New Diageo Lineup - The Manager's Choice

[Mark C]

There's a bit of hoohah surrounding some news that Diageo will announce this week. There's a video:



A website:

http://www.themanagerschoice.com

And a photo here on a Danish forum:



Looks like a single cask bottling from each distillery.

[Par]

Such attention from the marketing department does make this new edition of the MC's look rather frighteningly expensive to me. Price point known or not? I'd hate to see something like a 15 yo "special cask" at a price of ten times its age - in Sterling at least (I'd hack it if it was with Krona!).

Any news of them (Diageo) doing other Special Releases etc this year as well?

/ Pär

[MacDeffe]

Maybe Diageo will sell these at low prices for some good PR after the last months turmoil..


maybe not..

Macdeffe

[WhiskyNotes]

Apparently the single casks will be rather young (9-12yo) and rather expensive (starting in the £150 range).

[enzot]

There was a rumour a while back that there would be a single cask 16 Y.O Lagavulin.......priced around £350.

Just a rumour though.

Enzo...

[Willie JJ]

Apparently the single casks will be rather young (9-12yo) and rather expensive (starting in the £150 range).

That's what I feared. Shouldn't have too much impact on my budget then. I'm quite happy to not buy £150 bottles.

[MacArdbeg]

I have this from whiskyforum.se The guy posting it says, that he has the information directly from Diageo. I don't think they will find many new friends with this kind of ripoff, like £300 for a 9 yrs old Oban.

Har fått följande information från Diageo.

Första släppet kommer i September och kommer innehålla nedan buteljeringar, dock kommer inga av dessa till Sverige.

Distillery / Numbers of bottles / Recomended price
Cardhu™ distilled 1997 252st £250
Glen Elgin™ distilled 1998 534st £250
Linkwood™ distilled 1996 480st £200
Mortlach™ distilled 1997 240st £250
Oban™ distilled 2000 534st £300
Teaninich™ distilled 1996 246st £200

[Willie JJ]

All the prices are outrageous and clearly these bottles are not intended for the drinker, but for the collectors market. They're certainly not getting any of my cash for them.

[John McGill]

Robbie's Drams in Ayr have the first 6 bottles on their website:

http://www.robbiesdrams.com/products.asp?id=28

Prices are as MacArdbeg indicated in his post above

The bottle details are as follows:

Cardhu, 1997, 2009, 57.3%
Glen Elgin, 1998, 2009, 61.1%
Linkwood, 1996, 2009, 58.3%
Mortlach, 1996, 2009, 57.3%
Oban, 2000, 2009, 58.7%
Teaninich, 1996, 2009, 55.3%

[TheTross]

I hope this series fails spectacularly.

That pricing scheme is absolutely disgusting, particularly at a time when the economy is enduring a lengthy slump. The fact that they're all limited editions means nothing either, as there are many limited edition bottlings on the market that cost far, far less. No doubt the resellers are rubbing their hands together at this one, but as a whisky drinker I feel truly offended.

Bloody ridiculous.

[vitara7]

wow, thats even more than i was told they were going to be.
rrp on the bottles is actually greater than you can still pick up some of the single cask rare malts selection range at auction prices....

i dread to think what the decent diageo distilleries single casks in the range will retail at

[Nick Brown]

What can I say? Join the SMWS for the bargains of the century - every one a single cask, most way over these ages, and almost all of them under £100. A 10yo single cask - at cask strength - would probably go for about £40.

[Willie JJ]

The smws and other independent bottlers really do look like spectacularly good value when you look at these. Hopefully everyone with at least half a brain will just walk away from this Diageo nonsense.

[Lawrence]

Those prices are unreasonable, even for the collector market.

[Mark C]

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!

They've gone mad. Bonkers. Nuts.

[Mark C]

Look at the Royal Lochnagar video again and you get the feeling that they're talking about some old cask tucked away at the bottom of the warehouse for years and years, not a 10yo! I was expecting a new version of the Rare Malts. What a joke!

[The Craw]

ROFLMAO

Bad Diageo!

I think there is some reverse psychology in all of this tho from the 'clever marketeers' of Diageo - from a consumers mindset it makes the other bottlings look a bit cheaper eg their special releases (of which they will make much more money from compared to a single cask).

[Nick Brown]

The funniest bit of all is that the youngest whisky, which is also the one with the biggest outturn, is the most expensive. £300 for an 8 or 9 year old whisky.

[Mark C]

Can someone confirm that my calendar is correct? It says the first of September and not April.

[Willie JJ]

The trouble is that this kind of stupidity gives other marketing departments similar ideas.

[Mark C]

So, who's going to collect all 27?

Maybe it should be called The Russian Oligarch's Choice.

[Jimmy321]

Is this proof that Diageo has lost the plot , at that price i would want a VERY special bottle like my birth year (1971) or a 30 year old.

I am sure that the Manager's have selected some very good casks (i wonder how many it would be humanly possible to sample) but the price is a joke. Like mentioned above this can only be good for independent bottlers and SMWS.

[fishboy]

What a complete nonsense!

I'd love to know what they think the target market is? This must be aimed purely at the more insane collector? I wonder how many will eventually be sold in the UK. To be honest nothing could induce me to buy one, not even if Diageo said all the profits were going to laid-off JW and Port Dundas workers!

I agree with Nick and others, stick to the SMWS and other good IB's!!

FB

[Malt-Teaser]

If I had any money at the moment, even as a collector I wouldn't be tempted. Those prices are just too far off the mark.

[Ausi]

Just wondering...if you buy a 9 yo whisky for 300 pounds how long would you actually have to wait to resale it for 600? especially that most will probably sit on the shelves in the shops that buy them...