Whiskey!

muckish

When I meant commercial giants I meant the mass produced likes of Glenfiddich, glenmorangie etc... Even though these are lovely whiskies there's a lot better if you want to get a better experience of what scotch whiskey is about.
Lowland whisky is traditionally thought of as the beginers whiskey, as the flavours are less complex generally than the other regions. I'm not denying there's great distilleries there.
As for Middleton, it was Middleton very rare I was talking about. Awfull stuff. And I presume the price reflects the "rare" element and not the quality!

Brockagh

The say single malt whisky is made and regulated, mass produced whisky is made in the same way, essentially, as artisan whisky. They generally have more stills or just operate for longer. Of course, the likes of Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie are vatted to offend as few people as possible. The Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix is excellent, as is their 18 yr old. I have never liked Glenmorangie, although it has many fans.

There are only three operating lowland distilleries, and only one of them triple-distills in the "traditional" lowland style. There's another opening soon, or maybe it has maturing whisky. So really when people are talking about the lowland style, they're only talking about Auchentoshan. Glenkinchie is also a lighter spirit, of course, but equally Dalwhinnie is a lighter whisky. And there are lots of non-lowland whiskies that are light.

Even Ardbeg is a light whisky. They have a rectifier or some kind of reflux mechanism in their stills. Springbank is distilled "two-and-a-half times..." Nearly all bourbon is distilled in column stills...

Lightness does not necessarily mean a lack of complexity. If that was the case, why not just distill something once in a pot still and make it super-complex?

Distillation is a separation process, so when you remove one layer, you expose another - although obviously the more you distill something, the closer it gets to just pure ethanol. If complexity is defined by the different flavours in a whisky, then adding one drop of coke to a whisky makes it more complex. Balance is more important than complexity, in my opinion.

All that said, personally I'm not a massive fan of the current lowland distilleries, but they deserve respect. And I've had some great Auchentoshans and Bladnochs.

And as for Midleton, each to their own. I don't like Macallan, but I wouldn't suggest it's rubbish, just not to my taste. It has enough fans to suggest it's a great whisky (or at least it was).

Midleton Very Rare is over-priced, in my opinion, but Paul Pacault rates it as one of the best two spirits in the world. It's a blend of some quite old whiskies - 20+ years and some younger whiskey. I like it a lot, but it's not my favourite by any means. I prefer the Jameson 18, Redbreasts and a few others.

th3 s1aught3r

I will have the chance to try some Powers 12 this evening. I hear very good things about it

Sarky

I'm finding Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban *very* hard to beat right now.

Ah, birthdays are great...

Bearhunter

Sarky wrote: »

I'm finding Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban *very* hard to beat right now.

Ah, birthdays are great...

It's lovely, isn't it? The Lasanta sherry expression is spectacularly good too, despite it being what Muckish considers a "mass-produced" whisky...

Brockagh

The names Glenmorangie give their new whiskies are unfortunate. Very pretentious. I don't think it suits whisky at all.

The Glenmorangie Artisan cask is the best Glenmorangie I've had, although the Signet is supposed to be great, if over-priced.

th3 s1aught3r

Brockagh wrote: »

The names Glenmorangie give their new whiskies are unfortunate. Very pretentious. I don't think it suits whisky at all.

.

is Irish Whiskey generally only bottled at 40%?
In Scotch the higher 43-46% would be seen as the pureists sweet spot
And do you think Iirsh whiskey is inhibited in any way by the standard 40% at all ?

Brockagh

th3 s1aught3r wrote: »

is Irish Whiskey generally only bottled at 40%?
In Scotch the higher 43-46% would be seen as the pureists sweet spot
And do you think Iirsh whiskey is inhibited in any way by the standard 40% at all ?

I think it is, but Cooley bottle a lot at higher strengths. And IDL are starting to do more too. The Redbreast 15 and the Jameson RVR are bottled at 46%. They'll have a few more products out soon and I think they might be at higher strength.

Higher strength means higher price, unfortunately. But I think it's worth it.

Slattsy

Had Laphroaig for the first time on Friday night !!
Fell in love with it before i even drank it, the smell alone is divine. Its the nicest scotch i've ever tasted and i've worked in the bar trade my whole life.

I work in Dub city centre and i've already been to Celtic Whiskey to buy a bottle!!!!
I'd thoroughly recommend this to anyone who likes their whiskey !!

buck65

I tried the Laphroaig 10 recently and yes it is a fantastic whisky.

Diarmuid

buck65 wrote: »

I tried the Laphroaig 10 recently and yes it is a fantastic whisky.

Was going through an airport recently and picked up a bottle of this, didn't really know much about it at the time. Don't think I'll be buying any other whiskey for a while. It's excellent.
How does the Quarter Cask compare to the 10yo?

Brockagh

A lot of people prefer the quarter cask... I do anyway. Nice and sweet and very full flavoured. Great value for a higher strength whisky too.

the beer revolu

I got to try the yet to be released Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy and Powers 12YO Single Pot Still yesterday.

Both beautifully made whiskeys (as you'd expect).
I thought the Powers to be more interesting and robust.

Saw the lovely new look for Green Spot too - a total departure from the old bottle - a real boutique look to it now.

I also got a sip of Midleton Very Rare - cask strength, unfiltered - nicer than the bottled version!

Brockagh

Where did you get to taste them?

the beer revolu

Brockagh wrote: »

Where did you get to taste them?

Midleton.

Brockagh

Very good. Looking forward to trying it, especially the Powers. Did they give any indication of price?

the beer revolu

Sorry, no idea of price.

The Powers was good alright - particularly if you like powers! (not a huge fan of it myself).
I found the legacy a bit dull - very refined but not overly interesting and, to my taste, rather like Midleton Very Rare.


I find the IDL whiskeys a bit too subtle for my palate.

Mr Magnolia

I'd always veered away from scotch as the peat wasn't for me but I finally got around to picking up a laphroaig, went for the 15yo. Blown. Away. It's a really great whisky. Far more smokey than peaty which I preferred.

Being mainly a whiskey drinker I'd only ever really tried the Connemara's with regard to peated whiskey and found the peat very prevalent. Very impressed so I'll be venturing into scotch more and more.

Harrocks

Cant go wrong with a 12yr old redbreast.

Morf

It's my father's 70th in a few weeks time so the 3 bottles of Scotch I bought him have arrived.

He will be enjoying:

Glenfiddich 18yo
Highland Park 1998 bottling 12 yo
Laphroaig Quarter Cask

I know he's had Glenfiddich and HP before and liked them. My brother in law is Scottish so when him and my sister are over there they usually bring him back a regular Highland Park 12 yo which he really enjoys. I got him a Glenfiddich 15 yo a while back which he told me was the nicest Scotch he'd ever tasted. Going on his previous tastes liking Talisker 12 yo too I went with the Laphroaig too. I was thinking about getting him a bottle of Middleton but he assured me that he'd prefer a few bottles of lesser whiskey.

I do very much hope he likes them although the Laphroaig is the only one i have the slightest of worries about.

redlead

Have no fears. The quarter cask is a lovely whisky (nothing like Tallisker though). I prefer the 10 year old myself but most would opt for the quarter cask.