelf or a bar cart, and when people come over, they're like, Oh, would you like something to drink? That would be it for these people. Yeah, and they pour like a smidge of McAllen 12 or the Dalmore. Like, here you go, you know. You would you like ginger ale with it? You know what I mean? Or ice, you know what I mean? Because they had no nothing, you know. That's for those people.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Ginger ale might be good with this. Yeah, might make a nice cocktail. Well, I bet it would actually be good with this.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Yeah, some sprite with it, get a little bit. I've had ginger with McAllen and I've loved it. So, but for the price, it wasn't my McAllen. Yeah, yeah, give me some ginger and some ice. I'll take three more. Thank you. That's great. I'm not paying for it. You know what I mean? Like, it's not mine, I'm not doing that, but it's not bad for what it is. I I think that's what it's for. I think it's because the people that I gave McAllen to, like, they literally had that setup. And when you walked in their house and you went to their bar, they had like four or five bottles, and that was the kind of stuff that they had. They might have had a Buffalo Trace thing, and they had like a McAllen 12, you know, and this, that, and the other, and that's it. And they're like, Oh, I'm in the bourbon, yeah, and whiskey, it's a good scotch McAllen 12. It's good stuff. Never paid for one myself, but I got this given as a gift. You know, I I feel like that that's that's who it's for for the most part. Yeah. That or like um, I think it's good to have one on the shelf, McAllen 12 specifically, or a good retirement, like we talked about retirement bottle. Yeah, it's not crazy expensive or anything like that. If you don't like really care about the person, like that's a good bottle, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:13

If you don't really care about them, please give them this.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:16

You don't really care, you know what I mean. If you'd have to like, I would never give somebody I like that was into Scotch, a McAllen 12. I'd give them something good, you know what I mean? But that's my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:28

I don't know how much more can be said about that. I don't know how much more can be said about it. It's good.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

We're not destroying this thing, it's good. I I I again I don't I don't want people to realize we're not crapping. I've definitely crapped on bottles. This is not one I would crap on. Is this one you'd crap with? No, it's just not uh it's really it's really would you take it to the bathroom? I would say it's not worth the price. However, I think it is worth the price for the market it's selling to. So it's not worth my price.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:54

You're not the market.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:55

I'm not the market. I'm not the market. I think that if I owned Dalmar, I'd be like, this we're doing everything right. We're we're doing everything perfect and keep away from the pee. Like, like, let's just keep away from the gifts. We want people in airports to buy this crap and give it as gifts. Yes, yes. Like, we want this on shelves, we want this in the background of videos. Sell that crap. It's friendly, it's good, it's not bad. Um, and it is good, it's got a good flavor, it's just not worth the price tag. If if you're actually a Scotch drinker, we're on to another one.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:28

Hopefully, more PD, more of what we like.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Hopefully, something a little bit more less than lackluster. A little less sweet, a little more. A little bit more. Oof.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:35

Yes, I'll take it. Well, till next time. Till the next time.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:43

Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskeychasterspumblet.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.