The whisky/whiskey (that's Scottish/Irish) thread

Reviews, Videos, and Everything Else The Finer Things
21

God fucking damnit, a thread about whisky, and no-one mentions a single malt until the 18th post? What kind of animals are you?

Thank you, Petter, for restoring my faith in a benevolent deity.

Favourite: still going to go with the 14 year old Scapa for now, though I haven’t had any in a while. I like the peaty Islays, but the light, honey-tasting Scapa has a moreish quality that makes it go down a real treat.

17 year Cragganmore is also damn fine. Haven’t tried younger Cragganmore, but have been told it’s a lot rougher. Not generally a big fan of Speysides.

I like a lot of others to slightly lesser degrees: Talisker, Laphroaig, Jura, Caol Ila, Highland Park spring to mind in roughly that order. Had some Springbank on the go recently, and liked it quite a lot, would be tempted to stick it near the top end of my personal rankings. There was a bottle of Bowmore sherry cask a while ago that I really quite enjoyed too - a little sweeter than the average whisky.

I would suggest giving Auchentoshan a miss, I found it rather underwhelming.

I generally drink my whisky neat, as do most other Scots of my acquaintance, unless it’s a blend, in which case I don’t feel bad about adding a mixer.

The most “interesting” way I’ve ever seen whisky drunk was at the tail end of a Hogmanay party, when a random teenager picked up a glass of my 17-year-old Cragganmore, thinking someone departed had left it, and blithely emptied it into a glass of white wine. My friend whose house it was swiftly stepped between us in the hope of preventing bloodshed.

22

oh fuck you’re actually in Scotland too takes notes

i have enjoyed many a glass of single malt glen-this-and-that over the years and while I do truly appreciate that i’m still a cheap bastard and red label gets me good and drunk. :qbluewack

23

This is the most heart rending story of alcohol abuse I have ever read. Is there a statute of limitations on such a transgression? I do believe a follow up ass beating should be required.

24

Currently on hand I have Laguvilin 16 Year Old Single Malt, White Stagg 18 Year Old Kentucky Bourbon and in hand a wee bedtime dram of El Dorado 15 Year Old Rum. Life is too short to drink bad booze.

25

Damn it! You’ve seen my posts in the Skepticism forum; you know what a crushing remark that is…

Favourite: still going to go with the 14 year old Scapa for now, though I haven’t had any in a while. I like the peaty Islays, but the light, honey-tasting Scapa has a moreish quality that makes it go down a real treat.
My ignorance is showing. What’s the “moreish” quality?

17 year Cragganmore is also damn fine. Haven’t tried younger Cragganmore, but have been told it’s a lot rougher. Not generally a big fan of Speysides.

I like a lot of others to slightly lesser degrees: Talisker, Laphroaig, Jura, Caol Ila, Highland Park spring to mind in roughly that order. Had some Springbank on the go recently, and liked it quite a lot, would be tempted to stick it near the top end of my personal rankings. There was a bottle of Bowmore sherry cask a while ago that I really quite enjoyed too - a little sweeter than the average whisky.
Next time I sink the better part of a hundred dollars into a single bottle of booze, based on local availability and price, it’s probably between a 14-year-old Scapa, 10yo Talisker, the Jura “Superstition” (what kind of a product line name is that for a single malt?), or maybe a 12yo Bowmore. How would you compare the four? I’m aiming to move into more flavourful territory after I polish off the Bruichladdich (or maybe before I do), but I find the peatiness of the Laphroaig I’ve had a little too much.

26

for drinking straight, my stepfather always liked Lagavulin 12 years, no ice no water …sip it like an old man… that was my first try on a whisky, best start ever.

for mixing, I guess, J&B with Coca Cola, on some ice, is fine, but still have bad feelings on it.

anybody here likes rhum?

27

I’m no whisky expert, not even by a long shot. But I know what I like… Laphroaig all the way. Warm and without rocks. Gives me a massive hangover every time, but it’s worth it.

28

That’s why I couldn’t resist it.

Scapa has a very pleasant flavour, but a less lingering aftertaste than most whiskies. It therefore sneakily incites you to drink it a little faster.

Scapa I dearly love. It’s a light, relatively sweet (by whisky standards) whisky which I’ve yet to find someone dislike. The only caution would be that that less lingering aftertaste is likely to impel you to go through it faster. It’s not heavily peaty.

Talisker is more peaty, but not so much as Laphroaig. The ten year is a perfectly decent whisky. It’s quite strongly flavoured, probably more so than your Bruichladdich. I don’t unfortunately have a soundbite that sums up its flavour quite so perfectly as Scapa.

Jura - I’ve not tried Superstition, only the Jura 10-year-old. That’s a rather more lightweight whisky than a Talisker, but not quite as delicate as a Scapa, IMO. A fairly easy-to-drink whisky. I can’t imagine Superstition would lead you far wrong.

With Bowmore, most of my experience has been with the sherry cask variant, which is going to be quite different. As regards the 12-year-old… well, it’s an Islay, it won’t be as strongly flavoured as Laphroaig, but is likely to still be a fairly heavy whisky. I’d be interested in hearing your report on it.

29

I rarely drink, but when I do I prefer whisky - straight. Sometimes cold sometimes room temperature. My favourite is Ballantines. Have tasted more expensive kinds, but it’s nothing I can usually afford myself.

It is good for mixing with Coca Cola, but it feels like waste of whisky. That’s what cheap vodka is for…

EDIT: When your 19 years old and drinking whisky older than yourself at a bar, you probably come off as somewhat of an asshole. But who cares, I’d rather spend my money on a sip of good whisky, than alot more on 10-20 beers and start acting like a real asshole … like most of my friends.

30

I actually prefer American Whiskies (Bourbon) to our rather expensive single malt british drinks.

31

If you’re just getting into single malt, I suggest MaCallan 12 Year Old. It’s scotch koolaid and a good introduction.

32

The cask strength Talisker 10 year old is a mightly fine drink. Bowmore 15, 17 and 18 year old commonly appear in my bar. Some people I know don’t like them because they can have a “perfume” quality.

I’m not a big fan of Jura.

33

I feel so much more worldly after readin this thread. Thank you all for your fine contributions.

34

I went on a tour of the distilleries in Islay this weekend. I got pretty smashed, but from what I remember it was pretty cool. The only problem was that I hadn’t recovered fully in time for judo last night, and it damn near killed me. Still, I have a nice bottle of Laphroaig 15 and a case of Islay ales here to nurse me back to health. Class.

35

Hmm. Crazy thought here… but, CrackFox, did you perhaps happen to knee someone in the face at judo and split their lip last night?

36

It was an accident. Honest. So was the spinning back-fist during that thing where we had to scramble across the mats.

How’s it going?

37

I like a shot of Elijah Craig with a beer.

Sip beer, sip bourbon, repeat as needed.

38

It’s going pretty well. Off to Glasgow on Friday to visit another occasional poster on these boards and a former member of our club. I think if we ever got round to holding a Scottish throwdown, the judo guys would outnumber everyone else by at least five to one.

39

I can’t agree more with this thread moving into single malt Scotch. Whisky just doesn’t get any better than that. I share the amused horror that it took the 18th post to get to the single malts. I haven’t tried nearly enough of them but my favourite (so far) is 12 year old Glenfliddich or Glenlivet slowly sipped straight from a glass.

40

i chase glenfiddich with coke and smoke blunts. its gangsta. word.