Scotch---I love it!

[Araner]

I've got a bottle of Aberlour (aged 12 years, matured in sherry cask) and I'm opening it now!

First time to try this brand. More later if I survive the night.

Araner

I did survive the night, and the Aberlour was excellent. It has a very unique flavor, unlike other whiskeys I’ve tried. It’s hard to describe it, almost like drinking a smoky peaty brandy; unusual yet very satisfying. The next time I’m in an airport duty free shop that has it, I’ll pick up a couple more bottles.

Regards,
Araner

[Squire]

If a bunch of single malts are lined up on the table and there is a bottle of Famous Grouse behind them I'll reach for the Grouse.

[KAV]

I'm catholic with whiskys. I've never met one I didn't like. Each one is an adventure.

[funkthulhu]

If a bunch of single malts are lined up on the table and there is a bottle of Famous Grouse behind them I'll reach for the Grouse.

Never had Grouse, but it must be pure bliss in liquid form for me to skip over single malts I haven't tried (or one's I have!).

[Squire]

A grilled steak can be good on its own but is better with seasonings and that's how I think of a blend.

[rsp1202]

I read a fiction book years ago where the main character was a Famous Grouse drinker. Never had heard of it 'til then. But it became a staple item (along with Macallan single-malt and Maker's Mark Bourbon) after trying it.

[i_shaved_something]

I love how some threads can just lie dormant for three years then suddenly be resurrected without skipping a beat.

[Squire]

Speaks to our continuing interest in the subject.

[MadAussie]

Lagavulin, enough said.

Just as cool, Wasmund's Barrel Kit! from the copper fox distillery here in VA, you can buy a barrel (2L, 5L, 10L) from the distillery and a couple bottles of cask strength spirit freshly made, and do your own aging

PDF link
http://www.copperfox.biz/images/cp-wasm ... -flyer.pdf

[Dexterous]

Balvenie's Doublewood is my personal favorite. And Trader Joe's carries it! (They also carry Knob Creek bourbon. And Hendrick's gin.)

I'm not so fortunate to have a Trader Joe's that sells liquor. I have to content myself with their coffee. That said, my wife is buying me a bottle of Balvenie Doublewood for Xmas. I am rescuing it from my local liquor store later today.

I just finished a fifth of Balvenie Single Cask which was superb.

[GregPQ]

Although I'm not overly cost-conscious this time of year, I've decided that Johnnie Walker Black, my favorite, is just too expensive.

My go-to 8yr old Scotch has always been Dewar's.

Based on this thread, I'm going to pick up a fifth of Famous Grouse. Looking forward to doing a taste comparison with my father-in-law!

Greg

[jkingrph]

If a bunch of single malts are lined up on the table and there is a bottle of Famous Grouse behind them I'll reach for the Grouse.

Never had Grouse, but it must be pure bliss in liquid form for me to skip over single malts I haven't tried (or one's I have!).

The bird is good!!!!

[HAC]

You've not lived until you've sampled 'the Perilous Whiskey" aka Bruichladdich X4+3 - quadruple distilled, somewhere around 130 Proof. Thick and smooth, and fills your belly with fire.. I was lucky enough to have a dram, back in 2009..

Usquebraugh-baul ! Slainte!


Cheers
Harold

[Araner]

I read this artical and thought it might be of interest to the other whisky lovers here:



Single malt whisky from India ranked among world's best
BY BY RHYS BLAKELY, LONDON TIMESDECEMBER 17, 2010

BANGALORE - A hint of a cautious smile flickers across the face of the master whisky maker as he rolls a drop of the golden liquid around his mouth.
"Peat. Good vanilla. Fruit. Oak. Chocolate. Spice," he mutters thoughtfully, resting a hand on the oak cask in which the dram has spent three years. He takes another sip from his snifter: "And smoky notes! Ha! Very, very nice smoky notes!" He beams.
The scene, played out against a background of hundreds of maturing whisky barrels, could be from any fine Scottish distillery. However, this is not the windswept Islay coast or a misty Speyside glen. This is Bangalore, the semi-tropical IT capital of India.
India, which was introduced to Scotch by the British, is the world's largest consumer of whisky, most of it distilled from cheap molasses and of dubious quality.
Now, however, an Indian dram has the global cognoscenti aglow.
Made in Bangalore from a combination of Indian and imported Scottish barley, Amrut Fusion Single Malt has been judged the world's third-finest by Jim Murray, a Briton who describes himself as the world's first dedicated whisky writer.
The Indian tipple, he writes in the 2010 edition of his Whisky Bible, a reference work regarded as an industry touchstone, was "one of those which commands a big mouthful, a chair with a headrest and ... silence. You will chew for seemingly hours and never quite get to the bottom of its mystical complexity."
The secret, says M. Meyyappan, the technical director of Amrut Distilleries, lies partly in Bangalore's climate. The Deccan plateau is mild by Indian standards but considerably steamier than Scotland.
As the young whisky rests in its oak cask, the loss of alcohol through evaporation - known as "the angels' share" - is accelerated, as is the whisky's reaction with the wood. The result: three years of maturation in Bangalore is reckoned to be equivalent to more than a decade in Scotland.
The accelerated process calls for diligent supervision, which Meyyappan says Amrut is better placed to give than Scotland's much larger distilleries.
The praise for Amrut has opened a new chapter for its producer, a family-owned company that had spent most of its 62-year history making cheap grog for the Indian army.
It became involved in fine malts only in the 1990s when it tried to export early bat-ches to Glasgow curry houses.
Now connoisseurs from Tokyo to London are scrambling to buy it.
According to Murray, the whisky's success highlights how the contours of the industry are shifting as new distilleries in locations as unlikely as Sweden, Iceland and Australia garner acclaim. "The days of the best stuff only hailing from the Highlands are long gone," he said.
The Times, London
©Times Newspapers Ltd. 2010

[KAV]

Medieval England was a noted wine producer before the climate changed.
My brother works for the G.I.A. and spent 4 months in Mumbai(Bombay) setting up a lab and training people. He came home having gone nowhere, seeing nothing,learning nothing with prejudices built in a hotel he will keep the rest of his life. The bigot used my family's jewish branch to advanatage in that community's long dominance in Amsterdam and by extension California.
My point? some people will react as we have to products with cultural or national associations. My only question; how much and where can I get it?

Chris

[Araner]

My only question; how much and where can I get it?

Chris

I'd like to get my hands on a bottle of Amrut Fusion Single Malt too!

When it comes to booze and most anything else, I have no allegiance to any one country. Heck, my currant favorite whiskeys is a Japanese blend called Super Nikka.


Mike

[Araner]

I was in Seoul Korea last weekend and on the way out of the country I picked up a bottle of Johnny Walker Green Label at the duty free shop. I've been sipping this stuff for the last couple of days and I've enjoyed it very much. It has a smooth smokey taste which suits me perfectly. It's a bit pricey but I had a pocket full of won and splurged just to burn up the money.

I'm starting to think that blends are better suited to my taste than single malts. Or, perhaps single malts are over rated and blends get a bad rap simply because that's the currant snobbish fashion. Whatever the reason, I've firmly moved into the blends for my everyday scotch.

All the best,
Mike

[Chifunda]

If it's not Lagavulin, it's crap!

...To paraphrase Mike Myers

[funkthulhu]

I worked with one of my fellow beer drinkers to run a scotch tasting for my Home Brew club (the Lincoln Lagers) a few weeks ago. I made a single sheet, two column, tasting sheet with a brief primer on scotch and regions in one column and blank lines for notes in the other.

We started off by sampling an average blended scotch (Grant's). We then moved on to sample a scotch from each of the 4 major regions:

Auchentoshan for Lowland
Glenmorangie for Highland
Glen Moray 12 for Speyside, and
Bowmore Darkest as our Islay

Needless to say, just about everybody who showed up brought their own bottles as well, resulting in, well. . . you can see here:



We even had a Cicerone in attendance who let us borrow a hundred of his 4oz brandy snifters for the tasting, fresh glasses for each scotch!

Needless to say, we all had a grand time and perhaps had too much to drink. . . We're looking to try it again, but next time we'll concentrate on a single region.

Incidentally, for those of you interested, I donated the Bowmore (an $80 bottle), but the other 4 were obtained for under a $140. We charged about 10 bucks ahead, and to compensate for the door, my partner got to keep the leftover scotch for footing the bill. All told, we were only out about 30 bucks, even with appetizers, etc. And quite frankly, entertaining a dozen friends and drinking some great scotch was a great fun/cost ratio.

[Blue As A Jewel]

Sounds like a great evening! BTW are those chili pepper lights hanging above the scotch? Perhaps left over from a previous Tequila night?