If you know the recipient likes scotch, then you should get him his preferred brand. If you're not sure whether the person likes scotch but want to give scotch, a blend is appropriate because they tend to have more mass appeal.

Before you give a single malt, be sure that the person likes its flavor profile! I hate Laphroaig, for example - it tastes like you retrieved the bottle from the burned out wreckage of your house.

Quite - my mother likes Glenmorangie, but shares a similar hatred of Laphroaig. But also, she wouldn't thank you for (ok, she would, she is very polite, she just wouldn't drink) a blended malt - not her thing either. They all taste very different.

Heathen....

If the guy is actually Scottish, I would get a single malt whisky (Macallan & Glenmorangie are good suggestions). From my time in Scotland & abroad, blended whisky, even "the good stuff" was usually only consumed by aspirational foreigners.

Yes always wise to find that out before buying anything....I know plenty fellow Scots who can't stand the stuff.

You could have a very similar (and much cheaper) drink by buying a bottle of Liquid Smoke at the grocery store! :p

putting a bottle of walker red on the table is about the same as going to a place with some hot arm candy.........

this.

the belief that any given single malt is better than a blend is a clear mark of ignorance.

I am surprised no one has mentioned Lagavulin 16 as an option. Under $80 and really great IMO.

I find Johnnie Walker Black or Macallan 12 to be perfectly acceptable. JW Double Black is a little too smokey for my taste. I just recently finished the 2 bottles I bought on a trip to Puerto Rico. I've tried Glenlivet, Talisker, Jura. All are acceptable. Right now I'm back to my Macallan 12, although my partner just brought me back a bottle of Macallan Select Oak 12 yr from Europe.

JW Black is about $30, Macallan 12 is about $50. Whatever you do, don't give JW Red. It's drinkable but not much of a gift.

Yes, it is one of my favorites. There is a long generic whisky thread that has been going on for a few years. My favorites are the Islays in general. Probably in order Laphroaig/Ardbeg (tie for first), Lagavulin and then Bowmore. But I like them all a lot. When I first started drinking single malts I hated Laphroaig and drank mostly MacAllan. But as I drank more varieties and became more used to them I have graduated to the more peaty, smoky malts.

In JW I like the Double Black. I think it is a good buy. Not as good as the malts above I mentioned in my opinion but generally about half or even a third the price.

I was always told the JW red was in no uncertain terms for cocktails only.

Probably true - it's one of the cheap blends, like Dewars. On the other hand, I used to work with a guy whose standard drink order was Dewars on the rocks...so it's really a question of what you like. :)

Next time I'm in a BA first lounge at LHR in the morning I may pour myself a JW Blue and orange juice, as long as someone is watching. ;)

Lagavulin
 

I would strongly recommend Lagavulin too. Its a great mix of peaty and sweet without being very peaty (like, say, Ardberg).

Depending on where you are in the US, you can get a bottle of Lagavulin for $60-$75 bucks as well.

Should you go this route, I'd recommend staying away from the distiller's edition of Lagavulin - I never warmed up to it.