aceman

Speyburn 25 year old single malt.

63% alcohol and as smooth as honey running down your throat...

Delicous. Unfortunately hard to get now, I almost bought a crate of them at Ł55 a bottle, but by the time I got my act together it has all gone

Salt bar on Edgware road in london used to be a whiskey bar with a huge menu of them. They got taken over by another bunch and I fear they've let it slip a little since...

laf747

Lagavulin, the necter of the Gods. Also, it goes great with a cigar.

UCBeau

Glenkinchie is good if you can find it. Glendfiddich is nice for mixing. JW Blue label is decent stuff as well

old_vine_zin

Drinking a tumbler of 21 year old Balvenie right now and it ain't bad at all!

Abby

Hehehe!

I may be wrong on this, but they almost all seem to be males. Are there any women who drink Scotch or is it seen as too 'manly' or something? I have to admit I am definitely unsure of the musty peaty ones, but I sometimes think I should at least try a sip or two.

Also, is Lagavulin similar to Laphroaig in smell/taste?

Showbizguru

A small mention here for Irish whiskey, particularly Bushmills.
It's why they call the people the Fighting Irish !

GadgetFreak

I would say that Lagavulin is less smokey and more sort of salty, sea like than is Laphroaig. THat is one reason I think a Lagavulin and soda with ice is wonderful on a summer evening. The saltiness makes it very refreshing.

number_6

Substantially similar (all Islays are similar), however Laphroaig is stronger flavoured (peat and smoke) while Lagavulin is saltier. A gentler variant is Bowmore, which is muted by aging in sherry casks, making for a much more subtle and perhaps better whiskey. It is these subtleties that are part of the fascination of good Scotch.

MichaelCharlie

Here's a non-manly woman!

I never liked Scotch until a co-worker convinced me it was because I never had a good single malt whisky. He was right...

I'm still a real neophyte with whisky, but I do like Laphroiag, thanks to an innkeeper in Kingussie. I asked her to give me what she considered best, and that's what I got.

Since I really don't drink a lot, it's slow going trying others. There are several on my list now thanks to all of you ...

Abby

Your FT handle would never had led me to think you were a woman, but that's OK!!!!

That looks like an interesting part of Scotland, and I notice it was a "her" who made the recommendation.

Cornroaster

Mrs. Cornroaster doesn't post on FT, but she does enjoy her scotch, as do I.

lee_apromise

I must say, Japanese Suntory 18yrs whisky is a must drink.

Donk93953

Im flying through Narita in a few days. I undertsand by my Scotch crazied friends that the Suntory Yamazaki is incredible.
Do anyone know if all the Duty Frees in Narita carry it, or is there a particular Duty Free I need to find?

GadgetFreak

I have never gotten it at duty free but I expect that it is pretty common. If it is the one I am thinking of, and Im pretty sure it is, they sell quite a bit of it. Ive been to a number of Japanese restaurants here in NY that sell it. And it is quite good, definitely worth a try.

Athena53

My husband and I both enjoy Scotch whisky. Our favorite shop is Cadenhead's, where you can buy bottles of the major brands tapped out of a single cask. Undiluted, unfiltered. We've been known to make 3-day trips to Edinburgh (from Kansas) to stock up. Fortunately, they have a shop in Covent Garden and my company HQ is in London. They can't ship to the US (US laws forbid it) and I ended up dragging bottles of Bruich Laddich, Teananich and Speyside in my checked bags through Bangalore and Delhi before hey made it safely home to Kansas. Someone asked about Caol Ila- they had it at Cadenhead's but it was GBP 60 for a liter.

My husband's current favorite is cask-strength Ardbeg, which we thin out with a little water. I prefer the less smoky ones. We visited the Highland Park distillery in 2004- an interesting tour but very disappointing "gift shop". We'd hoped they'd have some unique types not commonly found in stores and instead we found the usual stuff, priced higher than it was in the shops near our hotel.

Funny story about Laphroagh- my son once smuggled a bottle of it back to his buddies in the barracks at NY Military Academy (a high school near West Point). Fortunately, he doesn't have a problem with alcohol abuse and we had a good laugh picturing a bunch of 14- and 15-year olds trying to pretend they liked it!