Time for another Scotch Thread!
polycounter lvl 18
I asked for only one thing from my parents for Christmas, a bottle of Islay single malt.
"Suprise me!", I said.
Since it was the only thing I asked for, I figured they would go all out and buy me something really expensive. HA! No, they spent money on a single malt as if they were buying their own whiskey (bourbon) and bought me a value priced Islay, Bowmore Legend.
Hey, I'm not really complaining, they got me what I asked for.
So anyway, I have been on a Bourbon run for the last 4 months and have not even had a drop of the Scotland product in all that time.
So tonight (Monday night, heh heh) i figured would be a good time to break open the Christmas bottle.
I like it! It is extremely smokey and peaty with a little more emphasis on the smoke. Casual blended Scotch drinkers would probably hate it, but I like it's knock you in the face with all the intense flavors.
I think I am becoming one of those guys who drinks ISLAY, or nothing at all! I am going to have to buy me an older Bowmore to see how it stacks up against some of the Laphroaigs, I've been getting.
Oh, wait... Isn't this the scotch enthusiast message board?
"Suprise me!", I said.
Since it was the only thing I asked for, I figured they would go all out and buy me something really expensive. HA! No, they spent money on a single malt as if they were buying their own whiskey (bourbon) and bought me a value priced Islay, Bowmore Legend.
Hey, I'm not really complaining, they got me what I asked for.
So anyway, I have been on a Bourbon run for the last 4 months and have not even had a drop of the Scotland product in all that time.
So tonight (Monday night, heh heh) i figured would be a good time to break open the Christmas bottle.
I like it! It is extremely smokey and peaty with a little more emphasis on the smoke. Casual blended Scotch drinkers would probably hate it, but I like it's knock you in the face with all the intense flavors.
I think I am becoming one of those guys who drinks ISLAY, or nothing at all! I am going to have to buy me an older Bowmore to see how it stacks up against some of the Laphroaigs, I've been getting.
Oh, wait... Isn't this the scotch enthusiast message board?
Replies
I generally pick up the standard 12yr bowmore each trip to the store here since they started getting it in half a year ago because i always enjoyed it previously and missed it the first couple of years here in NC when i couldnt get a hold of it.
Did I ever recommend the Laphroig to you? Again, not for the uninitiated, but great for those that like that raw peaty kick to the chest.
Been a good while since I treated myself to a nice bottle of anything, but its bonus time at the end of the month so no doubt I'll be off searching for the 25yr Hart Brothers ( the orkney highland park distillery bottling) in vain again.
I swear, you cannot get it in this country, there are many Hart Brothers on offer here and there and I've gone through experimenting with close to 8 other kinds, but nothing matches the one I miss.
r.
Did I ever recommend the Laphroig to you? Again, not for the uninitiated, but great for those that like that raw peaty kick to the chest.
r.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes you did! But I had already tried it and liked it
I really like the intensness of the flavors of the Islay whisky.
There are times, like after playing golf, when I'm just bs'ing and wanting to catch a buzz, when I am satisfied with a dewars or jw red and that's good enough. But the Islays really seem to be real whisky!!
I knew that you would post in this Ror
Got any other Islay's tp reccomend?
Someday I will drive up to NC with a pickup load of good scotch and we will have a tasting party! (someday I am going to buy some bushmills. I am curious, after watching Angela's Eyes
I will stop along the way and pick up treponema pallidum and make him learn to like whisky of all kinds
Oh and I'm always up for a whisky sampling, not many malt heads here though to be fair theres a few who dabble, just none that also buy there own and introduce me to something, even if its not new to me!
r.
/me waits for the confusion to settle.
Neo: what do you mean just plain old whisky? That covers two continents and many countries!
[ QUOTE ]
Oh and I'm always up for a whisky sampling, not many malt heads here though to be fair theres a few who dabble, just none that also buy there own and introduce me to something, even if its not new to me!
[/ QUOTE ]
I can sympathise, but you need to explain that they should do that. They are probably intimidated by you and are afraid you will have tried whatever is new to them already.
Explain in plain english that you don't care if you have already tried it, if it's free to you, it's always good!
You can act like it's new to you
What about a good Rye? Any recommendations?
/me waits for the confusion to settle.
[/ QUOTE ]
Makers Mark, which I'm sure you have sampled, is a Kentucky bourbon which relies more heavily on rye than barley.
It's smooth
I wish I knew the technicalities of it all - but for now I go by taste.
I'll let the masters answer on the scotch/whiskey/rye scene.
Neo: what do you mean just plain old whisky? That covers two continents and many countries!
[/ QUOTE ]
The brand I seem to be drinking more of as of lately is Windsor Canadian.
I guess I drink more to get shitface-housed rather than to enjoy a good expensive buzz.
/me listens to jazz and smokes a pipe while reading this thead
If you are into the whole smoked peat thing, I'd second the suggestion of Laphroig.
Other than Bunnahabhain, I really enjoy Glenfiddich. If I'm being a pansy, Glenlivet is alright. Macallan is always solid, and I just got a nice one liter bottle on a cruise ship for some super price. Oban is one I also enjoy.
I just picked up more of a budget bottle for something like $20 which I actually really like. It's called Aberlour. Quite nice, in a similar vein as Glenfiddich,maybe a touch smoother, but with a really nice malty taste.
aesir: Try to do a tasting sometime where you try several Scotches (or whiskeys, or tequilas, or wine for that matter) at varying price ranges one after the other (sipping, mind you). This is the only way to queue your tastebuds in to what you like, and what you don't. You will notice a substantial difference in flavor, most likely. The cheaper stuff will just taste flat and alcohol-ey without a lot of distinctive flavor. As the price goes up, you will notice well defined flavors. You may find some appealing, others not.
Personally, I just got into Scotch maybe two years ago and have a reasonably sophisticated taste for the stuff now. The only problem is that Scotch is just so damn expensive.
If you are into the whole smoked peat thing, I'd second the suggestion of Laphroig.
[/ QUOTE ]
I am
Still I'm gonna take your suggestion and buy a bottle of Bunnahabhain.
Still though, don't use words like pansy in the same post as Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet
Nice post Ryno, I appreciate the input and keeping the thread alive!
I'd also like to mention that when it comes to Scotch or Bourbon, I in no way want to come across as some kind of beer snob.
I can probably speak for several of us here when I say that I drink my fair share of Clan MacGregor and Old Crow!
Especially when it is offered to me
There is nothing wrong though, with appreciating the finer brands, which is what this is all about. Or maybe I should word that as there is nothing wrong with appreciating the cheaper brands
My normal at home bourbon is Old Crow and it is way cheaper than Jim Beam (which I do not consider a cheap crummy whiskey)
As far as how long it takes to notice the difference in cheaper and finer whiskies. Hell you can notice a difference right off the bat.
Appreciating the difference is a totally different thing.
No matter what type of whisky it is, to appreciate the difference, I think you must develope a taste for that particular type. Then it is easy to be more discriminating.
That is where the much cheaper blends really serve their purpose.
I won't drink anything other than Scottish Malt's unless I can avoid it and mostly I can avoid it.
I'm not like Duke though, I like a number of different regions, most of them really. What I like most are the sweeter ones, those distilled half their lifetime in port or sherry wood casks tend toward sweet refined flavours.
Despite that, I love the short sharp rawness of the Bowmore's and the oily volcanic rumblings of the cask strength Macallan or the subtle restraint of the older Highland Park's.
Glengoyne (they're all good, but the quality REALLY climbs up with the years in large jumps, 30yr is amazing) is one of my favourite's, it's the worlds only unpeated Malt.
Peat is pretty much an essential element to the distilling process and alters things a lot, I actually used to cut peat out and sell it with my dad when I was knee high to a grasshopper... not that I understood why anyone would want to buy dirt at that age.
Glengoyne is just incredibly refined, I generally went for the 17yr old, absolute heaven.
As much as anything, I enjoy tasting the history and culture because in many ways thats what the malts are. Those that make it tend to hire people who have passed down their families own method of distilling the stuff for many generations.
I enjoy being able to consider how much of that history I'm tasting, its worth more to me than mass produced beer.
You're paying for consistency with a singlemalt, blended malts do variate more in their taste. Sadly yes it costs, but all quality does.
For me, its a taste of what I left back home, it's a little part of my culture that I don't need to give up now that I'm an ex-pat in NC!
r.
I'm more a bourbon man myself, and Bakers and Bookers are topping my list of locally available sippers.
All the good bourbons seem to begin with B.
If you are into sipping.
I rarely drink any bourbons or scotches straight. I always add at least a splash of water.
My mixers:
With blends:
Cheap scotch, such as "THE KING OF THE CHEAP SCOTCH, CLAN McGregor"
Club Soda, water or sometimes I mix with coke.
I know a great big english dude (a glasses wearing fighter) who moved here and started a business fixing deisel trucks, who loves his beer, but he mixes his scotch with milk!!!!!
Good Blends:
such as Dewars, Johnny Walker...just a little club soda or just a splash of water.
Single malts: straight or just a shot of water or club soda.
Bourbon:
splash of water, club or straight.
I grew up drinking cheap Kentucky bourbon, so I am not that big into the really fine stuff like I am with scotch.
I can sip Heaven Hill or Old Crow straight as easily as I can sip any of the small batch stuff.
Bourbon to me, tastes best mixed with coke, but in the end that gives me heartburn the next day so I drink it like that infrequently.
Jack Daniels is very good, but technically is not really bourbon because it is made in Tennessee instead of Kentucky. Plus they do an extra filtering process. Still it is good whisky! And it can knowck your dick in the dirt before you know it.
I like many of the Canadian whiskies, Crown Royal comes to mind. They taste like bourbon. They are made the same way I suspect. But they are not bourbon because they are nto made in Kentucky and they are all as far as I know, blends.
There is a lot (alot is not a word) of pride in your country's whisky. I don't see anybody fighting over it though. We can all learn to appreciate the nuances of own own whisky without fighting.
Except for gin and vodka. Fuck all you gin and vodka drinking sonsabitches
Hawken
whatevr the hell this is, I want some!
hardboiled eggs in pork sausage or whatever kind of meat!
it looks good to me!!
r.
Oh Makers Mark? 6 outta 10.
Beam and Daniels are ok, Jim Beam Black and Daniels Resever are quite nice. I'd much rather spend the extra quid on a bottle of Bulleit than standard Jim or Jack.
Bakers and Bookers - I can never remember which one I prefer.
I had a bottle of Van Winkle at one our work night outs last summer - was my 30th, I felt justified in ordering it. It was ok, but not worth the price the bar was charging.
Woodford reserve - nice stuff, but not worth the extra cash - if I'm in a pub I'd much rather go for the Wild Turkey and ginger (cheers for tonight Therm!) or the Bulleit (which is geting quite common these days).
Aileen now likes bourbon as well, and we've spent some considerable time at the Isobar and Black Bull doing taste tests. This usually entails getting 2 Bookers and ginger and 2 Woodfords and giner, them picking the nicest. Repeat with Jack vs Jim etc.
Still no clear winner, but damn it we ARE TRYING.
Oh and I know Jack Daniels isn't a bourbon. I know this becuase at a work night out when they ran ut, Mr S. asked "ok, whatever other bourbon you've got". The barman replied "I think you'll find sir that Jack Daniels isn't a bourbon, it's a sour mash."
Tool.
first, scotch eggs, thanks! Im hungry now!
I don't wanna sound dumb, but when you say ginger, what do you mean? ginger ale?
also, I find it extremely interesting to find an Irishman (am I right Rick?) who is such a knowledgable connisuer of bourbon!
you are telling me stuff I don't even know! thanks
Back in around 1992 I took a vacation and went to bardstown kentucky. I took a tour of Makers Mark and Jim Beam.
The Jeam Beam tour was like touring a Ford faciclty while the Makers Mark tour was like touring Aston Martin. If I get a chance Ill scan the photos and post them. The makers amrk tour was so cool, because everything was on such a small scale down to the two women who dipped every bottle top into red wax.
Anyway if I get the chance tommorrow Ill put up some pix!
(edit)
While I was at makers mark I asked them what they did with their barrels (since the charred oak barrels in the US can only be used for bourbon once.)
She told me Jim Beam sold their barrels to the public (I bought two halves) Markers Mark sent sold all there barrels to a distillery in Scotland to age Scotch in.
I wish I would have been smart enough to ask what distillery it was, but I was only 31 years old then and not smart enough to ask such important questions.
Anyone else know? Maybe?
Just thinking about Scotch eggs, baked beans and fries, or haggis, tatties and neeps is making my mouth water.
Btw, lots of so called clever types throughout history have claimed that if you found the correct amount of malt to drink each day you would live forever.
Scotland is full of dedicated scientists doing their bit in the hunt for immortality.
I used to drink Jack Daniels/Jime Beam /Johnny Walker /Bakers / Booker before a 30yr white and mackay screwed my palate forever and I just can't go back anymore.
r.
Crombies of Edinburgh is about 2 streets away from R* offices in Edinburgh. http://www.sausagelinks.co.uk/Producer_detail.asp?id=131
It just might be the finest butchers I've ever been in, and they do hot food at lunctime. £2.50 for Haggis, neeps and spuds, or slab pie, or their sausage and mash.
Their venison sausages are simply ace.
http://www.sausages.co.uk/
Crombies.
I've not been to many distilleries myself, but I've been to Bushmills a few times and it was the best I've been to when it comes to a tour. If you go to Norn Irn, visit. Then pop along the coast to the Giants Causeway, and after that go and see my Da at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.
Ror - most of the immortality seekers in Leith have given up on whisky and are experimenting with Tennents Super and Buckfast.
This site is very funny:
http://www.kentuckybarrels.com/european-whisky.html
"Without our Kentucky Bourbon barrels they could not make Scotch whisky"
Hmm - the first recorded Bourbon is from the 1770s, yet Bushmills had a royal charter from 1608.