Favorite Scotch?

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: Macallan 12 is what I keep at home. Reminds me, I need to get another bottle.

plus eleventy

Of course the 21 year old is pure heaven

This thread is making me thirsty..

I have this at home now..

Talisker 10 is a nice drop. Single malt, made on the Ilse of Skye.

There is also some world class scotch coming out of Tasmania these days, though not sure what the availability is like in America/canada. Sullivan's cove and lark distillery both have some excellent offerings.

McLaren is a nice mellow Highland, but my goto is Lagavulin...

I'm new to the whole scotch thing, but I like it so far. I have a bottle of Johnnie Walker double black at the moment and it's wonderful.

I haven't had a lot of different ones but I like Johnnie Walker Green. I used to commute with a guy who worked for a liquor company and every so often he'd get on the train with a bottle of something and a few cups for us to share. green label was the last bottle I went out and bought myself.

daeman wrote: There is also some world class scotch coming out of Tasmania these days, though not sure what the availability is like in America/canada. Sullivan's cove and lark distillery both have some excellent offerings.

Can they call whiskey made on Tasmania scotch?

Drinking Glenlevit 12 now. Not nearly as good the bunnahabhain.

In reply to spitfirebill:

Good point/question.. I guess technically it's whiskey. Still, when it's beating Scottish made whiskey at its own game I guess its worth a mention.

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote: Macallan 12 is what I keep at home. Reminds me, I need to get another bottle.

That's my vote too. (and I also need another bottle)

After visiting my family castle in Scotland a couple years back, my wife and I toured around the highlands tasting various scotches and found out some interesting things.

The Scots consider single malt to be like beer. Not necessarily very special or hard to make and everybody can do it (the exceptions are the older single malts that are prized for their flavor in blends). There are small distilleries all over the place, each with it's own flavor. The secret, and the thing they prize most, is proper blends that take a specially trained blendmaster to accomplish. Varous major blend companies, like Dewars, Jonny Walker, etc, share their single malts amongst each other but the blend proportions and actual contents of any given blend are a carefully guarded secret. When we toured the Dewars Aberfeldy distillery, above, we saw the blend room with hudreds of different single malts arranged around of various vintages and locations across Scotland. We also brought home what has turned out to be my own favorite Highland Scotch, the Aberfeldy 21 year:

Like most Highland scotches it's quite smooth. We also learned how to drink scotch in the Scottish manner, which is never straight. They always add a splash of water or over ice. Why? Because like fresh rain on the land that makes a fresh smell, the water causes the flavors to "pop" after it's been poured. And since the single malt has water added to it when it comes out of the cask in order to get it down to the legal proof limit, it's not actually diluting it like many scotch snobs in teh US think it does. And cask strength scotch HAS to have water added to it in order to make it drinkable and not be an unpleasant burn in your throat with no flavor.

One nice thing is, like wines, there are so many different blends and single malts that you never really get to stop learning more about them and the various different flavors from the different regions. I'm a highlander, so that's where my tastes lie, but some people love the Islay and Island peaty scotches, while others prefer the flowery lowland scotches. And of course if you don't like one region, there are a few others to try that will taste completely different.

daeman wrote: In reply to spitfirebill: Good point/question.. I guess technically it's whiskey. Still, when it's beating Scottish made whiskey at its own game I guess its worth a mention.

I don't dispute that.

It's same ole same ole with bourbon.

Chris_V wrote: One nice thing is, like wines, there are so many different blends and single malts that you never really get to stop learning more about them and the various different flavors from the different regions. I'm a highlander, so that's where my tastes lie, but some people love the Islay and Island peaty scotches, while others prefer the flowery lowland scotches. And of course if you don't like one region, there are a few others to try that will taste completely different.

Okay, so as a relatively inexperienced Scotch drinker, can someone lay out the general flavor profile of the three different regions and give a few brand examples? So far we've got

Lowland - lighter, flowery

Island (Islay) - smoky, peaty
Laphraoig

Highland - What makes the highland stand out?

Aberfeldy

Talisker. The Scotsman's Return From Abroad, by Robert Louis Stevenson, tells you all you need to know. See last two lines of third stanza:

In mony a foreign pairt I've been, An' mony an unco ferlie seen, Since, Mr. Johnstone, you and I Last walkit upon Cocklerye. Wi' gleg, observant een, I pass't By sea an' land, through East an' Wast, And still in ilka age an' station Saw naething but abomination. In thir uncovenantit lands The gangrel Scot uplifts his hands

At lack of a' sectarian fush'n, An' cauld religious destitution. He rins, puir man, frae place to place, Tries a' their graceless means o' grace, Preacher on preacher, kirk on kirk - This yin a stot an' thon a stirk - A bletherin' clan, no warth a preen, As bad as Smith of Aiberdeen!

At last, across the weary faem, Frae far, outlandish pairts I came. On ilka side o' me I fand Fresh tokens o' my native land. Wi' whatna joy I hailed them a' - The hilltaps standin' raw by raw, The public house, the Hielan' birks, And a' the bonny U.P. kirks! But maistly thee, the bluid o' Scots, Frae Maidenkirk to John o' Grots, The king o' drinks, as I conceive it, Talisker, Isla, or Glenlivet!

For after years wi' a pockmantie Frae Zanzibar to Alicante, In mony a fash and sair affliction I gie't as my sincere conviction - Of a' their foreign tricks an' pliskies, I maist abominate their whiskies. Nae doot, themsel's, they ken it weel, An' wi' a hash o' leemon peel, And ice an' siccan filth, they ettle The stawsome kind o' goo to settle; Sic wersh apothecary's broos wi' As Scotsmen scorn to fyle their moo's wi'.

An', man, I was a blithe hame-comer Whan first I syndit out my rummer. Ye should hae seen me then, wi' care The less important pairts prepare; Syne, weel contentit wi' it a', Pour in the sperrits wi' a jaw! I didnae drink, I didnae speak, - I only snowkit up the reek. I was sae pleased therein to paidle, I sat an' plowtered wi' my ladle.

An' blithe was I, the morrow's morn, To daunder through the stookit corn, And after a' my strange mishanters, Sit doun amang my ain dissenters. An', man, it was a joy to me The pu'pit an' the pews to see, The pennies dirlin' in the plate, The elders lookin' on in state; An' 'mang the first, as it befell, Wha should I see, sir, but yoursel'

I was, and I will no deny it, At the first gliff a hantle tryit

To see yoursel' in sic a station - It seemed a doubtfu' dispensation. The feelin' was a mere digression; For shune I understood the session, An' mindin' Aiken an' M'Neil, I wondered they had dune sae weel. I saw I had mysel' to blame; For had I but remained at hame, Aiblins - though no ava' deservin' 't - They micht hae named your humble servant.

The kirk was filled, the door was steeked; Up to the pu'pit ance I keeked; I was mair pleased than I can tell - It was the minister himsel'! Proud, proud was I to see his face, After sae lang awa' frae grace. Pleased as I was, I'm no denyin' Some maitters were not edifyin';

For first I fand - an' here was news! - Mere hymn-books cockin' in the pews - A humanised abomination, Unfit for ony congregation. Syne, while I still was on the tenter, I scunnered at the new prezentor; I thocht him gesterin' an' cauld - A sair declension frae the auld. Syne, as though a' the faith was wreckit, The prayer was not what I'd exspeckit. Himsel', as it appeared to me, Was no the man he used to be. But just as I was growin' vext He waled a maist judeecious text, An', launchin' into his prelections, Swoopt, wi' a skirl, on a' defections.

O what a gale was on my speerit To hear the p'ints o' doctrine clearit, And a' the horrors o' damnation Set furth wi' faithfu' ministration! Nae shauchlin' testimony here - We were a' damned, an' that was clear, I owned, wi' gratitude an' wonder, He was a pleisure to sit under.

ultraclyde wrote:

Chris_V wrote: One nice thing is, like wines, there are so many different blends and single malts that you never really get to stop learning more about them and the various different flavors from the different regions. I'm a highlander, so that's where my tastes lie, but some people love the Islay and Island peaty scotches, while others prefer the flowery lowland scotches. And of course if you don't like one region, there are a few others to try that will taste completely different.

Okay, so as a relatively inexperienced Scotch drinker, can someone lay out the general flavor profile of the three different regions and give a few brand examples? So far we've got Lowland - lighter, flowery Island (Islay) - smoky, peaty Laphraoig Highland - What makes the highland stand out? Aberfeldy

There's also Speyside (which is halfway between Highland and Islay on the peaty scale).

Islay tends to have a lot of salt water/marine flavoring besides the smoky, peatyness.

Speyside tends to be a bit more spicy but with flavors of honey, apples and pears. It also is more likely to be aged in used sherry casks, vs used burbon casks.

Highlands tends to be warmer, more honey and heather flavored, with less" bite" than Speyside or Islay.

Lowlands tends to be the "lightest" of them with more floral flavors, and uses no peat in the drying process.

Chris_V wrote: One nice thing is, like wines, there are so many different blends and single malts that you never really get to stop learning more about them and the various different flavors from the different regions. I'm a highlander, so that's where my tastes lie, but some people love the Islay and Island peaty scotches, while others prefer the flowery lowland scotches. And of course if you don't like one region, there are a few others to try that will taste completely different.

It is interesting how that works--With beer, I like a nice English Porter or Stout, or else a German/Polish Pilsner/Lager. With Whiskey, I like Bourbon.

Ethnically, I am 1/2 English--and that half settled in Kentucky in the 1700's--and some combination of Polish, German, and Austrian.

I like a lot of other ethnic beers, but always go back to the northern European varieties. I am ok with a lot of Whiskies/Whiskey's, but always end up back with Bourbon.

My great Grand father was for Orkney; Kirkwall to be precise. So I drink Highland Park. That would have been his local drink. Scapa started about the time he emigrated to the US, but I need a bottle to complete research.

To be Scotch, it has to be made in Scotland - other great single malt whiskeys are made elsewhere, I hear the Japanese make some excellent ones. And Scotch is whisky, not whiskey. Anal, to be sure, but that's the way it is. I've been to the talisker distillery, can't say I like it too much, to me it was sort of like peaty lighter fluid, but that's the great thing about Scotch, so many different flavors. I'm certainly no expert, I tend to favor bourbon, but several people I know who profess to be real Scotch fans really like Highland Park, and since I've been past the distillery several times while in the Orkneys, I pass that info along. I'm helping to plan a Burns Night Supper here in southwestern Colorado, and I'm going to recommend we use Highland Park for the whisky tasting.

+1 on the splash of water. We went to an international gathering of Clan MacKenzie in 2010, and that's how they told us to enjoy it, brought in by a piper and led by the Clan chief. Exceedingly cool!

In reply to aussiesmg:

What was that Scotch we had at your place when we were working on the Alfa? That stuff was yum yum yum.

The Irish drink whiskey.