Found via Insty, we see this little snippet:
Judged by a panel of 40 industry experts, Lidl’s [private label] Queen Margot, an eight-year blended Scotch whisky, took home a category win for “Scotch Blended 12 Years & Under.” The whisky beat out some serious competition from industry giants (and far pricier bottles) including Johnnie Walker Black Label. Queen Margot retails for £13.49, or approximately $17.98 USD, proving that good Scotch doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.
Blended Scotch isn’t a “premium” product by any stretch of the imagination, so this shouldn’t come as any surprise. And “taste” is purely subjective, in any case. (I think the above-mentioned Johnnie Walker Black Label is overpriced for a liquor that tastes like cough medicine mixed with diluted engine oil, for instance, but many people love it.)
For the record, I have two favorite blended Scotches, when I feel like drinking more than one or two shots: J&B (with lots of ice and water) for a “light” drink, and Famous Grouse for a more substantial, undiluted one.
As Glenn dryly (and correctly) notes:
“The price/value correlation with booze isn’t super-tight.”
Nor with so many other “premium”-styled products, either, e.g. the $300,000+ Rolls Cullinan:
I’m always amazes at people who’ll pay considerably more for a bottle of blended Johnny Walker Black than I pay for single malt Glenmorangje. I always thought Black tastes muddy (for lack of a better term). Don’t get me started on Blue, which I’ve never tried, but really? $65 for a pour of scotch that’s not even single malt? You either have an expense account or you’re trying to impress someone, probably both.
We won’t get into the benighted soul I saw order a MacCallan 12 yo with coke, that should be a hanging offense.
Mark D
I once saw an order for Chivas and diet Pepsi… but hey, it’s their money.
Visitors to my home know that if I catch them adding anything to Glenmorangie except a couple (as in two) ice cubes or a splash of water they will be skinned and their hide nailed to the garage door, pour encourager les autres. You want to mix something with Coke I have Jack Daniels.
Too extreme. Just don’t let them see you pouring, and give them a cheap Scotch (e.g. JWR or Cutty) with their Coke or whatever and tell them it’s Glenmorangie. If they notice the difference, I’ll give you $10.
Better still, give them cheap vodka. Vodka is meant to turn non-alcoholic drinks into alcoholic drinks. If you dislike the taste of whiskey enough that you need to mix it with coke, drink something without flavor
Saw one of these Rollers not three weeks ago parked in a howling gale and proper British horizontal rain, outside the restaurant we were visiting https://lewinnicklodge.co.uk/.
Yes it’s a RR and yes it’s deeply spendy, but good grief it’s Fugly. It looks like the front half of a Rolls Royce has been roggered by the local pikey Bedford van then cut and shunted onto an anorexic Range Rover backside. The proportions don’t work, it looks VERY heavy and you have to be nine feet tall to get in the thing.
Did have car envy though. And I’m a girl……