Whisky

verylonglegs

My whiskey cupboard is all bourbons bar one bottle of Irish whiskey, Redbreast 12yr old. The best one I've tried in the last year or so is this https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/329 ... mall-batch Eagle Rare single barrel is another fave and the one I always keep in stock is Woodford Reserve.

Garry H

Blackbush is quite good. Jamesons is filth.

pinno

Blackbush, BlondeBush, GIngerBush. Makes no difference to me.

rick_chasey

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... t-mcmurray

Frank the tank

It is Irish, Bushmills black lable.

johnny25

If you don't want anything too sophisticated, Crown Royal is worth a punt.

mr_goo

Pinno wrote:

Blackbush, BlondeBush, GIngerBush. Makes no difference to me.

No Bush ?

Garry H

What's the big deal with Johnny Walker btw?

pinno

Garry H wrote:

What's the big deal with Johnny Walker btw?

Well, he used to have the 5.30pm drive time slot on BBC Radio 2 but then he was relegated to Sounds of the 70's at 3pm on Sundays and Simon Mayo took over his Drivetime slot.

ballysmate

Pinno wrote:

Garry H wrote:

What's the big deal with Johnny Walker btw?

Well, he used to have the 5.30pm drive time slot on BBC Radio 2 but then he was relegated to Sounds of the 70's at 3pm on Sundays and Simon Mayo took over his Drivetime slot.

*Pedantry Alert*

Chris Evans took over the Drive Time slot from Johnny Walker.

popularname

inno wrote:
Garry H wrote:
What's the big deal with Johnny Walker btw?


Well, he used to have the 5.30pm drive time slot on BBC Radio 2 but then he was relegated to Sounds of the 70's at 3pm on Sundays and Simon Mayo took over his Drivetime slot.

Wow. You *know* that...

davebradswmb

I picked up a new one (to me) recently called The Feathery. It's a blended malt and I find it very pleasant indeed.

As for Laphroag, not really my cup of tea either but it is outclassed for pungency by Caol Ila which smells like melted tarmac. Or at least that's the way I remember it, but I had a glass last year and it was considerably more mellow. Is it just my faculties failing, or do any other whisky drinkers think that it's been emasculated in the interests of commercialism (or put another way, tamed it so that people would come back for a second glass )

pinno

davebradswmb wrote:

I ...pungency by Caol Ila which smells like melted tarmac. Or at least that's the way I remember it, but I had a glass last year and it was considerably more mellow. Is it just my faculties failing, or do any other whisky drinkers think that it's been emasculated in the interests of commercialism (or put another way, tamed it so that people would come back for a second glass )

If it was more than 5 years old, then I suggest that indeed, your faculties are somewhat compromised. Unless they made the realisation that the stuff tasted like sh!t and added chemicals to the casks.

I do question some of the validity of these obscure malts that seem to pop up out of nowhere. As Whisky is one of Scotland's biggest exports, it's no surprise they're all at it. As long as the foreigners don't see through the veil and suddenly realise that most of it is distilled pi$$ water.
What I like is "...made from the best hops and Barley...blah, blah, bollox blah..." When Barley is only £60 per ton and grown in abundance mainly as feed. What do they pay for the best Barley, £61 per on?!

Blacktemplar

Pinno wrote:

davebradswmb wrote:

I ...pungency by Caol Ila which smells like melted tarmac. Or at least that's the way I remember it, but I had a glass last year and it was considerably more mellow. Is it just my faculties failing, or do any other whisky drinkers think that it's been emasculated in the interests of commercialism (or put another way, tamed it so that people would come back for a second glass )

If it was more than 5 years old, then I suggest that indeed, your faculties are somewhat compromised. Unless they made the realisation that the stuff tasted like sh!t and added chemicals to the casks.

I do question some of the validity of these obscure malts that seem to pop up out of nowhere. As Whisky is one of Scotland's biggest exports, it's no surprise they're all at it. As long as the foreigners don't see through the veil and suddenly realise that most of it is distilled pi$$ water.
What I like is "...made from the best hops and Barley...blah, blah, bollox blah..." When Barley is only £60 per ton and grown in abundance mainly as feed. What do they pay for the best Barley, £61 per on?!

Islay malts do tend to mellow with age, and there are a number that are either matured or finished in sherry or bourbon casks to enhance that mellowing process and take the edge off the astringent TCP-ness of a young, high-phenol malt. So davebradswmb may not be comparing like-with-like, hence the perceived difference in flavour. In any event Caol Ila is not one of the 'big beasts' (Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg) so isn't as powerful in the first place. They've recently released a variant of the 12 year old called 'Moch' (Dawn, in Gaelic) which is reputedly smoother & more rounded than the standard 12. It could have been made from a batch of lower-phenol malt laid down 12 years ago, or a selection of lighter casks (1st fill American Oak sherry or ex-Bourbons for example), or indeed a combination of both.

What goes into Whisky is mandated by law, and the SWA control it fiercely. There is also very strict legislation about what you can and can't say about whisky - whether it's a single malt, a blended malt (a blend of single malts from more than one malt distillery) or a blend (malt plus grain). Water, yeast and malted barley are all you can use to make it, you must fill it into an oak cask of not more than 700 litres capacity, and it must be matured in Scotland for at least three years to be called Scotch. Of course there are plenty of fly-by-nights and ne'er do wells that will take cr@p casks, mature the spirit for 3 years and a day, load it up with spirit caramel colouring to make it look dark and attractive, then call it Glen To$$pot Fine Malt and sell it to Johnny Foreigner for $50....

Most mainstream distillers are not happy with third party bottlers buying casks of their malts on the broking market and bottling them under their trademarked name, so these days you see more and more 'unnamed' Speyside or Highland malts being bottled under non-proprietary names. Glen Marnoch that's sold in Aldi is one that springs to mind - it's a single malt, but the name of the source distillery can't be legally used, so they just make up an authentic-sounding Brigadoon-style name to impress JF.

Oh, and malted barley doesn't cost £61 a tonne. Try about £400 a tonne if you buy it from a big mainstream maltster like Simpsons or Bairds. Much more if it's heavily peated, or from a traditional floor maltings, which are few and far between these days. It's not the same type of barley you use for brewing or feeding cattle.

pinno

That's me telt as they say up here. This is the bit I touched on without full knowledge and what's most interesting:

Blacktemplar wrote:

Of course there are plenty of fly-by-nights and ne'er do wells that will take cr@p casks, mature the spirit for 3 years and a day, load it up with spirit caramel colouring to make it look dark and attractive, then call it Glen To$$pot Fine Malt and sell it to Johnny Foreigner for $50....

Most mainstream distillers are not happy with third party bottlers buying casks of their malts on the broking market and bottling them under their trademarked name, so these days you see more and more 'unnamed' Speyside or Highland malts being bottled under non-proprietary names. Glen Marnoch that's sold in Aldi is one that springs to mind - it's a single malt, but the name of the source distillery can't be legally used, so they just make up an authentic-sounding Brigadoon-style name to impress JF.

keef66

Malting barley's about £125 a tonne and feed about £105 at the moment. Do they use specific / unusual varieties for whisky then? Or is it mainstream varieties but a different malting process?

Do all the distillers buy in malted barley or do some do their own malting??

pinno

keef66 wrote:

Malting barley's about £125 a tonne and feed about £105 at the moment. Do they use specific / unusual varieties for whisky then? Or is it mainstream varieties but a different malting process?

Prices must be pretty deflated here in SW Jockland. However, that was from the guy over the road who is a farming contractor and that was last year. Maybe that price coincided with the very cheap crude oil prices.

Pituophis

coriordan wrote:

The Hibiki 12 is pretty hard to buy. I managed to get a couple of bottles as I have a friend who works in the industry. I did a quick google and they are selling for over £200 now!

That said, Japanese is luvvverly.

Just clocked 12 year old Hibiki 12 in Tesco tonight. It has gone up to £50 a bottle though!
Too dear for a soon to be gone present to self now though! (At least bike bits last a while :oops: )

47p2

Blacktemplar wrote:

... load it up with spirit caramel colouring to make it look dark and attractive, then call it Glen To$$pot

I went to a Highland distillery to collect 36,000 litres of whisky for export in a 20' tanker. The tank was filled then custom sealed and I was handed the documents. I was about to drive away when the distillery worker shouted me back to the office. He forgot to put the caramel in to give the whisky a rich dark colour. The top seal was burst open and a couple of buckets of thick spirit caramel were dropped into the tank then the lid resealed and paperwork amended. I was told by the time the tank reaches its destination it will be well mixed :shock:

pblakeney

Pituophis wrote:

coriordan wrote:

The Hibiki 12 is pretty hard to buy. I managed to get a couple of bottles as I have a friend who works in the industry. I did a quick google and they are selling for over £200 now!

That said, Japanese is luvvverly.

Just clocked 12 year old Hibiki 12 in Tesco tonight. It has gone up to £50 a bottle though!
Too dear for a soon to be gone present to self now though! (At least bike bits last a while :oops: )

I was talked into trying a Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 while in a Japanese restaurant.
Can't say that I was impressed. Each to their own.

pblakeney

47p2 wrote:

Blacktemplar wrote:

... load it up with spirit caramel colouring to make it look dark and attractive, then call it Glen To$$pot

I went to a Highland distillery to collect 36,000 litres of whisky for export in a 20' tanker. The tank was filled then custom sealed and I was handed the documents. I was about to drive away when the distillery worker shouted me back to the office. He forgot to put the caramel in to give the whisky a rich dark colour. The top seal was burst open and a couple of buckets of thick spirit caramel were dropped into the tank then the lid resealed and paperwork amended. I was told by the time the tank reaches its destination it will be well mixed :shock:

Name and shame.

47p2

PBlakeney wrote:

47p2 wrote:

Name and shame.

Won't do that but they're still in business and this happened over 20 years ago :oops:

Pituophis

PBlakeney wrote:

Pituophis wrote:

coriordan wrote:

The Hibiki 12 is pretty hard to buy. I managed to get a couple of bottles as I have a friend who works in the industry. I did a quick google and they are selling for over £200 now!

That said, Japanese is luvvverly.

Just clocked 12 year old Hibiki 12 in Tesco tonight. It has gone up to £50 a bottle though!
Too dear for a soon to be gone present to self now though! (At least bike bits last a while :oops: )

I was talked into trying a Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 while in a Japanese restaurant.
Can't say that I was impressed. Each to their own.

Is that the same stuff? I genuinely don't know, not trying to be clever. :oops:
No mention of Yamazaki on the bottle, but the box is long since gone. (That is probably showing my total ignorance of anything Japanese!)

Anonymous

Pituophis wrote:

coriordan wrote:

The Hibiki 12 is pretty hard to buy. I managed to get a couple of bottles as I have a friend who works in the industry. I did a quick google and they are selling for over £200 now!

That said, Japanese is luvvverly.

Just clocked 12 year old Hibiki 12 in Tesco tonight. It has gone up to £50 a bottle though!
Too dear for a soon to be gone present to self now though! (At least bike bits last a while :oops: )

Seriously buy it. You can auction it for 200!! Which Tesco?

pblakeney

Pituophis wrote:

Is that the same stuff? I genuinely don't know, not trying to be clever. :oops:
No mention of Yamazaki on the bottle, but the box is long since gone. (That is probably showing my total ignorance of anything Japanese!)

I don't know. He sold it as being one of the best in the World with awards to say so.
Google tells me that much was true. My tastebuds on the other hand.....

Blacktemplar

keef66 wrote:

Malting barley's about £125 a tonne and feed about £105 at the moment. Do they use specific / unusual varieties for whisky then? Or is it mainstream varieties but a different malting process?

Do all the distillers buy in malted barley or do some do their own malting??

Varieties for distilling are generally different to brewing ones, though fashions change as new cultivars appear. Typically around £150 a tonne to the maltster, about £360-380 malted.

The majority of distilleries buy in all their malted barley from the big outfits like Simpsons, but there are a few places that still have their own hand-turned floor maltings like Highland Park who also cut their peat for kilning from the local moor.

Blacktemplar

Pituophis wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

Pituophis wrote:

coriordan wrote:

The Hibiki 12 is pretty hard to buy. I managed to get a couple of bottles as I have a friend who works in the industry. I did a quick google and they are selling for over £200 now!

That said, Japanese is luvvverly.

Just clocked 12 year old Hibiki 12 in Tesco tonight. It has gone up to £50 a bottle though!
Too dear for a soon to be gone present to self now though! (At least bike bits last a while :oops: )

I was talked into trying a Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013 while in a Japanese restaurant.
Can't say that I was impressed. Each to their own.

Is that the same stuff? I genuinely don't know, not trying to be clever. :oops:
No mention of Yamazaki on the bottle, but the box is long since gone. (That is probably showing my total ignorance of anything Japanese!)

Hibiki is a blend of Yamazaki malt another Suntory malt and grain that I can't remember the name of (Chita?) You're lucky to have had a go at the Yamazaki 2013 Sherry cask - that stuff retails at £3k a bottle, and was ''World Whisky of the Year"

Redbaron1

Went to the London whisky show last year and tried a lot (already stock 60 odd whiskies) adding a few to our range. Just ordered a load of gin (50 bottles) for new site and 10 odd malts, 6 bourbon and 9 rums.

Think its Laphroaig that do a smoking chamber that vapours the whisky, that's an interesting experience but is way too medicinal for me. You can't go wrong with Highland park, bunnahabhain, or tobermoray. If you go down the highland park route get some accompanying Ola Dubh by Harviestoun - great stuff.

johnaustin18181

you can purchase whiskey less than 40 pounds on JUST MINIATURES website

New_Old_Stock

Penderyn Madeira. Ysgafn gyda caramel siwgrog, ffrwythau sych a nodiadau grawnfwyd braenog yn bresennol. Mae'r elfennau fanila, ffrwythau ffres ac llysieuol o'r trwyn yn dod trwodd hefyd. Mae'r gorffeniad yn weddol hir am rywbeth sy'n wisgi ysgafn ac mae'n adfywiol, gyda melyster siwgrog pleserus a phrennaidd.