In their spin and arrogance Diageo has not understood, that those bottlings will neither create more interest in their brands nor any interest among whiskydrinkers. I would never consider to purchase one of those bottles, and if I had an offer for free at a tasting I would probabely turn it down as a matter of principle.

Clearly the reductions now appearing show, which we all knew, that Diageo got the pricing completely wrong on this series.

My (very condensed) verdicts on the new batch are at the bottom of this post (apologies, John, for the self-promotion):

http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2009/12/octomore-22-pictures-and-official-tasting-notes/

Apologies in advance to anyone upset by the corporate shillery =)

well Red, I can not say that I do feel discomfort when or if buying a bottle from the Diageo portfolio.

My discomfort stems from reading about Diageo being driven by money interests leading to things like the closure of Kilmarnock bottling facilities and the like. It comes from reading sometimes outright silly marketing effluences – and knowing better than the claims being made therein.

It comes from realising that the leader of Scottish whisky industry and other alcohol industries as well is blindly setting it`s sight on eternal growth. Furthermore it stems from the most probable outcome you can imagine that this dead end strategy will lead to. Collapse.

And it comes from watching the “strategic” decisions which are being made on the way.
Whiskies no longer maturing at their distilleries premises on a grand scale and in way of principle.
In short all those decissions that effect the way whisky is being made. Not only in Diageo facilities. Quantity is always the enemy of quality.
In the blind effort of hightening the quantity of shareholders profits the quality of the products is sacrified. One could almost say in general. Diageo will deny that. All others will as well. But add all those “optimisations” “rationalisations” “synergetic effects” cost and corner cuttings and in the way whisky is made you end up with quite a different thing and no longer the real McCoy.
At the same time the marketing bla bla celebrates tradition, the old way and the way whisky has always been mad and always will be!!!
Truth is the old way was a craft`s way the way today is the way of an industry. riddle me that.

See Bell`s blended Scotch in the UK. It lost its age statement “8 yo” – again!

It always does when Diageo thinks they need to sell more Bell`s for the same price – only younger.

etc etc you get my drift.

I don’t shy away from Diagio more than any other company bottling but I have been disappointed in how the corporate decisions have filtered down to the distilleries in some cases.

My experience with tours at Diagio facilities have been a real mixed bag and I find unless you get a real seasoned person to connect with the information provided is very standardized so we have avoided some for that reason.

On the other hand we have found some wonderful people working at Diagio distilleries and struck up good relationships with them – The same is true of some of the Classic Malt Ambassadors here in the U.S.

Whisky is a business and ofttimes decisions are made (in my opinion) that fly in the face of their core customer base – Diagio is accountable to its shareholders and like any business that has to do with profit but that does not mean you have to alienate people in the process.

Having said that, I will always have a special place in my heart for the small company operations (e.g. Burn Stewart) and the independent distilleries (Glenfarclas, Bruichladdich) and bottlers (Edradour)and where I can I will continue to make extra effort to support them if I can.

Personally, I do and I think it began with that local goods festival in scotland– the one where Diageo threatened to withdraw sponsorship if whisky from any other producers ended up on show. Still, I bought a bottle of the ’07 Brora– couldn’t say no to it…

the second set will not get as much attention as the first I think. The storm that brewed over the first set has taken it`s course and has subsided. Everthing that could be said has been said. So we will not see a repetition of the fury.

The fury still is there and the bad publicity Diageo reaped is still in the memories.

That is one aspect.

The other is that the expectations for the second set and the sets to follow are not and can not be as high as the marketing people of Diageo had driven them with the blah blah for the first set.

I did collect the tasting notes on various web sites of the first set and compared them.
The long and short of it is that – as we all assumed and predicted – the Managers Choice failed to deliver what Diageo had claimed.

Not one reviewer or taster of the first set raved about the first six examples. The scores given were not exceptional over all and if you compare all the notes you can find and read them and between the lines you will find that the whiskies are just that in the reviewers eyes – whiskies. Not revelations not the creme de la creme.

There is a kind consistancy among the reviewers, though. The Oban does very well over all and the Lochnagar as well.

So now that the cat is out of the bag I do not think that we will see a repetition of the fuss and outrage the first set provoked.

That you asked for the samples makes all the difference in the world. Yes, now I’m curious to know what you think of them.