Cask Strength

[Gov]

Right now the only cask strength scotch I have is the Aberlour a'bunach. While I drink my bourbon neat as a general rule (including the higher proofs like GTS and PH) I'm in the habit of drinking my scotch on ice. Since I've gotten used to drinking bourbon this way, I find the lower proof scotches (usually 80 or 86) to be too dilute in the ice. In fact, the lower proofs cause me to have less enjoyment because I'm always racing to finish the glass before too much ice melts into it.

With the a'bunach, I can take my time knowing that at worse case my scotch will be 80-90 proof by the time the ice melts away and so I can peacefully enjoy it. (In actuality the a'bunach is so tasty that I can barely put it down and end up finishing up fairly quickly anyways )

Please try the scotch without ICE!! If you can do the bourbon without, you can do the scotch.

[JamesW]

Please try the scotch without ICE!! If you can do the bourbon without, you can do the scotch.

Actually I've been thinking about making the leap. I just got so used to drinking my scotches that way before I became a bourbon drinker that it's almost second nature. Tomorrow I'll continue my scotch exploration neat. Thanks Gov, I guess i just needed the push

[spun_cookie]

yeah... scotch on Ice... bad, bad thing... neat or just a light splash of water to open it up...

... James, I think I need to come over and drink some of your booze as punishment

[Gov]

Thanks Gov, I guess i just needed the push

Your welcome! It you have to, like spun cookie said, splash some water in it. Good luck, and enjoy the flavors you have been missing, especially in the A'bunadh

[JamesW]

yeah... scotch on Ice... bad, bad thing... neat or just a light splash of water to open it up...

... James, I think I need to come over and drink some of your booze as punishment

yeah well it seems like we have some very similar tastes in whisk(e)y so you'd definitely feel at home....well sort of, your bar is like a castle while mine's just a mcMansion so you'd be roughing it a bit over here :grin:

[spun_cookie]

Its like my mom always said, it is what is on the inside that counts...

Iin this case, its what in the bottle .... close enough for me

[JamesW]

As per your recommendations I'm drinking my a'bundach neat with a slight splash of H20. Very nice. Much sweeter this way I must say. Soon I'll be trying the same with my Talisker 18, I'm really looking forward to that one tonight.

[shoshani]

One of the nicest CS whiskeys I have ever had was a Blackadder bottling of Highland Park, something like 13 years old and bottled completely unfiltered - including a dash of cask sediment.

I like CS expressions in general when a) I can find them and I can afford them, because they can be tailored to the situation. Sometimes I find a small sip of it neat is lovely, others I splash just a drop or two of water to break up the oils and release the aromatics. However, I suppose the "big win" is, if you're used to drinking your whiskey at a given proof, it is easy to dilute CS down to that level because it's literally 'whiskey concentrate' in some cases. It also fits in with a philosophy that I've seen expressed by both Pappy Van Winkle and Parker Beam: it makes little sense to bottle and ship water as opposed to whiskey. Obtain it at cask strength and add the water right before drinking; it's more flavorful that way (the subtle aromatics won't have escaped yet) and you've bought whiskey rather than water.

Mitchshrader gave a strong recommendation for Macallan Cask, and it's one I easily second. There is no age statement, and I would tend to believe it falls somewhere between 8-10 years. It is not artificially colored and it is not chill-filtered. It is, however, overwhelmingly inexpensive considering that you can use it as a base to dilute it down to, say, 86 proof. Here in the Chicago area a bottle of Macallan Cask goes for about $70 - less than their older, lower-proof expressions. That's what makes me suspect that the whiskey in that neatly-shaped flask is younger than we might think.