With the festive season looming, all supermarkets, off-licences and other outlets start offering some excellent bargains on the drinks front, with blended and malt whiskies to the fore. Indeed, if your wallet or credit card is loaded enough, I would advise buying as much as possible during this bargain bonanza time.
Not that I mean you should drink it all at once, but take advantage of it stock up the bar or drinks cupboard with plenty of good stuff to see you through many months of 2018…
Unlike in previous years, I won’t try and list the best deals as very often these change relatively quickly in the lead-up to Christmas and New Year. All I can say is keep your eyes peeled and if you spot good reductions an any of your favourites – or even ones you haven’t tried before – then strike while the iron’s hot and buy a bottle, or even two.
I have to confess I spotted an amazingly good deal in one supermarket more than 100 miles from home, bought one bottle and then went back two days later and bought the eight bottles they still had in stock. The guy at the check-out gave me a strange look, as did the man behind me in the queue, but I have no regrets.
It’s a trait I must have inherited from my father. I recall when we lived on the continent there was a wine and spirits store beside a bus stop on my route home from school. I saw some bargain bottles of Burgundy in their window one day and mentioned it to Dad that evening. Next evening I said: “Sorry, Dad, those bottles are all gone.” He grinned and pointed across at the wine rack stacked high with the very bottles I’d seen the day before. Talk about Speedy Gonzales.
One interesting development is that a handful of malt distilleries have changed hands recently and, as a result, some malts are either reappearing for the first time in yonks (such as Tamnavulin) or are appearing in major outlets for the first time I can ever recall (Glenallachie). So if you see them, give them a whirl.
