Whisky

this is a story of me, slowly starting to appreciate whisky. i'm only focusing on scotch whisky, i also had encounters with bourbon, irish and japanese whisky, but i decided scotch was what i wanted to explore.

ever since i can remember, whisky was the yucky brown spirit that made me gag because of its taste. we used to drink it on every family birthday "party", old uncles and uncles used to bring a bottle of the cheapest supermaket whisky and i had to drink it. it was disgusting.

then one night in a club i ordered a whisky-cola, no idea why, but i did. probably mostly because of cola :) i liked the taste, i could taste the whisky in the drink and liked the taste.

so soon after that, i headed out to a supermarket to get me some whisky and cola. shelf full of whisky. i picked Johnnie Walker, Red Label - probably because it looked fancy, could also be some childhood memories. anyways, after trying that, even straight on ice, i liked it! wow, whisky doesn't have to make you gag! i enjoyed the distinct aroma, although a bit artificial-tasting, but nevertheless. and how delicious it was mixed with vanilla coke! but really, even straight, it was enjoyable. whisky.

three of four bottles of JW Red later, i received a bottle of JW Black Label from my brother, as a new year's gift. great, i really wanted to try that - it's supposed to be a huge step up in terms of quality, being 12 years aged. it is definitely a completely different thing. the taste is much more serious, complicated. almost too complicated. but i did like it and we went through the bottle pretty fast.

then i did some reading. blends. JWs i've been drinking are blended whiskys. single malts are the real deal. but which one to go with first? whisky reviews. smokey taste? flowery? fruity? what?? also, these things are not that cheap, really. what if it'll make me gag?

so in the end, i went with a 10y Talisker. it's so aromatic i can't stop nosing it, every time i want a sip, it takes like 5 minutes before i finally get it in my mouth :) it smells really really good, and the taste is really special. it's also quite strong, both in terms of alcohol and taste. but simply put - i tastes fancy.

now i'm decided to explore other options in this price range, i'm thinking Laphroaig and Lagavulin. what do you guys think?

so, what do you think about whisky? do you also have a story?

I love it. Like yourself, I never used to - I think it's a taste you can acquire as you get a bit older. It was only when I reached 25ish that I really started developing a taste for it. My Dad was the same.

If you're only just starting to "get" whisky, Laphroaig or Lagavulin might be a bit too much - they're both very strong, very distinctive whiskies (esp. Laphroaig - during prohibition in the US it often got through as "medecine" as it tasted so different from your typical "Scotch". Laphroaigfact.).

If you want to explore Islay whiskies a bit more, a good one to start with is Bruichladdich (http://www.bruichladdich.com/) as it has got some of the peatiness & smokiness associated with Islay malts, but is a bit "easier" to drink. The 10yr old is very drinkable. Although my personal favourite Islay is Bunnahabhain (http://www.bunnahabhain.com/index.php). You could also try and get hold of Black Bottle blended whisky (http://www.blackbottle.com/our_whisky.html) it tends to be my "day-to-day" whisky and might be a good intro to the peaty Islay whiskies.

Talisker is a great whisky - you made a good choice there. You might also like Highland Park - also quite a strong flavoured malt, but very tasty and very drinkable.

Try adding a tiny splash of water to your whisky too - it helps bring out more complex flavours.

i usually drink it with a few drops of water (maybe 10%), it makes it a bit easier for me to "understand" what's going on :)

the talisker is quite phenolic, but i'm somehow failing to find the peatiness in nose nor mouth. but it is really complicated for me, almost aggressive. do the islay malts differ a lot from talisker? from what i read they're somewhat similar. so what region would you recommend?

i guess it would make sense to keep away from Laphroaig (and Lagavulin too? really?) for now, and maybe check out some milder Islay malt.

anyways: these are some that i can get ahold of easily (and at a reasonable price):

- Dalmore 12

- Jura 10

- Glenfarclas 10

- Jura Superstition

- Glenkinchie 10

- Dalmore Gran Reserva

- Whyte & Mackay 19

- Lagavulin 16

what would you recommend?

I have an empty bottle of 70cl Jim Beam in my room but I don´t drink alcohol since 2009.

i reckon there's three general malt categories

PEAT (islay, some mainland distillers)

SHERRY (speyside, most of highlands)

MALTY/MILD (lowlands, some highlands)

..i think it would make sense to try one of each:

PEAT: Ardbeg 10yo (litre-bottle)

SHERRY: Glenfarclas 105 (cask-strength 60%ABV, litre-bottle)

MALTY/MILD: Balvenie Double Wood 12yo (litre)

those are the best value malts here in holland (30-35 euro for a litre) imo and i usually try to keep a bottle of them in the ol' cupboard. ardbeg for smokiness and all round awesomeness, glenfarclas for the best sherry-cask-aged whisky under 50 euros, and balvenie for whenever i don't want smoke or sherry.

now from that list you gave.. lagavulin is sort of expensive for a "normal" bottling (+-50e for 70cl) but it is fantastic and similar to talisker in the sense that it's very smoky but there's also a lot of other stuff going on. jura is IMO way underrated, it's sort of mild/subtle though and might seem a little bland after the talisker.

"undisclosed" mystery bottlings can be great buys also.. an independent bottler buys an amount of young malt (usually less than 10yo) and bottles it as a "generic islay" or "generic speyside" or whatever. sometimes at great prices. now some malts, especially the peat-based ones can be really awesome when young. for example take the 8yo Caol Ila for 18 euros, or that ridiculously smoky 5yo ardbeg from a few years back. great stuff! malts from india (Amrut, especially the cask-strength) and japan (Nikka) are usually priced nicely too.

i can get Lagavulin 16 (0.7l) for 47eur, but i'll probably go for something different next. this Glenfarclas 10yo for 38eur looks interesting, sherry cask sounds intriguing and i wanted to try it ever since i read about it.

i've no idea where i could get mystery bottlings :) so i guess that's out of the question.

so about that Balvenie, or even the "malty/mild" in general - are they like *really* mild? is it like women's whisky?

i'm thinking about checking out Highlands next. you're saying most of them are sherry cask?

not watmm's first scotch thread, here's another: http://forum.watmm.com/topic/31561-scotch/

I enjoy a bit of island whisky from my private stash every once in a while, a single bottle of that stuff lasts me for a year or so. Other whiskies are fine, but always pale in (direct) comparison.

  On 2/19/2010 at 1:00 PM, kokoon said:

i can get Lagavulin 16 (0.7l) for 47eur, but i'll probably go for something different next. this Glenfarclas 10yo for 38eur looks interesting, sherry cask sounds intriguing and i wanted to try it ever since i read about it.

aye, Glenfarclas 10yo is a nice sherried malt, if you can find Aberlour's 10yo then that's a pretty good choice also. if you want real heavy sherry flavors, go for the Glenfarclas 105 (cask-strength) or Aberlour's cask-strength (HUGE stuff, it's called "A'bunadh" but sorta hard to find).

  Quote

i've no idea where i could get mystery bottlings :) so i guess that's out of the question.

fair enough, i can imagine not many of those are making their way out east. they're not always available over here either but i keep my eyes open :)

  Quote

so about that Balvenie, or even the "malty/mild" in general - are they like *really* mild? is it like women's whisky?

well, some of them, especially the lowlands malts (Auchentoshan, Rosebank) and some highland malts like Glenmorangie are REALLY light and subtle. often sort of sweet and honey like. i avoid them.

Balvenie's whiskies are not really that mild, they're just not peated or sherried, awesome pure distillate flavors instead.

  Quote

i'm thinking about checking out Highlands next. you're saying most of them are sherry cask?

yeah, almost none of them use peated malt and IF there are strong cask flavors they're usually from sherry wood. however, if you're specifically looking for sherried whisky then you'd better look for a nice speyside. highland whisky can be pretty bland overall imo.

I like a JD on the rocks lol

i think scotch could make a run for most idm thing this year. everyone seems to be into it.

i wish i could afford to buy a nice whiskey. all this talk is making me want some real freakin bad :((((((((

  On 2/19/2010 at 11:41 AM, kokoon said:

 

anyways: these are some that i can get ahold of easily (and at a reasonable price):

- Dalmore 12

- Jura 10

- Glenfarclas 10

- Jura Superstition

- Glenkinchie 10

- Dalmore Gran Reserva

- Whyte & Mackay 19

- Lagavulin 16

 

what would you recommend?

Of the list above, either of the Jura's are lovely - Jura has some of the "heaviness" you get with the Islays, but with a bit of sweetness to take the edge off. As another poster stated, very underrated.

Glenkinchie is completely different from the heavy highland/island malts, but is very nice too - I tried it for the first time recently and was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. It's a lowland, so fairly mild, but has a really nice spiciness to it.

I'm not familiar with Glenfarclas or the Whyte & Mackay.

You should definitely try the really heavy Islays like Laproaig, Ardbeg & Lagavulin, but maybe something to work up to. Aberlour have a bottling - perhaps another poster can remind me which one it is - that is reminicsent of these really smoky/peaty malts, but also has a really nice spicy taste to it. That one was another recent discovery for me.

somebody hit me with a decent whiskey i could find in a major supermarket (uk)

(for as low a price as possible)

  On 2/19/2010 at 3:46 PM, AcrossCanyons said:

somebody hit me with a decent whiskey i could find in a major supermarket (uk)

 

(for as low a price as possible)

Gor for a nice blend like Black Bottle. You can usually get it for around £12 - £15 a bottle and is (imo) a lot nicer than other similarly priced blends.

i like my canadian whisky but for the most part i don't go for high class. wisers special blend for about $24 canadian and i'm smiling.

I love all Scotch Whisky except Johnny Walker, they all taste like varnish to me.

Talisker 10 Year Old is a smasher. Still, I'm an Irish man and I'll always be a Jameson man.

highland park 25

I like Aberlour 12 year, double cask matured

good taste to $$ ratio, in my opinion of course

  On 2/19/2010 at 6:03 PM, Fred McGriff said:

highland park 25

i'm just about done with a bottle of this. quite pleasant - it had been recommended to me on many occasions, so i finally gave it a go. it's nice, but to me it has that stereotypical 'whisky' taste - nothing particularly remarkable. having said that, however, it's very smooth and enjoyable. perhaps the only island malt to not taste at all like an island malt.

my girlfriend and i go through a case of laphroaig 10 every 7 months or so. i'm really not joking. it sounds like more than it is - have one dram a night each and you'll kill a bottle in a little over a week. 12 bottles in a case... damn... we're actually doing really well.

bruichladdich has an expression called simply "PEAT" this year, which is just that. laphroaig is often cited as being particularly peaty, but it's magic lies in more of the mysterious smokiness combined with the peat. if you try the bruichladdich peat, you get a serious, nazi-style, teeth-on-the-curb kick to the head of peat. there's no mistaking it. it's really really good.

yums.

I tell you what though, it goes down well with good tunes. Autechre,SND, Scuba albums all tried and tested on the Uisce Beatha and they cracked wide open.

Jefferson is a fine whisky, but Jefferson Reserve is a fine companion.

scotch: +1 Laphroaig 15, +1 Balvenie 12

Clynelish 14yr is about as good as it gets for those on a budget. Dalmore just went from $29 to $55 here, so it gives up that title.

I'm enjoying the Glenmorangie Sauternes Cask right now.

Jameson man, here. 'smy fave alcoholic beverage.

Yeah, I started to like scotch after I drank Johnnie Walker Black the first time. I tried all sorts of whiskeys before it but for some reason didn't think too much of it. Now I can drink all sorts of whiskeys and I like almost all of them.