fantastic!

Glad you enjoyed it, Will.

For what it's worth, my favourite single malts are Ardbeg 10, Lagavulin

16, Laphroaig 10 and Talisker 10, in variable order, although the Ardbeg and the Lagavulin are generally in the top two spots. If you like any of them, you should work your way through all of them, at your leisure. They're all variations on the island style -- peat, smoke, phenol, etc., which I much prefer over anything else I've tasted.

Oh, and now that the Caol Ila 10 is available where I live, it will probably make it one of my top five. And, I'm currently enjoying the Bowmore 12.

All of these malts are available in other expressions -- variations in age, cask type and bottler. I generally stick to their younger official bottlings, for reasons of local availability and price.

Re your question in another thread, broadly speaking my impression is that Ardbeg was mothballed for a period of time because the owners didn't foresee the explosion of interest in single malts that accompanied the baby boom getting into its 40s and 50s. Similarly, Lagavulin underestimated future demand for some years in the 1980s, accounting for rolling shortages of their 16 for the past few years, and quite probably for their recent decision to market a 12 year old cask strength. I rank it a little lower than the 16, but it's still a fine dram.

bill

ps If you like a malt that talks back and you want something completely different at some point, try the Aberlour a'Bunadh, a sherry monster that will take your breath away.

fantastic !

:-)

Paul

Excellent. As you probably guessed, I am relatively new to Scotch. A scottish guy introduced me to Laphroiag at a bar in Prague.

But I have to say, if there are camps in the Scotch world, I throw my lot in with the peaty drinks such as Laphroaig and, now, Ardbeg 10!!

Excellent!

Will

Maybe reviewing scotch should be my sideline!

Will