Thread: Is there such thing as a quadruple of scotch?

I want to try the macallan 25! I have been slowly working my way through an Oban 15yr I think it is. I'll need a new bottle of something interesting soon. I really like the unique flavor of Oban its probably a love it or hate it flavor though.

No offense, but swing doesn't enter my house... it's a blend. I gave up on blends a LONG time ago, only single malts for me...

Don't get me wrong, it's not bad as blends go, one of the better ones, but it's just not anywhere near my standards. Sorry if that sounds stuffy

As far as good starter scotches go, stay away from blends (Chivas, J&B, Johnnie Walker, etc) and start with some of the less pretentious singlemalts. Glenfiddich is a good entry singlemalt with a lot of vanilla and pear and it's very reasonably priced at around $25 for a 750 ml bottle. The 12 year old Macallan is pretty reasonable too (get the sherry oak version, not the fine oak or any of the cask strength stuff to start). The 12 year old Mac is a bit more challenging than the glenfiddich and a little deeper and, but with less oak and almost no peat to the finish that you'll find in a more complex singlemalt or an Islay malt in general. The mac will run you around $40 or so for a 750 ml.

Laiphroaig has notes of peat and iodine and is a tremendously good scotch but not one I'd introduce a new scotch drinker to. The 15 year old glenlivet is pretty cheap and better than 99% of the blends you'll try but it's not terribly sophisticated and doesn't have the depth, in my opinion. I've heard good things about the Dalwhinnie but haven't tried it yet. The things I've heard lead me to believe it'd be a good starter singlemalt too.

There are craploads of other good singlemalts out there that won't break your budget, and as you taste your way through them you'll start leaning one way or another on the kinds you like and will dive off in your own direction. I don't want to overwhelm you with too many choices. Basically, go find a well stocked bar and taste a few different singlemalts, pick one you like and work your way up from there. I could give you a million recommendations so I'll basically just say start with a $30 bottle of singlemalt somewhere, stay away from blended scotch completely, and try the more expensive ones a sample at a time until you find ones you like and then explore that particular distillery's line.

-- Gary F.

Ok and last question, How do you drink them? I mean for example, beer cold as possible, do you do scotch the same way? I saw some like 1 Ice cube some don't like any? No idea here ???

BTW thanks for the help

Beer should NOT be consumed as "cold as possible", holy cow, man.

That's the quickest way to kill all the flavor in a beer. Drink it at around 40 deg F and you'll get so much more flavor out of it you'll think it's an entirely different drink. That "ice cold" crap is a sin perpetrated on the American public by slick marketing idiots at the megabreweries to mask the fact that their beer HAS no taste anyway.

As for scotch... I drink it at room temperature or even warmed up a tiny bit. You can cool it a *little* but not too much and if you cool it too much you'll lose most of the character. I used to actually warm it up a bit like brandy, because I was taught that it opened up the nose. I tried a side-by-side and don't do it anymore, but some of my friends still do. Just don't drink it ice cold, and you'll be fine... a single ice cube is about the most I'd do to adulterate a good singlemalt.

Get yourself a whiskey tumbler... pour 2 fingers of scotch at room temp into it. Add a teaspoon of water (I did this with the 18 year old mac I had on saturday and wow, it *did* open it up, I need to thank the people who convinced me to try it). Swirl it, hold it up to the light and admire it. Cup your nose deep into the glass and smell the bouquet, then take a sip and hold it on the front of your tongue and let it slowly warm and permeate your entire mouth before you swallow it. You'll pick out various fruit notes first, then it will shift to vanilla, tobacco, cinnamon, leather, etc and then will shift towards the oak (and peat, a slight earthy smokey and almost grainy note if it's a peaty malt) at the end. After you swallow it, turn towards Scotland and raise your glass high and give a silent thanks to the geniuses who invented Scotch singlemalt whiskey. Repeat until your glass is empty.

Don't get hammered on good scotch, that's just a sin... stop when you're a bit fuzzy around the edges but just before you start searching for bagpipes and kilts on eBay

My God, I sound like an alcoholic. I really don't drink all that much, I just really appreciate the finer things, honest

-- Gary F.

With the reaction to blended scotch, I'd hate to see some of your opinions of Drambuie.

Although most of my scotches are single malts, I'm not a purist. Here in Houston in the summer we put ice in just about anything we can manage. I won't put ice in a single malt, so I drink Teacher's (blended) until things cool down a bit in the fall.

Among my treasures, I managed to get a friend bring me back a bottle of Edradour from Scotland, it's got a nice honey-almond-orange finish, almost bourbon-ey. Edradour is the smallest distillery in scotland; the bottle is signed by all three employees.

My company's sending me to Edinborough next month, I'm paying down the credit card in preparation

Originally Posted by gfoster

Beer should NOT be consumed as "cold as possible", holy cow, man.

That's the quickest way to kill all the flavor in a beer. Drink it at around 40 deg F and you'll get so much more flavor out of it you'll think it's an entirely different drink. That "ice cold" crap is a sin perpetrated on the American public by slick marketing idiots at the megabreweries to mask the fact that their beer HAS no taste anyway.

As for scotch... I drink it at room temperature or even warmed up a tiny bit. You can cool it a *little* but not too much and if you cool it too much you'll lose most of the character. I used to actually warm it up a bit like brandy, because I was taught that it opened up the nose. I tried a side-by-side and don't do it anymore, but some of my friends still do. Just don't drink it ice cold, and you'll be fine... a single ice cube is about the most I'd do to adulterate a good singlemalt.

Get yourself a whiskey tumbler... pour 2 fingers of scotch at room temp into it. Add a teaspoon of water (I did this with the 18 year old mac I had on saturday and wow, it *did* open it up, I need to thank the people who convinced me to try it). Swirl it, hold it up to the light and admire it. Cup your nose deep into the glass and smell the bouquet, then take a sip and hold it on the front of your tongue and let it slowly warm and permeate your entire mouth before you swallow it. You'll pick out various fruit notes first, then it will shift to vanilla, tobacco, cinnamon, leather, etc and then will shift towards the oak (and peat, a slight earthy smokey and almost grainy note if it's a peaty malt) at the end. After you swallow it, turn towards Scotland and raise your glass high and give a silent thanks to the geniuses who invented Scotch singlemalt whiskey. Repeat until your glass is empty.

Don't get hammered on good scotch, that's just a sin... stop when you're a bit fuzzy around the edges but just before you start searching for bagpipes and kilts on eBay

My God, I sound like an alcoholic. I really don't drink all that much, I just really appreciate the finer things, honest

-- Gary F.

Thanks for the advice. I did not know about the beer temp. I just drank it =/


I picked up a bottle of Glenlivet today 12 year old. I could not remember the name of the one posted earlier but knew it started with a G or Glen so I got this one. Should I take it back and get the Glenfiddich? I paid $21.19 for this bottle, its small bottle, so i'll wait to see what the verdict is on it before I open it.

BTW it says on the bottle single malt scotch and its 375mL

Glenlivet is a good solid decently made scotch. If it's the 12 year old that's a good entry level scotch also. It's a bit more oaky than the 12 year old macallan or glennfiddich. Depends on your tastes, really. It's a pretty good singlemalt for the price and you can't go wrong by tucking into it

-- Gary F.

Originally Posted by SharkHat

With the reaction to blended scotch, I'd hate to see some of your opinions of Drambuie.

hey now...nothing wrong with a good old rusty nail every now and then!

Wow! How do yall drink this stuff ! I could barely take 2 drinks of it lol. I guess whiskey is not for me. I think I am still making a face hehe. Think I will stick with beer.