I'm a fan of it, and it was my "gateway whisky" so to speak.
I plan on buying another bottle soon, and I'm curious to see how it is after experiencing some more complex, expensive labels.
I'm sure it's a very personal thing. I certainly don't want to say it's unequivocally a bad whisky. It's just not doing anything for me personally.
I bought my first bottle of single malt a few days ago. I ended up getting Highland Park 12 because they didn't have Caol Ila. I've been drinking it with a bit of water and it's surprisingly good. I expected to have to develop a taste for it, but I really like it.
Now I just have to make it last because my broke ass can't afford another for a while lol.
Welcome to the club.
Whisky definitely took some getting used to for me. I actually hated my first bottle of Glenfiddich 12. The problem was that I really didn't know how to drink it. My only thoughts were to take a sip as I would any beverage. I tried drinking it over ice but all I was really tasting was the alcohol, as ice really mutes the flavor.
A few things greatly increased my enjoyment of whisky:
1) Learning to sip it properly. I take a bit in my mouth, and I let it linger for 3-5 seconds before I swallow. This lets me take more of the flavor, and it greatly diminishes the alcohol burn when it goes down.
2) Adding water. I usually take 1-2 sips at full strength just to get a feel for a whisky before I add water. Adding water makes it much more palatable, and for many whiskies, water really helps them express their full potential. Every whisky takes a different amount of water, and part of the fun is finding that perfect water/whisky ratio to the point where the whisky is transformed into something truly special.
3) Using a nosing glass. I'm using a Glencairn glass at the moment, though I have some Copita nosing glasses coming in shortly. Smell is probably 60-70% of the enjoyment of drinking whisky, at least for me. A proper glass really makes a difference when it comes to smelling whisky.
I still recall feeling like it shared a profile similar to the Glenmorangie Original, but at this point it's been so long since I had any of the Yamazaki that I should probably revisit it before trying to make that claim too strongly. I'm trying to work down a few of the bottles I have and clear up some cabinet space before my next buy at the end of the month!
Incidentally...I hope I'm not the only one that feels a little annoyed/overwhelmed when they start putting together a short list of what to try looking for next only to find that the "short list" is anything but! I've got like 11 options that I'm trying to narrow down to one or two bottles, not an easy feat!
I actually quite like the Glenmorangie Original. Although very sweet, it has a really pleasant balance to it. I feel the Yamazaki has very strong ethanol influences, and it really masks the flavors that are trying to get through. The sweetness is there, but the wooded notes are very hard to pick up over the taste of the alcohol. It does get quite a bit better when you give it time to breathe, though. I will say that do quite like the nose.
As for the short list...heh yeah I understand that. I have a few on my list at the moment. I haven't purchase anything in about 4 months and I'm due for another pick up. I'm not sure what I'm going for next, but this is my current short list:
1) Bunnahabhain 12
2) Oban 14
3) Dalmore 12
Not sure what I want to pick up yet. Given the price of whisky here, it's a tough call. The Bunnahabhain and Dalmore go for about $80, and the Oban goes for $110. Not cheap.
