teetrix Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 (edited) Balvenie Double Wood 12 years old for me... the character a single malt has to have, the rich flavour of six years sherry cask and the smoothness of six years in a bourbon cask. And, of course, in a nosing glass. Maybe a "ladies whisky" for someone, but those "paint removers" (like I usually say to banter my friends) are not for my taste... Michael Edited January 20, 2016 by teetrix 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Cheese Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Being 45 today has some compensations...the girls in the office bought me a bottle of Bowmore small batch Bourbon cask, looking forward to sampling as I've not tried a Bowmore in my Islay explorations yet. And friends have invited me around their place for a slap up dinner tonight, can't be bad eh? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted January 20, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 20, 2016 (edited) Being 45 today has some compensations...the girls in the office bought me a bottle of Bowmore small batch Bourbon cask, looking forward to sampling as I've not tried a Bowmore in my Islay explorations yet. A little lighter than some, but still a lot of Islay character - I think you'll enjoy it. Edited January 20, 2016 by 45156 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adams442T Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Enjoy Aberlour (partly because my stepson went to the prep school there before Gordonstoun), but lately I've been drinking Tullamore D.E.W., an Irish Whiskey. Saturday however, Jane and I are going to a Burn's Night Supper at The Lazy Otter, just outside Cambridge, where our favourite is the 14 year old Oban - we'll also be staying there overnight needless to say................. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Torper Posted January 21, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2016 I was lucky enough to get two bottles of malt at Christmas. Both of them were new to me. First was Jura Superstition. I'm very partial to peaty Islay whiskies, but this Jura is only lightly peated and gave very little if any hint of being an island whisky. It is, however, sweet and i like sweet whiskies - this one is almost like Christmas Pudding with just just a hint of soapiness! Drunk neat it stung my tongue, but a small drop of water cured that and brought out more flavour. The sweetness stays in the mouth for quite a long time after the glass is finished. Nice. The other is a Dalmore 15-year old. I'm not at all sure what to make of it. Amazon buyers gave it an almost uniform 5 stars, but on a dedicated whisky website it got almost as many one star ratings as five. It's the first whisky I've had where i could clearly taste both the sherry and the wood from the casks in which it has been matured. Again it's sweet, but not quite as sweet as the Jura, and it seems more complex. Again, a drop of water brings out more flavour, but at the expense of richness. I'll enjoy trying to reach a conclusion on this one. DT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted January 23, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 23, 2016 I was lucky enough to get two bottles of malt at Christmas. Both of them were new to me. First was Jura Superstition. I'm very partial to peaty Islay whiskies, but this Jura is only lightly peated and gave very little if any hint of being an island whisky. It is, however, sweet and i like sweet whiskies - this one is almost like Christmas Pudding with just just a hint of soapiness! Drunk neat it stung my tongue, but a small drop of water cured that and brought out more flavour. The sweetness stays in the mouth for quite a long time after the glass is finished. Nice. The other is a Dalmore 15-year old. I'm not at all sure what to make of it. Amazon buyers gave it an almost uniform 5 stars, but on a dedicated whisky website it got almost as many one star ratings as five. It's the first whisky I've had where i could clearly taste both the sherry and the wood from the casks in which it has been matured. Again it's sweet, but not quite as sweet as the Jura, and it seems more complex. Again, a drop of water brings out more flavour, but at the expense of richness. I'll enjoy trying to reach a conclusion on this one. DT Jura doesn't usually have much Island character, even though it's pretty close to Islay. I personally find it a little on the light side, and I agree that it needs a tiny (less than a teaspoon) of water to open it out and to remve the fire. Dalmore at 15yo I haven't yet tried, but usually if you can taste the cask, it's been in it for just a little too long, and perhaps should have been bottled a year or so sooner - but that's a bit of a personal opinion, and I had the same casky experience off a very old Macallan (it was over 30yo) and was, in my opinion, past its best by a fair way. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted January 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2016 Just had a very pleasant evening with two good friends and Peter and I finished off with some Aberlour that my middle son gave me for Christmas. Excellent. Plenty of taste and dark. A good finish to a good evening. Jamie 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted January 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2016 Mrs Dava enjoys Glen Moray, a ladies' whisky from Elgin, very much. This has no connection with the Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi which produces unusual whiskies and beers for non-Muslim consumption (originally British militia) in Pakistan, including single malts and one called Islay. Their products are like no other whisky and one helped ease an eventful visit to Islamabad two years ago. Dava 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Dava Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Mrs Dava enjoys Glen Moray, a ladies' whisky from Elgin, very much. This has no connection with the Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi which produces unusual whiskies and beers for non-Muslim consumption (originally British militia) in Pakistan, including single malts and one called Islay. Their products are like no other whisky and one helped ease an eventful visit to Islamabad two years ago. Dava However, we never tried Glen Parker when we were in Canada - likened to 'toilet cleaner',so not surprisingly the cheapest single malt on sale in the liquor store. Poor Canadians. In addition to Glen Moray, I enjoy Glenlivet, Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich - you could say that I am a bit of a Speyside Groupie. Have also experienced the Speyside Railway and visited a few distilleries on our travels in the area. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted January 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2016 However, we never tried Glen Parker when we were in Canada - likened to 'toilet cleaner',so not surprisingly the cheapest single malt on sale in the liquor store. Poor Canadians. In addition to Glen Moray, I enjoy Glenlivet, Glenmorangie and Glenfiddich - you could say that I am a bit of a Speyside Groupie. Have also experienced the Speyside Railway and visited a few distilleries on our travels in the area. Tasting note: Glenmorangie is a delightful light single malt which I try not to leave around the house for obvious reasons. It is made in Tain (by the Twelve Men of according to an old marketing campaign) which is some way north of Speyside! Dava 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bon Accord Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 It's the 16 men of Tain and it is still that number which work in the distillery, however the number of marketing/management people externally now exceeds that. I lived in the town and it's environs for a spell as a youngster and whenever a cold manifested itself the usual hot toddy was administered; always with the local stuff, which was obtained either on the QT or at "cost" price! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Torper Posted January 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) I've been reading the box my Jura Superstition came in. "Single Malt Whisky", it says. Yet on the back it also says: "Jura Superstition is crafted from a selection of the finest aged Jura malt whiskies". Shouldn't it therefore be classified as a blended malt, not a single one? DT Edit: Since typing the above, I've found that a Scotch whisky can be called a single malt even if it contains a blend of malts provided that they all come from the same distillery. I live and learn.... Edited January 24, 2016 by Torper Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Max Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 Another vote here for Glengoyne, one of the best malt whiskeys ever and I have tried a hell of a lot of them, closely followed by Glenturret. Both distilleries offer excellent tours as well. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 45156 Posted July 25, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2016 This thread does seem to have died, but to revive it, a friend is thinking of taking up the offer of founders rights on an English venture, what do other whisky lovers think? http://www.lakesdistillery.com/en/members/founders-club/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Bourbon seems to be the tipple of choice now with scotch sales in a slump http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/17/scotch-overtaken-by-jack-daniels-as-britains-most-popular-whiske/ Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iL Dottore Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) I've just stumbled across this thread, to my delight there a lots of useful tips... Over the past 15 years I have become very much a afficionado of fine single malts and as a treat for my 50th birthday (10 years ago) I bought myself a bottle of 50 year old single malt. It was, understandably, pricey - but not eye wateringly so (a Glen Grant from Gordon & MacPhail). Interestingly, the Glen Grant is still available but at about 2.5x the price I paid in 2006! I have been terribly disciplined with this bottle limiting myself to a single finger (a "wee dram") on my birthday and at Christmas. As pompous as it may sound, only three of my friends have had the privilege and pleasure of joining me in enjoying this heavenly distillation... and I still have a little left... For my 60th birthday, this year, I gave a dinner party with an open whisky bar (Balvenie Double Wood 12 Years Old, Glenmorangie 10 Years Old, Aberlour 10 Years Old, Glenfiddich Special Reserve 12 Years Old, Lagavullin 16 Years Old) and I was most surprised that I wasn't drunk dry. Although I was hoping to buy a 60 year old single malt for my birthday (I do deserve the occasional treat), I wasn't able to find one that I could afford, the least expensive being the Master of Malt 60 Year Old Speyside at £834 - which very much out of my price range (If money is no object then the Macallan 1926 at around £43,800 [when auctioned in 2005] would be nice. It was bottled in 1986, making the whisky 60 years old and the oldest available Macallan [apparently years in the bottle don't count towards the age of the whiskey]). Most 60 year old whiskies I've seen are around the £12,000 - £20,000. Fortunately, my friends made sure I didn't go thirsty, giving me about 15 different bottles of superb whisky (including a 21 year old Glenfiddich and an 17 year old Balvenie Doublewood). I am now self-sufficient in whiskies for the foreseeable future, However, I'll have to start saving for my 70th birthday, as the only 70 year old whiskies I have found (so far) are both by Glenlivet, both come in a crystal decanter and both cost £17,500. A rough "back of the envelope" calculation requires me to save £33.65 every week until 2026, then I can indulge (assuming the price doesn't shoot up in the meantime)... Edited July 25, 2016 by iL Dottore 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iL Dottore Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Bourbon seems to be the tipple of choice now with scotch sales in a slump http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/17/scotch-overtaken-by-jack-daniels-as-britains-most-popular-whiske/ Jim Oh GOOD! This means that the silly money will follow the trend making single malts more affordable for us serious connoisseurs 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) The owner of the livery yard got me to try some Bushmills last Christmas. It's very good. Edited July 25, 2016 by Horsetan 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Cheese Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Oh GOOD! This means that the silly money will follow the trend making single malts more affordable for us serious connoisseurs Hopefully it won't lead to the closure or mothballing of distilleries as was seen in earlier slumps such as the early 80's. Many distilleries concentrate their output on hurriedly produced spirit for blending, and could be badly affected by this if they don't have stocks of aged single malts to offer instead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted July 25, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 25, 2016 This doesnt augure well for Scots independence with oil exports also inexorably downwards. The rise of American Bourbon sales is clearly all down to the branding image, marketing & promotion, rather than the taste of this inferior product [iMHO] Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 .... The rise of American Bourbon sales is clearly all down to the branding image, marketing & promotion, rather than the taste of this inferior product [iMHO]... Surely the solution to this is simple: avoid anything American. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Turpin Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 (edited) I've tried a few bourbons over the years, some of them quite nice, but none of them come anywhere near a decent single malt IMHO. I can't see the demand for either Lagavulin or Ardbeg falling to the point where the price comes down either, more's the pity. Edited July 28, 2016 by Dick Turpin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purley Oaks Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 A lot of whiskies are aged in bourbon barrels - all bourbons put into new barrels. Macallan seem to have gone umarket in the last couple of years by replacing Macallan with Macallan Gold as their starter malt. So you'll pay £35 instead of £25. Mal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Cheese Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 A bit of a disappointment today...I've been meaning to give the Lowland malts a chance for a while, and recently acquired some Auchentoshan American Oak while on offer from £30 down to £22 at Asda. Unfortunately it really isn't doing anything for me and seems quite bland.. I'm told it can be rescued by adding a splash of Laphroaig, but am reluctant to use my QC for such purposes! On a more positive note I was rather surprised to find Tesco stock Ardbeg 10 & Caol Ila 12 at reasonable prices, having a friend inside who can use her 10% staff discount makes them an even more attractive proposition when my stocks need replenishing... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Turpin Posted July 30, 2016 Share Posted July 30, 2016 I did ask some time ago for people interested in whisky to post whenever they spot a bargain in a supermarket. This gives us all a chance to rush out and bag our favourite tipple from places we may not normally shop. Call it whisky spotting if you like, but I’d love to be in the know about who’s got what, where, and cheapest. Tesco stock all sorts on and off and are worth keeping an eye on, but it's the offers with £10 or so off that I would most like to know about. It’s an investment, like all those kits and other stuff I’ve got upstairs stashed away that the wife keeps telling me I’ve got far too much of, but whisky doesn’t go off, and people with better self-control than mine could set it aside for Christmas or whenever. Hey, if you die unexpectedly, your nearest and dearest can all have a dram while discussing where to dispose of all that stuff in the roundtuit stockpile! Tesco has Lagavulin 16 year old. Not discounted, but easily available nonetheless. Now if they were to just knock ten quid off… 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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