Nice find on the Vintage 23 foobar. I haven't had it myself, have heard it is very good but woodier tasting than the 21yr so I just stuck with that and didn't seek out any 23(some people really like that but it's the main reason I buy PVW20 but not 23...too much wood in the 23). When you finally open it let me know what you think though, esp in terms of if it's overly woody or not.

Soo just got diagnoised with a stomach issue so im done with drinking for a while so if anyone lives in the west michigan area wants some free bottles let me know. My doc said that the drinking has a part of it but they said i could have a drink every now and then. I have like 10+ bottles i am going to give away. I am going to keep a few of the costly bottles but the ones im getting rid of have been opened for like 4-5 months and i know they dont get bad but they do start to lose some flavors. Just pm me for what bottles they are & if you want them.

So, a Jack and Coke every once in awhile is the extent of my whiskey drinking. This stuff does interest me, but I'm not someone that can just drink straight whiskey, at least not yet. Ive heard it is an acquired taste...right now it just kind of burns and I don't really taste anything. Anyway, how should I go about getting into whiskey? Like, how should I go about getting accustomed to the taste, what brands should I buy at first, different ways to drink it, etc...

learn how to make an old fashioned or manhattan, then try whiskey with a bit of ice, after u can handle that then try it neat. thats how i progressed anyway.

Just drink it till you like it imo. It's what I did with beer, wine and whisky and now I love all three.

Also, I love whisky but hate whisky cocktails, or even just with any mixer. Dunno why.

Thanks for the tips. You raise a good point, I used to hate beer but now it is pretty much my favorite food/drink item. I don't have anything good atm but can handle Jack fine on ice. I'll try something a little better soon (maybe Makers Mark?) and see how that goes.

Try a Scotch Whisky. They are so much easier to drink neat than a bourbon. Try a few lighter ones at the bar first to see which one you like. If you don't like it neat, throw a few cubes in. You should be able to tolerate a good Scotch on the rocks easily if you can drink Jack on the rocks.

Also take much smaller sips than you normally do. Take your time to pick apart the different flavors.

Just have to thank this thread for the Lagavulin 16 recommendation. Might be one of the best bangs for my buck I've had in terms of alcohol.

most decent american bars have MacAllan which is a pretty good, mild and sweet Scotch to start with.

One recommendation I'll make to add to people suggesting adding ice, is getting an ice tray with big (or round) cubes that won't melt as quickly. One cube from this tray http://www.amazon.com/Tovolo-80-5521.../dp/B00395FHRO seemed to work well in not watering down the drink too quickly.

woe.... that ice tray is badarse!
thanks

I may have to stop buying van winkle out of principal. I love their product, but the stranglehold they put on distribution to drive up price is getting ridiculous. I live in the dc metro area (Montgomery county, MD) and here's what I've done the last three weeks to try to get some of the latest van winkle release:

-call liquor store in capital hill. Told allotment hasn't arrived yet. Get on list to be notified when it's in.
-call liquor store in dc that specializes in bourbon the Friday before thanksgiving - nothing in stock, they don't keep a list. Told to call back following Friday.
-call same liquor store following Friday, nothing yet, call next Friday
-drive to two different dc liquor stores that I know get van winkle on Monday to see if anything is in stock (nothing yet)
-liquor in Montgomery county is controlled/distributed by the county. Talk to manager of one county liquor store Saturday and he tells me to forget about - he gets a super tiny allotment every release, and all the bottles are promised out already.
-call same liquor store today and they have exactly two bottles of 12 yr left. Everything else is gone.
-call a different Montgomery county liquor store to see if they have any left in stock - nope, all promised out. Clerk gives me name of some county liquor supervisor to call. Call this guy and he's actually very friendly. He tells me they keep a list of interested parties and rotate through the list to portion out bottles on every release - he puts me on the list for future releases. He also tells me that Montgomery county is the biggest liquor distributer on the east coast (no idea if this is true or not, but, regardless, they're BIG). The total allotment of van winkle 15 year to Montgomery county on this release was 2 cases. 2 cases!

Hunting around for this stuff used to be fun, but this is out of hand.

They don't do it to drive up price, they just don't have much of it. For my last bottle of 15 and 20 year I paid $49.99 and $89.99. Prices vary depending on state but if u see outrageous prices that is the liquor store trying to make more money.

If you're willing to go to this much trouble to find it, why not just buy it online? The extra 20 bucks or whatever can't be worse than hours and hours spent trying to find it in local liquor stores.

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/pappy+van+winkle+20

Thanks. Any recommendations for types to try?

Suppose that's true for the old stitzel weller stock, which is still what what they're using to bottle the 20 and 23, but don't know if it's true or not for the buffalo trace stock which, according to some interview w. Julian van winkle, made it's debut in the 15 this year.

Ike - up until this year's debacle I'd always enjoyed hunting around for bottles. Good point though, the markup is negligible to me, could save hassle by just ordering online.

Lucid -

Not the interview I referenced in last post, but related to my reply:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/24/smal...urbon.fortune/

Buying online is pretty great. If you want to try exotic scotches and live in the US but not one of the handful of big cities that have a liquor store with a serious scotch collection it's pretty much the only option. www.thewhiskyexchange.com makes even a really great liquor store look pathetic.

Yea, but Buffalo Trace has to use their wheated bourbon to make Buffalo Trace, all their Weller products, and their 10, 12, and 15 year Van Winkle products. Considering that for the 10+ year bourbons they would have had to produce and barrel it 10+ years ago its not crazy to see why there isn't an abundance of it. Of course it would be awesome if there was more but there is plenty of other good bourbon out there. And its possible that their long term goal is to raise the price but that isn't happening right now and now would be the time seeing there is a finite amount of SW stock left and it will be gone in a few years.

Even my wife can drink Glenmorangie Original. It's a good starter and should be easy to find.

Other easy to find starters would be from the Classic Malts Collection - Glenkinchie, or Dalwhinnie.

When I started I just went down the line of the Classic Malts from light to heavy at my local bar.

Glenkinchie
Dalwhinnie
Cragganmore
Talisker
Oban
Lagavulin

I found that I liked the Talisker and the Lagavulin the best so then I branched out to:

Ardbeg and Caol Ili on recommendations from this thread.

Enjoy.

They'll deliver to MA?

About a year ago this thread started me on a rather enjoyable Scotch journey. Thanks to all of the contributors for the many great suggestions. I still have a fairly unrefined noob palate and tend to favour the sherried drams but have tried and enjoyed a handful of Islays as well. Thirty to forty bottles later (most still around to some extent), here are some random thoughts.

Excellent starting point - Balvenie Doublewood

My favourite to date - Macallan 18, despite being of very questionable value and having no appreciation for it initially
Runners up - Glenfarclas 25, Glenrothes 1985

Bottles most replenished in last year - Macallan 12 and Glenlivet 18

Easiest intro to Islay - Talisker 10
My fave Islay - Lagavulin 16
Runner up - Murray McDavid 17 year Caol Ila 1991
Islay my palate understands the least - Laphroaig Quarter Cask

Biggest disappointment to date - Tullibardine Port Wood

Best value surprise to date - Auchentoshan 12

Unopened bottle I am most looking forward to opening - Balvenie PortWood (give me 10 mins)

Latest buy - Balvenie Caribbean Cask (unopened), Balvenie PortWood (about to be opened), Glenfarclas 25 (YUM!), Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix (Yum!), Macallan 18 (unopened)

I'm not certain, I've only had it delivered to NV, but I would think so, ya.

These guys definitely ship to MA: http://www.whiskyshopusa.com/store/S...?CategoryID=13

Just bought a friend a gift from their site. Not quite whiskyexchange but very, very solid selection.

Floppy,

Balvenie Portwood is one of my all time faves. Your summary is great, and imo you made some excellent choices. I'd suggest trying some Glenrothes (any of the ones with year numbers on them, not the ones w/ names) next, and then if you want just a little bit of peat/smoke, try some Highland Park.