Whiskey

I have always been a whisky drinker. But never ventured far from your standard Johnny walker and Chivas.
I would like to educate myself but not spend the world. Suggestions welcome

McCallan

Are you looking to stay with blended whisky or open to try single malts. bourbons, rye?

I am actually interested in this as well especially if theirs any rec. on bourbons:doublethumbsup:

Jordanp said:

I am actually interested in this as well especially if theirs any rec. on bourbons:doublethumbsup:

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Are you new to Bourbon? if so how will you drink it? neat , with ice , with water, mixed? I prefer mine neat or with a drop of water. I always suggest Makers Mark or Buffalo Trace if you are new to bourbon, very drinkable. But myself lately I have been sipping on Orphan Barrel 20yr old Barterhouse, and Mithchers.


And for single malt, Macallan is good. But if you want to try something great, the Nikka japanese distillery is amazing.

It's like dating
YOU gotta try a few and see what you like.

Anton said:

It's like dating
Gotta try an few and see what you like

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Well I must be a promiscuous fella, hahaha. I have tried quiet a few. In fact I have about 18 bottles in my cabinet.

With out breaking the bank my go to bourbon is woodford reserve. Very good drinker for the money.

Just start buying things that are in your price range and drink. Best way to find out what you like.

I usually drink neat or with 1 ice cube but yea tried makers mark, buffalo trace and wild turkey so far and a few others that I can't remember.

wellminded1 said:

And for single malt, Macallan is good. But if you want to try something great, the Nikka japanese distillery is amazing.

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Nikka is very good, especially Yoichi.

I have lately become very fond of 'Gentleman Jack', neat with one or two ice cubes.

Be well,
Mikey

whole bunch of possible recomendations( I also habitat on whisky.com's forum. for budget stuff, woodford reserve is an awesome bourbon less than 40 us and there are 375 ml bottles on the market. For single malts, I would go for glendronach 12-15 for a sherried malt, lots of dried fruit, caramel etc. For a peated malt, laphroig quarter cask, about $40 48% loaded with deep oak flavour and peat, smokey little monster(its aged in smaller casks) so more oak to malt action, and also extremly peated (my personal favorite budget malt), highland park 12 is also good, the 18 wins a lot of awards.... save that for a special ocassion it retails around 100 the 12 is 40-50. Also talisker 10, great powerful malt. For foreign malts, I would go nikka(I like nikka black) or amrut fusion... japanese and indian malts. irish whisky my nudge is green spot. for blends, teachers or dewars 12. Also if you see minitures that arent absurdly priced grab them. I recently sat down with a trio of tomatin minatures and was pleasently suprised.

Anyways best of luck on your malt journey

wellminded1 said:

Are you looking to stay with blended whisky or open to try single malts. bourbons, rye?

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I am an open minded guy

Lot of interesting info here

some of my favs:
basil hayden - super smooth
russells reserve - sweet/nutty
elijah craig - comforting
wild turkey rare breed - for when you want some kick
four roses small batch - bang for buck champ
(ri) 1 - fruity/spicy
blantons - awesome
whistlepig rye - awesomest

not much of a scotch drinker, but i like bowmore and glenmorangie

Bourbon - Noah's Mill is complex and i believe aged 15yrs.
Rye - My favorite is Willet Rye, but might be hard to find. A good affordable one is Sazerac Rye
Scotch - Anything from Balvenie. The Doublewood 12 is super easy to drink if you are new. The carribean cask is something interesting. And any of their higher end stuff is awesome. Glencadem 15 is very smooth, on the smoky side. The Nikka 12 as suggested is good, very peaty, so it's pretty polarizing. Try before buying IMO. I liked the Yamazaki's I tried.

(Staying firmly in the realm of single malt scotch whisky), bare in mind there are large differences between different bottlings from even a single distillery, and the picture becomes even more muddied when you consider independent and single cask bottlings. So I'm going to recommend some "standard" distillery bottlings from different regions (i.e. the mainstays of their core range) since these are readily available, good value for money and (reasonably) consistent.

Glenmorangie 10 year old - Speyside - Still the starter single malt, in my opinion. A well balanced, good example of the Speyside style.

Benromach 10 year old - Speyside - One of the smallest distilleries in Scotland, this is non-chill filtered and has no colourant added (good thing). The distillery is aiming for a flavour profile found in Speyside whisky from times past - and the results are outstanding. Highest recommendation, excellent value for money.

Ardmore Traditional Cask, no age statement - Highland - Inexpensive, craft presentation as the Benromach. Well balanced peat and smoke, in the Highland style.

Old Pulteney 12 year old - Highland - A lighter highlander with a brine edge. Consistently good.

Talisker 10 year old - Skye - For a long time I felt this was the best standard bottling about. Quality has slipped a bit in recent years, but it's still a must-try. A robust malt with heaps of smoke, a good hit of peat and pronounced salt. You'll either love it or hate it.

Highland Park 12 year old - Highland - The all-rounder. Perfect second malt. Highland Park on a whole is a victim of it's own success (as Talisker) but the core bottling is still a reference.

Glengoyne 10 year old - Highland - A "highland" distilled in the lowlands, this is a smooth and sweet, honeyed malt. Good starter malt.

Springbank 10 year old - Campbeltown - The best standard bottling IMO, but not the best starter malt. Far more complex than most core bottlings with a style all of its own. Dry, salt and barley sugar flavours to the fore. Highest recommendation.

Clynelish 14 year old - Highland - Also a very individual style, robust with vanilla, brine, bitter flavours and a strange waxiness too. Not a starter malt either.

Lagavulin 16 year old - Islay - The second best standard bottling IMO. On the sweeter side of Islay malts, but great balance of sherry, peat, smoke and phenolic character. A must try.

Laphroaig 10 year old - Islay - Quality on the wane a little (as above) - Still one of the better standard bottlings, and one of the most polarising out there. Peat, phenols, salt with a medicinal character. Very different from the Lagavulin.

Bunnahabhain 12 year old - Islay - A lighter representative of the Islay style, craft presentation, well-priced. Recommended.

Craigellachie 13 year old - Speyside - A new release single malt from a distillery where most of the whisky goes into Dewar's blends. A very unique malt, with unusual spirit sulphur and spicy notes. Not an intro malt. One of the most interesting new bottlings from last year.

Glenfarclas 10 year old - Highland - A heavily sherried, sweet, thick malt from Glenfarclas. Great if you like that sort of thing. Cask strength version (105) if you can find it is much better though.

Glendronach 12 year old - Highland - Another sherried monster, although the 15 year old (also readily available) is a considerable step up.


Standard bottlings to avoid:

The Macallan - Once the watchword for the highest quality in malt whisky, the current owners are cashing in on the fine reputation of this distillery and charging big bucks for mediocre malt. Possibly the saddest story in scotch currently.

The Dalmore - see above.

Bowmore - see above.

Honourable mentions in this company: Oban, Jura, Ben Nevis.


Other general thoughts:

Buy non-chill filtered, no colour added, higher strength (usually comes hand in hand with the first two) bottlings where possible.

Remember that all distilleries can produce gems and pigs, some produce more of one type than others.

Standard bottlings are generally pretty consistent products, blended to produce a standard/reference flavour profile. If you buy an independent bottling/single cask, it may be a very different animal.

Japanese single malts are generally high quality, but not as good value vs. Scottish whiskies at the same price point. Start with Miyagikyo or Yoichi 10 year old if you want to go down this route. The Yamazaki 10 year old is a decent dram too.

Yes, there are no Lowland whiskies in there. Not my thing, although the folk at the Auchentoshan distillery are really nice, and (as with any distillery) some of their single casks are gems.

Casks are far more important than number on the front of bottles. (although unscrupulous distilleries e.g. Macallan, as above are using no-age-statement bottlings as vehicles for poor malt).

Older does not equal better, but certainly equals (exponentially) more expensive.

I like Bourbon and Rye too.


Disclaimer: All of above are the opinions of one man, and one man's meat is another man's poison.

TTB

Addendum: Glenmorangie is classed as a Highland distillery. It's early :biggrin:

Great thread so far guys.

With prices and exchange issues here in Canada we are, sadly LOL, forced to drink the local Canadian Club small batch 12 year and Canadian Club Sherry cask. Try them if you dare......Please note that the various batches are quite different.
I have laid in a good supply for WTSHTF.

If youre drinking Canadian Club, it has to be the rye. One of the best and easiest to find in Canada.

wellminded1 said:

If youre drinking Canadian Club, it has to be the rye. One of the best and easiest to find in Canada.

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I agree with this sentiment.

So for the whiskey drinkers out there. How do you prefer to drink it?

Totally dependent on the whisk(e)y.

I drink mainly cask strength single malt scotch whiskies. Some are good unadulterated, some are good with water. Adding water can (and usually) has a drastic effect on the flavour - sometimes much better, sometimes much worse and everything in between. Trial and error until you find a sweet spot usually. I have whiskies that I enjoy both straight and watered down - different but both good. Adding water will alter the taste of more modest strength whiskies in a similar way.

I very rarely add ice, although this can be beneficial on the odd occasion by muting certain elements of the flavour profile more than others. For example, I like Yamazaki 10 year old with a single small piece of ice.

I will occasionally make long drinks if I am given crap. :biggrin:

Starter Bourbons: Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Lexington, and Four Roses are a great place to start. I also really like Angel's Envy.

Try them if you get the chance: Pappy Van Winkle(15 year is the best), George T. Stagg

Rye: Bulleit is a good place to start. I also like High West's Double Rye. Try Whistlepig if you get the chance.

Single Malts: Lots of good ones, sadly they have gone up so much in price. Balvenie, Arberlour, Craggenmore, and Highland Park are good ones to start with.

For more smoke, Lagavulin 16 is amazing and quite easy to find. Talisker Storm is also very good. I once had a Bowmore 25 which was a singular moment I will always remember. Ardbeg is for serious Peat lovers as is Peat Monster.

My all time favorites are Springbank 21 and Dalmore 30 Stillman's Dram, but they are quite pricey now.

For Irish, Redbreast is probably the smoothest whisky I have ever sampled. Green Spot is now available in PA and I highly recommend it.

Saving the surprise for last - Ron Zacapa Rum. I introduce it to friends as the rum for whisk(e)y drinkers. Lots of complexity and a very long finish with strong similarity to the Dalmore 30. You won't regret trying it. Just hide it from anyone inclined to mix it with anything.

As far as how to drink, I taste everything 100 proof or less without water, then add a little at a time to see how it opens up the flavor. Some whiskies change dramatically and for the better (Talisker especially). Anything over 100 proof needs water or you will anesthetize your taste buds, missing the subtlety of flavors. Get a good glass, I like the Glencairn tasting glass.

Look up WhiskeyFest. If you go, prepare to be amazed and delighted. -Doug

Great suggestion on the Ron Zacapa rum that is a great rum for the money very smooth.

I have a set of Glencairn glasses and yes for new whiskies it is best to use. The small focused opening really helps to let you experience the whiskey. However for normal drinking I recently started using the Glencairn Canadian Whiskey glasses. They are a larger, sturdier version with a little bit of a tulip flare at the opening. Similarly lets you focus the aroma's but in a larger size and it won't tip over.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LSA4GQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Oh yeah, redbreast is great.
I like to drink in a boxy not round glass with a single large ice cube.

wellminded1 said:

Are you new to Bourbon? if so how will you drink it? neat , with ice , with water, mixed? I prefer mine neat or with a drop of water. I always suggest Makers Mark or Buffalo Trace if you are new to bourbon, very drinkable. But myself lately I have been sipping on Orphan Barrel 20yr old Barterhouse, and Mithchers.


And for single malt, Macallan is good. But if you want to try something great, the Nikka japanese distillery is amazing.

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+1 for buffalo trace, incredible bourbon for the price point. I actually like it better than their single barrel (eagle rare).

wellminded1 said:

Are you new to Bourbon? if so how will you drink it? neat , with ice , with water, mixed? I prefer mine neat or with a drop of water. I always suggest Makers Mark or Buffalo Trace if you are new to bourbon, very drinkable. But myself lately I have been sipping on Orphan Barrel 20yr old Barterhouse, and Mithchers.


And for single malt, Macallan is good. But if you want to try something great, the Nikka japanese distillery is amazing.

Click to expand...

+1 buffalo trace - great bourbon for the price point. Better than their single barrel I think (eagle rare).