Name your Scotch

I prefer the Highland scotch. The smoky, peaty lowland ones do nothing for me.
With that said..try the Belvenie Doublewood or Portwood. Among my friends these are the ones to beat.

 

If you enjoy the highlands, try Highland Park 12. Tastes like Dambui. And if you feel rich, the Highland Park 18 is out of this world. So is the price....$137.00. They also have a 25 year old but it is up over $300.00 I believe. And I think that one is just a bit too much even for my blood.

 

too rich for you blood or your wallet? I'd taste a gimme sifter of it :wink:

 

I'm a Scot. My wallet and blood are the same thing!

 

I was pleasently surprised when I tried my first Macallan the other day. I was in a supermarket and needed some scotch for camping and didn't find any of my favs so knowing that Neil Peart (uber-drummer, writer, and motorcyclist) loves the stuff I thought I'd try it. Wonderfully tasty and delicate...a real switch from the peaty style. My current bottle of Laphroig is almost too peaty and "big" especially after trying the Macallan.

Leave it to Neil to know about some fine stuff!

 

My favorites have all been posted here already.
1. Macallen - very smooth.
2. Highland Park
3. Balvenie - Doublewood - I like the Sherry finish.

Glenlevit is a good all-arounder (kind've like our bikes), and Talisker is great when you want something really smokey.

I prefer mine with 2 cubes of ice, but like it neat too on occasion.

I pretty much stay in the 10-12 year range, because it can get crazy pricey in the 15 and 18 year ranges.

People say Scotch is expensive, but I'll tell you what... for $30-40 per bottle, I can get drunk 3 or 4 times. With the equivalent 1 to 2 cases of beer I'd get for that price, I'd get drunk 3 or 4 times. Same difference!

Not that getting drunk is my primary objective...:crazy:

 

Just bought my first bottle of Glenmorangie, Lasanta. After aging in bourbon casks it is finished in sherry cask. Very nice. I would have to agree Laphroaig is not the place to start with single malts, and certainly not the 10 year old, the 12 is much better.

 

I should have remembered that the Laphroaig is so...intense. The Craggenmore is a similar style but not as intense as the Laphroiag, right? (I haven't had it for a couiple of years so I cannot remember.)

 

If you like the Pete fl;aavour, try Oban. It is quite peaty in flavour. I enjoy that from time to time but my standby remains Highland Park 18 and Glenlivit 18. Cardhu is a nice round mellow single malt. !2 year old is fine.

 

Tried the 25 year old Highland Park last spring and OMG! You can't get Highland Park Scotches by the age now here in Canada. It is labeled by the year now. So the recent 1989 Highland Parks has been the staple with several others for a change of taste. I have a bottle of MaCLelland's Special Reserve that I bought wile on a cruise a couple years back and sip on from time to time. It too is very smooth. It was expensive though and I have found that Maclellands 12 year old to be almost as good.

Today I found a Lochside 45 Year Old Limited Edition. $5,500.00! Yup folks! That is five thousand five hundred dollars. I didn't buy it. Didn't taste it. That is: retail, out of the bottle, at home, $220.00 an ounce.

 

Laphroaic was my first love, petey can never be petey enough. Bowmore is also a great one for the money and a little smoother. For my tastes the Isle of Islay seems to be the area that specializes in the smokey/petey single malts. Love it just plain

 

Johnny Walker is roughly 2/3 vodka mixed with some single-malt scotch. This isn't an exaggeration or a story, and it's true of all the Johnny Walkers, not just the Red/Black. Blended Scotch is predominately neutral grain spirit with just enough single-malt scotch added so that it has some flavor. It's one of the great rip-offs in the history of food and beverage. The markup on Johnny Blue is probably in excess of 5,000%.

Current Favorite Scotch:
Springbank 12 year (barrel proof). Slightly sweet for a scotch, nice wonderful aroma. Sort of flowery. Flavor is powerful on account of the high proof, with a very faint hint of smoke. A little licorice maybe, and then something semi-sweet, not sure how I'd describe that element though. Springbank is also the only distiller left in Scotland that malts all their own barley on-site. Some distillers still do a portion on-site (e.g. Lagavulin, Laphroig), but they still buy some of their malt from mass producers that use room-size drying machines to dehydrate the grain.

Another, more accessible favorite of mine is Talisker, but I find many scotch lovers still haven't tried it. Easy to find, medium smoky, powerful. A real kick-back and slow-sipping scotch.

 

MacCallan's Cask Strength. At $75 it wont break the bank, but it is a damn fine single malt.

 

Holy Resuscitated Thread, Batman!

I was taken aback at my 2009 response, above. It would take quite a few paragraphs to detail my last three years of Scotch exploration. But yes, Highland Park is a favorite of mine.

So many Scotch styles, SO little time!

 

And this is one of my favorites. The extra proof just makes the tastes pop!

 

I can't afford the single malts, which I think have the most flavor and least pain. I drink Famous Grouse,it's blended with two of the major brands, Highland Park and another I don't remember. Dry, clean, nice wood taste and a good hit. About 30 for a 1/2 in NH. Um, I'm getting thirsty. On many rocks with a splash of water.

 

Famous Grouse has to be one of the nicest blends I have tasted and you can't beat the price .

 

There are some fine blends out there and the Grouse is quite good but there are definitely some single malts that sell for $30 and less. Do you have a TOTAL WINE store around? Good selection, great prices...as an example they carry several ages of a brand called Shieldaig which is a wonderful bargain. There are some well known brands of SM's that are sub $30 too. But of course, state taxes in various states range from not-so-bad to outrageous so "your mileage may vary."

 

Not sure if they still have it but Costco used to sell McCallan single malt under their own "Kirkland" label and even though it didn't taste the exact same as the McCallan branded bottles it was still a pretty damn good deal. My favorite is still Glenlivet on the rocks.

Rollin