What Whisky/Whiskey are we drinking this month?

L1011

It'd loose it's Irish Whiskey naming rights then!

Mellor

smurfjed wrote: »

Connemara was my first and last peated whiskey

Have you only ever drank Irish whiskey? Surely not when jetsetting about the place.

umop episdn wrote: »

Ah, you're Def missing out...get a Laphroaig 10yo...you won't be disappointed...

I'd hazard a guess that he definitely will be disappointed.

smurfjed

I have tried Japanese and Thai, as well as Bourbon, or the official whisky of the Middle East, JW Black.
But i make it a habit to seek out Irish Whiskey when out and about, although for most of my travels, hard liquor is a no-no.

skooterblue2

EagererBeaver wrote: »

So you don't like peated whiskey and on drinking Connemara, a peated whiskey, discovered you didn't like it?

I am shocked. Utterly shocked, I say.

In all fairness, the peaty whiskey is an acquired taste. Its a marmite thing. You love it or you have it. I never heard anyone say they can take it or leave it.

blondeonblonde

umop episdn wrote: »

Ah, you're Def missing out...get a Laphroaig 10yo...you won't be disappointed.....and if by chance you are, ...you can slide it my way!

Laphroaig is definitely not a starter whiskey if you're not into peat! If you like the smokey flavour you can't go wrong with a standard Talisker or Bowmore. Both have a nice touch of peat but not overpowering for a novice like the Laphroaig or Ardbeg.

EagererBeaver

skooterblue2 wrote: »

EagererBeaver wrote: »

So you don't like peated whiskey and on drinking Connemara, a peated whiskey, discovered you didn't like it?

I am shocked. Utterly shocked, I say.

In all fairness, the peaty whiskey is an acquired taste. Its a marmite thing. You love it or you have it. I never heard anyone say they can take it or leave it.

Whiskey as a whole is an acquired taste. Peat is just one of umpteen characteristics it can have. You'll have people who have no issue with peatiness but might not like sweetness.

If you've never heard anyone say they'll take it or leave it you must not have spoken to very many whiskey drinkers. I would give any barley whiskey a go with reasonable confidence that I'll drink it and be absolutely fine with it even if I don't love it. I'll always have a bottle of Ardbeg 10 or Lagavullin 16 but it might take three years to get through the thing.

Cazale

I've always stuck to Irish Whiskey so don't know peated Scottish whisky for comparison but I tried a glass of Connemara on Friday night with the father in law and it wasn't for us at all.

odyssey06

smurfjed wrote: »

I have tried Japanese and Thai, as well as Bourbon, or the official whisky of the Middle East, JW Black.
But i make it a habit to seek out Irish Whiskey when out and about, although for most of my travels, hard liquor is a no-no.

Sounds like you are following the same trails as Lawrence Osborne in his "wet and dry drinker's journey" through the Middle East and South East Asia...
https://www.amazon.com/Wet-Dry-Drinkers-Journey/dp/0770436900

skooterblue2

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Whiskey as a whole is an acquired taste. Peat is just one of umpteen characteristics it can have. You'll have people who have no issue with peatiness but might not like sweetness.

If you've never heard anyone say they'll take it or leave it you must not have spoken to very many whiskey drinkers. I would give any barley whiskey a go with reasonable confidence that I'll drink it and be absolutely fine with it even if I don't love it. I'll always have a bottle of Ardbeg 10 or Lagavullin 16 but it might take three years to get through the thing.

Well that is true, with Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Connemara the Peaty flavour is over powering but I like it that way, Bowman less so but still excellent.
I find it hard to meet people who have as deep an interest and knowledge of whiskey as myself without coming across as boring as I live in a rural area. Whiskey around here in comes in three varieties Irish American and scottish.

Mellor

smurfjed wrote: »

I have tried Japanese and Thai, as well as Bourbon, or the official whisky of the Middle East, JW Black.
But i make it a habit to seek out Irish Whiskey when out and about, although for most of my travels, hard liquor is a no-no.

JW Black (and red) is a peated whiskey. As are some japanese whiskeys.
That was my point, that I'd be surprised if Connemara peat was actually your first peated whiskey. Would only be the case if you never ventured away from the main irish trio.


Strangely enough, Thai whiskey is actually rum. Not sure why they called it whiskey though.

RasTa

Blend 285 is whiskey no? That's what we were drinking over there anyway.

smurfjed

@Mellor..... thanks for the education, I never realised that JW was a peated whisky, it certainly isn't as overpowering as Connemara.
I have my fingers crossed that the duty free shop that I'm about to visit has liquor

Mellor

RasTa wrote: »

Blend 285 is whiskey no? That's what we were drinking over there anyway.

I'm not familiar with that one. But Sang Som, Mekhong and Hong Thong were the ones I seen over there. Typically for sale in buckets along the beach. They are all rum afaik. There are made from molasses and rice.

Edit:
Just had a google. Blend 285 is apparently a blend of Malt whiskey from Scotland and local spirits (probably from sugarcane/molasses aka rum).
So that one is kinda both, and neither.

RebelButtMunch

L1011 wrote: »

I like peated whiskys and really dislike Connemara. It's overdone and that's not even going to the Turf Mor version

I totally agree with you there. I have Laphroig, Ardbeg and a few others that I enjoy.

I use the Connemara only for a hot whisky if I'm under the weather.

brinty

Haven't really gotten into the smoky and peaty end of things yet, working my way toward it.

Bought a bottle of Laphraoig a while back and had a dram or two one night. Have to say i wasn't as heavy as I expected. My over riding thought was it seemed more "oily" than anything. Would that be a fair description?

RasTa

Mellor wrote: »

I'm not familiar with that one. But Sang Som, Mekhong and Hong Thong were the ones I seen over there. Typically for sale in buckets along the beach. They are all rum afaik. There are made from molasses and rice.

Yeah we were buying 2 or 3 bottles from the 7-11 for less then a tenner. Ridiculous carry on

dashcamdanny

I don't usually spend more than 30 on a bottle , but just got a bottle of Redbrest 12 at the SuperValu in Aughnacloy for 44 pounds. Bargain price and not even on special.

brinty

dashcamdanny wrote: »

I don't usually spend more than 30 on a bottle , but just got a bottle of Redbrest 12 at the SuperValu in Aughnacloy for 44 pounds. Bargain price and not even on special.

Ye got robbed... its less than £35GBP in asda and sainsburys

dashcamdanny

No way. How do they justify selling it for over 60 here??

brinty

dashcamdanny wrote: »

No way. How do they justify selling it for over 60 here??

Lord above only knows danny...

killbillvol2

dashcamdanny wrote: »

I don't usually spend more than 30 on a bottle , but just got a bottle of Redbrest 12 at the SuperValu in Aughnacloy for 44 pounds. Bargain price and not even on special.

That's way over the normal price up north.

dashcamdanny

I did check Asda, Tesco and sansbury on their websites yesterday and none has it listed??

brinty

dashcamdanny wrote: »

I did check Asda, Tesco and sansbury on their websites yesterday and none has it listed??

never is mate, you gotta go in in person. Sainsburys is more likely to have it than Asda though.

L1011

If you log in to Tesco's site with an account set to a specific store it shows the extra stuff they sell. Massive effort.

smurfjed

Presently enjoying a bottle of  1lt Jameson Signature Reserve that cost me $39 in the Maldives.

illdoit2morrow

brinty wrote: »

never is mate, you gotta go in in person. Sainsburys is more likely to have it than Asda though.

Redbreast was £31 in Sainsbury's Newry at the beginning of the month, that was without any promotion.

brinty

illdoit2morrow wrote: »

Redbreast was £31 in Sainsbury's Newry at the beginning of the month, that was without any promotion.

Think that's what i paid when i got it in the same store about 2 years ago.. amazing they can sell it for £31 in Newry and €65-ish in Dundalk/Drogheda

Mickiemcfist

I'm drinking West Cork Distillers 12 year old finished in Rum cask, I got it for €51 in the Celtic Whiskey shop, it's lovely & smooth.

I'm trying to drink more actual local Irish whiskey these days - so I drink their standard Irish whiskey as opposed to Jameson/Powers now, very nice & only €20 in Dunnes.

However I can never pass by Jameson Caskmates (stout) when its on at €30 a bottle in tescos, best thing at that price point by a mile.

mikeecho

odyssey06 wrote: »

Sounds like a bargain? What would you compare it to?
I have a friend travelling through German aiport so might put an order in with them but can find very little info online about this one...

It's a blended scotch, very very smooth.
A bit like famous grouse.... but a lot nicer.

For that money , you can't go wrong.
I'll definitely be getting another bottle on my next trip thru dusseldorf.

.. and if you don't like it.. mix it with coke.

But for me. It's perfect straight.

dashcamdanny

Just got a bottle Powers 3 swallows while up north. 30 quid in Tesco. Really nice .

Better than Black Bush.

Turnipman

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Well that is true, with Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Connemara the Peaty flavour is over powering but I like it that way, Bowman less so but still excellent.

Bowmore?

I'm currently drinking a Bowmore 12 y/o and it's truly delicious - nicest Islay malt that I've tasted to date; although I have a 16 y/o Lagavulin under the stairs that I'm trying hard to save for the depths of winter - I'm expecting great things from it!

skooterblue2

Turnipman wrote: »

Bowmore?

I'm currently drinking a Bowmore 12 y/o and it's truly delicious - nicest Islay malt that I've tasted to date; although I have a 16 y/o Lagavulin under the stairs that I'm trying hard to save for the depths of winter - I'm expecting great things from it!

Its a personal thing, I always like the full peat flavour. I have no doubt that the Bowmore is a great whiskey. I have tasted it myself a few times but the stronger ones (peaty) I have tasted are Ardbeg, Laphroig and Connemara.

L1011

Strangely I found Bowmore to be the most generic of the Islay's I've had (most of them at this stage). The Bowmore 15 I had here took an age - maybe 2 years - to be drunk. Personal taste varies so much here.

Still haven't actually opened the Bruichladdich I have. May actually do so now. Some random airport bottling, nothing fancy. Bunnahabhain and Kilchoman I haven't had yet.

EagererBeaver

Turnipman wrote: »

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Well that is true, with Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Connemara the Peaty flavour is over powering but I like it that way, Bowman less so but still excellent.

Bowmore?

I'm currently drinking a Bowmore 12 y/o and it's truly delicious - nicest Islay malt that I've tasted to date; although I have a 16 y/o Lagavulin under the stairs that I'm trying hard to save for the depths of winter - I'm expecting great things from it!

Lagavullin 16 is a prince amongst Scotches. Will fairly put some hairs on your chest.

CeilingFly

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Just got a bottle Powers 3 swallows while up north. 30 quid in Tesco. Really nice .

Better than Black Bush.

It should be. Standard price for Black Bush is about before duty and vat on the duty is €17
Standard price of 3 swallows after duty and vat on duty is €30,

So it should be almost twice as good.

Remember duty on a bottle of whiskey and the vat on that duty is about €14.60, and it doesn't matter whether tis a bottle of Midleton at €150 or a bottle of clontarf at €20, the duty is identical.

So once you go over €30 at retail you see dramatic increases in quality compared to the lower price stuff.

mikeecho

odyssey06 wrote: »

Sounds like a bargain? What would you compare it to?
I have a friend travelling through German aiport so might put an order in with them but can find very little info online about this one...

Sorry... I meant Dewars whisky

Dunno where I got that other name from

EagererBeaver

CeilingFly wrote: »

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Just got a bottle Powers 3 swallows while up north. 30 quid in Tesco. Really nice .

Better than Black Bush.

It should be. Standard price for Black Bush is about before duty and vat on the duty is €17
Standard price of 3 swallows after duty and vat on duty is €30,

So it should be almost twice as good.

Remember duty on a bottle of whiskey and the vat on that duty is about €14.60, and it doesn't matter whether tis a bottle of Midleton at €150 or a bottle of clontarf at €20, the duty is identical.

So once you go over €30 at retail you see dramatic increases in quality compared to the lower price stuff.

Yeah, that's not how it works.

"It should be twice as good."

Such utter nonsense

CeilingFly

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Yeah, that's not how it works.

"It should be twice as good."

Such utter nonsense

can you explain or are you just throwing out a unsubstantiated comment?

Duty and vat on duty is a fixed cost no matter what the bottle.

Packaging and distribution is similar too unless it a very fancy bottle.

So the product in the bottle of a €30 bottle of whiskey is approx €12 worth for product and profit and vat on that element, whereas the product inside a €20 bottle is about €5 including profit and vat theron.

Therefore you get far more than the 50% improvement that is suggested by the price.
Hence a €30 bottle should be vastly better than a €20 bottle and a €40 bottle far better than a €30 bottle. (all based on standard pricing)

EagererBeaver

Attack the post, not the poster please!

The Gloomster!

Can you explain what you mean by a more expensive whiskey being "better"?! Does this theory of more expensive things being "better" apply to just whiskey, or to other areas of life? Perhaps house purchases? Or maybe meals in a restaurant?

oblivious

Let's all keep it handy lads

Got paid today so treated myself to a bottle of Green Spot. I got a present of a bottle back in January so already knew I liked it, Have to say, I really like it. Complex flavours, but not too complex.

It is a blend so no age statement. Personally, I'd choose this over Jameson 18 year old any day. It doesn't have the caramel flavour of standard Jameson blend, instead in Green Spot I'm getting hints of vanilla and orange peel.

CeilingFly

There's obviously some post by eagerbeaver, but he's on my ignore list, so I can't read it. But just like wine, the duty is the same no matter how much the bottle is, so a cheap bottle of whiskey and a cheap bottle of wine, whilst will taste fine and in many cases palatable, falls into the hapenny place when you move a small bit up the price scale - €30+ for whiskey and €14+ for wine.

It a terribly simple concept to understand.

EagererBeaver

This lad just doesn't get it. Unable to read my posts or not, please stop banging on about vat and duty as nobody has disputed any of it. We're all capable of understanding some rudimentary arithmetic - as if that's the issue rather than the assertion that increased price is a reflection of improved quality.

I repeat, utter nonsense.

killbillvol2

CeilingFly wrote: »

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Just got a bottle Powers 3 swallows while up north. 30 quid in Tesco. Really nice .

Better than Black Bush.

So it should be almost twice as good.

That statement is the nub of the issue. Utter nonsense.

What does twice as good even mean?

umop episdn

killbillvol2 wrote: »

That statement is the nub of the issue. Utter nonsense.

What does twice as good even mean?

When he sips black bush he goes "Yum"
When he sips 3 swallows he goes "Yum, Yum"

YFlyer

Had a Whyte and Mackay this morning.

irish_goat

Right lads, let's leave it at that. No more bickering or you'se can take a break from the forum.

odyssey06

YFlyer wrote: »

Had a Whyte and Mackay this morning.

What's the verdict? How does it compare to other blends eg famous grouse, JW red, etc? Peaty?

killbillvol2

YFlyer wrote: »

Had a Whyte and Mackay this morning.

Is that the one that had the two terriers as a logo?

odyssey06

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Is that the one that had the two terriers as a logo?

No that's Black & Whyte... understandabl this causes confusion!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(whisky)