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Anyone into Single Malt Scotch Whisky?
- Thread starter brukuns
- Start date
costco's 30 dollar bottle of islay scotch is pretty good for the money
Last night I had beer, mezcal, wine, and a couple of nightcaps of scotch.
This morning was fun
Last night I had beer, mezcal, wine, and a couple of nightcaps of scotch.
This morning was fun
I can drink half a bottle of scotch and the day after will be ok. No headache that’s for sure. Maybe a bit dehydrated but nothing horrible.
beer or wine or anything with vodka and the hangover makes me useless.
beer or wine or anything with vodka and the hangover makes me useless.
I hear as far as GlenLivet goes, the 15 is comparatively better than the 12 and the 18.
My GlenLivet 15 is almost done. I really enjoy it, it's delicious, but not sure if I'm getting a refill... I'll focus on only buying more of the ones I really, really, really enjoy. so far these are...
GlenDronach 12
Bunnahabhain 12
Balvenie Doublewood 12
GlenAllachie 12
I hope my Macallan 12 Sherry Oak and my GlenGarioch 12 (not here yet) are on the list too, but I'm yet to taste them. It's all about Sherry for me.
At the end of the day I could probably live off GlenDronach 12s... I love it so damn much, I'm on my 3rd bottle already in a few months... and it's not like it's my only scotch either. I'm a man on a mission to develop my palate for whiskies in record time. Crazy how that burning feeling on my tongue has been tamed as months went by. Everything becomes so much more enjoyable once you get more used to how strong these beverages are.
Scuttlebutt...is that a word for "gossip"? Thanks for the new word... they're harder to come by each day.
Only Islay I tried was the Talisker 10. I really enjoyed it at first, now not so much for some reason. too much on the bitter side and the spirit is a bit too young, alcohol feeling is a bit much for me.
I still need to get myself a proper peated whisky but I'm honestly not sure if it's for me. I will probably try a few different ones at my brother in law's before I decide to buy anything. I always had very simple taste when it came to beer... I picked my favorite and held on to it until the end of days... maybe I'm like that with Scotch too. Maybe I'll just keep buying GlenDronach after GlenDronach after GlenDronach until my liver gives in.
Talisker is from Skye, not Islay. To get into Islay malts, start with Laphroaig and Lagavulin. You may dislike them heavily at first but will eventually come around if you keep drinking them. Highland malts will taste like water soon in comparison.
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Fuck, I messed up. This is so true, I don't know why I keep thinking Islay when I look at my Talisker. My only Islay is actually one of my favorites... Bunnahabhain 12. Not peated though so aside from that "salty" trait it probably tastes more like a Speysider.
Would also love to get my hands on an Ardbeg (Uigeadail comes to mind because "Sherry"). But I don't plan on spending any money on peated whiskies until I know I will enjoy them. I don't think I have tried a good peated whisky after having "cut my teeth" with all the bottles I got. I didn't enjoy it much when I tasted it and it was a good, expensive one (I would have remembered if this was more recent now that I'm becoming a whisky geek).
There's always a chance peated whiskies are just not for me. but I'm not sure yet... I understand that appreciating whisky takes time and peated whiskies are definitely not for beginners, so maybe I'm just not ready yet. For now I'd have t say Speysiders are my favorites by far (and the highlands ones I like have more of a Speyside fruity style)
I drank the Glenlivet 12, sometimes the 15 by the glass at the spot(and for a couple hours, that was the spot) but in a pinch, in a dive or on a budget the Glenfiddich did just fine. A little salty but I didn't care.
Laphroaig too.
Times long gone, never ruin a good thing unless it was actually good to begin with.
Laphroaig too.
Times long gone, never ruin a good thing unless it was actually good to begin with.
Corryvreckan might be the most peaty whisky I ever tried. You have to want the peat.
Just buy two bottles of Laphroaig 10. Struggle through the first and by the end of the second you will love it.
GlenFiddich is ok. But it had to be way cheaper for me to consider buying again.
My brother inlaw gave me half a bottle of their Select Cask (NAS but partially aged in ex-Red Wine casks... you can actually taste the wine and it's good, although a tad too young so the alcohol is too apparent)... that's finished. I also got the 12 and the 15... both are finished too... 15 is mich better than the 12 but not enough to justify the price difference. It just makes no sense to spend money on a GlenFiddich when I can spend just a little more to get the most amazing drams I have ever tasted.
They do have a Distillery edition that's 15y, non chil-filtered and 52% which I'm curious about (1 liter too, not expensive given the amount). But at this moment I'm more worried about buying replacements for my Bunna 12 and Balvenie Doublewood 12 which are nearly done.
That time will come. But I just bought a Macallan sherry... in Brazil. I need to recapitalize before going nuts again. For now I'll focus on wrapping up my Talisker 10, hopefully something clicks before it's done. They do say it's a good introduction to peated whiskies... and to be fair it's not the peat that's been bothering me on the Talisker... In fact I think I would appreciate it more if the peat was really IN YOUR FACE. It wants to be peated and fruity at the same time and it feels like it falls short on both accounts.
If you like peat, you can buy peat from Ireland and Scotland on Amazon. My son smokes salmon with peat. This Thanksgiving he smoked two turkeys with peat. Unfreaking great…. Trader Joe’s has a mildly pleated single malt that is really good and inexpensive (~$20), FINLAGEN. Finlagen was more expensive in Scotland when we visited in August but still a good whisky for the price. My cousins husband made us a wind chime with one of my empty Macallan 25 Year Old boxes with a Muirheads Speyside Silver Seal 21 Year Old wind paddle (at the bottom of the chime). He restored an 1930s boat that was supposedly used to smuggle booze into the US from Canada and was drafted during WWII into anti-submarine service around the islands in NW Washington State. He replaced some of the brass tubes on the boat and used some of the scrap on this chime. Mad skills. John 
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Corryvreckan is likely the most intense thing I've ever tasted. I personally am more a fan of Uigeadail, but everyone should work through a bottle of Corryvreckan as a right of passage.
I didn't think it tasted like proper Caol Ila personally (which is freaking amazing) but who knows. For 30ish dollars it might be the best value in scotch assuming you live near a Costco.
I would totally stock Caol Ila regularly if it wasn't 90 bucks bottle even at total wine....I'll just have to settle for Peat Monster by Compass Box.