RIGHT everyone always tells me I'm wrong for liking SoCo but they are the ones who are wrong. Really enjoy SoCo and sweet tea if you've never tried it
I think it's up to your personal taste and your guests tastes. IMO, Bushmills Original/Blackbush, Dewars White Label, Glen Moray are good to go.
I was so excited to try Blue Label. I bought a bottle on a cruise for, "pretty cheap." I was very disappointed. I mean, its fine... but thats just it, its fine. For ~$200, I was expecting something great. Then I read the little book it came with and found out its a blend and that is why there is no age on Blue Label. I like Black Label better and find the Blue to be overrated (so is Black, to a certain extent). Dont get me wrong, I did enjoy the entire bottleDue to health reason I am not supposed to drink much in the way of alcohol. Sadly i have a shelf full of bottles... Some open some not touched.Not included are various rum and bourbon bottles
For Japanese I tend to stick with Toki and Japanese harmony. I know I should be more daring and try others, but I LIKE those two. Sadly, the Prices for Japanese Whisk(e)y has gotten a little high for my limited budget.
Toki and stuff from the Hibiki line are excellent.
more than half of those are scotches and while you could argue scotches are are whiskies most whisky drinkers would say they're not the same. Some are blended whiskies some are not but I think if you really do like whisky strait (especially whisky neat) you should find out what 'notes' you like. You seem to like scotches and more peaty flavored (for non whisky drinkers thats going to be very oaky/smokey they used to burn peat for hundreds of years in Scottland). for you I'd try 100% MacLellan and Ballymore and see how you like them and since you like peat try an islay scotch every now and again. If you havent had Japaneese whiskes try at least a bottle of suntori whisky they are suprisingly some of the best in the world. Stay away from American whiskies (they are great but OP's tastes are not that). If you're more of a mixed drink whisky drinker the actual subtleties from the whiskey will be heavily muted so just drink something cheap you like to mix.
Blended scotches are very different from single malt, even if it is blended from multiple barrels they're blended from the same scotch, (usually) made with the same grain, and made in the same place. blended scotches source multiple scotches and can be VERY high quality, but it's going to be very different on the tongue compared to a non blended scotch. One isn't strictly better than another but It's like comparing granny smith apples to golden delicious, they're both apples and neither is better than the other but don't claim they're the same thing.
Thanks for your reply. I would like to try those you have mentioned, but I'm afraid there are not so much whisk(e)ys to choose from now (where I'm living). My plans are to buy something like Bruichladdich the Classic Laddie (around 50-60$), Oban (only one store have one or two bottles left, ~80$) or maybe Balvenie ( ~ 140-150$). Also saw one scotch 15-y mature for around 60$ - can't remember the name but I definitely heard that one. Will update this thread later). And Japanese - saw Kamiki once and was tempted to buy and find out what their cedar barrels do to whisk(e)y.
Blended also means a mix of single malt with grain Whisky . Grain whisky is made using a mix of malted grain and un malted grain. Jameson is a good example of a blended whisky as its made by mixing pot stilled malt whisky with column stilled gain whisky. The taste and quality of a whisky or bourbon also depends on how it was distilled as well as how many times it was distilled.. In a column or a continues still not only will you lose some of the flavour but also you end up with whats refereed to as smearing. When spirits go through a still the different parts of the alcohol fracture and as they have different boiling points, in a pot still during the spirit run, first you get the Foreshots, stinks as it contains methanol followed by Heads, which if you smelled or tasted is off and leaves a burning sensation. Hearts, no smell, no flavour, goes down like water, just dont drive as it will be about 65-70 %. . Last is the tails, smells of wet dog hair. Most spirits you buy at the shops will have traces of heads as well as tails because the distillery is only interested in % of alcohol instead of separating the different components of the alcohol aka doing the cuts on a pot still Last is the ageing process, used barrels or new. American charred, toasted or French toasted. All these thing influence the final color and flavour of the spirit. Here in Australia, we have Bunderberg rum. and its aged in used scotch barrels that had previously aged bourbon..If aged on new oak instead of used and if distilled in a pot still and doing the cuts properly, you end up with a great tasting excelent quality product. and for those that dont know Bunderberg Rum, just watch this
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