Thread: Single Malt

Originally Posted by Bruno

In the name of all that is good and holy: No GlenFiddich. It has as much character as pepsi cola.

Springbank 10 years is a really good choice, or for my favorite at the moment Caol Ila 18yrs.

What are some top of the line money no object brands of whiskey. My grandmother was a bootlegger and we always just drank what we made. It was smooth and sweet and clear as spring water. But I would like to hear the names of the very best in all the world in you fellas opinion,

Brand names don't really matter. It's just a matter of taste.
Independent bottlers take samples from lots of casks in the storeroom, and then buy the casks which they think have the best potential.

These casks are matured until the whisky is at it's peak, which is why independent bottlings do not always have the same age.

I like older whiskies > 15 years, but I've had an 8 year old bowmore that was fabulous.

My favorites include Dalhuaine, Port Ellen, Highland Park, Isle of Jura, Springbank and Glen Rothes.

But as I said before: I want to have had 1 bottle from each distillery (money permitting of course) before I die. I've now had 90 different ones.
Some that I really like, I buy over and over, like springbank.
And my wife also likes malt whisky, so it is the one and only luxury item we spend money on, and thus I never have to argue about spending enough on whisky to buy a Livi.

We go shopping for whisky 2 times per year, and we buy it in a store that started as a hobby, and then went out of hand. The owner know anyone who's important in that world, and has thousands of bottles that are not available to normal shops. And he takes only very small margins because he is not out for a profit. He just wants to make enough to cover for the hundreds of bottles that are openend for tasting in his shop.

well then how about this. When you die what would you serve at your wake!

Providing my wife doesn't want to have them anymore, I'd say everything I have, including the dozen very rare malts (27yr Port Ellen, 22yr Dallas Dhu, ...) that I keep locked away.

But if I could take one with me in the coffin, it would be the 31 year old Dalhuaine.

I'm an island malts man mostly, when I do at all. Kind of prefer Belgian beer as a tipple mostly though. Laphroaig often comes out top for me - dad used to call it 'the frog'. I like the peaty, slightly medicinal feel to it.
We managed to resist calling our daughter 'Islay' (pronounced with the sound of the 'i' in child and then 'la' - had to really think about how to find the right sounding 'i' there!) as this was where she was created. May have had something to do with the whisky! A really nice intro to Islay malts is Bunnahabhain (bunna-hav-in) bunna meaning mouth and abhain is a river in Gaelic. It is reasonably light but still with that peaty, slightly medicinal taste. I remember going into a pub in Aviemore and they were offering anybody who could pronounce it correctly a free dram. So my first one was free that night, but they got their money back...

cheers
Stephen

Don,
If you do make it out to Chicago, we have a terrific Scottish pub called The Duke of Perth. The have at least 50 different single malts available and they offer flights so you can sample several different vintages, styles or regions. Mike behind the bar is very knowledgeable and would be happy to guide you. When you find one you like you can head over to Sam's and buy a bottle...or 3.

Originally Posted by gotoneatlast

Don,
If you do make it out to Chicago, we have a terrific Scottish pub called The Duke of Perth. The have at least 50 different single malts available and they offer flights so you can sample several different vintages, styles or regions. Mike behind the bar is very knowledgeable and would be happy to guide you. When you find one you like you can head over to Sam's and buy a bottle...or 3.

Is the bar downtown???

Lynn

Thanks guys for all the great info going to make a trip to to store today. will report back on what I got.

The Macallan Cask Strength is excellent for the money (about 60 bucks in GA) I like it neat and I like trying it with varying amounts of water (not much though!) to sort of play "scotch blender"