Well, I finally got that first bottle of Glendlivet 12. I could only find the small bottles for twenty bucks and a bigger bottle with two glasses for thirty six bucks. The only other scotch I have had was Cutty Sark. The liquor store also had Glendlivet 18 for about fifty eight dollars. I ended up buying the 12 bottle with the two fancy glasses.
Anyway, I'm not going to drink it until I can really sit down and enjoy it. Maybe on the weekend.
Now, a few questions:
Do people drink scotch while eating dinner like they do wine?
What should my next bottle of scotch be? Glendlivet 18?
Some do. I think typically people drink it either before or after dinner, especially saving the richer or "heavier" scotches for after dinner. But it's not unheard of to drink whisky with dinner.
There are probably folks out there who love the Glenlivet 18, but I don't think the difference in taste between the 12 and the 18 justifies the difference in price. If you like the 12yo, and I do, you'll probably like the 18 too. Whether you find it different enough to justify the extra expense is a matter of judgement and personal preference. But for the price of the 18yo there are a lot of choices and some of them are quite nice and very different from the Glenlivet taste profile. That's not to knock the Glenlivet. It's one of the classic Speyside whiskies - maybe *the* classic Speyside whisky.
Von Fourche ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) wrote: : 2. What should my next bottle of scotch be? Glendlivet 18?
You'll probably get all sorts of recommendations, but if I was introducing someone to single malts, it would be hard to go wrong by starting off with a Highland Park, an absolutely delicious whisky.
-- Greg Beaulieu snipped-for-privacy@chebucto.ns.ca Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
What is Speyside? Is it a big area for producing famous scotch drinks? How many areas are there that produce famous scotch whiskey? And what exactly does a single malt mean?
I'm sure wiser heads will prevail, but this neophyte will innocently respond as follows:
Speyside is in the Highlands. It is considered to be the heartland of whisky production. There are four areas that produce Scotch whisky; the Lowlands, the Highlands, Campbeltown and Islay. Single malt simply means that all of the whisky in the bottle is the product of the same distillery, and has not been blended with whisky from any other distillery.
All of the above gleaned from Michael Jackson's "Malt Whisky Companion".
A (very small) unit of measure for fluids; but when talking about whisky it also means "a drink", the amount of whisky one would normally consider a drink - it means the same as "a shot" of whisky, or "a glass" of whisky. The exact size depends on local custom and the generousity of your host. Sometimes it simply refers to a whisky, as in, "That Glenlivet is a nice dram."
That's right.
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Nick has about got that covered. I'd add a couple of things though.
People have disagreed about exactly how many regions there are. The idea of the regions was that most of the whiskies that are produced in the same area will have similar characteristics. This is probably less true today than it once was, because the grain (and malting) which once came from around the distillery now may be shipped from far away, and most of the distilleries are owned by large drinks companies so their policies may not be set by the folks at the distillery. There are some exceptions.
A few years ago there was only one distillery operating in Campbelton; some people argued it should no longer be thought of as a seperate region. Now there are three distilleries producing five different malt whiskies there (that I know of). Islay definitely has a recognizable style: five of this island's seven remaining distilleries regularly produce a very peaty whisky and another does so occasionally - this is "extreme scotch". The lowlands once had many whisky producers but only three are left, if I recall correctly. It produced the gentlelest whiskies. The highlands include everything else and is the largest area geographically. So people tend to divide it up into smaller areas. Speyside is one of these: the area around the river Spey and its tributaries.
Some people seperate the whiskies produced on the islands (other than Islay) from the other highland whiskies and talk about an "island" whisky region. Some people will divide the highlands into north, west, east, and central. (If you don't have a map handy, south of the highlands would be the lowlands.) Some people simply divide speyside off from the rest of the highlands and are done with it. Highland whiskies tend to be firm, austere, dryer, and need some age to show their best characteristics. Speyside whiskies are gentle, sweet, flowery, and perfumy (in a good way). But there are exceptions to these general characterizations. For instance, in speyside Macallan, Glenfarclas, and Aberlour produce big assertive whiskies with a good bit of sherry character which comes from aging their whiskies in barrels that had previously been used to make sherry.
There are around a hundred distilleries whose whiskies can be found in the shops today, and many of these produce several different ages and "expressions". But only fifty or less are easily found in the U.S., and unless you live near a good specialist liquor store you may have access to even fewer. But among these you will find great differences in flavor - which makes trying as many as you can find lots of fun.
Again Nick has it right. "Single" means the whisky comes from only one distillery and isn't mixed with whisky from any other distillery. And "Malt" means the whisky was made only from barley that had been malted - which means it has been allowed to sprout and then dried, ground, and used for whisky making. If it contained grain besides barley or if the barley had not been allowed to sprout before it was dried and ground it would be called a "grain" whisky. A "blended whisky" is a mix of whiskies: typically several malt whiskies from different distilleries mixed with some grain whisky.
Hope this post wasn't too long. You might also find good info at several websites. Here's one to get you started:
Thanks for the URL. I've been to several whisky related sites, but didn't have this one.
I hasten to reiterate that all of the information I posted was gleaned from Michael Jackson's "Malt Whisky Companion". While out of print for almost ten years, and therefore missing information on newer bottlings and labels, it is (IMHO) incredibly insightful and written with an obvious love of the 'water of life'.
After 50 years of drinking to drink, I decided to explore the beauty of Scotch Whiskies. After buying some tasting glasses and a variety of Single Malts and Single Barrels, I came down with a cold. For ten days now, I have been unable to smell or taste anything except garlic and hot peppers! I'm hoping to be able to start my tasting notes on New Year's Eve, when I'll be toasting Auld Lang Syne at home, where it's safe.
Von Fourche ( snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com) wrote: : What about Glenlivet 21? What kind of taste is that compared to 12? : Also, what kind of price does Glenlivet 21 go for?
I've got some here right now. I was expecting great things, and in all honesty I'm underwhelmed. It's certainly smooth and has a lovely color, but everything about it seems very subtle and understated. Not one particular thing I can point out that stands out about it. Not what I would expect for the price.
-- Greg Beaulieu snipped-for-privacy@chebucto.ns.ca Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Some day we all should to assemble the definitive list of whisky websites, but it would be a long list...
I assume you mean the copy you have is ten years old. If not then it's my pleasure to tell you that the Malt Whisky Companion *is* still in print - currently it's on its fourth edition and now reviews 800 or so whiskies. I have the third and fourth editions in my library and downloaded the first edition way back when it was on the web. It's a great reference and has long been the most comprehensive guide to scotch malt whisky. But Jim Murray has a new book called the Whisky Bible (which I haven't seen yet) in which he reviews not just Scotch malts but Irish, Canadian, American, and world whiskies. It has his opinions on around 2000 whiskies!
Good luck with getting over your cold. No fun at all. And good luck with your tasting notes. It's always interesting to assemble your own impressions. No matter how well Michael Jackson has done his job, or Jim Murray, or the Malt Advocate, or Whisky Magazine, or anyone else, one's own opinions have to rule in the matter of personal taste.
Can you give me a few of the best ones? Any good ones for newbie scotch drinkers like me? I would like something that rates all the scotch, especially scotch that I can buy (like under two hundred dollars).
No, no no lol. $200.00 is the high limit for me. My spending limit is like what I paid for the Glenlivet 12 a few days ago - $36.00 I'm willing to spend $30 - $50.00 bucks a bottle once or twice a month. And maybe up to $200.00 for something really special (if that's possible with $200.00). Is there a web site that can keep me away from the bad scotch and steer to towards the good stuff that I can find in a typical nice and big liquor store or order off the net? I would love to start buying other makes and ages of scotch and compare them. But I only want to buy what's considered good. I was on the Glenfiddich web site looking at what they had to offer. One did catch my eye, a scotch that was aged in Scotland but then sent to Cuba I think. Any sites that review that?
If you only buy what somebody else considers good, then you may miss out on a whole bunch of stuff that *you* like. Find a bar that stocks a wide variety of malt. Try some of each... with a friend! And decide what you like and then fill out you home selection.
And it has the highest concentration of distilleries in Scotland--over half of them.
This website describes how the river Spey is one of the most pristine in Scotland.
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The Spey water used in the distillation of the whiskies runs FROM peat beds (high in the Monadhliath Mountains) "over" granite or slate.
Other whiskies in Scotland, are said to run FROM granite through peat, and the water used for the very peaty Lagavulin and Talisker are tinged yellow-brown from contact with peaty vegetation.
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Here is a nice map of the principal distilling regions of Scotland:
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