There are some folks on here who don't go for Gin, there are some folks on here who go for the more manly drink of Scotch. There are some folks on here who feel left out by the dozens of you mob going on and on about the girly spirit called Gin.
So, real guys, lets fight back on behalf of the Scotch connosewers here !
I like a small glass about now, it helps me get to sleep quicker. The wife likes an inch now and again but that's a different subject. What's your favourite ?
ATM I have a bottle of Ardbeg on the desk with some in my glass. Ardbeg is reckoned to be the peatiest of them all and it certainly tastes like it. In stock are last birthday's pressies from the kids...a bottle of Old Pulteney and one of Aberlour. I haven't opened them yet but I'm looking forward to a taste. I recently finished off a bottle of Laphroaig which I always enjoy.
I don't indulge in single malt all the time, I'm quite happy with Glen Orchy from Lidl or one of Aldi's blends, Highland Earl or similar.
After all, £40 + bottles have to be made to last and be savoured !
Whaddaya say ?
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>> lets fight back on behalf of the Scotch connosewers here !
I can't claim to be one although I sympathise totally Ted. I prefer syrupy single malts to peaty dry ones, although they too can be exquisite when you're in the mood. But I'll happily drink blended, Grouse for choice. And some of that Irish is good too.
Yup, I like whiskers all right. But it doesn't like me more's the pity. Gives me a hangover... twice as much vodka doesn't.
If I had any sense I'd stick to whiskers below hangover level. That's the sort of thing that's easy to say. Just try being me and doing it though. That'll sort out the things from the whassernames.
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I should have added: the only whiskers I have at the moment is some sort of American stuff. You can't drink much of it at a time. There are a couple of tiny ones left and I think I'll have one now.
Then try to do a bit more work.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 22 Jan 15 at 00:34
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A friend of mine used to sell whisky, and despite attending several tasting evenings which he hosted I still prefer girly gin. My two favourites are Ardbeg & Talisker. The latter because many years ago I drove to Skye on Boxing Day from Bradford, and it reminds me of camping in deep snow for several days! The former because a good pal of mine was dep editor of an outdoor magazine and he very kindly invited me along when he was writing an article on Islay. The jaunt was hosted by the parent company of Ardbeg, so we stayed at a nice hotel for three nights, walked to the lochan which was the source of water used at the distillery, then had a personal after hours tour, and tasting, with notes, of several Ardbeg whiskies.
My friend, the whisky seller, always told me his favourite was Caol Isla ( hope I have spelt that correctly).
But at the end of the day my preference is always a bottle of Sierra Nevada pale ale, or SN Torpedo IPA. Sorry.
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We'll Teddy, I'm with you on the Glen Orchy, lovely stuff and that bottle grips well too. My all time favourite though is simply Claymore. Grouse is ok, but overrated imho. Laphroig very palatable in small quantities. Glenmorangie........yuk.
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Penderyn or Dalwhinnie for a treat, but both very moreish. Bells for everyday anti illness treatment.
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Whiskey? Its gin thats been filtered through mud and then left in a water butt for 25 years.
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Grouse is the only blended I like but I enjoy a lot of single malts. From choice, I'm basically a Speyside drinker, but I'll have and enjoy a lot of Island malts too.
The most valuable unopened bottle I have is one of these:
www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-8185.aspx
Didn't pay that of course, but I have had it since 1989 when I bought a half case (6 bottles).
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Where to start. I love malt whisky in all its different forms, but it's always a bad idea as the bottle only ever comes out when one has already had enough - and then pays for it the following morning. I remember some stonking whisky hangovers as an undergraduate. Really stonking.
Whisky of preference (i.e. there's an open bottle at the moment) is Lidl's blended malt, Abrachan, and it's about £18. It's really tasty, probably a bit young really. And excellent for a sherry cocktail. (1 part whisky, 5 parts nice manzanilla and a few drops of bitters, shaken with ice and strained into a glass with a strip of orange peel). Try it.
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I am far too fond of malt. A visit to Wadsworth's in St Ives, Cambs. can occupy me for a couple of hours dithering about what to buy (I went in there before Christmas, and my bored boon companion noticed that they also had 53 different gins as well as the 100s of malts).
I usually buy a bottle of Finlaggan anyway, a single Islay malt (but don't look for the distillery). A bargain at about £26 www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-3682.aspx
The most astonishing I have tasted recently was the 2nd bottling of Glegoyne's Teapot Dram, bought from the distillery which is the only official vendor. Bottled in 2013 with 10 and 15 year olds from first fill oloroso casks, a most untypical malt. And not a regular drink, as only 3200 bottles were sold.
I am spinning out a bottle of Yamazaki that I like.
Of the readily available non-peaty ones I like Glen Moray (often a bargain in 'classic' edition, with no age stated).
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>> Whiskey? Its gin thats been filtered through mud and then left in a water butt
>> for 25 years.
Good Lord, I got a scowly face for that, I was going to say filtered through sh it, instead of mud, that would have sent mr permanently offended ber-listic
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Quite like both but they aren't really interchangeable are they? Gin is to drink before dinner on a warm summers evening. Whiskey is to drink by a fire on winter's evening. Might conceivably have a whiskey in a pub though that's really the place to drink beer. Can't conceive of going down a pub with a crowd of blokes and ordering a Gin and Tonic though.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 22 Jan 15 at 12:14
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"Can't conceive of going down a pub with a crowd of blokes and ordering a Gin and Tonic though."
Especially not if you're in East Anglia and can get hold of a pint of Adnam's Explorer.
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Or one of several good options from Woodforde's.
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"Quite like both but they aren't really interchangeable are they?"
Agreed on both counts. Irish - Black Bush or Jameson 1780 - or Speyside for me. I guess the island single malts are an acquired taste, but to me they taste rather like drinking a turf fire...
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Spot on, CGN. Can't think I've ever chosen between gin and whisky, and I'd suggest that anyone who regularly does, doesn't really understand one or both.
The pleasure of whisky - well, a lot of it anyway - is the sheer variety. I can enjoy a rough, peaty Laphroaig as much as a velvety 18yo Glenlivet, or even a toffeeish Woodford Reserve. Not all in one sitting, but always after dinner - which was preceded by a Tanqueray and Schweppes.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Thu 22 Jan 15 at 14:36
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>> Good Lord, I got a scowly face for that, I was going to say filtered
>> through sh it, instead of mud, that would have sent mr permanently offended ber-listic
A reference to peat? As I'm sure you know, the whisky isn't mixed with or filtered through the peat, it gets into the spirit through the barley being dried with a peat fire.
The water butts are usually former sherry/port/bourbon etc casks, I suppose they might have the odd mouse in...
We went to Grant's grain whisky plant at Girvan many years ago (I think it closed later, and might have reopened since). The distillation cut of whisky is very specific; the dregs go to make vodka, gin and hair spray. The gin of course has to have a few weeds boiled up in it before sale :)
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Macallan by choice but Glenfarclas is also nice. Grouse for emergencies.
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Lighting the fire, you mean?
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Pretty much, or for guests you don't really like.
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There's a lot of rubbish on sale in France that I wouldn't use to wash the car - names like 'Sir Edward' and 'Sir Pitterson'! Lidl's Glen Orchy is ok but surprisingly expensive over here.
We have Grouse for every day, as I have for the past 40 years - from the time when you had to find a pub in England that sold it. My favourite blend is The Antiquary (partly because it has The Macallan in it), now only available - as far as I can see - in drink shops in Italy. I have to stock up during our winter Riviera visit and ration it. I'm down to about two shots now because I have had the lurgy and not been bothered to up-sticks for Menton so far. You can also get reasonable stuff like 100 Pipers down there, that you don't see much any more.
My father used to come home from Europe 40 or 50 years ago with a nice blend (I think it was) called Stag's Breath. I think it now exists only as some sort of aperitif mix.
My American friend works in Baghdad and they have a 'whisky club' in the compound - well you would, wouldn't you? You have to return from leave in the free world with a different bottle each time. He goes for novelty stuff like 'Monkey Shoulder' and 'Big Pete'.
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In those long ago days when we were both allowed alcohol (neither of us are any more) we had a holiday in Orkney, where we did the Highland Park Distillery Tour, because after you've walked to the lamp post and had a picnic by a stone you've pretty well exhausted the tourist attractions.
Part of that tour was a "free" sample.
That was the first and, thank God, the last time we touched whisky of any description. Utterly vile stuff we found it. I suspect the remnants of our tasters are still in their glasses under the chairs.
So that's all the more for the rest of you I guess!
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I would like to complain. But I shall be generous and assume ignorance as opposed to malice. "Whiskey" is that Irish stuff which is perfectly acceptable for cooking or rubbing on wounds but "Whisky" is scotch and is the only suitable variant for actual drinking.
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>> "Whiskey" is that Irish stuff which is perfectly acceptable for cooking or rubbing on wounds but "Whisky" is scotch and is the only suitable variant for actual drinking.
Sun-Tory... Hoooooooo-oooo!
Tasted very like whisky I thought. I had some 'whisky' from somewhere even more unlikely once, Indonesia or Pakistan or India. That was sort of a bit like whisky too.
Proper Indian or Sri Lankan arrack is palatable. But headachey in excess.
I wonder how you Jocks would fare in a blind taste test to identify whiskeys and whiskies. Those blind taste tests have humiliated many an oenophile and foodie.
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I saw once a blind taste test between fine whisky and equally fine brandy and the results found that many people couldn't tell the difference. They did it in England of course, which might have some bearing.
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By the way Humph I agree about Macallan. Some of the Island malts are a bit on the dour side.
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Someone gave me a 50 year old Macallan when we got married. My wife hid it and won't tell me where it is, knowing that it would just have been drunk when there wasn't anything to celebrate and she feels it's deserving of that. Her revised plan is that I and my son can open it when he is 21 by which time it'll be 75 years old. Now I know it'll not improve in the bottle but I do sort of get the sense of occasion. Just the 6 years to go...
;-)
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Lagavulin is my favourite sipping whisky. Any old one when I'm guzzling...
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Black Grouse if on blended. I haven't tried many singles, but do like Glenmorangie.
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>>Black Grouse if on blended
Best blend I've had is (no longer made unfortunately) Johnnie Walker Green Label.
It is a blend entirely of single malts and is the perfect 'session' whisky.
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>>Sun-Tory... Hoooooooo-oooo!
Never tried Suntory but I do have a bottle of The Yamazaki which is rather good.
>> I wonder how you Jocks would fare in a blind taste test to identify whiskeys and whiskies
www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/11210413/Blind-test-The-best-whisky-in-the-world-tasted-by-Keith-Miller.html
Last edited by: Lygonos on Fri 23 Jan 15 at 00:39
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I've had The Yamazaki too and enjoyed it. It somehow managed to taste of mountains; something about the quality of the water, I suppose.
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With all this expertise on booze and fags, can I assume that everyone on these boards is a big supporter of Mr Farage?
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>> With all this expertise on booze and fags, can I assume that everyone on these
>> boards is a big supporter of Mr Farage?
No, I like curry as well.
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>> can I assume that everyone on these boards is a big supporter of Mr Farage?
No. He's amusing and personable but quite wrong. I mean, Stalin and Beria drank like fish, Kruschev too, Goering liked a toot of coke among other things, and heaven knows what the dear leader gets up to with all those handsome girl soldiers. One assumes all of those could be friendly, generous (Lenin used to give people cars seized from the rich) and entertaining while remaining dangerous and terrifying. Mao was awful too in a special way.
Just having perfectly normal habits doesn't give you a handle on political righteousness or moral virtue, unfortunately. But it doesn't make you a villain either. Puritans - people like Hitler and the dear leader's recent ancestors - are among the really wicked people.
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I was passing Lidl in Cheadle Hulme earlier so I popped in the get some chocolate.
Indulged myself with a bottle of Glen Orchy while there...£13 and a bit. Used to be under a tenner.
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Which Whisky ? - Armel Coussine
