Sainsbury's Taste the Difference....

[Leither]

Perhaps for those impacted by the recession or simply looking for good value without paying for the distillery/brand name, Sainsbury's have launched a Highland, Islay and Speyside regional range under their 'Taste the difference' concept. All 12yo, single malts and priced at £18.

And before anyone asks of course the Islay is from Lagavulin and we're 99% sure the Speyside will be a Glenfarclas.

Not sure about the Highland tho, or at least I can't tell you

[Nick Brown]

I do wonder what Sainsbury’s is doing with it’s TTD brand when it comes to alcohol. For food products, the TTD brand is invariably more expensive than proprietary brands – often prohibitively expensive – and represents the pinnacle of quality (or at least the pinnacle of quality as sold in the supermarket). But with wines and spirits, it seems to be used for some cheap end drinks. For wines, the £6 a bottle Rioja is really not the best they have. The best wines are stored horizontally in the special racks that we seldom bother to look at. They can cost 10 times the price of TTD wines or more. And in the case of whiskies, is a 12yo unnamed single malt whisky really the best on offer? I think not – Sainsbury’s certainly has 15yo and 18yo Glenfiddich. It has various proprietary single malts at greater ages and greater prices than its TTD range. If the TTD whisky were to be consistent with the food offerings, I’d expect to see 25yo whiskies or more, prices around the £60 mark or more.

[Douglas]

TTD seem to be quite a mixed bag in the wine range with some earning a good reputation. I guess there might be volume issues with supplying all their stores with anything too exotic in whisky.

It would be nice though if Sainsbury's used the TTD range to break the mold of 40%, then customers might actually Taste The Difference. They could probably still have kept their prices under £20.

[Leither]

Just thought I'd bump this thread to say that these are now on offer - 20% off, so now £14.69. Great value

The packaging also states, which was (good) news to me, 'bottled for Sainsburys by Ian Macleod', so as a fan of IM and their range I picked up a Highland and Islay. Will report back with my thoughts.

[Pete Smoke]

Just thought I'd bump this thread to say that these are now on offer - 20% off, so now £14.69. Great value

I was going to post this offer - but too slow again. IMO the Islay 12 is the best supermarket whisky at present. Even better at this price point. Its a bit flabby for those getting used to higher strength NC whisky, but it is excellent.

[Jimmy321]

Got one of each today @ £14.69, Islay, Highland & Speyside.

[Jimmy321]

Just thought I'd bump this thread to say that these are now on offer - 20% off, so now £14.69. Great value

I was going to post this offer - but too slow again. IMO the Islay 12 is the best supermarket whisky at present. Even better at this price point. Its a bit flabby for those getting used to higher strength NC whisky, but it is excellent.

I opened the Islay tonight and i agree that it's excellent value, prob the best bang for buck since Ardbeg 10 sold for £20.00.

[Finnegan]

It's not bad, very good actually for £14.69. I'd wager that it's a Bowmore.

[Jimmy321]

I've not had Bowmore in ages, i'm with Leither, Lagavulin.

[Pete Smoke]

I've not had Bowmore in ages, i'm with Leither, Lagavulin.

I concur wholeheartedly.

[an donas]

The Sainsbury's Islay is superb. Could be Lagavulin if Ian Macleod bottled it as i think that's what went in his Islay 'As We Get It'. PIty its only 40%.

Ardbeg 10 has reappeared on my local Scotmid shelves at £30odd btw.

[Jimmy321]

20% off again, £15.10 per bottle.

[Finnegan]

Yup, bagged the Highland 12 year old earlier today. Is it a Dalmore?

[adogranonthepitch]

TTD Islay ..some say its Lagavulin ...personally I have another opinion that its Caol ila. This is why?

1. Ian McCleod are an independent bottler. Look on their web site at their range. They have tonnnes of bottlings of Caol ila and no Lagavulin. If Ian McCleod had some Lagavulin, would they really sell boxes of the stuff en masse to Johnny sainsburys when they could sell as a £60+ IB bottle of Laga themselves?

2. No one sellls IB Laga as Daegio dont like it to be sold as a single IB.

3. You can buy young Laga .. Cadenheads have a agreement with Daegio that goes backs years to supply them Laga. However, Daegio pop a couple of drops of other Islay Malt before they selll it to Cadenheads, therefore it Cadenheads cant sell it as a SINGLE MALT from LAGAVULIN, but a VATTED MALT from ISLAY. The man in Cadenheads told me this. The Sainsburys bottle is a SINGLE not a VATTED

4. It has an oily texture .. classic Caol ila

5. In my humble opinion ... it tastes like the big 'CI' as well.

6. Note Sainsburys have got Ian McCeod to do the bottling. If they had gone to Daegio direct, it could have been plausable it was Lagavulin. However, they didnt, they went to an independent to get it bottled. Taking reference from point 1, would Daegio really sell tonnnes of a 12yo Malt that retails for £15 a bottle ( retail price less tax of £6 and a £1 for bottling and £2 sainsburys profit and say £1 profit for Ian McCleod £6+£1+£2+£1=£10 leaves a fiver for the whisky) (and it would be as Sainsburys must sell thoussands of this bottles a week) when they can leave it 4 more years and achieve £40 retail for the OB 16yo, (take off the retailers profit of £8, tax £6, bottling £1 total £15 leaves £25 for the whisky).

7. Deagio dont need to off load Laga. Like all suppliers to supermarkets, there are always special offers on Malt whisky. One week its Grants with 'fiddich and Balvenie, then its GlenMo, Edrington with HP and of course Daegio. However, you very rarely see Laga discounted from its £40. You will find her sister distillerys like Dufftown and Talisker with a fiver off (the supplier has to take the hit on these as part of the supermarket supply deal)

Only my thoughts

[Finnegan]

Yes, I have significant doubts that it's a Lagavulin. Regarding your point three, I am in possession of a Cadenhead's bottling of Laga.

[Jimmy321]

Good points, it may be Coal Ila, gave my mate a swig of my flask which contained Coal Ila he said he thought is was Lagavulin.

[Mr Tattie Heid]

Mr Picky demands that everyone type out Caol Ila one hundred times. Feel free to ignore him.

Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila Caol Ila

[Anster]

I was pleasantly surprised by TTD Islay 12 YO. Admittedly its got a real Tommy Sheridan Irn-bru tan on it (not much tasting the difference there then) but a bit more character than a lot of supermarket branded offerings. It's a bit of a queer fish on the nose and quick to finish but I reckon I would go for Caol Ila over anything else purely because of drier-fruity-sooty start. So that means it will probably turn out to be a Laga! (though it's a million miles from rush of the CS Laga 12).

[The Whisky Wire]

As is just so happens, Sainsbury's picked up the following awards for its TTD single malts at this years IWSC.

Gold
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference 12 YO Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Silver
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference 12 YO Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Bronze
Sainsbury's Taste The Difference 12 YO Islay Single Malt Whisky

[butephoto]

Coal Ila - Taste the Soot!