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Single Malt Scotch!

#601
lagavulin 16 year is a bottle i try to keep readily available during colder months.im also a big fan of oban, and talisker(did a verticle and the 18 year is insane!)

the bar i work at has a solid scotch selection including but not limited to, as it is added to occasionally-

lagavulin 16
oban 14
macallan 12
talisker 10
laphroig 10 and 15(!!!!)
all 5 johny walker's(with a bottle of gold and a few glasses in the freezer)
famous grouse
dalwhinnie

a couple others, as i am pulling this from memory, and dewars white is our house pour. yummy.
 
#606
BartmanPDX said:
You might go to an upscale bar some time, and see if they have Macallan. It's fairly widely available, and I have yet to meet a scotch enthusiast who didn't enjoy it on some level. It's very middle-of-the-road in terms of taste and well made, as well as not too hard to find.

If you like it, you'll probably like other single malts.

As for scotch v. bourbon:
Bourbon is aged in newly charred barrels. A major component of the flavor is caused by the charring, which imparts a vanilla/caramel flavor as the sugars in the sap in the barrel are carmelized. It also mellows the sharpness of the corn, which isn't as smooth and rich as barley malt (corn is another component of bourbon that is not used in scotch). This pronounced sweet flavor is undesirable in scotch, which is one of the reasons scotch always uses previously used barrels -- the smoky peat and the malt are the main flavors in scotch.

This is making me thirsty. And I've got many more hours of taking care of my daugher before I can hoist some Lagavulin. :hmm:
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Great explanation!

Sherry barrels were originally used as a mean of recycling; why go to the trouble and expense of building new oak barrels, when you could reused old ones! In the 18th and early 19th century Sherry drinking was all the rage in a newly affluent (relative) Scotland so once the barrels were drained best use them again! We Scots are a frugal race!

These days it's only grannies with blue rinse hair do's that drink the stuff!
 
#607
Thunderitter said:
These days it's only grannies with blue rinse hair do's that drink the stuff!
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Thank goodness they do still drink that crap though . . . keep those empty barrels coming so the folks at Macallan, Highland Park, and Lagavulin can keep making the good stuff!!! :D

BTW: great photos, Thunderitter! Makes me proud of my scottish heritage. I'd love to make a whisky pilgrimage some day myself if I ever could . . .
 
#608
BartmanPDX said:
Thank goodness they do still drink that crap though . . . keep those empty barrels coming so the folks at Macallan, Highland Park, and Lagavulin can keep making the good stuff!!! :D

BTW: great photos, Thunderitter! Makes me proud of my scottish heritage. I'd love to make a whisky pilgrimage some day myself if I ever could . . .
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It's an interesting connection: JD and little old ladies with blue rinses keeping the whisky industry in Scotland in used oak barrels!
 
#612
Eric Cioe said:
I like sherry and port, too. Just the other night, I had a nice dinner of fresh lake perch, twice-baked potato, and calamari as an appetizer with a glass of Glenlivet. Then, I had a nice dessert and a glass of port. Horses for courses, and fortified wine is gorgeous after dinner.
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Big difference in my book between a nice port and sherry! :)

One man's meat is another man's poison!
 
#613
Two things...

Talisker 18, a GREAT scotch. WELL worth the 90 bills to get it to my door.

Secondly, I found this interesting stuff at Sam's Club... Glen Taite. At $90, it also looks like a pretty good score. For those who don't know anything about it, here's what I found online...

The Highlands have a few different sub regions and styles- this one is considered a Speyside by location and style/profile. Macallan uses smaller pot stills that are directly fired (read fire under the still- not steam coils or jackets) and slow distillation to make it's whisky. This is also probably one of the few whiskies left that used 100% Golden Promise barley (a more expensive, lower yield, barley but resulting greater weight and taste to the malt) and five different yeast strains - a practice that stopped in the mid 1990's, making such Macallan Whiskies an endangered species that should be hunted to extinction by those who care about such things.

As Macallan produced a lot of whisky over the years before the popularity and sales of their single malts caught up with production, in earlier years they sold some of their casks to independent bottlers. These bottlers stored and aged whisky on their own and released it when they felt it was ready.

Alexander Murray and Company is a relatively large independent bottler and has supplied a number of chains with good to excellent whiskies at discount prices that the original distillers could not match. While this is a fairly new concept to brand driven Americans, it is a quite old and honored concept among Britons and also single-malt aficionados from all over the world. It was just not seen much here except for high end specialty shops. Sam's Club, Costco and Trader Joe's are now bringing this idea to the United States and have been for a few years with various offerings from different distillers and bottlers.
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A number of brands under Corporate Drinks have been developed over past years and many have won significant awards from international competitions. Most recently the Glen Taite Single Malt Scotch Whisky won big at the Beverage Tasting Institute. The malt received 93 points (exceptional) and the International Review of Spirit Award: GOLD MEDAL.
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It appears that the Glen Taite offering is a "private label" which purchased excess aged scotch from the Macallan distillery. Macallan says that they sell off some of their aged whiskies if there isn't sufficient demand to bottle them under the Macallan label. From what I've read on Whiskey boards, it's a good whiskey and price at $99 a bottle from Sam's Club. Costco has a similar offering of a 19 year old Macallan under yet a different label for a similar price.
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(it's $89 at my Sam's)

Interesting!

scotch-glen-taite-629.jpg
 
#615
Vic said:
What, no comments on the Glen Taite? Thunderitter, no comments? :)
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Not tried the stuff - I'm sure it's nice though! Not a big Mac drinker.

I received a 'comfort package' from back 'home' today: 15 y.o. Springbank - nice. On my recent trip back I returned with 5 bottles and quite a few other bits and pieces - I was bang on the max of 32kgs for my bag so my own personal bottle had to come the slow way!
 
#616
Personally, I've never tried it.

I'm sure you know this already but it is commonplace for distillers to sell off barrels of their whiskey to other bottlers. Much of it ends up in blends of course, but the better stuff can be found in independent bottlings. I can attest to the fact that independent bottlings can be extremely good, though they are often very expensive and as limited runs, can be frustrating to find later on down the road if you come across something you really like.
 
#618
tombowlus said:
What, no more comments on the Talisker 18?!?!? :eek: :smug: :D
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I thought it'd already been covered here! :) :p :D

Its' a wonderful scotch for sure. It's like a perfect balance between sweet and smokey. It's got a nice woody character, and there's a peppery thing going on that just rocks. I'm sipping some now. :)
 
#619
Not a single malt but certainly certainly full of the stuff, here's a nice clip:



It's just a shame Diageo, the current owners and mega-drinks company have decided to close the production and bottling plant in Kilmarnock and end over 190 years of continuous production. Ah, to chase the $. Personally out of choice I won't be drinking the stuff anymore!
 
#620
Just found out that my favorite distillery J & A Mitchell in Campbeltown, makers of Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn has been awarded “Distiller of the Year 2010”. by Whisky Magazine!
 

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