Dude, you know your spirits. I can tell these differences about wines, but I am not nearly this good with Scotch. I guess I will have to keep drinking the darn stuff. Oh, and good call on the Oban. A buddy and I enjoyed cigars (he had a pipe) on his back deck overlooking the ocean last night. Next time, I will snap a camera phone pic of the scotch and cigars. (Siglo VI)
Dalwhinnie is another one that fits this bill. It's light and sweet, easily accessible and relatively inexpensive.
Agreed! I just picked up another bottle of Port Charlotte The Peat Project, it's a great single malt from Bruichladdich. I'm trying to expand my horizons from my typical choices (anything matured in sherry casks)and The Peat Project is a good beginner's bottle for someone looking to give peat a chance. I also bought a bottle of The Dalmore 12...gotta have balance
if you like the lighter (less oily & smokey) Islay malts, Bruichladdich is a great choice. the Port Charlotte distillery has recently re-opened (along with Ardbeg and a couple others), a testament to the reawakening of appreciation for fine single malt. If you want similar options, Bunnahabhain is similar to Bruichladdich, and Caol Ila is smokey and astringent, but leaves a little sweetness in the mouth after drinking. I received a great Caol Ila 12 bottled by Gordon and MacPhail recently, and am really impressed at how much I like it. Bowmore is also smoother than some of the more popular Islay brands. I like their "Darkest" which has Islay notes (peat and smoke) but which is matured in sherry casks long enough to have a hint of the Highland taste. Unlike some others, it has a very slight floral smell before tasting. All of these are good introductions to the Islay malts IMHO. If you ever need an Islay malt to knock you down, though, drink a glass of Laphroaig 10 cask strength (55.7% alcohol, oily, sea air, and about as much peat as can be safely consumed by humans). As they say, it's a man's drink... One other thing the Islay malts share in common is that they are impossible to pronounce correctly from someone not native to Scotland (Andrew might give us a translation thesaurus sometime just for these brands). If you mispronounce it when shopping, it happens to everyone... Regards, Bob H
the 20 year old dalwhinnie is my pick of the moment. however, just picked up a bottle of the new line from johnny walker called spice road, and frankly its pretty good. the gold blend was even better. actually, that got me into the mood so am drinking some dalwhinnie now....have a good weekend !
Hard to argue with you. Can't quite see the ocean from my deck, but a nice view of the mountains and this time of the year as long as the fire is going life is good.
It's a much longer story than anyone might care, but there are three "Stillman's Dram" brands with ages from 24-30 years. The Bruichladdich 26 is a great Whisky. If you can find it, you'll pay between $350-500 a bottle on average. The price varies widely at times depending on where you find it and how aggressively the merchant reprices their liquor to market demand. Both Dalmore and The Isle of Jura Distilleries also sell The Stillman's Dram; the licensing of brands and bottling for some of the smaller places can get pretty confusing, and drinking single malt while you ponder it doesn't seem to help much. Bruichladdich bottled theirs for Whyte & Mackay, who now own the other two distilleries, which produce it now. Interestingly, Whyte & Mackay is also the distiller that announced in 2010 they would work to replicate the Mackinlay whisky found at Ernest Shackleton's hut in Antarctica (they had bought the rights to that distiller in the interim). They introduced the rebooted whisky in late 2012, and you can buy a bottle for about $150. It is good, not great, but has a compelling story to go with it if you're inclined. All of The Stillman's Dram are very good, and also at least $250-450 or so if available. The 26 seems to rise to the top in reviews; the 28 also gets high marks. I have yet to try it, but would gladly test a glass for an FChat review if darth550 sends me one... Regards, Bob H
Bought a bottle of Talisker 18yrs and a Braes of Glenlivet 20yrs (Old Malt Cask) when in London last week end. The vintage house in Soho has a great selection and many malts are very cheap compared to swedish prices, specially since the SEK is very strong
I closed a small deal yesterday. My college age son went out and bought me a bottle of scotch to celebrate. He said he couldn't afford the Mac 50. So he bought the Mac 12 and put white out on it and then drew a 50 on it. He said it was the thought that counted. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hey, should we rename this thread "The Whisky/Whiskey Thread"? Had a dram of my new Caol Ila last night, and got a chance to drive my car to the dentist - I've found the car even makes those trips enjoyable. Since there are no discernable holidays today, I thought I'd raise a toast to Aeneas Coffey, an excise tax collector in Ireland who was also an inventor. In fact, his greatest invention is responsible for many of those bottles occupying the shelves of your spirits cabinet. Excise taxes were the most common means the state had to turn a profit from alcohol sales, so Coffey's job led him to spend a lot of time with whiskey producers watching their processes. Seeing Stein's original design for a column still in 1826, Aeneas set about to improve it. In 1830, he created the "Patent Still" named so because it was patented in 1831. Most in the industry, though, know it as the Coffey Still. It is what enabled distillers to economically distill spirits at much higher alcohol concentrations than was possible prior to his invention, and was a boon to the distillery industry in Ireland and Scotland. Coffey stills, along with single malt's copper pot stills, helped popularize whisky to a broad audience, thus creating the impetus for the modern whisky industry. Since a toast is not really drink, we want to keep finding reasons to toast so we don't become drunks... An Irish toast for your next occasion... May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you've gone too far. Regards, Bob H
Can you post a larger picture of your avatar, or give us a reference to her. I just love seeing it, but that picture is just way too small.
I just picked up a bottle of Talisker Distiller's Edition...it's peaty, a little spicy and slightly sweet (it's matured in Amoroso cask wood)...the best of all worlds for my pallete.
