yummy

Blended whiskies ..yuck

the real deal : http://www.connemarawhiskey.com/

Hobbies like this interests me.. for example I just finished buying a Humidor and like 30 high quality cigars and plan to start a collection. As for Whiskey I'm not sure if I would like drinking it straight as I was never a big fan of straight alcohol. I like whiskey and rum a lot when mixed with soda but when I do shots of certain liqour at the bar and stuff after 1 or 2 I feel like puking. I think I may pick up some whiskey on my days off though and give it a shot..maybe I'll enjoy it more than I think. Great thread though.

Just try it with single malt whiskey like the one I stated above, you will think twice mixing it with another drink : just a pure pleasure. (I would never mix anything with Zubrovska vodka but it's a bit OOT

yea, its alright straight. i mostly use it for making old fashioned's. here is a good video/recipe for old fashioned's if u want to try it. tons of ones on the internet are wrong and suggest muddling an orange slice and cherries at the bottom of the glass(DONT). just watch this and give it a try, they are really good.

http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/video/42

When in Vegas recently I had the perfect excuse to go on a whisky adventure. Every night after finishing up at the tables, we'd hit the 24hr bar at the MGM for whisky and cigars and had a chance to try a few new whiskies.

After seeing so many people loving Macallan whisky both in this thread and others, I decided to give it a go. I bought a flight of 3 different Macallans, as far as I remember they were the 10, 12 and 15yo. I don't remember enough to give a detailed review, but I certainly didn't like any of them, mainly due to them being too fruity and sickly sweet. I was pretty disappointed after hearing so much good stuff about the brand, but I guess it's just personal preference.

On the other hand, I did try a Caol Ila 18yr old which just blew me away. This is my new favourite whisky (replacing the Caol Ila 12yo) and I will be getting a bottle as soon as possible.

Another new-to-me whisky that I tried was the Lagavulin Distillers Edition which is standard Lagavulin 16yo but with an extra maturation period in sherry casks. While it was very nice, I thought that the sherry finish was just an unneccessary extra and actually took something away from an already fantasic whisky.

I earn a -1 for failure to meet-up for a whiskey evening. I blame my crappy tournament schedule versus your typical Vegas schedule.

It's funny though, I just bought a bottle of McCallan 12 and love it. Goes to show how much personal preference kicks in with these kinds of things. Also, I am finally beginning to pick-up on a few more nuances between the various bottles. One that I used to think was pretty good, now I find too smokey. Interesting journey.

I'm appalled by some of the posters here! Mix whisky? JD? American ?

Nothing in the world matches the fine taste of a single malt Scotch. I was a whisky ****** up until about two years ago when I decided to head over to Scotland on a Whisky trail tour with my best friend.

Since then, I'm no expert, but I can tell you a few things.....

The ONLY whisky worth drinking is Scotch single malts. Throw away your JD, Jonnie Walker blends, american bourbon, etc etc.....and start trying some Bowmore, Oban, Glengoyne, Maccallan, Talisker and others.

Try something different. Be a man. Buy a dram of 21 year old scotch.

Feel the taste. Savor it in your mouth and then swallow. There's nothing better than scotch.

Except scotch and a cuban cigar.

I also suggest, if you have facebook, which if you are from the planet Earth, you do, then add some distilleries as groups and become a fan...you'll learn a lot

While single malt scotch is generally my favourite variety of whisky, this statement is just garbage and closed-minded snobbery from somebody who lacks knowledge of the wider world of whisky.

ur whole post invalidates itself when everyone sees how close minded u are. sure scotch is great and i personally would never mix it, if someone else wants to it seems pretty silly to me but whatever, theyre the one that has to drink it.

but to say that all american whiskeys are garbage and should just be thrown out is LOL. they arent the same as scotch whisky and some are great for mixing, so if thats what im in the mood for thats what i do. no one tells u that the only car worth driving is a mercedes and anything u might drive that isnt a mercedes is garbage...thats the equivalent of what u just said tho. see how ridiculous it sounds.

Ya there is some mighty fine bourbon/Rye whiskey being produced in America. If any of you guys are planning any more of these Vegas whiskey nights let me know! I'll be there in a week.

good slide show of 12 choices on cnbc.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/27804891/?slide=1

Pretty much a noob when it comes to whisky, so this might seem like a really silly question. Was at a friend's place watching football and his dad offers us some whisky he just picked up. It was 57%. I can drink 40% without mixing but 57% is too much. Should I have watered it out a bit or added some club soda before drinking? Also, how much should I add?

IIRC there are varying schools of thoughts on how to drink your scotch, but I think the most 'acceptable' way to mix something in is a splash of room-temperature water (or maybe slightly warm? someone correct me).

Other people put in a few ice cubes and a little water or soda but I think the purists will say that is ruining it.

At the end of the day it's your drink and drink it however you will enjoy it the most. It sounds like you're trying to keep the integrity of the drink though to what I would say don't add club soda; stick to water.

57% whisky is going to be too strong for most people to drink straight. As well as being harsh in the mouth, the strength masks the taste. If you add water at about 1 part water to 2 parts whisky, then this should water it down to around the 40% that you're used to. It's always best to add the water slowly though and then add more if needed. Remember you can always add more water, but you can't take it out (well, you can add more whisky, but best to be cautious if it's someone elses bottle that you're drinking from!).

OP great thread. I'm 26 and not a big beer drinker but I always loved scotch. My favorite scotch by far is...



Johnnie Walker Swing. Verrrry hard to come by but out of this world


edit: the bottle is actually designed to swing, so if you gently push it, it rocks side to side gently

So I'm kind of a whiskey noob. Things I have ascertained so far:

I like smooth rather than super oakey.

Do like:
Basil Hayden
Bulleit

Don't much like:
McCallum
Jameson

Halp?

im in thailand, and while good whiskey is somewhat hard to come by here, swing is not (but it is pretty nice).

I'm a Johnnie Walker Red Label drinker. Nice to see a thread on whiskey.

Tried both Blue and Black Label Johnnie Walker blends. They tend to be less "harsh" than the red label brand. Drinking a Johnnie Walker red label on the rocks as I'm typing this.

Extraordinarily smooth Kentucky small batch. Incredible bourbon @ $33/btl. You'd probably also enjoy most of the other single batch stuff (Bookers/Blanton's, etc.) You're also gonna pretty much stay American. That said, if you want to branch out a bit, I'd definitely look into the Suntory Yamazaki 12yr from Japan, and if you're looking to explore single malts, I'd pay special attention to lowland scotches (Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie) as they tend not to have as much rampant peat moss/smokey characters, and tend to be lighter bodied and sweeter.

What's the best way to go about trying more costly bottlings of single malt scotch?

I've drank about a dozen different "basic" bottles and am interested in trying some of the higher priced stuff. Still, I don't want to dump $150 on something that I end up not liking. Is this just one of those situations where I have to read up on the reviews and trust people's palate when reading their comments? I have a decent sense of what I like, so maybe I'm over thinking.

If you live in or near a major city you should be able to find a bar that specializes in single malt whisky. When I lived in Baltimore there was a bar in my neighborhood that served over 160 different varieties. This allowed me to sample higher priced offerings at a fraction of the retail bottle price.

Discovering new delicious whisky and revisiting favorites is one of life's great joys. Enjoy!

Really? Everytime I go out and order scotches at normal bars, I feel like after two drinks I'm 1/2 way to a bottle. I suppose that's better than having a bottle never used again though.

Definitely a few good ones here in DC to try that with.