Whisky Forum - batch differences

MikeEdi · Single Malt Member Joined: 13 Sep 2014 Posts: 36

I was wondering how often do you find differences in different batches of the same whisky?
Standard bottlings are made year after year and there are bound to be some differences between the batches. Of course, the blender's job to make these as negligible as possible, but it would seem that sometimes this doesn't work well. I've had in the past disappointing experiences with a previously enjoyed bottle. And I was reading up on several whiskies recently and it looks like some of them suffer more from this than others. For example, Glenmorangie Signet seems to suffer from this a lot.
What do you think?

Quaich1 · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:40 pm Post subject:

Interesting thread. My only experience with the Signet was fantastic but of course that was one from one bottle. I have a 75cl bottle of Glenmo Lasanta that is definitely sulphur ridden, thankfully almost finished. The oxygenation in this case has actually improved it a bit. I have a Lasanta mini which appears more palatable than the other bottle so some credence to your hypothesis. I can honestly say I have not often encountered this problem of variation between standard large releases. Small batch releases are of course another matter where some are clearly better than others.
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William · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:03 am Post subject:

By there very nature no 2 batches of single malt will be 100% identical but the blenders usually do a good job and most of the time we don't notice a difference. Luckily I have never come across a poor Glenmorangie Signet myself.

I find differences are more apparent when the likes of sherry and port casks are involved, and when the batches are smaller, not always bad differences just differences in the intensity of the cask influence on the whisky but sometimes some poor casks sneak through and this shouldn't happen for a product which you pay so much for.
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Big Mac · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 3:32 am Post subject:

William i would agree that smaller batch sherriy cask matured bottlings vary, the Macallan 18 is a good example of this which to me makes it more interesting.

MikeEdi · Single Malt Member Joined: 13 Sep 2014 Posts: 36

Do you know whether there is a way to tell which batch the bottle is from?
Is this something that's marked anywhere?

opelfruit · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:36 am Post subject:

sorren · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:42 pm Post subject:

Every batch of all whisky will be different, almost most of us will not detect the differences, sometimes we will pick them up, more often it's over a period of time, we revisit a favourite and it's now different.. It's the job of the master blenders to get it as close as possible, as said above it only takes a rouge barrel to change the effects, if the general public were not too blinkered into expecting the whisky to look and taste the same then is "geeks" would get what we want, NCF, no colour, true expressions from all distilleries, smaller batches, possibly more single barrel release.. More true whisky in our bottle...

whisky_rob · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 8:00 pm Post subject:

One thing I have noticed is changes in the colour from certain batches. The colour is the most difficult thing to get the same. Having said that I wouldn't ever criticise this as it shows there isn't any caramel or colouring in there!

I find it interesting that some releases such as tempest, devils cask, Macallan 18 actually promote that its a different batch.

Other things that can help is over aged whisky going in the batch. Excellent thread!

MikeEdi · Single Malt Member Joined: 13 Sep 2014 Posts: 36

Some empirical data on how different the batches could be...

http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.nl/2015/03/ardbeg-uigedaail-vertical-2004-2014.html

cdn_dram · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 7:55 pm Post subject:

I noticed this with Glenlivet 18yr. 3rd bottle I've had of this and something is definitely off. Don't know if it's sulphur or what but nowhere near the first two. More grape notes but a bit bitter and not as clean of finish.

Timp · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 9:07 pm Post subject:

All I know is I started out a few years ago keeping 10cl bottles of every bottle I had, so I had a taste reference [my stated view} or most likely to possibly delude myself I had not actually consumed the whole bottle.!

Really glad I did as great fun to do comparative tastings, only way you can tell and be prepared for 'batch variations' good or bad...

Now final question for me, is, is it me, or is it the malt/s ? Don't know but, hey it's fun trying to find out. Very Happy

jwbassman · Posted: Fri Oct 07, 2016 11:04 pm Post subject:

I keep samples of most of my bottles too, not really been doing it long enough to start doing comparisons, but maybe in the future Smile

Only thing I can add to this excellent thread is that at the Glenfarclas tasting I attended this week there was an overwhelming consensus that the 15yo was not as good as we all remembered it, and one of the guys had been draming it only last week.

I certainly felt it wasn't the same as my previous bottle. It wasn't bad but seemed a little lacking in comparison. I really enjoyed the bottle I had, full of character and plenty of good wood influence and with some real sherry notes. At the tasting it was much more subdued in spite of it 46% and lacked some of the presence that made it the stand out dram from the previous tasting and the reason I bought a bottle.

There will obviously be differences from one bottling to the next as each and every cask that is used is different but isn't that we love at whisky, single cask expressions in particular, the chance to find an absolute cracker?

Fightingirish · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 12:24 am Post subject:

I must say that Glenmorangie Signet is near the top of my Fav's list.

I have never detected a difference from one bottling to the next. It has always been damn near perfect every time.

As meantioned here or elsewhere Wink

the Signet is always a safe bet.
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cdn_dram · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 12:30 am Post subject:

dramblersanonymous · Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 9:11 pm Post subject:

Reading this made me think - how amenable are distilleries to complaints of this sort? If you called them and said you'd had an especially poor bottle, or had a core bottling with a distinct change in character, or similar, would they gloss over it as a batching issue or offer to swap it out? I imagine most distilleries would welcome the feedback but it's such a personal thing and is difficult to measure.