Favorite Scotch

[TimmyBoston]

What are you favorite Scotches?

I'd say mine are: (in no particular order)

Ardbeg Uigeadail

Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength

Talisker 10

Lagavulin 16 - the White Horse Distillery

Highland Park 25, but unfortunately I can't afford it very often

[aarkwilde]

Favorite is a hard question. I really like the Ardbeg 10 and Lagavulin 16, but though I have bottles open I drink sparingly from them.

Laphroaig 10 is what I reach for most of the time. It costs significntly less then the others (which shouldn't matter, but does) and is easy to find.

If I had an unlimited budget it would probably be a different story, but as it stands it's my favorite scotch.

[mozilla]

SPRINGBANK 15YEAR! It's out of sight. The perfect balance of flavors ever put into a bottle of scotch.

[hollywood]

Although I don't belong in this thread, their is a "funny" story I must tell concerning favorite scotches. As some know, Scotch has to be my least favorite beverage of all-time! I mean I despise this stuff! (lol) My brother (a scotch drinker) knowing this went overseas, and brought back the "best scotch in the world"....as he proclaimed....and begged me to try. He persisted...This is the best scotch in the world, you HAVE to try it! I held my ground...Richard, I DON'T LIKE SCOTCH! This went back and forth for some time until...to shut him up....I tried some of this MAGICAL scotch (sorry guys, for the life of me I don't remember what it was!) So after trying the scotch I told him..."If this is the best the world has to offer, then that solidifies my opinion from drinking this stuff ever again." Enjoy your scotch guys. H'wood

[Gillman]

But there are so many different kinds of scotch, some rather similar to bourbon whiskey.

If you are considering persisting, I would try Balvenie Double Wood but there are many other approachable malts, e.g., Aberlour, Macallan 12 years old (not the Fine Oak series, the regular Macallan), Glenlivet French Oak 15 years old, Glenmorangie, and, well, it goes on.

Gary

[contrarian]

Gary has a great list of my favorites going. I would add Springbank 10 and Cragganmore 12.

I used to drink more Lagavulin and Laphroaig, but, no lie, after antibiotics, corticosteroid shots and Flonase, my sense of smell improved and my taste for Islays evaporated.

Jeff

[T47]

H'wood,

I felt the same way as you. A buddy of mine at work says that to make Scotch, you take Bourbon and pour it through a transients sock...what comes out is Scotch.

Then a buddy gave me a gift of Glenlivet 12 year-old, which I thought was pretty good. Then I tried some Glenmorangie and thought it was even more to my liking.

I won't start collecting Scotch...but at least with those two so far...I shall stay open minded and keep them on my shelf for an occasional taste.

[Gillman]

I can understand the dislike of scotch because I at one time shared this. I think I know where the dislike originates, it is for the peaty, smoky, sometimes creosote-like smell and taste of a lot of (but not all) scotch whisky. Most of the quality and other blends have some of that taste. However many of the single malts do not, especially those which employ no or very little peated barley malt (malt dried over fires to which peat is added as a fuel). Most of the malts mentioned in the last few posts are peat-free or almost (not sure about Cragganmore, but it is a fine whisky). Only when I started reading about scotch and learning how it was made did I start to realise what it was supposed (a lot of it) to taste like, and finally I acquired a taste. But hey not everyone does ultimately or should, to be sure. Each is entitled to his likes and dislikes. I have a taste for most forms of alcoholic drink but still find tecquila a challenge. I know exactly what it tastes like and why but still have not developed a taste for it.

Gary

[brockagh]

Lagavulin 16, probably. I also tasted two 1960s Bowmores - a first fill and a second fill sherry cask - that were probably the best whisky I've ever had. Not a standard bottling, though.

[TomH]

The best I can do is narrow it to favorites of different types

Speyside - Aberlour a'bunadh or a variety of the Macallan bottlings (but I have not opened a 35 year old Glendarroch (Glenfarclas) that I have on the shelf but I expect it might top the list)

Rest of the Highlands - Tullibardine or Oban

Islay - Lagavulin

Misc - Cadenhead Moidart 25 year old (supposedly the leftovers from various bottlings)

Compass Box Hedonism (an excellent vatted grain scotch - a different type of scotch)

Tom

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Gary,

Could it possibly have something to do with the fact that the US is geared towards products that have been sweetened way above average?

Just a theory, but I remember the first time I visited USA, I just had to buy a can of root beer, mainly because one of my teenage idols, Paul Stanley of Kiss, always plugged it as his fave lemonade.

I wish I hadn´t bothered. It was so sickeningly sweet that I was unable to finish it.

Adding to that, I´ve never had any problems with Scotch. The first one I had, if I remember right, was J. Walker red, and I took to it instantly. I can´t remember what I expected it to taste, though.

[Gillman]

Hedmans, I must say that the European theory of an American predilection for unduly sweet things is not, in my opinion, correct, or if there is such a phenomenon it is not unique to America.

It is easy to point to Coca-Cola and its progeny and other such common things to suggest such a palate. For every drink like that, there is an opposite one that is as popular or almost. Dry ginger ale, which in its original form originated in Canada, and which for a long time was almost as popular as Coke, is an example. Club soda even more so, or coffee (which most Americans don't sweeten unduly in my experience). Lemonade, originally, the first great soft drink of America, was semi-sweet, and so on.

In alcoholic drinks, dry (alcoholic) cider is hardly sweet; traditional European beer was and is far maltier than most American beer; the Europeans hung on to sweet sherry and Madeira long after most Americans abandoned them, etc.

Root beer is just one version of an old country drink (sarsparilla) and in its commercial form is certainly full of sugar but I wouldn't say that today it is all that popular, it was always a minority taste.

Is there not in Sweden or elsewhere in Scandinavia a drink called gluhwein which, from the one time I tasted it in London in a pub in winter, is as sweet or more so than root beer? What about Advocat from Denmark (I think it is)? As you know many of the local hard liquors in Europe are sweetened to be taken after dinner, commercial brandy is quite sweet, etc.

The confectionary of Europe is as sweet as that of America, or more so. In England alone they have countless rich deserts such as puddings of all kinds, pies, toffee (ahem), butterscotch, milk chocolate. The Austrians and Germans patented sugary desserts (all those tortes). In savoury foods, the use of sugar in European cookery is widespread from mint sauce with lamb, pork with prunes (that is French by the way, and known in parts of Scandinavia), Polish bigos with its sweetish sauerkraut, Italian tomato sauce with natural sweetness, Flemish beef carbonade (beef, sugar and beer), and so on. The French chocolate croissant for the morning fare is as sweet as toast and jam.

Bourbon is not really sweet by comparison to good whisky. Good whisky is malty and rich (think of Macallan or any good blend).

I think it is the smoky tang of scotch (some scotch) that accounts for this dislike: it is unexpected and people can't "place" (account for) it. Also, a lot of the day to day Scotch blends are just not that good: no surprise someone would disdain them in relation to an all-straight whiskey such as, say, VOB. Especially when VOB is half the price...

Gary

[Powertrip]

Best Scotch I have ever tasted?

- Brora 30 year old.

Best AFFORDABLE drinking scotch(s)?

- Macallan Fine Oak 15year

- Balvenie Single Barrel 15yr

- Bowmore 17yr

- Lagavulin 16yr

[brockagh]

Hedmans, I must say that the European theory of an American predilection for unduly sweet things is not, in my opinion, correct, or if there is such a phenomenon it is not unique to America.

I don't think it's a European theory.

[Hedmans Brorsa]

Point taken, Gary. It was just speculation in response to the, at least for me, inexplicably hostile reactions to Scotch from grown-ups.

I had severe problems with many things when I was a kid, for instance, coffee, grape fruit, cooked fish etc. Gradually, my revulsion towards these and other things disappeared when I grew older.

I can certainly verify that the Austrians have a penchant for sweet cakes (and delicious they are, too) but at least compared to Scandinavia, I think that over-sweetened products tend to be more common in the USA.

[Gillman]

I take all the other points in turn. No question some people within the U.S. think the diet is too heavy in refined sugars, but I have often heard the point made by Europeans (once by a - portly - genever salesman to my face in Belgium). Some of this focus derives from observations on the sizes of portions in fast food outlets, something ("supersizing") that is fairly new (last 20 years or so and is starting to self-correct).

The traditional foods of most countries incorporate, as I tried to show, many sweet elements. Recently in the NYT a review of Czech beers called some of the famous lagers "sugary". Beer is a staple there almost like Coke is in the U.S... Northern countries (which part of the U.S. is) show more of this tendency due to the need for calories and resistance to cold. This came from a time when heating was less available or efficient than today, and cultural preferences hang on. Southern countries with a hotter climate generally offer a lighter, drier style of food and drink (although note how coffee and tea are fairly sweet in most warm countries in the world, at least where sugar is affordable).

I don't think again (and this is just my opinion) that scotch whisky is really drier than bourbon, not good scotch, but rather it tastes different and surely qualifies, I agree, as an adult taste, one that is not easily acquired in one's youth.

Gary

[thehighking]

Best Scotch I have ever tasted?

- Brora 30 year old.

Best AFFORDABLE drinking scotch(s)?

- Macallan Fine Oak 15year

- Balvenie Single Barrel 15yr

- Bowmore 17yr

- Lagavulin 16yr

You're the first person who has had anything good to say about the Fine Oak Macallan.

I personally can't stand it.

The 18 year old Macallan (sherry cask) is one of my favorites, though. Some others:

- Balvenie 21 Portwood

- Ardbeg (any)

- Rosebank (any)

- Springbank 25, 30

[ratcheer]

I do not have wide experience with fine scotch, but the best I ever tasted was The Balvenie 15-year old single barrel. It may have been the finest tasting spirit I have ever tasted.

Tim

[Frodo]

I guess my favourite distillery is Ardbeg - anything they bottle that I've tried is pretty good although the prices for the high-end products are climbing out of sight. I like lagavulin, Coal Ila and Bowmore quite alot as well.

Recently got a bottle of 1990 Imperial bottled in 2002 by Connisouers Choice for $60 cdn and I think I just bargooned!!!

I don't think I can identify a favourite scotch as I'm always trying new ones. There are something like 90+ distilleries currently working, each with multiple expressions in the marketplace. Add in the products from mothballed and dismantled distilleries, there's a TON of stuff to try out there. For example, currently impressed by Laphroag Quarter Cask.

[Powertrip]

You're the first person who has had anything good to say about the Fine Oak Macallan.

I personally can't stand it.

Its funny you know. I have tried all the other Fine Oak's (cept the 30 year) and I don't care for them half as much as the 15yr. I find the balance in the 15yr is just magical, and its been consistent in various bottles of it.

[Powertrip]

Recently got a bottle of 1990 Imperial bottled in 2002 by Connisouers Choice for $60 cdn and I think I just bargooned!!!

As Napolean Dynamite might say: "Luckyyyyy...."

[CrispyCritter]

Just a theory, but I remember the first time I visited USA, I just had to buy a can of root beer...

Root beer is very much an American phenomenon. My brother-in-law (English) and his kin felt that root beer tasted like Germolene (a British antiseptic). :bigeyes:

Then again, as much as I like gravlax, I wouldn't consider eating lutefisk. :slappin:

[CrispyCritter]

Although I've been fortunate enough to find Ardbeg 10yo at a sweet price (at an out-of-the-way liquor store about 65 km from home), otherwise, Aberlour 10yo is one of the best deals around. Of course, the two are about as different as white wine is from red - but I love them both.

Laproaig 10CS and Quarter Cask? Yummmmmm..... even if they don't offer quite as much bang-for-the-buck, they're still outstanding.

Bruichladdich bottlings tend to be a bit on the pricy side, but they are very well-crafted whiskies that I would never consider turning down. Most 'Laddies are lightly peated, but the 3-D and Moine Mhor are a peat freak's dream.

As for the best Scotch I've ever tasted? Well, the best Speyside was Glenrothes 1974, and the best Islay was Ardbeg 1977. The best blend would have to be Campbeltown Loch 25yo, but Compass Box Asyla is nipping right on its heels - and it's still available. Alloa 40yo single grain was incredible as well - almost buttery-soft.

Clynelish is one that I'd consider to be underrated - it has some of the "coastal" character of Islays, but it's a lot gentler than the Laphroaig/Ardbeg style.

Lagavulin? I'm still grieving over its price jump a couple of years ago. Had I listened to my own predictions, I would have bunkered a lot of it. *sigh*

[thehighking]

Lagavulin? I'm still grieving over its price jump a couple of years ago. Had I listened to my own predictions, I would have bunkered a lot of it. *sigh*

I think a lot of is where you buy it---I still find stores here and there that have it for $40-45. (Unless you used to buy it for even less than that?)

People thought that there was a Lagavulin shortage for awhile so the prices jumped, but there was/is no shortage, so they may re-stabilize.

[chasking]

If I could only ever get one Scotch again for the rest of time, and it was a standard bottling, it would be Lagavulin 16yo, although it's a close thing between that and Ardbeg 10yo. I love them both. Among the non-Islays I'd have to go with Longmorn. The standard 15yo is great, and I've had a couple older independent bottlings that were amazing. The Isle of Jura 21yo that is supposed to be coming out soon (and may be out by now; I haven't been to a liquor store lately) will be a strong contender too.