Regular Production Scotch - Expand My Mind (or Palate)...

[Ethernut]

Alright, I'm looking start a war (I'd settle for a friendly discussion though).  I've titled this post "Regular Production Scotch" as I'd prefer not to, in this thread, get into the special releases as it is tiring to try and chose those down. I've listed what's in my cabinet right now save one or two I cant remember. I'm simply curious what is out there (preferably purchasable in the US) in regular production that I don't have and should deeply consider as part of my regular rotation. I've put an asterisk next to the bottles I tend to reach for the most for various reasons.

In my Cabinet Regular Production

• Laphroig Quarter Cask *
• Ardbeg 10
• Ardbeg Correyvrecken *
• Springbank 12 Cask Strength * 
• Caol Isla
• Glenmorangie 10 *
• Lagavulin 16 *
• Talisker Storm
• Old Pultney
• Macallan 12 Cask Strength 
• Highland Park 12
• Dalwhinnie 15

I appreciate your thoughts and experience in advance! 

Ether -

[Fuzz]

I'm quite partial to the standard Glendronach 12yr old, but if you can find the Revival 15yr old (unfortunately discontinued until they build up stock), go for it.

[Ethernut]

1 minute ago, Fuzz said:

I'm quite partial to the standard Glendronach 12yr old, but if you can find the Revival 15yr old (unfortunately discontinued until they build up stock), go for it.

Appreciate it Fuzz, I'll track it down!

[Ethernut]

I'm also curious about the Bruichladdich stuff, never tried any.

[garbandz]

You have most of the bottles I would choose from,I would be very comfortable at your house.

Springbank makes a peated offering called Longrow,I like it a lot.

The sherried Glenmorangie might be worth a try,avoid Glen Rothes,disappointing dram.

Cadenhead bottle all of their stock at cask strength,and produce some excellent singles. 

[Guest]

I would recommend some Glenfarclas 15. Beautiful sherry influence and bottled at a decent ABV.

Bunnahabhain 12 is a brilliant sipper. An Islay with a totally different personality. Brilliant value for money.

Kilkhoman also produces some great stuff. The Machir Bay and Loch Gorm are both great releases. 

Ardbeg Uigeadail.

 

 

 

[westg]

Ardbeg dark cove picked up two bottles last night one for the old boy.....sensational ..... the Uigeadail very good as well

[Jeremy Festa]

I only drink discontinued

[Jeremy Festa]

I am fond Scapa and Highland Park. But dabble in the Islays too.

But to expand your palate... is hard, I am not that well versed in Scotch Whisky, as I am in Irish Whiskey, or Aussie for that matter. 

Majority of which will really impress you, considering your list above. 

As such, for the Irish, I would point you in the direction of the peated Connemara to begin with. Good reference point.

Head over to the Tyrconnell's as there are a couple worth trying with different casks etc

You must have a Redbreast as a staple. And The Power's John's Lane 12, is my pick of all Whisky/ey at present. 

As for the Aussie stuff, stick to the Sullivan's Cove, Nant and The Lark. 

[Ethernut]

Poking around the internet I found The Whiskey Exchange.  Looked like if one were willing to by 6 or more bottles it'd be cheaper than buying domestically in the US. Any other sites like that I should consider?

[Lotusguy]

Masterofmalt.com

[Siberian Bear]

On 8/23/2016 at 11:11 AM, Ethernut said:

Poking around the internet I found The Whiskey Exchange.  Looked like if one were willing to by 6 or more bottles it'd be cheaper than buying domestically in the US. Any other sites like that I should consider?

Ethernut, in my journey of finding the best liquor store online I stumbled upon these: https://www.hitimewine.net/spirits/scotch and http://www.internetwines.com/spirits-single-malt-1.html 

Also, I'm in SoCal and my local Costco sometimes throws very nice deals I can't resist  Example, last year right before Christmas I was fortunate to buy several bottles of Highland Park 12 for $25 and Springbank 10 for $35. Pretty much all year long Laga 16 is on sale there for $55, Laphroig 10 is $35. Big surprise for me was a new find at the same Costco - Glencadam 10 (NCF, 46%) lovely dram, light, floral and fruity, never thought I would like it since I enjoy heavy hitters like Laph, Laga and Ardbeg. But, after the initial bottle was nearly empty I ran back and got me 5 more. 

[Ethernut]

Costco is a beast isn't it @Siberian Bear? I have and "in" with my local Costco wine/liquor steward. Looking forward to seeing some of  those in the fall! Thanks for the info!!

[Siberian Bear]

Went to my inbox and found couple of more stores from previous orders: http://www.wines4today.com/main.asp?request=search&country=scotland and http://www.wineandcheeseplace.com/cart.php?target=category&category_id=45

If I recall correctly, internetwines.com ships without boxes/tins/tubes but unless you are buying it as a gift to someone the end result is the same - soothed and happy  

[Hurltim]

I would add Balvenie Doublewood--kind of a special release but worth the chase. 

Auchentoshan Lowland scotch (work your way up the lineup)

Teeling irish whiskey. I'm partial to the single malt. 

The wifey is the liquor buyer for a major liquor store here in CO so I am a little spoiled. 

if you haven't had it...Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey, Stranahan's Diamond Peak. 

I just had Makers Mark Barrel Select (not available in stores) over the weekend (along with Pappy's). The closest contender to Blanton's I have found. 

I left my liver at the Douglas County Fairgrounds Saturday so if someone trips over it...send it home please.

 

[Cep]

Talisker 10 is the bees knees to me

[fabes]

Clynelish 14yr

[morganti]

Your cabinet is very close to mine in terms of selection. Here are a few that are easy to find and easy to drink. Since you have a lot of peat heavy scotches, here are some on the other end of the spectrum. 

Glenrothes Select Reserve
Dalmore 12 or 15yr

[ayepatz]

When I was in Houston, there was this amazing booze warehouse called Specs.

They had a great number of Age Statement Single Malts (10, 12 and 15 year old, etc) which are now very hard to come by in the UK.

I would recommend you buy as much Age Statement Single Malt as you can find, and ignore the No Age Statement scotch.

For the best part of 50 years, distillers have been telling us that it's the cask that makes the magic, and that there is no substitute for time in a barrel for improving scotch whisky. Hence the market for Aged Single Malt Scotch.

Now that worldwide demand for whisky has gone up, they've done a u-turn. Rather than sit on their spirit for 10, 12 or 15 years, they're now telling us that age is not important. It's all about the mix. (Many people don't realise that their aged single malts are actually blend of different years of whisky from the same distillery, with the youngest year used in the mix dictating the age that goes on the bottle). Removing the age statement allows them to use 3-year old spirit in the mix, which in turn allows them to use up their stocks of younger whisky to feed the market. Also, there is nothing to stop them from changing the mix from year to year to utilise whichever stock they have available, so there is no guarantee that Talisker Storm will still taste the same five years from now.

The knock-on effect of this is obvious - less scotch is being set aside for proper barrel ageing. It will become harder and harder to find, and correspondingly more and more expensive to purchase.

My advice is snap up the aged stuff while you can. If it says how old it is on the bottle, you know what you are getting. The rest is branding and marketing bullshit designed to flog as much stock as possible.

Rant over. lol

[shlomo]

6 hours ago, ayepatz said:

When I was in Houston, there was this amazing booze warehouse called Specs.

They had a great number of Age Statement Single Malts (10, 12 and 15 year old, etc) which are now very hard to come by in the UK.

I would recommend you buy as much Age Statement Single Malt as you can find, and ignore the No Age Statement scotch.

For the best part of 50 years, distillers have been telling us that it's the cask that makes the magic, and that there is no substitute for time in a barrel for improving scotch whisky. Hence the market for Aged Single Malt Scotch.

Now that worldwide demand for whisky has gone up, they've done a u-turn. Rather than sit on their spirit for 10, 12 or 15 years, they're now telling us that age is not important. It's all about the mix. (Many people don't realise that their aged single malts are actually blend of different years of whisky from the same distillery, with the youngest year used in the mix dictating the age that goes on the bottle). Removing the age statement allows them to use 3-year old spirit in the mix, which in turn allows them to use up their stocks of younger whisky to feed the market. Also, there is nothing to stop them from changing the mix from year to year to utilise whichever stock they have available, so there is no guarantee that Talisker Storm will still taste the same five years from now.

The knock-on effect of this is obvious - less scotch is being set aside for proper barrel ageing. It will become harder and harder to find, and correspondingly more and more expensive to purchase.

My advice is snap up the aged stuff while you can. If it says how old it is on the bottle, you know what you are getting. The rest is branding and marketing bullshit designed to flog as much stock as possible.

Rant over. lol

All true, and agreed completely....if you are a collector.

If you want to drink and taste now, your mouth will tell you what you like more than a label on a bottle. there are some superb nas whiskies that put to shame 18, 21 and 25 yr olds from various distilleries.

[ayepatz]

17 hours ago, shlomo said:

All true, and agreed completely....if you are a collector.

If you want to drink and taste now, your mouth will tell you what you like more than a label on a bottle. there are some superb nas whiskies that put to shame 18, 21 and 25 yr olds from various distilleries.

 Just my opinion, mate. I'm not a collector, just a drinker, but we're going to have NAS around for years, and aged stock will steadily disappear.

Buy it and drink it while you can get it. The NAS will still be there when the aged stock has gone the way of the dodo.

[pbibby]

You have most of the bottles I would choose from,I would be very comfortable at your house.

Springbank makes a peated offering called Longrow,I like it a lot.

The sherried Glenmorangie might be worth a try,avoid Glen Rothes,disappointing dram.

Cadenhead bottle all of their stock at cask strength,and produce some excellent singles. 

Would agree on the sherried Glenmorangie, but I'll disagree on the Rothes. What haven't you enjoyed? I've had a few different styles and have never been disappointed.


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[David88]

Balvenie 21 is hands down the best scotch I have had. Slightly pricey but nothing in comparison to some of the special releases that are around. 

[elam370]

Glenfarclas 17, 105, 21, and 25 are all fairly easy and "cheap-ish" to get. Glenlivet Nadurra and Aberlour 16 or A'bunadh are absolutely excellent bottles at sub $100 pricetags.

For the peat lovers, Ardbeg Ugiedail or Corryveckan has still yet to disappoint me. For those who like a bit of oddity, I think you can still get a fair amount of Springbank 12 year cask strength or even regular Springbank 12 fairly easily. The thing is, because I'm not a regular drinker, I basically rarely get these bottles. It's much more fun to go for crazy esoteric stuff!

[trike]

If you are looking to expand taste past your current list, look to Balvenie 12 yo Single Cask- 1st Fill.  If you have developed a discriminating palette, you will sense the slightest of sour notes.  You'll be a convert after your third dram.  1 to 1-1/2 tsp of water, of course, will help immensely.

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/balvenie/balvenie-12-year-old-single-barrel-first-fill-whisky/

Your list does not delve deeply into heavily Sherry-ed offerings.  Aberlour A'bundh immediately comes to mind

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/aberlour/aberlour-a-bunadh-batch-55-whisky/?srh=1vily

 

I would look to sample a dram of each of these at a bar.  Your list leads me to believe you might not enjoy, due to the absence of smoke & peat.