Single Malt Scotch Whisky

After hijacking Trixie's thread with umpteen posts about the joys of single malt usquebaugh, it's time to break away and leave the poor lass in peace.

Now, there needs to be some ground rules before we start:

1. Only "whisky", please. If you want to talk bourbon or rye, gtf out of here. This is about serious, original stuff with a 2000 year history.

2. The only things to be added to single malt are (a) bottled or Scottish water, still, not sparkling and (b) more single malt.

3. Anyone who wants to add ice will be offered counselling, or, failing that, death by lethal injection.


OK guys, over to you.

Great idea! And I accept whole hearthedly the rules presented to me and I'll click "I agree" anytime. This could potentially be a fabulous thread, as a bottle of whisky is most probably the most beautiful thing after a woman. :)

I must say I have given my little bits and what not on the Alcohol thread on the subject. Drinking exclusively whisky, the whole alcohol thread was highjacked by my good care towards Scotland without stopovers. But I'm ready to talk about over and over and over again, and especially if it forces me to taste some more in order to comment!

:party::banana::banana::party::banana::party::part y::banana::banana:

Fabulous idea, Robert Louis!

And to start things nicely, let me post some lovely old pictures, the first one of an artisan working alone, the second of the Bowmore dislillery, the third one of the peat picking and the last one of the defunct Port-Ellen distillery, still surviving nontheless as a malting installation, if I'm not wrong...

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Originally Posted by danthepoetman

Great idea! And I accept whole hearthedly the rules presented to me and I'll click "I agree" anytime. This could potentially be a fabulous thread, as a bottle of whisky is most probably the most beautiful thing after a woman. :)

I must say I have given my little bits and what not on the Alcohol thread on the subject. Drinking exclusively whisky, the whole alcohol thread was highjacked by my good care towards Scotland without stopovers. But I'm ready to talk about over and over and over again, and especially if it forces me to taste some more in order to comment!

:party::banana::banana::party::banana::party::bana na::party::banana::banana:

Fabulous idea, Robert Louis!

And to start things nicely, let me post some lovely old pictures, the first one of an artisan working alone, the second of the Bowmore dislillery, the third one of the peat picking and the last one of the defunct Port-Ellen distillery, still surviving nontheless as a malting installation, if I'm not wrong...

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Thanks Dan. We can have some fun with this!

I spent a couple of blissfully pissed summers on Islay staying with a university friend whose family home was in a wonderfully ramshackle Georgian mansion built around a 13th century tower house overlooking the Atlantic at Portnahaven. We worked for the island council maitaining graveyards but spent most of our time sleeping off our hangovers on table stones.

The island's common currency was malt - everyone had at least one family member who worked in one of the distilleries and nobody ever paid for it! And I've sunk a few bottles of Port Ellen too. Wonder what they would be worth now?

Last night I toasted Andy Murray's Wimbledon win with the remainder of my 21 year old Springbank. Dropping heavy hints for my birthday next month!

Out of curiosity, I was just searching the site of the State control liquor stores, here, to see the price of a Port Ellen, and I noticed that they have, for the first time, to my knowledge, the Springbank in store! A 10, a 15 and an 18 yrs old. The two first at relatively reasonable prices, around $100, and the third at almost $200. I might just try the 15. I never had a Campbeltown before!

As to the Port Ellen, it's a Douglas and Laing embottling, 30 years old, "Rare Platinum", at the modest sum of $1 160...

Here's a couple more of my friend Ferrell...
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5...rmpdo1_500.gif
http://www.lionsdenu.com/wp-content/.../Anchorman.gif

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Originally Posted by robertlouis

I'm joking, Trixie. Although I wouldn't rule out turning up in upper New York state some time with a couple of good bottles....
But you're right. Single malt is wasted as a party drink - it should be sipped and savoured, so it does lend itself to male only sessions and the swapping of stories. I've only met two women in my entire life who share my passion for single malt, and both of them had the income to indulge their hobby too.
That's what it was first distilled for all those centuries ago, after all, sitting in a stone house around a peat fire and telling tales of great battles won and lost.
And good luck to you. This is the last post that will interfere with the original direction of your thread. Apologies for the long diversion.

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So, OK. I'm quoting you from the other thread to this one, Robert Louis, because I want to comment on this. I find that if there is one irrefutable of the fundamental difference between men and women, it's indeed the love of whisky. I have never met a woman who liked whisky! NEVER! And believe me (yes, really, really believe me on this), it's not because I haven't tried. For some reasons as deep as they are mysterious and probably of the most profound anatomical or biological origin, whisky is essentially a man's drink!

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Originally Posted by danthepoetman

So, OK. I'm quoting you from the other thread to this one, Robert Louis, because I want to comment on this. I find that if there is one irrefutable of the fundamental difference between men and women, it's indeed the love of whisky. I have never met a woman who liked whisky! NEVER! And believe me (yes, really, really believe me on this), it's not because I haven't tried. For some reasons as deep as they are mysterious and probably of the most profound anatomical or biological origin, whisky is essentially a man's drink!

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Both the girls who liked malt were high-flying executive colleagues. It was great when we travelled together to go into the hotel bar late and work through the gantry!

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Originally Posted by robertlouis

Both the girls who liked malt were high-flying executive colleagues. It was great when we travelled together to go into the hotel bar late and work through the gantry!

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There's a few ladies that I can think of that have really good taste and a great palate for whisky, but they are in the very rare numbers. There's Helen Arthur, who wrote a couple of good books, a lady of Scottish origins. And French Martine Nouet, who lives in Islay because of her love of whisky, and invents delightful recipes to make with it and eat while drinking it, before and after, and sometimes during!

Here are a few more beautiful pictures. An old one first, then Bowmore, old and more recently, Glengoyne and finally, a beautiful pic of Edimburg.

Now for me it has to be one of the famous peaty malts

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Originally Posted by danthepoetman

Here are a few more beautiful pictures. An old one first, then Bowmore, old and more recently, Glengoyne and finally, a beautiful pic of Edimburg.

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Ah, I grew up within walking distance of Glengoyne. It's a magical setting.

I'm with mellownella. Laphroig all the way...with Talisker a wee distance behind

My current bottle of Lagavulin. I take in the smoky essence for several minutes before sipping.

I do like Talisker, however I'm partial to Edradour myself

I'm gonna observe and take notes. My experience hasn't been wide, but I've come away with a few for which I truly have formed a repeated appreciation. Balvenie Double Wood, for one. I shall monitor and try what you guys recommend, because I agree that this is something women don't comprehend. Maybe that's another reason we like the ladies here...?

I've only been fortunate enough to have this particular bottle once, while on holiday in Edinburgh. But it was my all time favorite. I'm partial to Glenmorangie anyway, it was the first whiskey I had ever tasted (thanks to the movie Highlander, of all things) and I guess I became accustomed to it's taste. I've got a 12 year bottle of their regular single malt here at the house. But the Burgandy with just a splash of water (same water used in the making of it, I was told) was perhaps the greatest thing ever!!!!

By the way, if someone has some experience with decent water experimentation, I'd be happy to know what people think. I've got city water on tap here, and that's like adding chorine to it, so for at home, I get a bottle of Fiji Water, chill it to about 38 degrees (my normal fridge temp) and add just enough to enhance the taste. It's Fiji, so it's better than tap water, but it still has an odd plastic taste to it. So any tips on better water are appreciated.

I clicked like to the OP... but i must confess that I do find this thread just the slightest bit geeky. Pleasure is far too serious not to be taken a little bit lightly... to corrupt Oscar Wilde somewhat.

Two things you'll find a lot of men get super seriously geeky about, whisky and cigars.

Cigars.... urrghhh... nothing spoils a wonderful dinner more than some jerk lighting one up at an adjoining table. Thank god most civilised places now ban smoking in restaurants.

Yeah, I'm not personally down with cigars either, but I spent last night listening to three guys going on about the proper technique for drying leaves, and Cuban rolling versus Venezuelan rolling. That to me was geeky. But then again, I was there trying to explain why a single malt was better than a blended whisky. So, I'm a geek.

Well geekiness is not an accusation I'd throw around too lightly. Passion, enthusiasm etc... are excellent qualities. but geekiness incarnates a sort of obsessiveness.

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Originally Posted by JenniferParisHusband

I've only been fortunate enough to have this particular bottle once, while on holiday in Edinburgh. But it was my all time favorite. I'm partial to Glenmorangie anyway, it was the first whiskey I had ever tasted (thanks to the movie Highlander, of all things) and I guess I became accustomed to it's taste. I've got a 12 year bottle of their regular single malt here at the house. But the Burgandy with just a splash of water (same water used in the making of it, I was told) was perhaps the greatest thing ever!!!!

By the way, if someone has some experience with decent water experimentation, I'd be happy to know what people think. I've got city water on tap here, and that's like adding chorine to it, so for at home, I get a bottle of Fiji Water, chill it to about 38 degrees (my normal fridge temp) and add just enough to enhance the taste. It's Fiji, so it's better than tap water, but it still has an odd plastic taste to it. So any tips on better water are appreciated.

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You read the rules, JPH.

I refer you to rule #1.

You spelled whisky with an "e".

Yellow card. Behave yourself.

After a whole bottle can you still speak, let alone spell?

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Originally Posted by Prospero

After a whole bottle can you still speak, let alone spell?

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My dear departed Dad taught me that if you respect whisky it will respect you back. A whisky hangover is the hangover from hell.

Always drink it in a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1, water to whisky. Not in it, but alongside.

Never IN it at all... ever

Here...You forgot these! :ignore:

You guys ever get into any Auld Stag?

lol at jericho

My favorite now is eighteen year old Talisker, though it is impossible to find now.

Lol...DanThePoetMan's cat LMAOooo

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l2...elplyr/BUM.jpg

I am reminded of a lyric by Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band fame, a fine poet/musician and a Scot with a fondness for single malt:

Water is the strong stuff
It carries whales and ships
But water is the wrong stuff
Don' let it get past your lips
It wets your suits and rots your boots
Puts shakes in all your bones
Dilute the stuff with whisky, aye,
Or leave it well alone.

Thus far this thread has heavily favored the single malts of Islay, and I must concur, I favor these above all other types. My favorites include Lagavulin, Bruichladdich, Arbeg, and Bowmore. Outside of the Islands, my next choice are some of the Speyside whiskies, in particular Macallan, Balvenie, and Dallas Dhu.

Two or three years ago I called out Playboy on an egregious error: they had just published a guide to Scotch Whiskey - yes, spelled with an 'e' - and I dressed them down for it. But they ignored my argument, citing a major American (!) dictionary (I forget which one) as allowing the whiskey spelling for the malts of Scotland. We exchanged emails and eventually my letter was even published in their letters section a couple of months after the publication, but they held their ground. Fools.

The Water of Life
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt...ffb5o1_500.jpg


http://www.maltmadness.com/whisky/Dalwhinnie-Casks.jpg

http://www.cottage-highland.co.uk/up...railway(1).jpg

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Originally Posted by Prospero

After a whole bottle can you still speak, let alone spell?

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You could be surprised... :)

22 years ago i was in scotland on holidays, being exactly 25 years of age. There I bought a bottle of 25 years old single malt glenfiddich whiskey, and decided I wait until we both turn 50, and then I'll see what life has brought us..... 4 more years to go, but I'll let you all know the result!

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Originally Posted by nysprod

Lol...DanThePoetMan's cat LMAOooo

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Moi?

Man! you always see things so negatively! You're the killjoy or the party pooper of HA! First, you would never see me with beer, man! NEVER! ONLY SCOTCH WHISKY, AND ALWAYS SINGLE MALT, except when I can't do otherwise. Secondly, wtf? I'm not cat! This is it (it's J&B, so it was in a bad skid row day after)..

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Originally Posted by Prince Dan Albert

22 years ago i was in scotland on holidays, being exactly 25 years of age. There I bought a bottle of 25 years old single malt glenfiddich whiskey, and decided I wait until we both turn 50, and then I'll see what life has brought us..... 4 more years to go, but I'll let you all know the result!

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It makes a more than 50 years old bottle!! That could reach a good price on auction! Glenfiddich is a very simple whisky, though, Dan, my homonymous. The 15 yrs (Solera) is pretty nice, but it gets to be good after it, with the 18, imo. A 25 yrs must be quite good, my friend. Then again, you have to know that whisky stops evolving in the bottle, as opposed to wine. So you can still wait for the thrill of drinking an old bottle, put the time line in parallel with the events of your life (I love doing that, drinking stuff older than my daughter, etc.), and it's quite a thrill indeed, but the whisky itself won't get better than it was when embottled... :)

Dan ... in your case I'll make an exception. you become positively loquacious the more you imbibe

my good (poet)man, I am fully aware that the whiskey will not get better the second 25 years... as, I am afraid, was I! when it comes to getting well spoken in foreign tongues, nothing beats moonshine vodka, though! I remember a story - well, actually i dont remember anything from these two days- so, I was TOLD, that being filled up in an godforsaken small town someplace near the Urals, I was holding elaborate speeches about women's rights - after barely three month of learning russian. The whole city came to look at that wonder... it was winter, and nothing better to do, obviously.

prince... Whisky...not whiskey.... lol

Am just showing off..... I've been to the "malt whiskey trail" in scotland - and they, and their lesser brethren in Ireland, call it just that! But they spell it even worse.... something like "Whysekey" Ever since i even dont say Edinburgh anymore, but Edinborough... am a pretentious dick sometimes!

I'm an absolute purist in the matter: NO WATER IN THE MALT!!! It's a sin! You'll go to HELL! And if you dare ruin it with ice, you'll be tortured for eternity. No cigar either! it creates a putrescent milieu in the mouth that suffocate the taste buds and destroy the malt, especially delicate malts. Dalmore has created a "Cigar malt", very full of body; but to me it just doesn't work. In fact, when I'm in malt tasting mode, I also refuse to eat. Generally, after 3 glasses, it's over, I don't want to eat anything anymore even if the first glass was drank as an aperitive. Malt whisky is just too good! I will have some with food, before or after, or even during, on special, gastronomy experiences. But in tasting mode, you taste, not anything else, or you spoil the work of these fabulous craftsmen and artisans that makes over years and years this incredible beverage from a venerable secular know-how. Always keep in mind that some of the whisky you drink was made by men who thought to themselves that they would never drink the whisky they were making; they had the gift of drinking what elders had make for them and they themselves would leave some for the next generation...

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Originally Posted by JenniferParisHusband

By the way, if someone has some experience with decent water experimentation, I'd be happy to know what people think. I've got city water on tap here, and that's like adding chorine to it, so for at home, I get a bottle of Fiji Water, chill it to about 38 degrees (my normal fridge temp) and add just enough to enhance the taste. It's Fiji, so it's better than tap water, but it still has an odd plastic taste to it. So any tips on better water are appreciated.

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Cooling the malt take away some of the flavors and perfumes, imo, JPH. You're right that the water which it was made with is most probably the best. Tap water, yukk!! And embottled, you're right again, it might give a plastic taste.

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Originally Posted by robertlouis

My dear departed Dad taught me that if you respect whisky it will respect you back. A whisky hangover is the hangover from hell.
Always drink it in a ratio of 5 or 6 to 1, water to whisky. Not in it, but alongside.

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Bless your Dad's soul, my friend! But I find that good malt's hangover is much nicer than hangovers from these disgusting commercial beers or these manipulated and coloured wines on the market. This just kills you...
You're right: keep hydrating yourself with a glass of water here and there as you're getting drunk... I mean, as the tasting time progresses, and it should be all pretty good.

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Originally Posted by Prospero

Never IN it at all... ever

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NEVER IN, indeed, Prospero.

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Originally Posted by Ecstatic

I am reminded of a lyric by Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band fame, a fine poet/musician and a Scot with a fondness for single malt:

Water is the strong stuff
It carries whales and ships
But water is the wrong stuff
Don' let it get past your lips
It wets your suits and rots your boots
Puts shakes in all your bones
Dilute the stuff with whisky, aye,
Or leave it well alone.

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Beautiful verses, Ecstatic. If you don't mind, I might use these as signature, eventually... Thanks!


Now if you have, put water or ice in your whisky, repent and don't do it again. But if you keep doing it, here's what's comming to you; the cold water torture in hell for eternity:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lsiOfjiNB0...x_phlegyas.jpg
http://0.tqn.com/d/atheism/1/0/P/-/3...Punished-e.jpg