My exposure to Scotch thus far has been the blends JW Red (nasty), Chivas, and JW Black. I tried to find some Highland Park 12yo but failed, so I fell back to Glenlivet 12. I've never had a single malt, so I hope I like it. I'm in New Jersey, US, and paid about $32 after tax. I hope I didn't get robbed.
I usually do Cognacs, German Asbach, and the lovely California Germain Robin brandy, and my fav mixed drink is a Martini with olives, shaken.
I don't quite understand it when people bash the blends like Chivas and JW (black) as I didn't think they were all that bad, so hopefully after tonight I will understand what you all mean.
Thanks for all the info. I figure this is probably a good place to start and when I have some mad money here and there I can try some of the more exotic ones.
I heartily agree with you about the Germain Robin. I have a bottle of their Single Barrel, which bottled at 42.1% abv. I savor the occasional sip. It's the only brandy I've ever found that I like. A Tanqueray Martini with Dry Vermouth and an olive is my favorite cocktail, as well. I gently stir mine, so as not to bruise the Gin.
I don't bash blends. I grew up on Haig & Haig, Cutty Sark and the like. It was only a few years ago that I was introduced to Single Malt Scotch whiskies. I now have about a half dozen bottles. I enjoy them all very much.
New Jersey has a good market. Glenlivet will work, but it's not HP (which is really good). It should be enough for you to see the difference between SMS and blends. If you like it, you owe it to yourself. Another trick is that when you go to a pub or restaurant that carries SMS, you can sample one or two for $7-$12, and my experience has been that you usually get a good amount (always ask for it neat!). That way you can try before you buy.
JW black is NOT that bad ... it's also not that GOOD. I'm enjoying a dram of cask strength Ardbeg right now, and I guarantee it makes JW black taste like toilet water--although my wife swears it's the most repugnant thing she's ever smelled. To each her or his own.
You kinda will. But, remember, there are different kinds of SMS, and many have lots of flavor and character, which is, speaking only for myself, what I like about them. My first SMS was Laphroaig, as I did some research first. I'm a jump in with both feet kind of guy ... well, here I am.
Sounds like a reasonable price. Prices vary somewhat from here to there. A few years ago someone did a comparison of several popular bottlings and if I remember correctly Spain had the lowest prices in that comparison. In the states (USA), state taxes and the different state distribution systems will account for some variance, but 32 USD is reasonable for Glenlivet 12yo.
If you drink cognacs and G-R brandies (I agree the G-R's are lovely) you're well prepared to explore whiskies, especially the single malts.
The blends get bashed a bit unfairly - there are some really good blends out there that are the equal of most any single malt, but they are harder to find and are often more expensive than singles of a comparable age. JW Black isn't so bad, as a commonly available blend, but it also depends on whether you drink blends over ice or sample them neat.
Taste your Glenlivet undiluted, then add (literally) a drop of water. If that improves it, if it reaveals more flavors, then try adding another. If not, next time don't. Glenlivet is actually a very good whisky, overlooked sometimes because it is so widely available; some of its charms are very subtle.
Blends get a bad name because there are a lot of cheap bad blends out there using very young malts and even younger grain whiskies in their recipes. They're harsh, but they're cheap. Single malts tend to have more robust and distinctive flavors.
Happy hunting. The good news is that the ratio of good single malts to bad ones is very high. Producers know their reputation is on the line and even picking at random you will seldom find a bad single malt (although it will happen every once in a while). The range of flavors is unusally large compared to other spirits so the adventure of discovery is quite a bit of fun.
(If you want something friendly, try a Balvenie Doublewood. If you want something to make you a man, try the Glenfarclas Cask Strength...liquid velvet.)
Seconded. Anything Balvenie is stunningly good for the price, in my opinion. And at 40 or 50 bucks a bottle it's a great way to see what's on the other side. All due respect to Glenlivet, but it's somewhat the "Miller Lite" of SMS.
Thanks to you all. I forgot to mention that my prior exposure to whiskies was Jack Daniels, Old Grand Dad, Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Laird's Apple Jack (really apple brandy)- as well as the Scotch blends I mentioned. I have also had Jameson's Irish Whiskey before as that is what my late father in law (irish immigrant) used to drink occasionally.
Actually I was a bit wrong on the price. When I got home last night I reexamined the receipt and it was closer to $34 after taxes..... something like $33.94 I think.
They use a cork type top, BTW, FWIW. Not a screw as I expected.
Well, I tried it (Glenlivet) last night, with a bit of water as that is how I thought it was supposed to be, and it was good. It didn't floor me though. I have to give it some more time, and then next time I will try to get a different one. I'm not saying that I didn't like it. I did. It's just that I do know that one must give these new tastes some time to develop.
What I do notice is that the color is pretty light and the flavor is totally different from Chivas or even JW Black. It was like a different drink. It's much mellower. As a brandy drinker it takes a bit getting used to but I like variety, which is why I ventured into the Scotch arena.
I want to try a "peaty" one in the near future.
I found an airplane bottle, unopened, from about 8 years ago, of Balvenie 10yo. That would be a cheap way to try another whilst I still have this bottle of Glenlivet around.... How does Balvenie 10yo compare to Glenlivet 12yo? I can search the group if that has been covered in detail.
Thanks for your enthusiasm and I hope to contribute or at least ask some questions from time to time. The questions thing though might not come because there is a wealth of information to be had just by searching this group.
If it's a glass bottle and has been stored well (cool/dark) you will enjoy it. Plastic, or stored poorly, then please don't make a decision based on it, if it isn't to your liking.
There's a wealth of knowledge here, that's for sure.
I'll have to check, but I believe it is glass and it's in a minature cardboard tube as well, just like the large bottles. It has always been kept dark and cool.
I am 38, and I think a buddy gave it to me when I turned 30, (along with some cigars - I smoked the cigars) probably trying to introduce me to other finer things. I stored it and actually its better I try it now that I am into it then back then when I wouldn't have appreciated it at all.
Jamesons is a good whiskey at a great price. I drank Irish whiskies before I discovered Scotch Malts and have never lost my affection for them. But there are far fewer to explore and the palate is more limited than one finds with Scotches, especially the singles.
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The color is light, but that's not a bad thing. Light color means the whisky was aged mostly in ex-bourbon barrels and they weren't too heavy with the caramel colouring, which is definitely a good thing. Many producers add coloring to their products so they won't vary in colour from batch to batch. It's supposed to be flavorless - and probably is at the concentrations they use - but it masks the information you can glean from a whisky's color when it isn't adjusted. (Glenlivet may use caramel colour, they just don't use too much.)
A large part of the difference in flavor you mention is the difference between the flavor of malt whisky and grain whisky. People often think of the grain whiskies used in blends as if they were vodka and attribute all the flavor to the malts the blender uses, but grain whisky has its own flavor. If you were to make a whisky is Scotland with the same mash bill as a bourbon (say maize, wheat, and a little barley malt) and aged it three years in oak (or more) it would be called a "grain whisky", and no one would say bourbons are flavorless.
Its the same but different. Both are near the same age, mostly aged in ex bourbon barrels, both are Speyside whiskies, both are lightly peated... but the comparison is actually a very interesting one. You'll pick out differences in the flavor even if you have a hard time putting them into words. I think it's much more fun to compare two (or more) whiskies than to savor one alone, but often lately one is all my purse has been able to afford, alas!
There really is a wealth of information in the archives of this newsgroup. I've learned a huge amount here. I don't like the current layout of Google Groups, but it only means you have to spend a little more time searching. I think everyone enjoys questions and comments, and it's a friendly bunch.
It takes a bit of work, but you can configure it so that it is like the old version ... which was better, indeed. As long as you're logging it, it will remember how you have it, and although you have to log in every two weeks, the computer easily recalls your info (even if you clean up your cache, etc).
There are indeed some good blends out there, but there are also some overpriced 'quality' ones that are worth avoiding. W&M 'The Thirteen' falls into that category.
A good blend at a good price (here in Blighty anyway) is 'Black Bottle', which uses only Islay malts for the Scotch component. Tends to be about
I agree. That's a pretty nice blend if it's the same one we get in the USA. Ours is a 10yo, which has just become available locally in the last year or so. Price is a bit higher though, around 40 USD which is about the usual price of an Ardbeg or Laphroaig 10yo. Obviously it's not as peaty as those two, but it's a tasty, interesting blend.
There seems to be two versions of it - what I would call the 'standard' (which is the 12-14 quid version) and a '10 year old' version that's closer to 20 quid. I can't quite tell if the 10yo is a vatted malt or a blend but I suspect it's a blend.
I confess that the standard blend is very nice over ice in hot weather. Normally I consign people who do that to the lower pits of Hell, but I'm mellowing in my old age.
The 10yo Black Bottle is a bit coy about declaring itself a blend, but that's what I understand it to be, and the taste (to my fallible palate) confirms it.
Is the No Age Statement standard version peatier, more aggressively phenolic, than the 10yo, as younger Islays often are?
An unusually hot June locally, with temps at 100 degrees Farenheit, make it seem a forgivable sin right now.
It's in the 'blends' section of Royal Mile so I'd assume it's a blend :-)
I've not had a chance to try it - my local Asda only stocks the standard, no age version. Incidentally, Asda seem to be discounting quite nicely at the moment - picked up a Glenlivet 18yo for just under
18quid, and Balvenie Founders Reserve was sub-20 - down from its more usual mid 20's
Thanks. I should have recognized it, Tam O'Shanter having a whisky related tie-in (depending on whether you count Cutty Sark as whisky I suppose). I'm fond of his Apology to a Mouse, and all the denizens of this board should know Scotch Drink.
My great grandfather gave my paternal grandmother a copy of Burns collected works when she was a little girl, and she always loved it - in her old age because of the connection to her father, doubtless. It's still in existance, if a bit fragile. My father has it now as a remembrance of his mother.
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