The new GAF whisky (“whiskey”) thread | OT | single malt, blended, bourbon, scotch, s’all good man!

Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
Pouring a Saturday night dram, I noticed that the GAF whisky thread of yore has gone locked. Clearly GAF need a whisky thread, so here we go!

I got into whiskys in early 10s. I had never really tasted whiskies. Randomly my wife gifted me five single malts for Christmas, along with tasting notes (best wife ever).

So I got into my scotch single malts. Visited distilleries in Scotland. Turned my nose up on blends and bourbons.

Until, around 2014, a friend of mine brought me a bottle of Johnnie Walker XR. Asked me to put aside my suspicions about blends and give it a go. At under £100 per bottle, it was something of a mistake for Johnnie Walker, better than Blue at half the price. I loved it, and soon enough they discontinued it... to redesign the bottle and reintroduce it at £180/bottle. So there it was, a blend I loved.

Recently I had some cheap bourbon and loved it for the smoothness. Another pleasant (cheap!) surprise was Auchentoshan, a seriously underrated, great value Scotch. No point in being dogmatic!

For our new flat, I got my own whisky trolley, bespoke made. Here it is:

ea1fbc75-5065-4f18-byajz6.jpeg


What's on currently

House whisky in decanter:
- Johnnie Walker XR

Other whiskies on the trolley
- The Macallan 18 Fine Oak (<3 Harvey Spectre)
- The Macallan Whisky Makers Edition
- The Yamazaki
- The Chita (for the name)
- Hibiki
- Balvenie 17 Double Wood
- Dalwhinnie Distillers Edition
- Laphroaig Four Oak (for the winter!)
- Glenlivet 21
- Glengoyne 18
- Kyro Rye Single Malt
- Johnnie Walker Game of Thrones (underpriced)

Today, my stable is Johnnie Walker XR, Macallan 18, Hibiki and a Laphroaig for the cold months. Everything else rotates.

The whisky is paired with my Schiit stack of Yggrasil and Ragnarok, for late night chill:

25674070-6d71-43e9-ah1jh3.jpeg


Glassware Orrefors, as seen in House of Cards.

images


Any other whisky lovers in here?
 
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Any 750 ml bottle in the ~$100 dollar range is gonna be pretty damn amazing. It's like cologne for the soul.

Having a collection like in the OP makes for a sexy as hell display where everyone of them is a member of an all-star team. But you know they aren't the only all-stars in the world.

Cheap $30 bottles are still fun. Like high school drinking days fun. Get smacked with friends and play guitar hero fun. lol
 
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triplestation said:
Any 750 ml bottle in the ~$100 dollar range is gonna be pretty damn amazing. It's like cologne for the soul.

Having a collection like in the OP makes for a sexy as hell display where everyone of them is a member of an all-star team. But you know they aren't the only all-stars in the world.

Cheap $30 bottles are still fun. Like high school drinking days fun. Get smacked with friends and play guitar hero fun. lol
Click to expand...

You're right, I was on a liveaboard in Raja Ampat in January and some kind American tourists who left early left me what remained of their bottle of Jim Beam. It must have been in that $30 range tops, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. You can have lovely whiskys on the cheap. In fact, some of the Scotch single malts can be edgier to drink.
 
As an uncultured swine I'm quite partial to Fireball (which I'm told may actually be Schnapps wearing a fake mustache) and Jack Daniels' Tennessee Fire. Preferably mixed with coke. Cinnamon :messenger_smiling_hearts:

And that's a really classy setup you've got there OP, nice!
 
Chittagong said:
You're right, I was on a liveaboard in Raja Ampat in January and some kind American tourists who left early left me what remained of their bottle of Jim Beam. It must have been in that $30 range tops, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. You can have lovely whiskys on the cheap. In fact, some of the Scotch single malts can be edgier to drink.
Click to expand...

Johnnie green is a killer blend, widely available, 30-40 dollars. Possibly best value deal in whisky considering what's in the blend.

(I hope I am not necroing...)
 
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This thread aged fine like a barrel roll.

Anyway, for me, the Scottish Auchentoshan is simply the brand I would defend on the hill. Highly recommendable.
 
Bitmap Frogs said:
Johnnie green is a killer blend, widely available, 30-40 dollars. Possibly best value deal in whisky considering what's in the blend.

(I hope I am not necroing...)
Click to expand...

Mad, I literally just poured a night cap of Johnnie Green five minutes ago. Didn't even know it existed until I came across it recently. It's a bit more expensive here than that but still really great value. So they will probably cancel it, rebrand it, and introduce it back higher, like they did when XR was too good a deal.

0FddKG8.jpg
 
Chittagong said:
Auchentoshan
Click to expand...

Just had some right now! It's a very mild one, sweet even. A very good everyday whiskey, especially given the price.

For blended whisky, I recommend The Lakes Distillery 'The One'. Only £60.

I've been away for a long while, so they didn't have a single malt when I last visited, but they now have a few. If The One was anything to go by, it should be good. They start at £85.
 
Chittagong said:
Mad, I literally just poured a night cap of Johnnie Green five minutes ago. Didn't even know it existed until I came across it recently. It's a bit more expensive here than that but still really great value. So they will probably cancel it, rebrand it, and introduce it back higher, like they did when XR was too good a deal.

0FddKG8.jpg
Click to expand...

They actually discountinued it in 2012, but came back in 2016.

Reportedly they were having issues with supply of caol ila and decided to cut it from the blend, resulting in an inferior product. After declining sales, they pulled it from the market.

Since the latest upgrades Caol Ila has a capacity of 6.5 million liters/year so let's hope it is enough.
 
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You need to forego your blends heresy and instead sample each of these:

Highland Park -superb smokey sweet finish
Caol Isla - a nice balanced medium taster (not peaty , not too sweet)
Bruichladdich - smoothy smooth.

Jonny Walker pairs great with a coke...it's main best use.
 
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