AgentOtaku said:
never had it....just outta curiousity...what does whiskey tastes like?
depends on region, aging process and whether it's blended or not, and of course whether its made from barley (most single malt scotches) or rye (bourbon, rye whiskey).
single malt (the brands mentioned in this thread, aside from jack daniels and jim beam) = uses a uniform batch of malted barley to create the liqueur.
blended scotch (red label, black label, most cheap whiskeys) = blend of different single malt batches
for taste...single malts will have the most complex flavour. could be woodsy, smokey, caramelly, orangie, vanilla...it really depends on the aging process and whether the malt was peated (charcoal dried) or not. and finally the kind of barrels it was aged in. usually oak barrels, but distilleries will often have side-brands aged in port casks, rum casks, sauterne casks to give the whisky a different kind of flavour.
usually you wont understand whisky in the beginning, but after tasting different single malt batches, you will start to learn and appreciate the tastes and differences.
single malts are not to be mixed with anything, just strictly sipped.
for reference, whiskey and coke, 7 & 7 etc are made with blended cheap whiskeys.
edit: i did try aberlour...it is a good whisky, but i'd definitely recommend the lagavulin over it (same age, only $5 more). aberlour is speyside, whereas lagavulin is islay, but lagavulin is very sophisticated and subtle, its not a wild islay whisky...so they can be compared to an extent.