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Single Malt













GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,715
Gloucester
Lagavulin 16-year old Islay (if you like a peaty malt) Can be got for less than £50 online. Very nice

Or if you really like peaty, try Laphroaig. About thirty quid in the supermarket. I used to drink it years ago, but it suddenly became popular and much too expensive, so I switched to Ardbeg, which was a cheaper alternative at the time. Now pretty much the same price-wise, but both equally nice.

I like my malt peaty, so I go for highland and island malts (although the latter can be pretty sharp too) - less peaty, generally sharper malts, from the Strathspey region, I'm not so fond of (not that I'd necessarily turn one down!) and are not so much my cup of tea, so can't really suggest any particular favourites.
 




Barry Izbak

U.T.A.
Dec 7, 2005
7,322
Lancing By Sea
Depends on what you like (obv)

I prefer anything for the Highlands rather than the islands. Don't like the peaty ones.
Anything from Speyside is good.
I tell my kids to buy anything single malt beginning with Glen. ... Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, GlenMoray, Glenmorangie, etc

Now look what you've made me do, go and pour myself one!!
 




DFL JCL

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2016
791
Caol Isla is a good value islay single malt. If you are prepared to consider a blend Johnnie Walker green label has been going for £30 on amazon and is great.
 






Doonhamer7

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2016
1,284
Drank lots of single malts and was a wee bit of a malt snob until I went to Aberfeldy distillery - main distillery of Dewers, tried the 12yr old blended malt (blue bottle) , it is superb would buy over any single. On a trip to States I thought I'd splash out and buy 15yr old version - not worth it at all, so I'm sticking to 12yr old. Generally not bothering with singles any more. I prefer speyside ( smoothness over peat) but I tried Caol Isla 18 yr on Friday and was highly impressed.

I watched the history of scotch series on bbc4 last year - the buying of single malts over blends is a marketing ploy that was started in early 80s due to the whisky lake. The same with drinking it neat or with splash of water. They now say drink it however you want and blends can be much better due to the effort of master blender to ensure consistency batch after batch.
 








GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,715
Gloucester
I watched the history of scotch series on bbc4 last year - the buying of single malts over blends is a marketing ploy that was started in early 80s due to the whisky lake. The same with drinking it neat or with splash of water. They now say drink it however you want and blends can be much better due to the effort of master blender to ensure consistency batch after batch.
Drinking it either neat or just with water a marketing ploy in the 80s? Rubbish, there were pubs in Scotland in the 60s and 70s that would ask you - very firmly - to drink up and leave if you added anything other than plain water to your Scotch. And that applied to blended as well as single malts.
 






Raleigh Chopper

New member
Sep 1, 2011
12,054
Plymouth
Drinking it either neat or just with water a marketing ploy in the 80s? Rubbish, there were pubs in Scotland in the 60s and 70s that would ask you - very firmly - to drink up and leave if you added anything other than plain water to your Scotch. And that applied to blended as well as single malts.

That sounds about right.
I have spent a few days on 2 occasions in a hotel in Ballachulish on the banks of Loch Levan ( wonderful area)
We were offered a Scotch tasting session and the highlander said you either drink it neat or with a splash of water, never anything else.
We tried about 20 varieties and I thought that Highland Park was the best one.
 






Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
50,162
Goldstone
They now say drink it however you want and blends can be much better due to the effort of master blender to ensure consistency batch after batch.
A master blender tries to make a blend taste the same as the blend used to taste, so that customers get the same product they're used to. But that doesn't mean the whisky tastes better, that makes no sense.
 




Don Parasol

Active member
Jan 29, 2017
108
If you like peaty, Kilchoman is really good and one of my favourites from Islay. They have even started selling it at M&S which is a bonus as it wasn't in supermarkets before.

Unpeated - Bruichladdich 'the Classic Laddie' is really nice. All their whiskies are great I think.

For a good value easy drinking, Highland Park always nice.

And I wouldn't dream of adding anything other than, literally, a few drops of water to it!
 


Sussexscots

Fed up with trains. Sick of the rain.
If you like peaty, Kilchoman is really good and one of my favourites from Islay. They have even started selling it at M&S which is a bonus as it wasn't in supermarkets before.

Unpeated - Bruichladdich 'the Classic Laddie' is really nice. All their whiskies are great I think.

For a good value easy drinking, Highland Park always nice.

And I wouldn't dream of adding anything other than, literally, a few drops of water to it!

I agree . And the huge variety from the handful of distiulleries on Islay can be easily observed by having a dram of Bruichladdiach or Bunnahabin and comparing it to a Laphroaig or a Lagavulin.

Highland Park is an Orcadian whisky. All smoke and peat, heather and honey.

If you don't like peat, then try a Glengoyne, which uses no peat at all in the process.

I'd suggest maybe going to a pub that has a range of Malts and trying a few before buying a bottle. If you are in Brighton, the Basketmakers is a good one.

I can also confidently recommend The Antiquary, which, though a blended whisky, is exceptional - if you can find it.
 


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