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my worst whisky

The worst whisky I have on my shelf, and the worst whisky I have had in recent memory is...

(the card please)

(no peeking)

Scapa 12!

I often comment on how a predominance of bourbon flavor in a whisky puts me off, but none is worse than this Scapa 12 (after repeated tastings, in a bottle open for about 2 months). This whisky has one, and only one characteristic: it tastes very strongly like an old bourbon barrel.

If you have never had bourbon--it is a very nice drink. It is made from corn mash, and aged in charred oak. This Scapa 12 tastes EXACTLY like that--and very strongly so--but in a very second-hand way. It has no identifiable character of its own beyond the very strong bourbon flavor. What a shame they didn't scuttle the whisky along with the German fleet, instead of try to age and market this impoverished product this way. Even my Ben Nevis, which also has clear bourbon notes, mellows and grows complex over time, and some very individual character shines through.

I have 10 whiskies currently open, and though I'm tired of the phony-sherry notes of the Tomatin, it's the Scapa I really try to avoid. But tonight I didn't manage to do so.

Reply to
Douglas W. Hoyt
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phony-sherry

I'm not a bourbon drinker so I can't really comment on old bourbon barrels, but my last bottle of Scapa contained many a good dram. I used to think of it like a poor man's Talisker - not as peppery or as complex a finish but interesting nonetheless.

I suggest that you try another bottle.

regards

Esmond

Reply to
Esmond

My was that Japanese shit. A scotch imitation in a diamond shaped bottle. The bottle should have been shaped like a pooper.

phony-sherry

Reply to
Jimmy Smith

It's been a good many years since I've had a Scapa. I assume (because it's a 12yo) that this is the Owners' bottling. G&M used to have a Scapa bottling, but I haven't seen it in some years and I believe it was a 10yo. At the time I thought the 12yo was a nice but unimpressive whisky - didn't really make a strong impression and I didn't seek it out again. It may well have declined over the years. The distillery is closed (or rather on a small maintenance schedule like Bruichladdich was a few years ago).

[snip]

I agree about the Tomatin - it's sort of up and down with me. I've had some very good versions of Tomatin and a few years ago I thought the OB 12 was one of the best of the bargain whiskies on the market. But I was disappointed with the version that came in the geodessic football.

I was initially surprized that there were so few "bad" singlemalts out there; but it is not in the producers' interest to bottle anything really bad - and except for a handful of distilleries most production goes into blends. A distiller only has to hold back one good cask in five, or ten, or so forth, so there's really no incentive to ever bottle a bad singlemalt. That being said and excluding a few soapy bottles that were obviously mistakes the biggest dissapointment I've had was the Old Rhosdhu 5yo. It was made a bigger disappointment by the fact that I had tasted a very good Rhosdhu from Cadenheads, and the 5yo was a special order - I and my friend Edd had to split a case to get the local liquor store to order it. So not only did we have a disappointing whisky, we each had three bottles of it. I think I would rather have had Scapa! At least it wasn't an expensive brand.

Now that Loch Lomond is under new ownership, I wonder what plans they have for it...

Bart

Reply to
Bart

My worst whisky is LOCH DHU, never and I mean realy never had something that tasted so bad as loch Dhu.

Marc "Douglas W. Hoyt" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com...

phony-sherry

Reply to
Segers Marc

Cutty Sark.

Ick. Paint thinner.

I had a glass at a bar so the bottle may have been abused in some way.

Reply to
Ethelred the Unready

Come on, Loch Dhu must be meant as a joke - not for serious drinking. It is matured in "sweet oak casks" probably with drowned in molasses. As I understand it they made it for people in the offshore oil industry - it looks just like crode oil - but tastes somewhat better. . I agree though - it is a terrible whiskey. JanH

"Segers Marc" skrev i meddelandet news:s48ob.115114$ snipped-for-privacy@phobos.telenet-ops.be...

Reply to
Jan Holzhausen

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