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gwrtheyrn posted:Larceny is heaven hill That explains why it's good and not overpriced. 
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Jul 3, 2020 17:58
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:34 |
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 I really do absolutely love my wife... Even more so when she gets me a surprise like this! I've a soft spot for Amrut anyway - My aforementioned wife got me a bottle of the Amrut Fusion for our wedding day, so I know they make some exceptional stuff. This is no exception. The nose is dry, peaty, but with an unusual sweetness and citrus or even pine too... Like someone threw a honeycomb in a campfire. On the palate the first thing you get is that wonderful sweetness, heavy with molasses - almost rum-like in fact - while that peat smoke really gets to assert itself. Dry, cracking spice follows, with black pepper and tingles of fire. You know what they say, where there's smoke... The finish is clean and lovely, with caramel and vanilla notes wrapping up those final woody notes. What a drink!
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Jul 3, 2020 20:28
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Hi thread, I am an occasional whiskey drinker who's very much enjoying my current bottle of Tomatin 14. What other stuff might I like in the not too peaty scotch? I'm in the UK and happy to pay £50 a bottle for nice whisky, and maybe even £80 for something exceptional. What should I try next? I could go for something a bit peatier than Tomatin, but not full peat bomb ( I got a friend a bottle of Caol Isla on the recommendation of the thread. She it loved but I found just a little too much). I'm in the UK if that matters. I've also enjoyed Buffalo Trace.
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Jul 3, 2020 21:58
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Highland Park, Oban, Springbank, Benromach
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Jul 3, 2020 22:23
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spankmeister posted:They removed the age statement Single barrel Knob never lost the age statement, and regular Knob just brought it back.
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Jul 3, 2020 22:55
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Possibly Old Pulteney 12 or Springbank 10. Jura is the other that springs to mind, as the Islands often have a bit of a smoky undertone, whilst not being major peat bombs - although I haven't tried any of their revamped line - but I'd say that Old Pulteney and Springbank are better drams than the Jura I've had in the past.
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Jul 3, 2020 23:08
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Jura has always been underwhelming for me in the younger expressions and the older ones are difficult to find. I generally don't recommend it for that reason. The 10yo just has this unpleasant burnt rubber and used engine oil note for me. Springbank gets an edge over Pulteney for me because of the presentation, 46% unchill filtered, natural colour for Springbank vs 40% chill filtered and caramel colored for Pulteney. Easy choice.
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Jul 3, 2020 23:19
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I'm addition to what people have said, I've generally had good experiences with entryish-level Deanston and Benriach. They don't do much peaty stuff, though.
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Jul 4, 2020 01:00
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spankmeister posted:Springbank gets an edge over Pulteney for me because of the presentation, 46% unchill filtered, natural colour for Springbank vs 40% chill filtered and caramel colored for Pulteney. Easy choice. Yeah, I agree with your summary; Springbank is the more interesting drink. I suggested Pulteney as I've had more success sharing that with people who don't want too much peat - there's a briney taste to it which gives it more depth than some others, whilst not being overwhelming. In comparison, Springbank is a bit...heavier, I guess. Pulteney's one of those dangerous 'cheap' bottles where you can drink 3/4 of it in an afternoon without realising it. I always think the most interesting thing about whisky is the two types of bottles that you can purchase: the mainstream labels (sold in the big supermarkets, mass produced, and requires a master blender to ensure that the product is consistent over the years) and the one-off bottlings (independent bottlers such as Cadenhead's or Douglas Laing). You can get big discounts on the mainstream labels (£22-£30 a bottle), whereas the one-offs are usually more expensive (£40+ but more usually £50+), and one-offs are more of a risk because you're generally purchasing blind. If you find one you like, you're hard pressed to find another - usually they're limited runs of 200-400 bottles. I've been fortunate - there's a whisky shop the town over from where I live, so pre-pandemic I used to try a few samples and/or I can trust in the owner's recommendations, and a couple of trips to Scotland exposed me to mainstream labels that aren't so mainstream here in England (such as Caol Ila). As a general rule, I've found that the one-offs have been much better drams than the mainstream labels; if you're looking for something different, I'd definitely suggest an independent bottler - but if you're new to whisky and you don't have a firm grasp on what you enjoy, or the names of some of the distilleries, it's a difficult task to pick one to get started with. The best bottle I've had recently was a Glen Spey, which doesn't really produce many bottles - its product mostly goes into J&B blends. Before that, it was a Glenturret, which is the same - doesn't produce too many bottles, but it's the backbone of Famous Grouse. (Neither of those facts would've sold me on the bottles before I bought them...I'm glad I didn't research it first.)
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Jul 4, 2020 14:11
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Testro posted:
If you're a raging alcoholic, maybe?
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Jul 4, 2020 19:11
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TobinHatesYou posted:If you're a raging alcoholic, maybe? "I suggested Pulteney as I've had more success sharing that with people..." I was talking about sharing it with friends - not alone; sorry for the confusion. I didn't word it very well! Testro fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Jul 4, 2020 |
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Jul 4, 2020 21:28
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Okay, my neighbor and I found Knob Creek Quarter Oak to be a decent drink. I don't feel it's nearly as comparable with other bourbons it's priced with.
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Jul 4, 2020 22:52
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After about a month wait, my order from finedrams.com finally arrived!! 3 bottles of Glendronach 18, bottled 6/25/2019 and 6/26/2019, making them a minimum of like 23 years old. I still have half of my 2016 bottling left, I’m anxious to do a side by side. Also picked up an Edradour 12 year old cask strength, that comes in a fancy ibisco decanter, it looks pretty great and has some really good reviews. I’ll report back once I open them! DoctaFun fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Jul 5, 2020 |
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Jul 5, 2020 00:33
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DoctaFun posted:After about a month wait, my order from time drama finally arrived!! Where are you ordering from? I thought you couldn't really ship booze in the states (though you may not be in the states)
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Jul 5, 2020 01:52
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Lowness 72 posted:Where are you ordering from? I thought you couldn't really ship booze in the states (though you may not be in the states) Ugh, auto correct killed that post. I’ll edit it as well, but I ordered from finedrams.com. They have a great selection of scotch and other spirits, and great prices! Glendronach 18 is up to like $190 at total wine, I think it’s like $107 before shipping at finedrams. Not everything is way cheaper, but the Glendronach and glenfarclas 105($45 for a liter) are serious discounts to the prices I pay, and I’m in one of the cheaper markets in the US(Minnesota). Shipping is a bit expensive and takes some time now because of COVID stuff, but worth the wait! I think they ship to all the states in the US, it goes through customs just fine, invoice has it listed as ‘glassware’.
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Jul 5, 2020 02:19
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Hell yeah. I've a 2018 and 2019 bottling in my collection. The 2018 signed Billy Walker, and the 2019 signed Rachel Barry. Can't wait to try it but currently finishing off some old bottles first that are past the halfway point. I think 2020 is the last year for the older juice to be bottled as the 18, so once the 2020 bottling comes out it'll be a 24yo but the 2021 will be the new stuff. Then it'll be time to switch to the 21yo parliament. 😬
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Jul 5, 2020 07:59
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IIRC a lot of Stitzel-Weller juice was stored in stainless steel tanks as both distillate and bourbon that had been aged to a certain standard. How do we know Glendronach juice wasn't handled the same way?
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Jul 5, 2020 08:35
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TobinHatesYou posted:IIRC a lot of Stitzel-Weller juice was stored in stainless steel tanks as both distillate and bourbon that had been aged to a certain standard. How do we know Glendronach juice wasn't handled the same way? I don't think the laws governing scotch whisky allow for that.
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Jul 5, 2020 08:49
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spankmeister posted:I don't think the laws governing scotch whisky allow for that. They definitely do. Scotch can be transferred to tanks at any time...whether for storage, transport, vatting/blending, or any other reason. It just needs to be accounted for in the age statement (if there is one.)
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Jul 5, 2020 09:14
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Well in that case I suppose there isn't any evidence, other than that the whisky smells and tastes a lot older than 18yo. A couple of years ago you had the same deal with the 15yo, but the newer stuff has since caught up, so it's possible to compare the two. There's a marked difference between the old and new new releases. Could be interesting to keep a bottle of the 2020 around to compare with the 2021. But you're right, there is no hard evidence that they didn't decant the casks in steel vats when they reached 18yo. I doubt it though.
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Jul 5, 2020 09:22
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spankmeister posted:Well in that case I suppose there isn't any evidence, other than that the whisky smells and tastes a lot older than 18yo. From conversations I've had, it was left in the casks and is older than the age statement. The new 15 isn't as good as the old one in my experience. I fell in love with the 15 a while back and while the new one is a good dram, it doesn't have the richness of the old release.
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Jul 5, 2020 12:37
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biglads posted:From conversations I've had, it was left in the casks and is older than the age statement. Yeah I kept a sample of the old 15 although I think it was only 17 or 18yo at the time of release. I'm gonna do a head to head with it when I crack open my next 15. Which reminds me I still have a sample of 2013 Yamazaki Sherry cask (the first release). Gonna be in a fun three way. 
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Jul 5, 2020 13:15
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That sounds like a good time. I have a case of the original Glendronach 15 around as I stocked up when I found out it was disappearing. I must have gone on a Glendronach binge a few years back as I have bottles of all of the core range plus a good few single cask bottlings. Prices across their range have gone up quite a chunk since they got bought by Brown-Foreman but they are still decent value. I also picked up a bottle of the 10 y/o at Glasgow Airport a few months back which I think is a fairly recent release. All from Oloroso or PX casks, 43%, NCF, natural colour it was pretty cheap and is pretty much bang on what you'd expect. Check the Yamazaki, I think the original Sherry Cask release was 2009. All later releases had a year on the label, the original didn't. EDIT : jfc 2009! That's a looooong time ago. biglads fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Jul 5, 2020 |
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Jul 5, 2020 13:32
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Anyone got any experience drinking hoppy beers and whiskey? I've been homebrewing and made an IPA, which I don't normally drink much of. I'm starting to think IPAs make whiskey taste terrible after.
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Jul 5, 2020 15:08
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IPAs taste like literal bar soap to me and make everything taste terrible after, so that checks out.
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Jul 5, 2020 15:24
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IPAs shock your palate. You'll sometimes notice its hard to tell the difference between IPAs once you've had one. It's an interesting little experiment you can do for yourself.
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Jul 5, 2020 15:34
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Enigma posted:IPAs taste like literal bar soap to me and make everything taste terrible after, so that checks out.
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Jul 5, 2020 16:15
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Yeah I'm really starting to regret brewing it. Might have to give it away to enthusiasts. I would much rather taste bourbon than hops.
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Jul 5, 2020 16:39
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I really enjoy drinking normal lager beer alongside or after a good dram. That first sip of beer after one or two whiskies usually tastes gloriously malty.
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Jul 5, 2020 17:07
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Nice piece of fish posted:Anyone got any experience drinking hoppy beers and whiskey? I've been homebrewing and made an IPA, which I don't normally drink much of. I'm starting to think IPAs make whiskey taste terrible after. IPA and whisky generally doesn't mix. I'll note an exception for IPA cask finished whisky, which are really something unusual but quite nice (glenfiddich experimental IPA, I'm looking at you, though Jamesons IPA is also pretty nice and a lot more budget friendly).
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Jul 5, 2020 18:57
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Olpainless posted:
 My wife and I first bonded over our mutual love of stout, and the Jameson cask mates IPA works. The stout edition stinks.
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Jul 5, 2020 22:45
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St. George made a single malt whisky that was distilled out of a brown ale mash brewed by Sierra Nevada. It was interesting, kinda skunky like beers can be.
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Jul 6, 2020 00:15
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Got myself some Redbreast 12y as an early birthday present. I like it but I'm kinda still making sense of it. Seems a bit sweeter and stickier than other Irish whiskeys I've tried.
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Jul 6, 2020 01:20
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Quiet Feet posted:Got myself some Redbreast 12y as an early birthday present. I like it but I'm kinda still making sense of it. Seems a bit sweeter and stickier than other Irish whiskeys I've tried. Redbreast is pot distilled, which some argue leaves more character from the mash/wort in the distillate, but really it mostly comes down to who is controlling the process...
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Jul 6, 2020 03:36
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Nice piece of fish posted:Anyone got any experience drinking hoppy beers and whiskey? I've been homebrewing and made an IPA, which I don't normally drink much of. I'm starting to think IPAs make whiskey taste terrible after. Big IPAs are like heavily peated whiskies in that they do not play well with most other flavors, particularly anything nuanced. I enjoy both but trying them together will generally be unpleasant.
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Jul 6, 2020 06:38
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Y’all are drinking the wrong IPAs and pairing the wrong flavors with peaty whiskies. With a peaty whisky is probably the only time I truly enjoy high cacao dark chocolate. Citrus is another good pairing for peat IME.
TobinHatesYou fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Jul 6, 2020 |
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Jul 6, 2020 07:06
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That's insane but I respect it.
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Jul 6, 2020 07:33
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TobinHatesYou posted:Y’all are drinking the wrong IPAs and pairing the wrong flavors with peaty whiskies. With a peaty whisky is probably the only time I truly enjoy high cacao dark chocolate. Citrus is a other good pairing for peat IME. So, chocolate covered orange slices?
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Jul 6, 2020 08:04
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Vox Nihili posted:That's insane but I respect it. I see you’ve never had Simon Brooking take Laphroaig 25 (or 30) out of a boot and hand-feed you squares of dark chocolate.
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Jul 6, 2020 08:50
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:34 |
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Well I'm about to kinkshame
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Jul 6, 2020 09:21
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