Originally Posted by Bishopcfd
Well, you might not consider Glenlivet a premium scotch. But how about Dewars. Yes, Dewars. That ws the only selection from OGG to ORD back in April. I would take Glenlivet anyday over Dewars. But one can not pass up scotch so I had one large, without ice.
All scotch discussions belong on the Qantas board, the official home of scotch lovers on FT (not that QF actually serves good scotch, but that is another story). Glenlivet is excellent value for money, thus a good choice by AA, and better than most commonly served scotch. I say that with over 50 bottles of single malt in my house (most costing over USD 100 and the most expensive over USD 1000 per bottle ... rarity has a high price). A few drops of water added to scotch does wonders to open up its aroma and flavour (dripping the water into the scotch causes a change in surface tension which then forces/allows some of the aromatics to be released from the glass; all at scottish room temperature of course). Even poor scotch is twice as good when treated like this (but of course you also taste the harshness of its aromatics). Finally scotch tends to be more "different" rather than "good or bad" and can range in taste from salty to sweet to smoky (the latter often done to cover up the flaws). Some of the best scotches are rather cheap (for example Bowmore or Balvenie doublewood). BA serves JW Blue in F (also in some of their F lounges, mostly at LHR) which is an interesting drink but maybe the worst value (barely different from the JW Gold which is less than half the price; better, but not 10% better, if it is possible to put percentages on taste).
I find AA has a well chosen liquor selection with great cost-effectiveness. For example they offer Tanqueray gin (though Seagrams is just as good and cheaper) instead of the Beefeater plonk that most airlines have. Now if only they would carry Ten in international F. And have a decent brandy.