Whisky

[Soren]

I figure among my fellow beer geeks there must be some whisky geeks as well!? I going on a small overseas trip tomorrow and was thinking I might pick up a bottle of duty free Scotch, to supplement my "collection" whcih currently include a Singleton 12 year and a Laphroaig 10 year cask-strength. I am by no means an expert but the latter is much more appaeling to me.

What are good bottles to look out for? It doesnt need to be super smoky like the laphroaig but I am a fan of big flavours. I would like to explore the universe of whisky further so if there is something that is pungent on other notes than smoke that would be interesting. To keep the missus happy I want to keep the price low, no more than $100.

Unfortunately www.ratewhisky.com does not exist...:)

[Greig McGill]

I love Laphroaig and have three different bottles of it but get through it so slowly because almost nobody will drink it with me.

Next time I'm down there, we have a date! ;)

I have a couple of different independent bottlings of Laphroaig. My favourite is a Chieftans 12 year. It's a little more mellow. I know that's blasphemy when speaking of Laphroaig, but it works for me.

My favourite Orkney is Highland Park also. I like the 10yr. Only a youngster I know.

Speyside... Cragganmore is my fave, but I've not tried many of them. I'll have to give G&McP a go.

[Stu McKinlay]

You're on.

Oh, I do love Talisker too. That was on my mind when I described Scapa actually. Scapa's nice but I'd definitely go the Highland Park ahead of it, as an Orkney. Both are much more approachable than Talisker (which is from Skye, so has the real West Coast "iodine" grunt... and on top of toastier malt).

[Soren]

thanks for all the advise guys, I'll chew through it tonight.
As I said, I like the salty smokiness of Laphroaig, but this is pretty much only the second single malt I have tried more than once. I would like to get something that is equally flavourfull but in a different way... I'm sure the answer will be in one of those replies but havent got time to digest them right now. cheers!

[JoKing]

Not to brag... but here's my wee collection:

Ardbeg 10
Laphroiag 12
Balvenie 10
Balvenie Doublewood 12
Dalwhinnie 15
Glenmorangie (the old gold bottle) 10
Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban
Glenmorangie Nectar D'or
Glenleveit 12
Abelour 10
Tormore 12

I like em pretty young - 10 - 12 years is good for me. I wouldn't mind expanding my collection - but have no trips overseas due any time soon... so if any of you guys wanna donate - just hit me up!

[Glynn Foster]

Since it seems this thread has turned into a favourites, I'd settle for a good Lagavulin over a Laphroaig any day of the week. Also quite fond of a Ben Riach as a Speyside. Unfortunately my stash has none of either and still can't find that precious bottle of Glenfarclas cask - I suspect the builders took off with it :(

[Reviled]

Woohoo, have finally tried some single malt, got some Glenlivet 12yo with my flatmate, its devine!!!

Has got me seriously thinking about building a pot still, I figure if I have to age it for years what better time to start other than now? ;o)

[Greig McGill]

Nah, brew your beer. Leave the whisky to the pros, and buy it! :)

[Reviled]

Come on mate, you could say the same about beer tho couldnt you? I think it would be fun to distill some whisky, malt whisky is the only thing id want to make, so a pot still would be the go, should be easy enough to make, and ill probably only do a couple of batches and be satisfied, but the point is that its intriguing (spelling?)

I figure I should be able to pull it off after a bit of practice??

Tried an Ardbeg 10yo last night, completely different beast to the Glenlivet, i got so much seaweed and iodine off of it, just crazy! Also snapped up a 10yo Laphroaig from the Mill online for $50, so will try that when it arrives..

[Soren]

I'm seriously considdering making whisky as well, reckon it would be so cool to have a barrell sitting in the cellar for 10 years. dont know if you'd need a pot still though or if a standard collumn one would do?

[Bambule]

I'm not a massive single malt fan but I do enjoy one with the right company and occasion. I have a bottle of a 15 year old Bowmore which is nice, I do enjoy that smoky peatiness of it. I really like Ardbeg as well. On a tramp recently in the Tarraruas my friend produced a hip flask of highland park, damn near saved my life.

[Stu McKinlay]

I've never been into the Tararuas without a malt... actually, that's a lie, I did once but I had Glayva instead (and I knew my bro was taking some Glenlivet... we made psuedo rusty nails up at Jumbo, July 8th 2003 if I remember rightly).

[Soren]

Returned to NZ last night and was fortunate enough to have 3 hours before my domestic flight so had plenty of time to punter on what bottle to get... The chap in the shop was very helpful and pretty knowledgable as well although I concluded he liked the smooth ones better than the big aggressive flavours that I prefer. anyways, he opened up the tasting stock and I tried a good handfull:
Highland park 12 and 16, good stuff, I prefferred the 12, the 16 was getting a bit too smooth.
Gragganmore and Bowmore, nice drops for sure but a bit too balanced I think, if you can say that.
A speyside that I forget the name of, good but not as pungent as I would have liked.
Considered the Talisker 10 but rememberred that my mother in law has a bottle that she doesnt touch so I should be able to dip in to that:P

In the end I decided on 2 bottles that he didnt have for tasting:

Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban (aged on port casks) and Lasanta (aged on Sherry casks). I thought this would be very interesting as an experiment, to see the differences between the 2, as its the same base whisky aged on different woods. To make the experiment complete I should really have gooten the original as well but for some reason I didnt. the glenmorangies were also on special, 10% off.