[tumarkin]

A thought re scotch availability...... are the four whiskys you mentioned were available to you locally? If you live in a large city, you've probably got access to a wide variety of smw. If you live in a smaller city (as I do), you may not be so lucky. For example, Springbank isn't usually available here in Gainesville (I bought my current bottle on my last trip to Chicago - love Binny's).

However, it pays to develop a relationship with your favorite liquor store. My guy will now give me a better price than marked on the shelf, and he'll also special order bottles if they are something he doesn't regularly carry but are available from his distributors. He can't give me as good a discount as product that he carries normally, since the price he pays for a single bottle is higher that he gets for buying a case. But he has ordered things specially for me.

Of course, you can order by mail and often get a better price than locally even when you include shipping (especially true for multi-bottle orders), but as with brew supplies.... it's better to buy locally when you can.

re Highland Park & the Macallan, both of these are wonderful whiskys (among the very best) but both have strong sherry finishes - especially the Macallan. Interestingly, both of these top selling whiskys are owned by the same company. What a portfolio!

[jaybeerman]

Abelour is a nice scotch with a strong sherried profile. Glen Elgin or the standard Glenmorangie are more what you describe. Though be sure you get the standard Glenmorangie

If you're looking for a great example of a malt whisky (without peat, sherry, etc) you might try Springbank. It's a Campbeltown whisky and one of the greats. If I recall, it's one of the few distilleries that still does their own floor malting.

Ok Abelour is out.  I'm definately looking for straight oak.  Did you have an opinion as to which was better between the elgin or morangie? (I've had the morangie)  I will read up on Sringbank, not familiar with them.

Highland Park and the MacAllan.

Macallan is good though it's been quite a while since I've had any.

A thought re scotch availability...... are the four whiskys you mentioned were available to you locally? If you live in a large city, you've probably got access to a wide variety of smw. If you live in a smaller city (as I do), you may not be so lucky. For example, Springbank isn't usually available here in Gainesville (I bought my current bottle on my last trip to Chicago - love Binny's).

However, it pays to develop a relationship with your favorite liquor store. My guy will now give me a better price than marked on the shelf, and he'll also special order bottles if they are something he doesn't regularly carry but are available from his distributors. He can't give me as good a discount as product that he carries normally, since the price he pays for a single bottle is higher that he gets for buying a case. But he has ordered things specially for me.

Of course, you can order by mail and often get a better price than locally even when you include shipping (especially true for multi-bottle orders), but as with brew supplies.... it's better to buy locally when you can.

re Highland Park & the Macallan, both of these are wonderful whiskys (among the very best) but both have strong sherry finishes - especially the Macallan. Interestingly, both of these top selling whiskys are owned by the same company. What a portfolio!

I buy all of my wine, bourbon and scotch from one bottle shop.  Although we live in a small town he does carry a nice selection and definately is helpful with finding new stuff at discounted prices.  If I have to I will order by mail.  Basically I'm trying to build a list of 4 or 5 options before I go and talk to the local shop. 

[tumarkin]

both the Elgin & Morangie whiskys are considered to be good, quality brands. I've got friends that like them both very much, but that said, neither is one of my favorites in their standard lower priced expressions. the Glen Morangies that I find more interesting are some of their finished expressions like Nectar d'Or (sauterne finish) or Quinta Rueben (port cask). They are also doing some very interesting sounding stuff that I haven't had the chance to try. Aster is finished in new, select american oak casks & is getting very good reviews, but the one that intriques me is Signet - a portion of the mash is chocolate malt - which is very unusual for a whisky malt. This one has intriqued me as a brewer. I'm very curious about the effects of malt & yeast on the whisky. Of these two distilleries, I'd suggest you try the Glen Elgin. Another option that occurs to me is Balvenie, a very good, malty whisky that is neither sherried nor peated.

You might want to look for a book called Whisky Classified by David Wishart. It's on my 'wish' list. A friend has a copy that I borrowed for a bit. Wishart says that the typical regional approach to whisky doesn't really work anymore (if it ever did). With the proliferation of wood finishes, the lessening number of distilleries doing their own malting, and better understanding of the science/impact of distillation, aging, wood finishing, many of the previous style distinctions between the regions are blurring. There are peated Highland whiskys (the peated Balvenie) and sherried Isla whiskys (sherried Laphroaig), etc. His approach is to look at whisky by flavor groups. Heavy sherry and heavy peat are on the outlying ends of the scale, with a number of steps in between based on 12 flavors present or not in each whisky. So it makes it easier to say I like xyz whisky, wxy is in the same flavor group so I'd probably like that. I'd given it back to him, or I'd use it to see what other malty whisky might be good options.

Let us know what you decide to get.

[jaybeerman]

Let us know what you decide to get.

Ok so to make my life easier and save terry the liquor shop owner some trouble I went with Springbank 10 year, it was the only one on my list that he had in stock.  I've only had time to take a few sips and haven't dedicated any time to savoring it.  I can tell already that it's pretty good and I imagine that I will thoroughly enjoy swapping this for a glass of Laphroaig every now and then.  Thanks again for the suggestions,

[bluesman]

I went to my local liquor store to pick up some belgians today and was looking at Laphroaig 10 year old Original Cask Strength Islay Single Malt Whisky 750ml. It was $58 a bottle. Does this sound about right for a ten year old bottle of Laphroaig?

[tygo]

Yeah, probably.  The Islays tend to be on the more expensive side.  Especially for a cask strength version.

[theoman]

I went to my local liquor store to pick up some belgians today and was looking at Laphroaig 10 year old Original Cask Strength Islay Single Malt Whisky 750ml. It was $58 a bottle. Does this sound about right for a ten year old bottle of Laphroaig?

For the cask strength, that's probably right. BUT, that's not the standard Laphroig and unless you're an experienced and very dedicated scotch drinker, it might put you off whisky for good. Basically, it's straight from the cask and not diluted. That might sound nice, but to me it's pretty harsh.

If you're new to the Islays, give Lagavulin 16 year a try. That's probably my favorite. It's still plenty peaty, but a bit smoother with more fruit/butterscotch notes than Laphroaig.

And since I'm dishing out advice: Use your legs when picking up Belgians.

[tumarkin]

Good advice, Theoman.

Bluesman, are you new to Isla whisky? If so, a cask strength Lappy could be a tough place to start. Though not necessarily, some people fall in love with them the first time out. They are very complex with peaty, smokey, medicinal, tarry, seaweed flavors in addition to the malt sweetness, vanilla from the cask. I'd venture that if you like big RIS, you're more likely to not be put off by the flavors.

Once you get hooked on them, you'll keep coming back for more. The first one's not free.... good whisky can be expensive but very rewarding. If that's the Quarter Cask Laphroaig, that's a very decent price. I just ordered a bottle of Ardbeg Uigedail, which is also a big, cask strength peat monster, but finished in sherry cask. A lovely dram.

For surfers worldwide, the North Shore is da place. For Isla whisky, it's the South Shore. You've got Ardbeg, Laphroaig & Lagavulin very close to each other (in addition to Port Ellen... which is closed down, but some wonderful bottles are still available, but very expensive.

If you're new to the island whiskies, Talisker is a good place to start. It's not an Isla whisky (it's made in Skye) but has some of the maritime flavors in a more approachable whisky. It's truly one of the great whiskies, and a starting place for these flavors.

[tschmidlin]

If you're new to the island whiskies, Talisker is a good place to start. It's not an Isla whisky (it's made in Skye) but has some of the maritime flavors in a more approachable whisky. It's truly one of the great whiskies, and a starting place for these flavors.

Talisker is delicious.  Great stuff.

[tumarkin]

my darling wife came up with the suggestion that we should each pick out and wrap our own gift this year. I think she's got her eye on a piece of jewelry. It'll probably be more expensive than the gift I'll be getting myself, but hey she's worth it... and keeping her happy pays huge dividends for me. SWMBC ... she who must be cherished. This way there's no question we'll both be happy, certainly no returns.

Anyway, I picked out and ordered my gift ...... a bottle of Glenmorangie Signet. Got a killer price on it, but still the most expensive whisky I've ever bought at $150 (price is typically about $189). Also ordered a bottle of Ardbeg Uigedail, good price there as well at $66. Taking some time off to spend at the beach from Xmas to New Years. Won't mind if the weather's inclement, bringing my heat with me.

[kerneldustjacket]

Back when this discussion was active, I googled "Islay Scotch."

So tonight while looking at Facebook, here pops up this ad for a movie about the Islay distilleries. (Gee, how'd they know I had an interest?)

Looks interesting...sells for 29.99 Euros...no idea if they ship here.

http://www.whiskyseries.com/