Any scotch drinkers in the house!!!

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin
We call it 'Scotch' on this side of the pond. It is labeled 'Scotch Whiskey'. Sometimes it isn't single malt. Blended.

Don't try mixing scotch and butter together. It does not make butterscotch.

a reply to: Expat888

I always have my drinks neat to better enjoy the flavour ..

It should almost be illegal to mix it with anything... including water, frozen or otherwise.

I've tried many but my go to would be Oban's 14 Year, it's a great single malt highland.

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: Expat888

I always have my drinks neat to better enjoy the flavour ..

It should almost be illegal to mix it with anything... including water, frozen or otherwise.

Yep.. its complete sacriledge to mix it .. cringe every time see people who desecrate a fine scotch ..

a reply to: Expat888

My only concession is the bottled water from the Balvenie river that I have. They recommend putting a few drops in your malt glass (we all have one of those, right?) to help it 'express'.

I think there's a lot of snobbery creeping in with whisky drinking.

Why does it have to be "single malt"?

There are some very good blended malts out there which are the same alcohol content (40%) and taste as good if not better than the single malts...with the main exception that they are a f of a lot cheaper.

Single malts tend to be more 'woody' flavoured, that's all.

15 quid gets you a litre of very good whisky (Bells, Teachers, Famous Grouse, Whyte & Mackay).

Why pay £100 for a bottle of single malt?

I don't get it.

you sound like a spayside single malt person.


glenfiddich, glen moray, aberlour, excellent whiskeys - try any of them - no disappointment

Ah, you're all speaking my language...been tough to get a good scotch without paying a fortune for it here...vodka is the poison of choice in these parts. I 2nd on the Laphroaig!

My boss likes scotch so I always get him a small bottle of Glenlivet for Christmas. It's quite expensive and he always jokes that even his wife doesn't buy it for him. But he's a good boss and I feel blessed to work with him.

a reply to: CJCrawley

I think there's a lot of snobbery creeping in with whisky drinking.

Why does it have to be "single malt"?

There has always been a degree of snobbery with whisky drinking and there always will be just like there is with wine but, like wine, it is for a good reason.

I will really only ever drink a single malt, the only blended i drink is stuff that is given to me.

Blended and Malt are not the same, if you buy say a 12 year old highland park you are buying a high quality product that has been sitting in its cask for 12 years. Say that's in a 700 litter cask, for 12 years, losing up to 2% per year or about 25% to the "Angles share" over those 12 years then your getting a pretty good price if you are paying £30 in the uk. That's £30 for a very high quality product that has taken 12 years to make and in those 12 years the company making it has lost about 25% of their product just waiting on it to be ready for you.

Thirty quid is a bargain.

Now say you have a blended whisky, lets take Grouse as a example. Like all Scottish and Irish whiskies if it says its aged 12 on the bottle that means that any spirit going into it must be at least 12 years old, the only thing that can be added to it is a colouring agent. Like all blended whiskies what goes into the blend is kept underwraps but grouse usually uses highland park and Macallen. The catch however is that they might only put say 10% of each into the bottle and fill the rest with grain whiskies, that is to say whiskies that are not made with barley. These whiskies are of a much lesser quality and that is why they are cheaper.

Just gotta point out, if your are drinking 100 proof whisky (about 63-64% abv iirc) then you really should add a drop or two of water - i CBA to look it up, but i believe it produces a chemical reaction with the Flavinoids to actually release flavours otherwise trapped. It's well worth a try, it'll really bring out the life in the spirit.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

I take your point.

And maybe I'm just a hopeless philistine when it comes to alcoholic beverages, but this is the way I view it; and if I view it like this, you can bet others do too.

If it looks and tastes like whisky and isn't acidy, that'll do nicely.

Who really cares about quality and the finer points of the production process?

It's a sales gimmick!

There are only 2 considerations with all alcoholic drinks:

1. taste

2. alcohol content

Everything else is just fluff.

a reply to: CJCrawley

Well i guess you are both correct and a hopeless phillistine. It's just that good Whisky can have some pretty amazing diversity in flavour, even changing depending on when you drink it and what flavours of food (etc) you have just experienced.

I find Laphroaig can vary from TCP to Nectar depending on how i approach it.

But you are still right about taste and boozyness, though wrong about fluff i guess

Most "crap" whiskeys are blends

A single means they make it from ONE batch, of a single type. One barrel, usually old port barrels or wine barrels, made as one type with one time old recipe.

Far cleaner taste. If you try a blend like bells and then a single - you will TASTE the difference.

Lets face it if your drinking to get drunk, just go with cheap blended crap, but if you like a good flavor, a single is the way. Also DO NOT add ice, it melts very fast and makes it taste like arse and is a waste (in my opinion). A splash of soda water can be nice, but avoid melted tap water ice at all costs.

I like the spaysides because of the 'peaty' taste and flavor it gives, very deep and complex without tasting cheap and nasty. Very full and clean on the palette.

EDIT: my advice, go to a bar that has a nice selection of real whiskeys and buy a few - then buy a bottle. Dont waste 30 quid (40 bucks) on a good whiskey you wont enjoy.

edit: spelling mistake corrections

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: Expat888

My only concession is the bottled water from the Balvenie river that I have. They recommend putting a few drops in your malt glass (we all have one of those, right?) to help it 'express'.

I keep it simple with a tumblr.

And you're spot on with the water. It's not used to cut and many avid neat purists (like I was) are quite pleasantly surprised by the result.

a reply to: LightAssassin

I don't appreciate the blended scotches the same way as I appreciate A single malt. Single malts, take a lot of care, time and effort. Not to mention at any point during casking, your whiskey can foul, or out gas leaving you with a very expensive natural flavouring someone may buy to make their blended whisky's.

There are just so many steps, and so much love in each and every bottle that is out there. Scotch doesn't age in the bottle, it only ages in the cask, and it's in the cask the whiskey can turn into something beautiful or a bloody head ache inducing, vomit enticing nightmare.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Balvenie 21 in sherry buttes sounds remarkable. I really like the character the Sherry butte adds.

Thank you for the suggestion.

a reply to: Snarl

I really think Gibsons 12 is the best whiskey you can buy for the money. $35 canadian for a 2-6. Now, granted that's here in canada where we brew it.

Or Glenmorangie nectar d'or that's a fine whiskey at a reasonable price.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Scotch, simply referring to whisky, from scotland, matured for longer than 3 years in the cask.

If I merely said whisky, we would see jack daniels, makers mark, crown royal, canadian club, and the likes thrown around. Which to me, are whiskey, not scotch whisky(Scotch).

a reply to: Strayed

I have also heard this, and look forward to getting myself a bottle in the future. Anything particular that stood out about it to you ?