Scotch Q&A

[pmwz]

i dont have a lot of whisky experience. I have tried an Irish Single Malt cooley 4yrs, a 7 year old Highland Scotch (dont know which) , Springbank 10 + 15. Didnt enjoy the highland as much as the other stuff.
i think about getting a couple of 5cl samples or going to a tasting at a cadenhead's store that is almost right across my street.
can you give me a recommendation for each region (in the sub 50$ range)

Originally Posted by pmwz

i dont have a lot of whisky experience. I have tried an Irish Single Malt cooley 4yrs, a 7 year old Highland Scotch (dont know which) , Springbank 10 + 15. Didnt enjoy the highland as much as the other stuff.
i think about getting a couple of 5cl samples or going to a tasting at a cadenhead's store that is almost right across my street.
can you give me a recommendation for each region (in the sub 50$ range)

Going to a tasting would be a great option to try some different whiskies and learn about Scotch in general.

There is a line of single malts called McClellands named for the 4 main regions (Islay, Highland, Speyside, Lowland). Each is a young sample from a distillery in each region. I can't remember what distilleries were used. I think you can even get sampler sized bottles.

I haven't had these, so I don't know what they taste like.

My choices would be Bowmore for Islay, Auchentoshan for Lowland, Highland Park for Highland (though it may test your price limit), and maybe Glenlivet for Speyside. That would be a nice tasting. There maybe nice Speysiders that would fit your budget, but I mostly prefer Islay malts.

Hope this helps and happy dramming.

[cricky101]

I picked up my first ever bottle of scotch last night - Highland Park 12. I tried a bit last night with a splash of water.

For someone not used to drinking strong alcohol, it definitely will take some getting used to. I could immediately pick out a lot of the flavors described in the thread, though.

I shall soldier on with another glass right now

Single malt scotch is the only hard liquor I'll drink regularly.
Bowmore is too light for me
Laphroaig 10 is very peaty but very aromatic
There is a Laphroaig quarter cask that is available and is excellent also
Glen Morangie is excellent but I prefer the Sherry casked version best
Highland Park is great and the wife likes it as much as I do
Macallan is great also.
If you like cask strength scotch rather than "blended" single malts (as some of the single malts are) try joining the Scoth Single Malt Society.
http://www.smwsa.com/
They aren't cheap. Bottles start at $100. I had one that was 32 years old and 132 proof, casked in sherry oak which was outstanding. It set me back $210. They buy the full barrels from the distillery, bottle it and sell them to the members. Once they're all sold that all there is.