Thread: Scotch/whiskey of the day

I do like glenfarclas. Somehow all of their expression are so different from each other. The 105 is great. So is the 10, for a completely different reason.

Out of the choice given, though, the 10 year old springbank is a no-brainer.

Having a Crown Royal tonight. Got some Crown royal Autumn Harvest a few weeks back (its fantastic). So tonight I'm having some of the original to compare. The Autumn Harvest beats it by a mile

So much to say! I like when the discussion gets going.

Leatherstockiings, how's the aberlour 12? I've only tried the A'bunadh and keep considering buying one of the other expressions for a comparison. I'm trying to hold off buying for a little while, I seem to buy whisky much quicker than I review it. Sorry to hear you couldn't get the A'bunadh, I think you would have enjoyed it. I'll PM you a link to my blog, I'm still a little unclear as to whether posting it here would count as advertising, which would break the forum rules. I haven't tried Auchentoshen or Macallan that i can recall, but springbank is very good quality but rather subtle and I would consider it a more "advanced" tasting experience if there is such a thing. Flavours tend to be minerally and less familiar. I was impressed by the Balvennie double wood not too long ago (12 year old I think?). I tried it maybe ten years ago and wasn't that excited about it, but had it again at a friend's place about a year ago and was very pleasantly surprised.

Pighog, I read it as "green welly top" the first time round and assumed you were referring to the colour of the tube, which is pretty much green welly coloured. The tasting notes they have on the site make it sound very similar to the 15 year revival. I'm very interested to hear more. With the 15 year revival the distillery say there's an orange taste in their notes, but I didn't notice anything I would call orange until I was halfway don the bottle. Interesting.

ChrisL, I was just looking at one of my blog posts because someone commented on it (I'm averaging nearly one comment a year so far) and I'd speculated a bit about double and triple distilling. My thought at the time was that maybe double distilling makes for a more complex whisky, but triple distilling might allow for subtleties of flavour that would otherwise be hidden by the heavier flavour compounds. I hadn't really thought about it much since, but right now I'm thinking that for triple distilling to reveal light and subtle flavours they would have to be there in the first place. I'm wondering if Auchentoshan is hampered by triple distilling or if it's just not that great, and wondering even more how someone would tell the difference without trying a double distilled version which doesn't appear to exist. What do you reckon?

I tried several single malts tonight. I'll try to give a brief report this weekend.

I shan't comment too much on any of my three new bottles until they've had a chance to breathe and develop. However, on first tasting, the glendronach is very good. Very fruity but sherry-sweet as well. 55.5%; I probably had a 30ml or so dram and it took three teaspoons of water to calm it down. I can definitely taste dried fruits and rum notes and the orange isn't overly noticeable but it is there. I feel it's more of a marmalade orange than fresh orange. It's a very rich whisky and I really like it. The standard bottlings must be worth a try!

Originally Posted by PigHog

I shan't comment too much on any of my three new bottles until they've had a chance to breathe and develop. However, on first tasting, the glendronach is very good. Very fruity but sherry-sweet as well. 55.5%; I probably had a 30ml or so dram and it took three teaspoons of water to calm it down. I can definitely taste dried fruits and rum notes and the orange isn't overly noticeable but it is there. I feel it's more of a marmalade orange than fresh orange. It's a very rich whisky and I really like it. The standard bottlings must be worth a try!

I've been in two minds about adding water to my GlenDronach. It brings out a brown sugar smell which is pleasant, but it dominates the nose completely. Still lots of variations on the palate, and actually still on the nose, but with the brown sugar dominating the whole time. It was much more interesting to drink it neat but take a looooong time over it. best so far was to spend about an hour and a half over a roughly 25ml dram. very drinkable neat, even at 46%. I guess at 55.5% yours would be different.

My mini tour of single malts over the weekend covered three scotch whisky regions and four brands. The first was Springbank 10 year. This was my first Cambelltown style. My first impression was how much like Islay whisky it was with brine and peat, medicinal, iodine. It still had something else hidden in there reminescent of mineral water. With some water and time I got a hint of floral notes. This one was my bottle and I'm eager to explore it this fall.


The rest of the whisky belonged to my friend. The Macallan 12 was nice. I've had it and the 17 and 18 so I knew what to expect. Nice and sherried but nothing surprising with the 12. The next was another sherried whisky which I think was from Speyside also. It was labeled Hepburn's Choice and was cask strength (and I seem to remember it being 20 years old). The sherry was quite intense but not overwhelming. And although it as cask strength, the alcohol wasn't that noticable. This was my favorite of the night.

The fourth whisky was Port Charolette by Bruchladdich of Islay. This was very peated and really reminded me of Laphroaig without all the smoke. I think they have two versions of this expression: one made from Islay barley and ine made with Scottish barley. This was a very nice drink, maybe a little more approachable than the heavily smoky whiskys like Laphroaig or Ardbeg. This bottle was 50 percent alcohol.

Trying something new myself, of lately. Typically, I'm liking Wild Turkey, or Elijah Craig. But I wanted something different, and you know what!!

Its pertty darn good.!!!

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Long story short, I'm exchanging a gifted bottle and need input. Aberlour A'bunadh and Glenfarclas 15 year old have been on my wish list for awhile and it's time to act. I have read reviews that the later batches of A'bunadh are not as good as previous editions. A distant third option is Ardbeg Uigeadail, if my local store can't source the first two.

I love all three! You can't go wrong with any of them, IMO.

Tonight was Aultmore of the Foggy Moss, 12 year old Speyside. SWMBO bought it on the recommendation of the guy at the liquor store. Not bad.....very smooth.....not a lot of character. I would drink it again but probably not buy it.