thx
hard to tell since i drink out bottles too
but i`m back from the states for 10 years now.

Truly awesome collection, manndl.

I know it must be hard to pick a few favorites among so many bottles, but which are the ones you like the most? And do you have a favorite distillery too?

+1, can a mod remove the pic of my collection lol

What would you say are your top 5 islays that you have in your collection?

Also, is it safe to say that I like islays more than bourbons after trying Weller 12 and Pappy 15 but still preferring stuff like Ardbeg and Lagavulin, or could you recommend a couple bourbons that might change my mind?

This thread is going to turn into a manndl well (rightly so)

hopefully not.

my favourite whiskys change from time to time,but usally i like smoky whiskys with sherry.
smoky:
lagavulin de,tallisker de,bowmore laimrig,laphroaig px cask,ardbeg uigeadail,coal ila 18,bowmore 15 darkest
sherry:
benriach sherry cask,omc macallan 15,glenfarclas 18,balvenie 21
bourbon casks:
bunnahabain darach ur,glen grant 10,glenlivet 18
these are my favorite right now in my collection.
lagavulin,benriach and
i like the bowmores alot.

they arent that smoky and most have at least some sherry casks in aswell.
they are like my every day dram.
i think the bowmore mariner 15 gets u most bang for your buck.
u can get it at any airport for around 40-45euro for a liter.
nowadays i dont like the typical mild and mellow speysider anymore
and it will take me quite a while to finish my glenlivet12,glenfiddichs,speyburn etc.
i would to try more bourbons but the good once
are hard to find(expansive too) in europe.
not sure what my favourite distillery on islay is,but my least favourite is easy----->Kilchoman


even so its a nice small distillery in a old farm house and looks beautiful,
the whisky there is just too young.
it still has the metallic taste in but they charge the same prices than lagavulin.
in the coming years i will probably try more whiskys from independent bottlers like gordon&mcphail and signatory.

by the way the new lagavulin DE(2013) is 18 years old and for me 1 of the best of the line.

if i had to pick my most favourite whisky at the moment i would pick this 1.

the best whisky i ever owned a bottle of was probably a springbank 21 but its long gone and it will take years til they will bring out a new 21(they were closed for some years and sold all the old whisky casks)

the best whisky i ever drank was a 33 year old lagavulin out of the cask at the distillery last year.pure heaven
but that is just my taste.
keep trying what tastes u like and what not.
cheers

after telling u what i like i thought it would be fair to tell u what i don`t like.
i tried alot not so good whiskys over the years.
many moonshiners or from countries that arent known for their whisky production(there is a reason for that)
probably my least favourite single malt whisky is:
Loch Lomond Peated:

smelled ok but tasted bitter,super strong and overall just terrible.


ps:by the way the distillery looks grappy too.

Tens,

It's safe to say you like islays more than bourbons. There's just way less variation between different varieties of bourbon than there is between scotches, and these (bourbon and islay) are very distinct flavors. Even from a region like islay, you prob have a wider range of styles and flavors than bourbon as a class. But I'd still recommend you get some Willett bourbon 8yrs or older; that's prob my fave bourbon. And as for whiskey, bourbons and islays are my two favorite styles.

Thanks for that, manndl. I've never tried Bowmore, I'll order some next time I'm in my local whiskey bar.

ET,

Try some Bowmore Darkest. I think it's really good and a very solid deal at $60-70.

Thanks El D. I had a feeling I was suspecting what you were saying (more variety with islays than bourbons) just because of my inexperience with bourbons, but I guess you verified I was right. I'll def check out Willett though

I'm 99% sure this was the case for my sub-par PE 25 experience:


2:30 - 3:25

So technically I paid for PE 25, but I didn't really taste it lol. The bottle was damn near empty as it was being poured for me, so it tasted inarticulate and watered down. I might resort to buying a sample online for like $50

In case anyone needs to know where to get samples from:

http://www.masterofmalt.com/

http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1011309

Ardbeg Uigeadail for $59

great price for a great whisky!

The price drop is a little suspicious to me...can you or anyone else verify that this year's Uigeadail is on par with previous years? I've read that a lot of people prefer Uigeadail to Laphroaig 18, and I loved Laphroaig 18, so I'm anxious to buy it

i have last years bottle,but i know that ardbeg is doing a big marketing campaign around the Uigeadail.
many people in europe were xxxxx because the ardbog was sold out after hours.at least at the normal price.
perhaps thats the reason they wanna push the Uigeadail now.

Tens,

Ugh, now I'm tempted to grab a bottle and then I could do a head-to-head tasting of Uigeadail vs Corryvreckan vs Ardbog.... I have too much peaty scotch though!

Thanks manndl, I guess there's nothing to worry about in regards to quality then

And El D, I wish I had that problem lol...the last bottle I bought was Ardbog and that made it my 3rd islay. I'm ganna try to hold off a little on this deal a little and get the Glendronach 15 Revival instead. There's 35 bottles of Uigeadail at the k&l wines so I think I can afford to wait a little

u can never ever have too much scotch.
peated or unpeated.

opinions on the glenrothes 1998? had a mate of mine order this for me as my 2nd bottle (after the ardbeg 10 yrs).

i love the peaty stuff and it was what got me into whiskey in the first place but figured i'd venture into different kinds and get a bit of a more well rounded feel/taste instead of stocking up on those when starting out, heh.

Di,

I love pretty much all the glenrothes year bottles and don't care much at all for the select reserve. I haven't had the 1998, but I have the 1994 and had the one before that too, and they were both great.

I haven't seen this discussed so...

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I had a "portion" of a glass of Port Ellen 25, and I didn't enjoy it because oxidation has taken a drastic effect on the taste. This is done when under a third of your whisky remains in the bottle for about a month, and results in a flat taste. In my case with the Port Ellen 25, there was under a TENTH of the bottle remaining (and who knows how long it's been like that)

A helpful solution to oxidation is this: http://www.wineenthusiast.com/wine-e...tion-spray.asp



Essentially, it creates a layer of gas on top of the surface of your whisky to protect it from the oxygen in the bottle (therefore delaying oxidation)

Maybe you guys were already aware of this stuff, but just in case you weren't, I thought I would post it. Cuz I mean...the thought of my entire collection being ruined due to oxidation is pretty disheartening, but for that to happen to manndl's collection...

More information:

http://scotchnoob.com/2012/04/16/how-to-store-whisky/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATdUbox20q8 (12:30 for wine preserve spray)

Tens,

How many samples do you usually put in an order? Seems like they're good value on price but the shipping can be quite expensive if you're ordering anything less than $100 or so (20 pounds for delivery to the U.S.).

The variety of their samples is awesome, though. Very tempted to try some of their vintage samples, but I fear I'm going to end up ordering a bunch of bottles after sampling and make a serious dent on my budget.

lol tbh, I haven't ordered any samples myself. I just thought some of you guys would be interested in knowing that there is a site that offers them. I myself can only get ~$100 bottles once every 3 weeks, so being able to try samples makes for better financial decisions obv. The only +$100 bottle I have is Ardbog, and fortunately I loved it without knowing beforehand how it would taste.

heh, i was just reading back earlier pages of the thread and found this




thanks. gonna pick up the bottle today!

got it. on the label it says "distilled in 1998 bottled in 2012". so its a 14 year old. i was under the impression the 1998 was a 10 year.. how am i supposed to look at this? heh noob questions...


anyway, cant wait to try it out. its rainy and cloudy all day today so who knows..


[IMG]http://s24.************/h732oqw45/20130807_143818.jpg[/IMG]

looking forward to your review.
I had the alba reserve some month back and wasnt impressed.


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