What Water of Life/Scotch are drinking or purchased 2025?

[rzelinka]

23 minutes ago, Scotch_Collector said:

Do you mean malted bourbons or American single malts?

 

To answer your question, no, peat is a scotch thing. The peat is grown there. American Malts, both bourbon and single malts, in my experience, can have some smokey characteristics, but I have not experienced peat flavor. 

 

I have several high malt bourbons and probably 10 different American Single Malts. I have to experience anything like peat flavor. 

 

The closest I have come is some medicinal/herbal and peppery ryes. Not a fan of those, but don't find them often. 

 

If you are looking at something in particular, ask, maybe someone has tried it. However, I would not be too worried about it.

My inquiry was related to Single Malt Whiskey/ Bourbons. Jack Daniels, Stranahan's come to mind

[Scotch_Collector]

I revisited my Springbank 12 Year Cask Strength bottle I bought years ago. 

 

I forgot how good it is. 

 

Rich and sweet malt with just enough peat. The mouthfeel is dense and the flavors are strong, except the peat. It is noticeable on the nose and the palette, mostly the end and finish, but it is more vegetal and smoky, and not really medicinal and herbal. It is also about a 4 or 5/10 in peat (Laphroaig being a 10). That is enough peat that I can handle it and even enjoy it and still get the underlying malt and whiskey characteristics separate from the peat. 

 

Really nice pour. 

 

8.5/10.

 

[rzelinka]

On 6/1/2025 at 10:47 PM, Scotch_Collector said:

I revisited my Springbank 12 Year Cask Strength bottle I bought years ago. 

 

I forgot how good it is. 

 

Rich and sweet malt with just enough peat. The mouthfeel is dense and the flavors are strong, except the peat. It is noticeable on the nose and the palette, mostly the end and finish, but it is more vegetal and smoky, and not really medicinal and herbal. It is also about a 4 or 5/10 in peat (Laphroaig being a 10). That is enough peat that I can handle it and even enjoy it and still get the underlying malt and whiskey characteristics separate from the peat. 

 

Really nice pour. 

 

8.5/10.

 

Years ago, my dad would drink Glenfidich, I could never get beyond the peated taste, still can't. Are all Scotch Whiskey's peated?

Edited Wednesday at 10:43 PM by rzelinka
Corrected misspelling

[Scotch_Collector]

2 hours ago, rzelinka said:

Years ago, my dad would drink Glenfidich, I could never get beyond the peated taste, still can't. Are all Scotch Whiskey's peated?

No, many are not peated. 

 

I usually prefer unpeated scotch/single malts. Bourbon cask can be amazing, but I have a lot of sherry/port/wine cask stuff. 

 

Unpeated and cask strength single malts can be great for bourbon drinkers, especially those who do not like peat. They can be rich and flavorful and take on a lot from the casks they are aged in and/or finished in.

 

If you want some suggestions, just ask. 

[rzelinka]

Just now, Scotch_Collector said:

No, many are not peated. 

 

I usually prefer unpeated scotch/single malts. Bourbon cask can be amazing, but I have a lot of sherry/port/wine cask stuff. 

 

Unpeated and cask strength single malts can be great for bourbon drinkers, especially those who do not like peat. They can be rich and flavorful and take on a lot from the casks they are aged in and/or finished in.

 

If you want some suggestions, just ask. 

I would welcome any suggestions. Thank you in advance 

[Scotch_Collector]

12 hours ago, rzelinka said:

I would welcome any suggestions. Thank you in advance 

Do you prefer smooth or rich (you can have both) and, I assume from other things you appear to drink,  cask strength okay.

 

What is your price range? 

 

I would recommend a sherry cask finish and also a bourbon cask aged single malt to try. I love both, but I'd be curious to see what your preferences are.

 

For readily available sherry casks: Macallan 12 (not cask strength), the Glendronach Cask Strength (Batch 10 and 11 are out now I think), or the Aberlour A'bunadh Sherry Cask.

 

For Bourbon Cask: Aberlour A'bunadh Alba Bourbon Cask (which is cask strength) is a great place to start. 

 

There are also many independent bottlers that bottle amazing single malts, but hard to recommend one bottle since they are often single barrels. I do like Blackadder and Single Cask Nation as well as many other independent bottlers. I can discuss this more if you are interested. 

[rzelinka]

1 hour ago, Scotch_Collector said:

Do you prefer smooth or rich (you can have both) and, I assume from other things you appear to drink,  cask strength okay.

 

What is your price range? 

 

I would recommend a sherry cask finish and also a bourbon cask aged single malt to try. I love both, but I'd be curious to see what your preferences are.

 

For readily available sherry casks: Macallan 12 (not cask strength), the Glendronach Cask Strength (Batch 10 and 11 are out now I think), or the Aberlour A'bunadh Sherry Cask.

 

For Bourbon Cask: Aberlour A'bunadh Alba Bourbon Cask (which is cask strength) is a great place to start. 

 

There are also many independent bottlers that bottle amazing single malts, but hard to recommend one bottle since they are often single barrels. I do like Blackadder and Single Cask Nation as well as many other independent bottlers. I can discuss this more if you are interested. 

Thank you for responding and for the recommendations. Cask Strength is more than okay! I like rich whiskey/ bourbon. I've been debating the concept of Single Malt whiskey's. Stranahan's keeps coming to mind. Having never tried them before, I don't know if I will like them or not. The Sherry cask or bourbon cask seems intriguing.

[Scotch_Collector]

5 hours ago, rzelinka said:

Thank you for responding and for the recommendations. Cask Strength is more than okay! I like rich whiskey/ bourbon. I've been debating the concept of Single Malt whiskey's. Stranahan's keeps coming to mind. Having never tried them before, I don't know if I will like them or not. The Sherry cask or bourbon cask seems intriguing.

American single malts can be good, and Stranahan's is fine. I like it at the price point but I am not sure it is representative of what you would get from Scotch or even single malts from some other countries. 

 

Until recently there was no standard for American single malts so the differences between distiller A and distiller B can be drastic. Frankly, they can still be pretty different although it isn't a free for all anymore. 

 

If you want to know what scotch is like, I would stick to some of the bottles I recommended, or ask about some others, even independent bottlers.

 

If you want a good American single malt, Stranahan's is a good place to start. New Riff makes a cool single malt at a similar price point, as does Old Line. Westward does as well, but I have not tried any of their bottles yet. Westland can be good as well, but it depends on the bottle. 

[smokinjoe]

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