Best Scotch Brand

Well, why not. I have more interest in this than Scotch bands.

I found John Barr, similar in taste, color, and "heft".
My everyday Scotch.
By the makers of Glenfiddich, I'm told.
About $10-$15 less for the 175ml(?) bottle.
Now I find I prefer it and JWR tastes a litle too sweet to me.

A store brand sold at our Chicago area Jewel Foods, owned by Albertson's, it's called "master of all he surveys." It is quite tasty and on sale now for $14.99 for a 1.75L.

the Walkers, Dewars, Cutty Sark, Famous Grouse and Chivas, and of that bunch the Grouse is probably the best, I like the Walkers the least. But it's probably a matter of taste, even within individuals. My favorite place to buy scotch is Trader Joe's, who carries several single malts, not always the same one, and I enjoy checking those out. They're always very interesting, and they often cost less than the big name brands. Of course, there're some big name brand single malts, so you get hit twice on the price of those (Glenlivet, Laphroiag or however it's spelled), but there's others I never heard of reasonably priced that are fun to sample.

I don't drink Scotch much myself, but I remember being told a long time ago by someone who did prefer Scotch that Glenfidich was pretty decent.

There are WAY too many singles to list. I do prefer them, just can't afford them too often. I'll have to check out Trader Joe's.

Single-malt is the only way.

..

glenfiddich is another outstanding single malt....call me snobbish....i love my scotch and ice....

J&B gets the nod for standard scotch....

Glenmorangie. I once had one oz of the 30 year old! Oh Your God, was that terrific!

I prefer the Highland Malts, like Glenmorangie, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, or Abelour.

The Lowland brands are a little too peaty/smoky for my taste. The smoky after taste is too overwhelming. They have less of the "iodine bite" on first contact, so there a little less pungent. But that aftertaste is too much of a good thing.

So, put me down for almost any of the highland brands, the older the better. (Although i usually just buy Abelour 10 or Glenmorangie 12. The older ones can't be bought too often. They're too pricy.)
The Professor

since my beloved Loch Dhu is no longer distilled. (That's one corporate buy out of a family business that truly stank.)

I generally stick with the voting age and older single malts, but will drink a 12 when in a tight spot. (You'll notice that I avoided the term, "in a pinch". heaven forbid that anyone would think that I condone blends of any stripe.)

A blend is a blend is a blend. IMHO If the distillers were able to get it right the first time and every time, as they do with the better brands, blends to even out and hide mistakes would be a fantasy.

Who's a snob? I, like you, simply have better taste than to foul my crystal with a blend.

on edit: It's a bit sharp, but Sheep Dip is a dandy for those who prefer a younger single malt.

My tastes run to Highland single malt...when I stray from true whiskey! (Irish all the way!)

Glenmorangie and Glenlivet are also solid single malts.

or Glenfiddich, but I seldom have sheep who need their wool cleaned.

Port wood finish single highland malt...yummmmm

That's what i picked too. However, for full disclosure i identified myself as the scotch snob i know myself to be.
The Professor

GO to the Shebeen. Little whiskey bar they have 131 kinds of whiskey. The most expensive is 21-year-old glen morgan. 40 bucks a shot. Awsomeplace though. It's hidden behind another pub, you must go through that pub, cross the alley and go into another little door to get to it.

n/t

12 years old...

:D

We poor college students drink only Karkov vodka, you see. As a Gray, however, I have some dim past knowledge of the finer things.

The ultimate snobby choice is an expensive highland, not lowland, malt. I know, because i'm the ultimate scotch snob 'round here!

And, don't you forget it, buster!

The Professor

The Professor

Yum.

n/t

:-)

I like thise too!!

but for a good everyday scotch- Johnnie. Walker. Black.

Why Scotch tastes moldy? Not that I've had tons, but all that I have had seem to. My bro-in-law bought my dad some like 21 yr old stuff last year for X-mas, and that's all I could think was "ewww...mold..." x(

Is this the desired taste and my palate just isn't sophisticated enough to *get it*? :shrug:

The mash is soaked with partially combusted peat, which acts like activated carbon to remove some of the undesirable phenyl compounds during fermentation.

The peat gives off a taste of it's own, mostly hydroxy aldehydes and ketones, which are oxidized during fermentation. They come from the hydrocarbon in the peat.

Some of those aldols and ketols are flavenoids and they impart flavor. That's one of the things that make scotch taste like scotch and less like other whiskies.

See what you get. Ask a chemist a simple question and you get a book.
The Professor

Do they really add peat directly to the mash?

There is a smoking, especially in lowlands malts but it's the aging barrels that are smoked.

The peat isn't just raw peat. It's partially combusted. (Pyrolyzed). So, a lot of the high molecular weight organics get broken down into simple organics and elemental carbon. Now, it acts like the charcoal that Jack Daniels advertises.

When these folks first started making scotch, there was no Calgon to call and order activated carbon from. So, this is how they "smoothified" their brews.

For most Lowland scotches, the aging casks have been smoke cured with a combination of hardwoods and peat. That's why they taste smokier than highland malts. The final step imparts that smoky taste. If you drink a Balvenie, you'll taste the smoke. If you drink a Glenlivet you won't.

When i first started drinking scotch, i did a whole lot of reading on the subject. So, i probably know more useless trivia about scotch than i need to know.
The Professor

I mean, that's what makes it *good*?

Btw, not to worry, if I asked my dad what time it was he'd tell me how to build a clock. I'm quite used to it. ;)

It's definitely an acquired taste.

It is, indeed, an acquired taste.
The Professor

Although I also like Lagavulin and Dalwhinnie.

UNBELIEVABLE!

especially cause i don't care much for single malt (sorry all but i am a BLEN man myself) :D

except for the $180 price tag (I buy ONE bottle a year)

but it's blended of the finest and oldest of the single malts that JW has on hand (including some 60-y/o malt).

It's a mouthful in more ways than one!

Since we seem to have quite a few scotch snobs here (no malicious intent, I assure you) I thought I'd add links to a few sites:

www.scotchwhisky.com

www.scotch-whisky.org.uk

www.smws.com (The Scotch Malt Whisky Society)

www.scotchwhisky.net

www.whisky-heritage.co.uk

www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/scotch/scotch.html

www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Phd/Keith.Edwards/SingleMaltScotch.html

www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jhb/whisky/lapointe/text.html (Professor, you'll like this one.)

Those are just from page one of a "scotch" google which produced nearly 1.5 million hits.

Heck, if we get everyone on this thread together for a single malt tasting, we could do better than that, dontcha think? :)

I am a confirmed single malt slut. Translation: Whatever fits the budget, highland, lowland, peat or re-peat - I'll drink it. Glenlivet, Glenfiddich are two I prefer.

I suppose I should confess or I'll be accused of playing spin like a repuke, not all of the hits were for scotch whiskey, could be anything scotch.

Subsequent searches were: "scotch whiskey", 18,500 hits and "single malt scotch", 52,600 hits.

:)

Lagavulin is my current favorite.

Edit: Yeah, I meant Islay, don't know what I was thinking.

An unabashed self kick for the evening crowd sipping now.

particularly the 18, 25, or 30-year-old. Gloriously smooth with an excellent finish.

Of the blended whiskies, the best I've had is Johnnie Blue. But for the price I'd rather go with a bottle of an 18-y/o single malt.

The older versions taste very good, of course, but I think it looses its smoothness after that 14 year point. If you ever get the opportunity to try them side by side, check it out.

was that the question? ;-)

Very smooth, damn fine single malt scotch.

Produced in the smallest distillery in Scotland. A great flavor that all scotch drinkers enjoy. And yes, if it's not single malt, it's not scotch.