Kettering Northants QC

Special Occaisions
Port Ellen

Nice times
Tallisker (probably my favourite out and out)
Lagavulin
Laphroaig
Ardbeg

For mixing
Grants
Chivas Regal

Overated
Glenlivet
Glenmorangie
Bowmore
Dalwhinney
jura

Avoid
Sherry casks
Teachers

GadgetFreak

I like the Lagavoulin a lot. It or the Bowmore Darkest (or some of the other Bowmores too) are probably my favorites for everyday use. Not that I drink everyday, but reasonably priced and easy to find. I also do like the 18 yr old The Macallan a lot as well. Some others I have liked are the 25 yr old Springbank, Highland Park and Caol Ila. For blends, well Im not a fan of them in general but I find Pinch to be not bad. I do like some of the sherry cask ones.

TMOliver

While I would agree with you generally on Tallisker (although personally more comfortable with the Macallans', the older the better, and will drink Laphroaig any time, your take on blends is indescribaly out to lunch....
(and many if not most, maybe all whisky from Scotland was aged in Sherry casks at one time, perhaps still...)

Grant's is simply "bar scotch" used for "well" drinks.

Chivas Regal is the creation (back in the 50s) of Doyle Dane Bernbach's advertsing agency, a modestly priced whisky, rebottled and tarted up, its price doubled and peddled as "high class".

Most 'Merkin Scotch drinkers of modern times approve of the New Yorker's brand, Dewars, while among the heavy blends, I still like JWalker Black, the premium whisky of my naval career, and asa personal purchase lean to "Grouse".

Drinkable Cheap Scotch (only sold abroad, imported into the US in the barrel to save tax): Crawford's, essentially the same "blend" as JWalker Red at about a third less in price.

Someone recently treated me to a glass of something new, a single malt aged in a Port cask, and interesting nose...I can't remeber the name.

TMO

GadgetFreak

Both Glenmorangie and Bowmore make a port cask aged whisky. I think the former is more common in the states. Im general a fan of Bowmore and brought a bottle of their port cask aged back and liked it a lot.

unagi1

I'm partial to:

Lagavulin
Laphroaig
Ardbeg

mosburger

Most of my scotch experiences come from smoky hostess/karaoke bars in Japan and Korea ( Chinese KTV tend to have local poisons ). I´ve tried to introduce more adventurous tastes ( aka Talisker, Llagavulin ) a few times only to have the guys complaining about the turf and smoke nuances. Ok, let´s stick to JW then...Although I thought that Talisker went well with the 150 USD fruit plate. ^

GadgetFreak

The first time I was in a bar of some type in Roppongi, not sure if it was a hostess bar or not, just that the person sitting with me and drinking had very little clothing, I had 12 year old Macallan until a bit after 5:00 the next morning. That was a pleasant way to enjoy a wee dram of the malt.

Sweet Willie

Probably depends upon what year you are talking about.

Back when I used to drink a lot of single malt, I was never much of a fan of the 12 yr old Glenmorangie, but like the 18 ^

--

mosburger

Those persons with little clothing tend to drink more of the scotch than the host and the guests. And then ask in a very kind voice if they shouldn´t order another noble bottle.

FirstClassGuy

My favorite for everyday drinking is Macallan 12. For a nice dinner out then Macallan 18 or 25> turning 50 next year and doing a scotch tour in Scotland .

hobarthoney

I am a big fan of the Glenfarclas 15yo. Of course the 30yo is a fantastic drop as well (Former world champion).

http://www.glenfarclas.co.uk/single-...isky/index.php

GadgetFreak

Well, she was drinking wine. She and some friends asked the guy I was with and I if we wanted join them for breakfast though since they were closing at 5:30.

number_6

Quite a range of whiskies on this thread, and with prices from USD 10 to USD 300 per bottle, the results vary as you might expect.

For cheap (under USD 30) I prefer Bowmore and Balvenie as they represent the 2 extremes of Scotch style. Bowmore is of course salty, smokey and deep while Balvenie is sweet, simple and charming (almost like a bourbon by contrast). Both quite good and dependable.

For special occasions (under USD 500), there is no contest in my mind, the Glenmorangie 1975. Completely different from "normal" Glenmorangie bottlings and with an amazing explosion of aromatics when adding a drop of water to it. No idea why this is the case (or why it is so much better than the Glenmorange 1976, for example, for that matter).

Some of the cask aged scotch is very successful, including the Glenmorangie Cotes de Beaune (but that seems to no longer be made) while others are less successful (like the Glenmorange sherry cask alluded to earlier).

Now for FT content: BA serves JW Blue and a single malt 15 yo in their F lounges and also on board (in F). I think the single malt is Glenlivet 15. They used to serve Glenlivet 18 yo but I haven't seen that in about a year. For some reason most airlines pick JW Gold or Blue as their luxury scotch, I suppose the brand recognition drives that.

GadgetFreak

They used to have Singleton in coach on BA. Those were the days.

Peter M

I agree with much of these comments. Lagavulin gets lots of support.^
The single malts are the best. If a Whisky is not a single malt then it means the taste was unacceptable, so it had to be mixed, and so should be used as a mixer. Of course the proper way to drink Scotch is on the rocks without anything else, or if you must - weaken it a drop of spring water. For the older generation, the best time to drink Scotch is not all day! - But as a night cap.

Many golfers on cold days bring a hip flask of whisky to 'warm' themselves.

Whisky (or in the U.S. Whiskey) is also for colds, called a "Hot Toddie" - Whisky and hot water - with honey if you must have it sweet! (This has never worked for me though. )

Few Scots-owned distilleries survive, many are Japanese owned.

I have to complement the FTers for their good taste, many average Whisky drinkers can't discern much of a taste difference between brands, obviously those people are drinking Scotch the wrong way! Whereas FTers know how to use taste buds