Whisky

For me that's a solid competitor and a better bottle IMO

The Ugi is superb too; if you've not tried that, get both

 

I'm also sitting on a biggish wine order from Laithwaites

 

Don’t they get a bit too warm that way?

 

Ordered a bottle of Ugi from Amazon in Nov at discounted price of £49...they sent me an email in early Jan saying "we are still struggling to source..."
I cancelled the order...

 

Yeah; it's back up to £57 now... Still worth it IMO

 

Making cocktails with Knob Creek Bourbon. First an Old Fashioned,



20210116_171819 by uh_simon, on Flickr

next up a Boulvadier

 

I rather like Old Fashioneds. Must get some orange bitters, they are nice with Angostura but orange probably better.

 

Okay, I did that last night and it was quite interesting (to me, anyway!). Enjoyed them both, but given they are both cask strength Islay whiskies, they're rather different. There's definitely room for both in my store.

The Port Charlotte is much more overtly about the peaty character - I think that's probably a key characteristic of Bruichladdich's Port Charlotte expressions, based on the two I've experienced. It's not overtly phenolic like a Laphroaig, but peat and phenol are, I think, the defining characteristics. As HFL79 says, a massively long and complex finish, flavours continue to develop long after.

The Corryvreckan is less peaty, and the sweetness comes through more, though it isn't noticeably sweet (as mentioned upthread, I'm not a fan of the sweeter finishes). On the nose, the thing it conjured up for me, immediately, was marzipan, and there are hints of that in the mouth, but it's not by any means the defining characteristic. It's a smoother, probably slightly softer dram, but again it has complexity that lives on long after the mouthful has gone down. It's probably more of a valve amp to the Port Charlotte's solid state, but a valve amp with drive and punch, not a gutless 300B...

I'd certainly buy both of them again. The Corryvreckan might be though of as the bargain, being 2/3 the price of the PC, but I'm not sure I can ascribe value in those terms, because they're quite different, and I enjoyed them both equally, in their own terms.

 

Thank you, that's brilliant. I spent too long thinking about this, so I went for the Corryvreckan.....mainly because I'd never tried anything from Ardbeg, and I've already got a oeat monster from Octomore.

hmmmm, not my 300b, that plays grime, drum'n'base with drive and verve.

 

Yes, this is my first Ardbeg, but on this experience won't be my last. The Octomore box has yet to be ticked, but that's got to be on the cards for me at some point, but probably not until my current stash has dwindled a bit...

Yup, that's why I qualified it with 'gutless' 300B. There are some very delicate 300Bs, that are doubtless exquisite in their own milieu, but I'd probably prefer one with a bit more welly that has a bit more reach.

 

The Ardbeg 10 is one of the best value standard bottlings imo.

 

just arrived

20210118_151146 by uh_simon, on Flickr

the urge to sample is strong....

 

Pull yer finger out man

 

soon

just spotted this on MoM, I was buying some gin

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiski...ng-and-fire-10-year-old-cask-strength-whisky/

 

Tempting but sadly I'm boracic lint.

 

Nice, very nice.....fruity, smokey .long on the palate and thankfully low of sweetness.

20210118_203137 by uh_simon, on Flickr


my wife doesn't agree but I get a hint of dettol on the nose

hint of marzipan now

 

Told you It's a good bottle and very hard to beat

 

it's true, ta

it is very complex, layers of flavour

 

Allo, new forum user.

Finally a thread in which I can post somewhat authoritatively with regards to my experience of whisky, I’ll drop my top 3 at an acceptable price that I always try to have in the house.

All time # 1 would have to be Balvenie Caribbean Cask, very smooth and a big mouthful of flavour that reminds me of caramel and orange pancakes with vanilla ice cream - very easy to drink too much which only becomes apparent when you attempt to stand up, goes very well with a few medjool dates. If I’m trying to introduce a newbie into whisky this is where I’d start, a touch of decent water will open up the flavours nicely.

Running behind (but only just) at # 2 is Glenfarclas 15yr old, needs a touch of water as at 46% it can overpower on the first taste and blowout the tastebuds - there’s a true depth of flavour with this one. Sweet brown sugar in a glass with nutty aftertaste and slight citrus tangs, yet another one that goes well with medjool dates. Reminds me of my mums tea loaf which is a Scottish fruit cake made by soaked fruit in tea and brown sugar, similar in consistency to a Xmas cake(no icing) and unsurprisingly a chunk of tea loaf goes very well with the Glenfarclas. Another good introduction for newbies but does need tempered down with a splash of water.

Finally # 3 and it was a toss up between two but the Aberlour A’bunadh #63 edges into third place. Rather potent at 61% so needs a decent splash of water yet it will still cling to the sides of a glass like sh#t to a shovel, like a big chunk of dark chocolate covered chewy Xmas cake in the mouth, big flavours and leaves a very nice lingering burn, not one for newbies or the inexperienced as it’ll drop you on your arse faster than a kick to the nuts.

It’ll be interesting to read what others have chosen so I’ll pour myself a glass of something and head back to the start of the thread, slàinte

 

Casual poll;

What's the absolute maximum you would pay for a standard size bottle of Scottish single malt?