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single malt whisky thread

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Alucrid said:
Luckily I'm not in the highlands then. :lol That's good to know though, never bought any expensive stuff, although I'm thinking about it, but I'm glad to know that I can have it on the rocks and not feel like I'm polluting it.
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An interesting thing to try is pour a little neat, a little in a glass with a small splash of water, and a 3rd small glass on ice. Then compare them all side by side and determine which way you enjoy it the most. Temp and dilution will alter which flavors are more prevalent, you get to decide which you prefer. Personally, I prefer room temp with a bit of water, I feel a slight dilution lets me taste it better, but that is just my preference, I also don't like my Scotch cold for some reason (bourbon I love on the rocks, but not Scotch, no idea why).

In the end, if you are going to spend >$50 on a bottle of alcohol drink it however you enjoy it most.
 
Alucrid said:
Luckily I'm not in the highlands then. :lol That's good to know though, never bought any expensive stuff, although I'm thinking about it, but I'm glad to know that I can have it on the rocks and not feel like I'm polluting it.
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I have some family in Aberdeen and they would probably murder me if they knew.

sharkmuncher said:
In the end, if you are going to spend >$50 on a bottle of alcohol drink it however you enjoy it most.
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This. It's like an oenophile told me, a bottle of wine is excellent if you enjoy it.

Also, if you want to get really picky, choose the water you splash with carefully. Tap will alter the taste differently than distilled. Etc.
 
Since this thread's on the first page:

Can anyone recommend a good bottle for a Christmas present for my dad? Preferably under $40. His standby is Glenlivet 12-year, FWIW.

Thanks.
 
sharkmuncher said:
An interesting thing to try is pour a little neat, a little in a glass with a small splash of water, and a 3rd small glass on ice. Then compare them all side by side and determine which way you enjoy it the most. Temp and dilution will alter which flavors are more prevalent, you get to decide which you prefer. Personally, I prefer room temp with a bit of water, I feel a slight dilution lets me taste it better, but that is just my preference, I also don't like my Scotch cold for some reason (bourbon I love on the rocks, but not Scotch, no idea why).

In the end, if you are going to spend >$50 on a bottle of alcohol drink it however you enjoy it most.
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I agree 100% with this comment.
 
Alucrid said:
Is it generally looked down on to use ice or add water to higher quality whiskey?
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Well a touch of waterc' can really open up some Whiskys whilst just diluting others and you should always try at least one dram with water to see. My super fav Whiskys don't need water though, and your first few drams should be straight I think. Ice is too invasive fir my tastes unless it's a less intense scotch. Malts should be room temp, for my liking anyway.
 
a splash of water opens the gate to a whole new world. ice is terrible, i wouldn't do that, but decide on your own.

KingGondo said:
Since this thread's on the first page:

Can anyone recommend a good bottle for a Christmas present for my dad? Preferably under $40. His standby is Glenlivet 12-year, FWIW.

Thanks.
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get him a yamazaki 10 if you want to go with the theme of the thread right now ;) or talisker, anCnoc, highland park, glenfarclas. can't go wrong with any of those.
 
Augemitbutter said:
a splash of water opens the gate to a whole new world. ice is terrible, i wouldn't do that, but decide on your own.



get him a yamazaki 10 if you want to go with the theme of the thread right now ;) or talisker, anCnoc, highland park, glenfarclas. can't go wrong with any of those.
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Thanks.
 
That is how I sip my Blue Label, enjoy the taste while I can.

Get ice cold water in a glass, drink some water to wet my palette and then have a sip of the scotch, so good :D
 
sharkmuncher said:
An interesting thing to try is pour a little neat, a little in a glass with a small splash of water, and a 3rd small glass on ice. Then compare them all side by side and determine which way you enjoy it the most. Temp and dilution will alter which flavors are more prevalent, you get to decide which you prefer. Personally, I prefer room temp with a bit of water, I feel a slight dilution lets me taste it better, but that is just my preference, I also don't like my Scotch cold for some reason (bourbon I love on the rocks, but not Scotch, no idea why).

In the end, if you are going to spend >$50 on a bottle of alcohol drink it however you enjoy it most.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. Try all the options yourself and see which one you like the most. It's your whisky after all. My personal preference is room temp with a bit of water. How much water depends on the whisky, but I start with a very small amount and go from there. I also love having a glass of cold water on the side.
 
sharkmuncher said:
An interesting thing to try is pour a little neat, a little in a glass with a small splash of water, and a 3rd small glass on ice. Then compare them all side by side and determine which way you enjoy it the most. Temp and dilution will alter which flavors are more prevalent, you get to decide which you prefer. Personally, I prefer room temp with a bit of water, I feel a slight dilution lets me taste it better, but that is just my preference, I also don't like my Scotch cold for some reason (bourbon I love on the rocks, but not Scotch, no idea why).

In the end, if you are going to spend >$50 on a bottle of alcohol drink it however you enjoy it most.
Click to expand...

I'll go ahead and try this then. I forgot about PA's fucking stupid alcohol laws. Now I have to find a place that sells, well like someone said earlier, to go with the theme of the thread, Suntory Yamazaki.
 
ibgXqw.png

Never tried these before! :D Also have a half bottle of laphroaig left. Gonna be an interesting winter.
 
AnkitT said:
http://i.min.us/ibgXqw.png[IMG]
Never tried these before! :D Also have a half bottle of laphroaig left. Gonna be an interesting winter.[/QUOTE]
Caol Ila is my favorite Islay whisky.
*so good* gif
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S. L. said:
The yamazaki density on gaf is getting crazy :lol
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It's quite a good value in my opinion. Also, i've been trying to get some more friends to drink scotch with me, and it's one of the few in my bar that they will actually drink.
 
S. L. said:
Caol Ila is my favorite Islay whisky.
*so good* gif
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Yeah, just poured a glass. Pretty fruity/smoky on the nose and quite sweet and dry mixed with the peat flavour. I like it, not very heavy, and not very faint! :D
 
Sumidor said:
It's quite a good value in my opinion. Also, i've been trying to get some more friends to drink scotch with me, and it's one of the few in my bar that they will actually drink.
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When I drink with co-workers, I'm the only one that gets scotch. Everyone else thinks it burns too much. I don't think so...
 
AnkitT said:
Yeah, just poured a glass. Pretty fruity/smoky on the nose and quite sweet and dry mixed with the peat flavour. I like it, not very heavy, and not very faint! :D
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yeah, it is more smokey than peaty and while not overly complex, very very satisfying
 
oh hello there whiskey thread! what perfect, holiday timing! :p

trying to get my hands on a bottle of balvenie double wood to celebrate the holidays with /sad-and-lonely
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
When I drink with co-workers, I'm the only one that gets scotch. Everyone else thinks it burns too much. I don't think so...
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Exactly. I think the Yamazaki 12 yr is one of the better choices. Has a little burn, but very easy for people to drink. You could always go for more expensive stuff, but it'll just kinda ruin them for anything in the future.
 
Momar said:
hehehe, merry christmas to me :)

yumm.jpg
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Merry christmas to you indeed! Looks beautiful.

It is snowing outside, so I think I am going for something strong tonight... Ardbeg Supernova here I come!
 
How does the yamazaki 10 year compare to glenfiddich 15 year old which i found very smooth? Can someone recomend a smooth single malt?
 
So tonight I went to a Whisky bar and had a little tasting.

I chose to do a tasting on the Glenmorangie range - Nector D'or, Quinta Ruban and Lasanta.

The later two were ok. A bit on the bitter side with sharper flavors.

The Nector D'or was absolutely wonderful. It had a little of everything at first but it finishes off sweet and short. I think I may have to buy one.

I also bought a Glenfiddich 12 years. I really love the apple/pear aroma and taste of it. Tonight I also tried the 15 years Solera Glenfiddich and it is just an all around improvement on the 12 year. Now I have to buy that one too. :lol
 
EschatonDX said:
As much as I love Bourbon it's just nowhere on Scotch's level as far as overall quality/complexity goes. Bourbon is just kind of really starting to elevate itself above something people chug to get hammered into a premium product. I think exciting things are in the future for the small batch bourbon industry, but that time isn't now. Until then scotch remains king.
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Well, complexity, sure, bourbon's overall variety is limited by the insistence on 100% new charred oak barrels, so there is less chance to introduce new interesting flavors to the mix.

You are pretty much limited to grain selection(while still being at least 51% corn) for altering the flavors of a bourbon, which is a much more subtle way to affect flavors than the wide variety of barrels and casks scotch is aged in. This is without even mentioning the flavors introduced by using malted barley that has been dried by a peat fire.

But I'd argue that many of the higher end bourbons are just as high quality as the higher end scotches, and that they are certainly more than competitive on quality at any given price. I'd put pappy van winkle up against any scotch in terms of quality. Certainly any scotch available for the same price.

As for bourbon just now starting to elevate itself, that is partly true, but the reason is not really that bourbon used to just be used to get hammered, it's that prohibition entirely killed the US alcohol industry except for the few industrial sized giants who managed to survive by making other product and ended up making really shitty beer and whiskey after prohibition was repealed. The smaller producers have only slowly been rejoining the market leading to more and more competition on quality. This effect has been more prominent on the beer side, but it is also happening on the spirits side.
 
I'm not really knowledgeable when it comes to whiskeys, but I do know what I like and I recently discovered the pleasures of single malts myself :)

From the ones I've tasted so far I must say I enjoy the "popular" Balvenie Doublewood and Laphroaig quarter-casks the most, i.e. I always have at least a bottle of each at home.

Another one I emptied pretty fast was the Dalwhinnie 15yo, and I've found the Glenlivet 12yo to be a good "anytime" malt I can enjoy without any effort.

Every time I travel abroad (which is at least twice a year), I always try to experiment with new malts hoping to find something new which will blow me away. It's a great (albeit slightly expensive) hobby! :D
 
Every time, I've gone to BevMo, I've come out with a new bottle to try. I decided to get Tomatin 12 as a blind buy. I'm going to get a Macallan 12 next...mainly because a cute employee has a dog named Macallan.
 
sefskillz said:
picked up some talisker 10, just tryin to impress my gaf boys
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so impressed :P

i like letting the talisker breathe in the glass for 5~10min, makes it loose a bit of the pepperyness and it gets more honey and lemon zest aroma.

anyway, got two orders incoming.
one for the GAF hivemind (guess)
and one Oban 14yo (not sure if this one goes trough as i did some abusive coupon trickery with the online store :lol )
 
backflip10019 said:
Bought my dad a bottle of Macallan 12 year for Xmas. Can't wait to try it out. How is it?
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fine oak or sherry cask?

edit: i haven't tried either one :P
but the sherry cask is supposed to be the better one
 
So i heard there is a gaf party?!

img_3737hmzm.jpg

last pickup for this year, Yamazaki 18yo

also two samples:
Ichiro's Malt Double Distillery and Mizunara Wood Reserve
 
Oh man, the glenmorangie might just be my favourite single malt out of the ones that i've tried out yet! :D Such a complex fruit plus flowery mizture of aromas and flavours, kinda similar to glenfiddich and glenlivet on the nose a bit, but better than those in overall complexity i'd say.
 
My cousin brought a bottle of Macallan 17 fine oak to my family christmas party. Shit was almost too smooth... We drained the bottle and where like damn, should of bought 2. :lol
 
Got the Bruichladdich 12 years (2nd edition) as a xmas gift. Not super peaty, quite peppery, yet fruity, sweet, touch of vanilla and toffee. Props for no additional coloring or filtering. Enjoy it a lot, very nice present :D
 
So Whiskey-Age, I have a problem. The smell or taste of Jack Daniel's makes me gag and want to vomit. I took the tiniest sip of a jack and coke the other night and it nearly knocked me to the floor it tasted so terrible. At a party last spring I drank a lot of whiskey and expelled it out of my body that night and the next morning, so i pretty much have a gut wrenching reaction to the smell of it. It's so bad I can't even drink vanilla coke because the vanilla reminds me of it.

I've had JD, crown, and some seagrams, but they all taste terrible to me. I've had Southern Comfort which was fine but that was a bourbon i think...

So I guess my question is does all whiskey taste like this, or are there other whiskeys that taste completely different that won't make me sick?
 
layzie1989 said:
So Whiskey-Age, I have a problem. The smell or taste of Jack Daniel's makes me gag and want to vomit. I took the tiniest sip of a jack and coke the other night and it nearly knocked me to the floor it tasted so terrible. At a party last spring I drank a lot of whiskey and expelled it out of my body that night and the next morning, so i pretty much have a gut wrenching reaction to the smell of it. It's so bad I can't even drink vanilla coke because the vanilla reminds me of it.

I've had JD, crown, and some seagrams, but they all taste terrible to me. I've had Southern Comfort which was fine but that was a bourbon i think...

So I guess my question is does all whiskey taste like this, or are there other whiskeys that taste completely different that won't make me sick?
Click to expand...


Southern Comfort has a bourbon base, but i wouldn't really call it a bourbon, more like a spiced fruit liqueur.

If it is the vanilla notes that bother you the most, you may have better luck starting at the scotch end of the spectrum. Most north american whiskey is aged in new oak barrels so the vanilla flavor and smell will be much stronger. Scotch is aged in old used sherry or bourbon barrels, so the heavy notes from the oak are a lot more muted.

Also some Bourbons have less vanilla in them, I guess it depends on the level of char and the size of barrel along with how long they are aged. Woodford Reserve is a good bourbon that is relatively light on the vanilla.
 
layzie1989 said:
So Whiskey-Age, I have a problem. The smell or taste of Jack Daniel's makes me gag and want to vomit. I took the tiniest sip of a jack and coke the other night and it nearly knocked me to the floor it tasted so terrible. At a party last spring I drank a lot of whiskey and expelled it out of my body that night and the next morning, so i pretty much have a gut wrenching reaction to the smell of it. It's so bad I can't even drink vanilla coke because the vanilla reminds me of it.

I've had JD, crown, and some seagrams, but they all taste terrible to me. I've had Southern Comfort which was fine but that was a bourbon i think...

So I guess my question is does all whiskey taste like this, or are there other whiskeys that taste completely different that won't make me sick?
Click to expand...


Out of all the whiskeys you've listed, Crown is probably the only one I can drink. The others are shit. Try some of the good stuff in this thread.
 
layzie1989 said:
So Whiskey-Age, I have a problem. The smell or taste of Jack Daniel's makes me gag and want to vomit. I took the tiniest sip of a jack and coke the other night and it nearly knocked me to the floor it tasted so terrible. At a party last spring I drank a lot of whiskey and expelled it out of my body that night and the next morning, so i pretty much have a gut wrenching reaction to the smell of it. It's so bad I can't even drink vanilla coke because the vanilla reminds me of it.

I've had JD, crown, and some seagrams, but they all taste terrible to me. I've had Southern Comfort which was fine but that was a bourbon i think...

So I guess my question is does all whiskey taste like this, or are there other whiskeys that taste completely different that won't make me sick?
Click to expand...
Rest assured, you haven't had a good whisky yet. That shit yr swilling is some rough shit, mang.
 
Cheers SL. They all look like reasonable prices. Any 'in-store' deals would be welcome though.

I'm enjoying a standard Glenlivet tonight though. Happy Xmas Whisky-Gaf!


EDIT - I'm curious. How many Gaf-single malt drinkers are also smokers?
 
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