Asda, Tesco’s, Sainsburys and M&S are all doing them.

After spotting this Tesco’s Islay 10 year old single malt for £20 today, I must say its not bad at all 😉

Anyone else tried them and care to guess the original distillery and what you thought of them?

Can hazard a guess at what it’s not – Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Laphroaig; possibly Bruichladdich (didn’t know that’d been bought by Remy Coiuntreu) – the ones that that sell their stock twice over.

Bowmore possibly or Bunnahabhain would be my guess.

the ones that that sell their stock twice over.

except that for any distillery only about 1 in 10 or 20 barrels turns out any good, or at least good enough to be a single, or good enough to put your name on. So they can sell all the the stuff that turns out as they’d hoped with their name on, but theres plenty left over that would need to find another route to market.

The Coop branded one isn’t bad either.

I suppose as there isn’t a named distillery it might be a different one if you bought another bottle.
Do all the supermarket ones taste the same?

Do all the supermarket ones taste the same?

Are you making it my public duty to drink a bottle of each? In the name of science?

The Sainsbury’s is quite nice too, although I’ve only started out on my whiskey drinking phase of life.

Ever heard of Muir of Ord/Glen Ord? Probably not, almost all it’s production goes into Johnny Walker. How about Fettercairn – mostly goes into White and mckay. There are hundreds of distilleries in Scotland most of which would love to break into the premium “single malt” market instead of producing filler for the blended market. Supermarket own brand single malts are probably a route for some distilleries as well as a way of off loading less successful product without tarnishing the distillery name (this years Aberlour, widely available for under £20 for example might have been better hidden behing a Tesco own brand speyside malt than sold off cheap and possibly tarnishing the upper end of their brand like a’bhunad )
So, who knows? Some will be good, undiscovered bargains, others will be poor. Always worth posting on here if you try one.
BTW still some Highland Park in Aldi at £24.99 and some cheap Singleton of Dufftown in Tesco

Thanks for the info Chubby

On my 3rd glass now and tbh I think I prefer it to my 10yo Ardbeg!

It feels lighter but still has that peaty smoky punch

I might be going back to get another bottle sooner than I expected 😉

The only other supermarket one I have tried in the past was (Aldi/Lidl?) 18yo Glen Marnoch which was not as good as this Tesco Islay IMHO

mccruisken — I hear what you’re saying, I just think it’s unlikely that a cask or batch of Lagavulin would fine its way down the food chain to be a supermarket malt, that’s all — it would be used to bolster their own single, or go into other Diageo blends, or possibly go into the whisky market..

Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Caol Ila, Laphroaig; possibly Bruichladdich (didn’t know that’d been bought by Remy Coiuntreu) – the ones that that sell their stock twice over.

Bowmore possibly or Bunnahabhain would be my guess.

Apart from Lagavulin and Kilchoman that’s the lot though. I’m surprised given the sudden interest in Islay malts there’s enough “spare” for £20 at Tesco. The label is a bit dodgy “using Traditional Islay methods… in Scotland”

So it’s from Islay or not? 😕

On my 3rd glass now and tbh I think I prefer it to my 10yo Ardbeg!

It feels lighter but still has that peaty smoky punch
It’s really only what you think that counts. The only rule as far as drinking whisky is concerned is don’t be a snob

The only other supermarket one I have tried in the past was (Aldi/Lidl?) 18yo Glen Marnoch which was not as good as this Tesco Islay IMHO

Aldi – first time round that was Dalmore – a complete bargain. After that, not so great.

Are you making it my public duty to drink a bottle of each? In the name of science?

Although it wouldn’t be very scientific due to the inherent subjectivity of human taste. we all need to club together and have a tasting party to agregate the individual results.

marthall — good call on the label, hadn’t spotted that one.. some nifty wording for sure.

Are you making it my public duty to drink a bottle of each? In the name of science?
Although it wouldn’t be very scientific due to the inherent subjectivity of human taste. we all need to club together and have a tasting party to agregate the individual results.

A supermarket Whisky club where each member agrees to post out tiny sample tasters to each member, happy to post out some 18yo Glen Marnoch 😉

Off-topic a bit (since I can’t stand whisky) I bought a bottle of XO brandy from Tesco and it was not that nice.

I use it to soak into the christmas cake.

A supermarket Whisky club where each member agrees to post out tiny sample tasters to each member, happy to post out some 18yo Glen Marnoch

I was thinking more along the lines of each of us buying each bottle…

Good call HC

I am still happy to trade samples if others here would like to share/swap supermarket samples

The most recent I’ve tried was Asda’s which for an Islay could only be Bunnahabhain. Sainsbury’s when I last had it 18 months ago was distinctively a Bowmore. The last time I had Tesco’s one it tasted like Coal ila though could have been Bruichladdich I suppose.

Picked up a bottle of Highland Black on offer at Aldi just before Xmas for £17, not bad for the money. Use it when my mate comes over and I don’t want to share the MaCallan or Aberlour 😆

I grabbed a bottle of Grants Sherry Cask for £12 at Morrisons a couple of weeks ago.

After taste is like fag smoke.

Need a cheap single malt to take it’s place.

Tesco’s Islay is made by Whyte & Mackay, who also make Jura. It can only come from about 7 distilleries, wo are Islay. Whyte & Mackay do not reveal their sources, even to their trade customers . 🙂

The label is a bit dodgy “using Traditional Islay methods… in Scotland”

So it’s from Islay or not?
You wouldn’t be able to call it a 10 year-old Islay Single Malt if the age, origin and the composition weren’t true.

Where it was aged and bottled, now that’s another story.