Talking about Whisky

[Beef Oven!]

Happy New Year all whisky-lovers!

It's been Monkey Shoulder all night at the Beef Oven! 14/15 Rock party, except most guests are preferring Jack Daniels!!!???

This stuff is not great, but people love it for some reason

[P. G. Tipps]

When it comes to whisky, I'm pretty easy to please really, and am quite happy to stick to boring old Bells, though the Famous Grouse I find rather sweet and lacking gravity, and is surely intended for the less discerning female palate.

However, if I was forced to take a large whisky crate to my Desert Island to go alongside my Bruckner box collection I would generously fill it with a wide selection of tonsil-tugging Islay malts ... finest, fullest-flavoured whiskies of all, imo.

[Beef Oven!]

When it comes to whisky, I'm pretty easy to please really, and am quite happy to stick to boring old Bells, though the Famous Grouse I find rather sweet and lacking gravity, and is surely intended for the less discerning female palate.

However, if I was forced to take a large whisky crate to my Desert Island to go alongside my Bruckner box collection I would generously fill it with a wide selection of tonsil-tugging Islay malts ... finest, fullest-flavoured whiskies of all, imo.

Bells is fine by me, and despite having a swipe at Cali about Famous Grouse last Xmas, it's a nice dram and perfectly manly.

[Nick Armstrong]

Bells is fine by me, and despite having a swipe at Cali about Famous Grouse last Xmas, it's a nice dram and perfectly manly.

Swipe away, you old soak!!

Not so keen on FG but I'm a total convert to Black Grouse!

[Beef Oven!]

Swipe away, you old soak!!

Not so keen on FG but I'm a total convert to Black Grouse!

I haven't tried Black Grouse. I've seen it often in the supermarkets. I'll try it then, given your 'recommendation'.

P.S. Naked Grouse is supposed to be very good, but I've never tasted it.

[Nick Armstrong]

I haven't tried Black Grouse. I've seen it often in the supermarkets. I'll try it then, given your 'recommendation'.

It's got very much the 'Islay peat' nose about it, whereas FG is more generic, mild 'Highland' in style...

[Beef Oven!]

It's got very much the 'Islay peat' nose about it, whereas FG is more generic, mild 'Highland' in style...

I'm a bit off of peaty whiskies, these days. Enjoying a glass of Tobermory 10 year old with a spot of water, as I type.

[Nick Armstrong]

I'm a bit off of peaty whiskies, these days. Enjoying a glass of Tobermory 10 year old with a spot of water, as I type.

Maybe leave the Black Grouse for a while then, till you re-locate your mojo...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Not so keen on FG

... oh! I see!

I bade my goodbyes to the old year with a 12-yr-old Tomatin - the first time I've had this; but it won't be the last - warm, peaty, comforting and utterly delicious. Like the end of Casablanca, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

[Nick Armstrong]

... oh! I see!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

[Padraig]

Alas poor Padraig! Last night he celebrated the New Year with a Black Bush of generous proportions over a hot lemon juice accompanied by a small paper cup of various pills and powders and hard to get antibiotics.
Gee! I feel better today! That Black Bush has amazing medicinal properties. Should I continue now that I've started?

[Beef Oven!]

this to accompany one of the all-time classic Ealing comedies, the virtuosic directorial debut of Alexander Mackendrick (and if Capt. Waggett had been a keen whisky drinker, there would ne'er have been any problem):

http://www.theglenrothes.com/en/our-whisky/select-reserve.html

Usually a fancier of French and Italian wines, I've lately been dabbling in single malts and am now on my fifth-ever bottle. The first was The Glenlivet 15 y.o. from an an ancient shop in St Andrews, after which I've relied on the advice of certain online whisky nuts. Next came Balvenie DoubleWood 12 y.o., followed by Glenfiddich 15 y.o., Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or (because I'm partial to Sauternes) and now this Glenrothes. Part of my interest in trying the Glenrothes is that I have much claret lying in Berry Bros' & Rudd's cellers, and in 2010 BBR swapped ownership of their historic Cutty Sark blend for the Glenrothes brand, though the distillery itself remains with the Edrington Group. Despite this expression being a blend from several different years, I find it very satisfying, especially by the end of the second large copita. As the man says, 'This is not about age, it's about maturity'.

The question is, what do I try next? I'm not (yet) keen on the strong peaty Islay style, so may stick with Speyside and the Highlands for now. A visit to Constantine Stores, near Helston, may bring the answer. Beyond the mundane village groceries lies an Aladdin's cave of spiritual delights. 867 single malts are listed: http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk/whisky-...le-malt-whisky

867 single malts!!?

I see the Tomatin in there. The whisky commentators rate this very highly. Why not go there next?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I see the Tomatin in there. The whisky commentators rate this very highly. Why not go there next?

The Tomatin is rather peaty - which Kph says he wishes to avoid. I'd recommend one of the Bladnochs (the most southern of the Scottish distilleries), though at these prices you might be better going to your nearest whisky shop and getting some of the miniature bottles - a dram for around a fiver.

You might go even further south and try the really quite wonderful Penderyn:

http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk/penderyn-welsh-single-malt-46-35cl.html

... when it comes back in stock! Warm, creamy - a superb dram. (And available in supermarkets, now, too.)

[Beef Oven!]

The Tomatin is rather peaty - which Kph says he wishes to avoid. I'd recommend one of the Bladnochs (the most southern of the Scottish distilleries), though at these prices you might be better going to your nearest whisky shop and getting some of the miniature bottles - a dram for around a fiver.

You might go even further south and try the really quite wonderful Penderyn:

http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk/penderyn-welsh-single-malt-46-35cl.html

... when it comes back in stock! Warm, creamy - a superb dram. (And available in supermarkets, now, too.)

The Tomatin in Keraulophone's link is described as ".......matured in a combination of new American oak and Bourbon wood. This combination gives the whisky a lovely sweetness with creamy notes and a touch of spice on the finish", so I assumed it isn't peaty. But I haven't tasted any Tomatin.

That's a good price on the Penderyn in the link you provide.

Have you had all those whiskies you mention!!??