Mateo

Balvenie isn't hard to get here in Boston...we'll send Cingular a care package if he can't find it in the hinterlands of Texas. LOL.

CingularDuality

My problem isn't one of not being able to find good, expensive Scotch whisky, it's that I enjoy the cheap stuff so much that I can't bring myself to spend $80 on a bottle of the good stuff. Can it really be worth it?

And sometimes the good stuff isn't the expensive stuff. Jim Beam Black Label (not the best, but definitely on par with Maker's Mark), for example... Shiner Bock brew, for another...

At any rate, I was thinking about picking up a bottle of Wild Turkey's Kentucky Spirit or maybe a bottle of Booker's to offer in trade...

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Wulfyn

Well the Balvenie 10yr is about £20 a 70cl bottle, so that's about $35 right? So yeah I agree that there are plenty of stunning ones to be had for a decent price. I'd not pay $80 / £50 for a bottle when I like so many reasonably priced ones.

Well if Balvenie is pretty easy to get hold of I can offer a bottle of Isle of Jura instead. I guess I'll just have to *sniff* drink the Balvenie *sob* myself then... (as you can see I'm really cut up by this idea ). Choice is yours.


Wild Turkey Kentucky's spirit sounds potent enough - then I can pretned I'm in Dallas or something

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eGoatBoy

Hmmm...well gents just so happens I got together with some friends a few days ago and we had a little tasting soiree. Our notes below, but "warning: the following content may contain material not suitable for all audiences!"

We did also try an Irish whiskey for contrast...and it just didn't seem to fit in with the rest. It seemed a good beverage if I wanted to become temporarily blind or paralyzed.

Anyway, the notes follow and you can see a pic of the lineup here. Not to spoil the ending, but my bottle of 1988 Signatory Vintage Bowmore won hands down.

The Tasting Notes

Lagavulin 16 year
- Liquid Dirt
- (I believe it was also described "like getting a shovel full of gravel in the face")
- Hits the tip of your tongue like a hammer
- Very smooth finish
- Smoother than Bowmore
- One oak flavor - no complexity
- Sweetness
- Consistent
Joel: "F#%king Frightening" - Although this was on the Lagavulin notes, I believe it applies to the Talisker where his brow furled before uttering this descriptor.

Balvinie 10 year
- Lots of fruit on the nose
- Fades on finish
- Fades to black fast
- Very mild finish - Glenlivet
- Smooth on tongue
- Not a spectacular finish
- Grape analogy (like a heavily oaked Chardonay)
- "Non Scotch"
- Too Mild
- Sweeter than the rest

MaCallan 90
- Sweet, mild
- mellow aroma
- bit of smoke at and
- no longer (?) finish
- Different end tastes
- Finishes like it smells and starts
- Sherry Finish/Start

McClellend 12
- Very distinct smell
- Grappa start
- Sudden hit to tongue

Talisker (Reject)
- Unpleasant taste right off the bat
- puts a scowl on your face
- Bitter
- Distinctive Flavor - like s#%t
- Hibridian flavour (did we decide what this was... s#%t?)
- Sharper but dramatize after a while
- Intoxicating (not in a good way)
- Charming (huh?)
- "Even when I'm drunk it still tastes like s#%t"

Dalwhinnie 15
- Warming
- Subtle, touch of peat
- Sweetness
- Very gentle
- Easy to "be with" "curl up with"

Glenfiddich 12 (Note: this was abandoned and left for dead - does anyone want it?)
- Sweet
- Smooth
- Mild

Glenfiddich 18
- Oak
- Calgon
- Much Smoother than 12 year

Bowmore 88
- Nose is stronger than the flavor
- Peat
- Concentrated (?)
- Lingering flavor
- Fruit than peat than (?)
- Smokey, Peaty
- Very long flavour
- Fireworks in your mouth

Favorites...
1. Bowmore
2. Dalwhinie
3. Lagavulen
4. McCallan
5. McClelland


Cheers,

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olddude1965

Looks like I have found the right group. New SM here offering my vote for Bowmore--now this Scotch whiskey will teach you the meaning of 'taste the peat!' Great sipping whiskey (redundant?).

Marconi

Great posts in here. I am actually out of liquid sustenance, so was planning a trip ... Irish Whiskey you say? I shall have to try! AAR later

I would love to get another bottle of Fettercairn, but it's probably no surprise that some of the more interesting distilleries don't export. I tend towards Speyside-region scotch generally, but I can see this thread may prove invaluable in future experimentation.

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Addict

eGoatBoy, BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DudeMan

i prefer the single malt Irish Whiskey, over scotch whisky any day... i am partial to jamersons and bushmills, but i also like a nice glenfiddich, which i believe is scotch....


however, i am a littel dissapointed that the new york times has not distinguished between whiskey, and whisky,

when you spell it with an e its irish and when you spell it without its scotch.... they band them all under whiskey...which to a scottsman would be insulting...lol

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Bisclaveret

Awesome! as a fairly new entrant into the drinking age (22 next month) i'd say i have aquired a taste in the 'finer things' unlike my brethren who go out to buy the cheapest beer they can get and drink half the case...

I've not tried many of the harder liqours, but i've already found I do like the scotch. I haven't had very many of them, so far, i tried the Glen-s (Glenmorangie to be exact) like when i went out drinking after James Doohan died..strange, none of the bars around here had any Aldebaran whiskey... ) and things of that ilk. This thread has given me some good things to try. Living in the LCB police state that is Pennsylvania, it might even make it easier to track down some of these, as the PLCB has a running inventory list of all the state licensed stores.

I've tried some American/etc whiskeys, and can't really stand the taste. Way too rough/sour/etc, like George Dickel (never make a Dickel and coke... it's nasty) and the rest, though

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Mateo

Sounds like we need another care package, this time to PA!

Listen, Glenmorganie? Compared to to the list that these guys put up; it may be Scots, but it's still crap!

Wulfyn

Actually if someone can recommend a good Glen- i'd be interested, as i've pretty much written them all off.

Interesting eGoatBoy (oops!) that you guys judged Balvenie as a non-scotch. I'd have to say that it doesn't have to be 'peaty' to be a scotch (this is from an island that has apricot flavoured beer incidentally). However the reason why the 10 year tastes the way it does is because it spends some of it's time in a sherry cask, and not wholly in a traditional bourbon cask. This is where you get the grapey flavour from in the 10 year.


And "F'ing frightening" is a very good description of Talisker. Like I said nowhere near the quality of the others mentioned, but it will put hairs on your chest (and lungs too probably).


--err edited for being a retard.

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eGoatBoy

Thanks for clearing this up Dudeman!


I agree with you there Wulfyn. I like the Macallan quite a bit...which I believe is finished off in sherry casks as well. Apparently it's toned down to appeal to us North Americans (or so I was told by the guy in London who sold me that fantastic Bowmore). Anyway it's not peaty at all. The 10yr Balvinie we had was just so mild that it just didn't seem to fit the bill...that said it was a fairly random selection we had, so maybe in a different crowd it would be judged more favourably.

Also, referring to me as 'eDonkey' seems a bit harsh...
Note that a happy goat looks nothing like a donkey.

I may be bullied into trying another Irish whiskey this Friday, but if not then at the very least I will be enjoying a few Guinness.

Cheers gents,

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CingularDuality

I had this beautiful 17 year old when I was in Phoenix. Her name was Glenfarlas and she was the best I've ever had...

The guy at the bar said it goes for around a hundred bucks a bottle. I asked for his best Scotch on the rocks and he refused to pour it. He said he'd only serve it neat.

Which brings up another angle to this discussion: How do you drink your whisky? I almost always drink it on rocks, occasionally neat and, every now and then, with water.

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Wulfyn

OMG!! I cannot believe I did that!! err.. edited for posterity. Sorry mate, the psychologists are coming round to my house as I type this


Out of interest on the Balvenie (not to flog a dead donkey), how long had it been opened for? (just saying as it was the least full of those in your picture. I'm asking because I found the drink to have a really short shelf life when opened, anymore than about 3 months and it gets quite weak. Not a problem for me however So yeah if you do get it don't let it hang around, otherwise you'd need a mixer for sure.

I would recommend you having a go at the Isle of Jura, but then if you're not a fan of milder whiskys then islay ones are maybe not your preference


Good man that bartender! Always always neat for me.

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CingularDuality

So, have you heard of, or tried, Glenfarlas?

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