Whisky thread

[Potato]

Whisky is good.

I don't care if you spell it whiskey or whisky, use barley, corn, rye or wheat, make it in Scotland, Japan, Ireland, Canada or the USA or prefer it neat, with water or with ice or if you like yours with or without peat. Whisky is good.

My preference is for Speyside whisky from Scotland matured in Oloroso sherry casks and taken on ice and Japanese whiskies, but I have been easing into some of the peated Islay varieties lately. I also started to experiment with some bourbons again after mainly drinking Jim Beam and coke in my misspent youth.

Some of my favourites:

• Arbelour A'Bunadh - cask-strength Speyside, matured in Oloroso sherry casks
  
• Yamazaki 12 - Japanese perfection that sadly costs too much now
  
• Red Breast 12 - Wonderful single pot still Irish whiskey matured in bourbon and sherry casks
  

I just picked up a bottle of Buffalo Trace bourbon as a tester to see if I could get back into bourbon and it was pretty good for a mainstream drop.

Something I just got was an experimental bottle from Chivas Regal they've named Crystal Gold.



Haven't tried it yet, but it's basically whisky that's been filtered of all colour.



Anyone else partial?

[HardcoreRetro]

Peat and smoke guy. Laphroaig 10 year old cask strength is one of my favourites.

Had one of the extremely peaty Octomore whisky's in Scotland. 


Last peated whisky I had was the Kilkerran Heavily Peated. Pretty cheap bottle for the quality on display.

Current bottle is the GlenAllachie 10 years old Cask Strength Batch 6.

[Uncle]

[Potato]

Peat and smoke guy. Laphroaig 10 year old cask strength is one of my favourites.

Had one of the extremely peaty Octomore whisky's in Scotland. 


Last peated whisky I had was the Kilkerran Heavily Peated. Pretty cheap bottle for the quality on display.

Current bottle is the GlenAllachie 10 years old Cask Strength Batch 6.

I was drinking Ardbeg Corryvreckan last night while posting this thread. The flavours really opened up once the ice melted a little. That first sip though 

I have a bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask in my cabinet. Haven't opened it yet.

[HardcoreRetro]

I imagine the crystal gold one is a really young whisky. Wonder if it's meant to be used in cocktails.

I liked the smell of the new make spirit at the Oban distillery. Incredible green apple smell in there. They wouldn't sell it to me though. :(

The Laphroaig Quarter Cask lacks the harshness that I like from the 10 year old. If you're more into Speyside whiskeys it's probably the better choice for you though.

[NekoFever]

I’m partial to Islay whisky.

I’m actually in India at the moment and they’re very keen on Scotch, down to trying to imitate it in the local styles. I’ve been trying some local ones stocked in the nice hotels and they vary from fairly good to dish soap

[HardcoreRetro]

The Amrut Peated Cask Strength is quite good. See if they have that one.

[Potato]

I’m partial to Islay whisky.

I’m actually in India at the moment and they’re very keen on Scotch, down to trying to imitate it in the local styles. I’ve been trying some local ones stocked in the nice hotels and they vary from fairly good to dish soap

I'm keen to try some Indian whiskey. Give me your recommendations of you can be bothered. Amrut and Indri seem to be the biggest producers.

[Potato]

Tonight's dram



Drinking on ice with 70% dark chocolate on the side.

Not my favourite, but I decided to give it another go with some chocolate as a chaser. Still not my favourite.

[Potato]

Red Breast 12 Irish Whisky may well be in my top 3 of all time.

Really need to indulge in a bottle of the 15.

[HardcoreRetro]

Only stuff I get from Bruichladdich is the Port Charlotte 10.

The Octomore is too expensive. Not gonna get the 18 year old Port Charlotte special release either. 200 bucks is too much to me.

[NekoFever]

Yes, I liked the Amrut. Paul John was ok. Wasn’t a fan of Indri and that was the most expensive, so I only had that the once.

There was one I really liked that I haven’t been able to track down again and the only evidence I have is a photo taken in the bar with the bottle in the background — none of the whiskey sites I use have it so I suspect it was one that doesn’t qualify as whiskey outside India

Overall a decent selection of world whiskies if you go to nice hotels, particularly compared to here where everyone wants 500 varieties of fucking gin, but there’s an alcohol tax and an additional tax on imported liquor, so not as cheap as it might look.

[Potato]

Tried some of this last night.

Quite nice and the bottle design was great.

Definitely give it a crack if you like fruity whisky with a touch of spice and want to try something from outside Scotland.

[Nintex]

I need to get back into the Whisky game but it has gotten rather expensive.

[Potato]

I need to get back into the Whisky game but it has gotten rather expensive.

There's plenty of value to be had. Indian whisky is having it's moment and Japanese is still stupidly overpriced, but there is good value in Scotland, Ireland has some great expressions and you can't go past American for value.