The Single Malt Scotch Thread

[cardoustie]

Royal Liverpool

[attachment=2133453:image.jpg]

[cardoustie]

This one isn't golf related, except it comes from Scotland

A real unique one I found at a small shop in Monterey about five years ago

I was drawn in by the Yellow Sub and my weakness for Bruichladdich smoothness

[scratchswinger]

[Coheed]

Really unique collection of bottles you have there cardoustie!
I'm in winnipeg so I feel your pain...woke up to -20C this morning.
Not happy!

[eagle1997]

[quote name='Coheed' timestamp='1395465357' post='8923685']
[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1395457156' post='8922955']
[quote name='Coheed' timestamp='1395456679' post='8922893']
Ya I just pick up a new bottle every time I'm at the liquor store...which apparently is a lot. Also I have access to many duty free shops so it's easier to buy a bottle than to resist the temptation!
[/quote]

are you a pilot? maybe a pilot that flies internationally a lot. or maybe you are a on the golfer euro tour! damn that would be so cool if you were. i bet you've got some crazy stories you could tell...

leave us hanging for a couple posts... let's all guess coheed's occupation while we sip our fine single malts this friday evening.
[/quote]

I wish I could play golf for a living...I think I would really enjoy that! But sadly...no. First guess was correct though.
[/quote]

I was on several international flight recently. Saw a bunch of pilots raiding the duty-free shops for some nice pickups. Wasn't sure if I should be worried? Lol.

My next guess was a spy. So you should have held out long enough for me to embellish that thought.

Back to the Superstition this evening. So damn good. I did pick up an 18 yr Tomatin for a steal, and backed it up with a solid 12 yr Auchentoshan. I want to test my resolve of whether I truly am a one bottle at a time kinda man... Or not.

[eagle1997]

Cardoustie, now my neck hurts from looking at your sweet sweet pics. Thanks?

[Coheed]

Hey eagle,
You have to let me know how the Auchentoshan 12 and the 18 Tomatin...very intrigued! Will be my next bottle!
And don't worry about those pilots...we are somewhat of a responsible bunch (I hope) and the duty free is a little perk of the job!
Looks like I'll join you in a little superstition tonight!

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1395362447' post='8914511']
Couldn't find Smokey Joe.

But this Jura Superstition is VERY good. Lagavulin16-esque IMHO .

Thanks for the heads up Coheed!


[attachment=2130851:jura_superstition.jpg]
[/quote]

How are you liking it? I have the "prophecy" Jura

I really like it

[Coheed]

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395537201' post='8928041']
[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1395362447' post='8914511']
Couldn't find Smokey Joe.

But this Jura Superstition is VERY good. Lagavulin16-esque IMHO .

Thanks for the heads up Coheed!


[attachment=2130851:jura_superstition.jpg]
[/quote]

How are you liking it? I have the "prophecy" Jura

I really like it
[/quote]

What's the Prophecy like YULjeff?

[MtlJeff]

I like it, if you like peaty stuff but don't want to go full Laphroaig/Ardbeg or the like it's a really solid option.

For me, that's what i like. I actually find some of the speysides somewhat bland. I'm really more of a Bourbon drinker because i wasn't huge on most of the scotches i'd had. I liked them fine i just wasn't as into them as Bourbon

Ardbeg and etc are too much for me, but the Prophecy is a nice balance. Peat not overpowering but is very present

[Coheed]

Gotcha, see and I haven't dabbled too much in the bourbon. I remember being hungover once and trying some Makers...urgh, just didn't care for it.

Well, looks like I'll add another bottle to try...thanks Jeff!

[bscinstnct]

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395538348' post='8928181']
I like it, if you like peaty stuff but don't want to go full Laphroaig/Ardbeg or the like it's a really solid option.

For me, that's what i like. I actually find some of the speysides somewhat bland. I'm really more of a Bourbon drinker because i wasn't huge on most of the scotches i'd had. I liked them fine i just wasn't as into them as Bourbon

Ardbeg and etc are too much for me, but the Prophecy is a nice balance. Peat not overpowering but is very present
[/quote]

I have been going for the cycle.

Scotch. Bourbon. Rye.

Generally going by the advice of all of the "experts" who seem to pop up and know so much about what the next round should be.

"Can I buy you a rye? It's outstanding. Just stay here, I'll be right back"

Oh, all right...

[eagle1997]

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395537201' post='8928041']
How are you liking it? I have the "prophecy" Jura

I really like it
[/quote]

Superstition is the shiz. Probably less peat than you are looking for to be honest, but it's perfect for me. Has a kick, smoke, light peat and spice on the finish.

I liked ardberg, but couldn't stand laprohaig10. No.1 for me will always be lagavulin16.

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1395541032' post='8928475']
[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395537201' post='8928041']
How are you liking it? I have the "prophecy" Jura

I really like it
[/quote]

Superstition is the shiz. Probably less peat than you are looking for to be honest, but it's perfect for me. Has a kick, smoke, light peat and spice on the finish.

I liked ardberg, but couldn't stand laprohaig10. No.1 for me will always be lagavulin16.
[/quote]

I'll still probably give it a go! I liked Highland Park 12 which i found was a little peaty, less so then the Jura Prophecy....but i like that stuff better then the Aberlours of the world

[scratchswinger]

This might sound like a stupid question but bare in mind I have only been drinking this stuff for a few months. How would you describe peaty in regards to the taste? I know that I like peaty Scotch as experts have told me that all the ones I love are peaty.

[scratchswinger]

[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395587102' post='8930813']
[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1395541032' post='8928475']
[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395537201' post='8928041']
How are you liking it? I have the "prophecy" Jura

I really like it
[/quote]

Superstition is the shiz. Probably less peat than you are looking for to be honest, but it's perfect for me. Has a kick, smoke, light peat and spice on the finish.

I liked ardberg, but couldn't stand laprohaig10. No.1 for me will always be lagavulin16.
[/quote]

I'll still probably give it a go! I liked Highland Park 12 which i found was a little peaty, less so then the Jura Prophecy....but i like that stuff better then the Aberlours of the world
[/quote]

Have you tried the HP 15? Tasty stuff....

[Coheed]

[quote name='scratchswinger' timestamp='1395625316' post='8935189']
This might sound like a stupid question but bare in mind I have only been drinking this stuff for a few months. How would you describe peaty in regards to the taste? I know that I like peaty Scotch as experts have told me that all the ones I love are peaty.
[/quote]
In my words, grab a bottle of Laphroig 10 and that campfire, smokey flavor is the peat.

[eagle1997]

Peat=smoke??? I've always associated a more earthy, almost grassy flavor with a heavy peated scotch. I always figured smoke was smoke? No?

I have a lot to learn meself... Not trying to be a D...

[scratchswinger]

Peat=smoke??? I've always associated a more earthy, almost grassy flavor with a heavy peated scotch. I always figured smoke was smoke? No?

 

I have a lot to learn meself... Not trying to be a D...

 

Peat=smoke??? I've always associated a more earthy, almost grassy flavor with a heavy peated scotch. I always figured smoke was smoke? No?

 

I have a lot to learn meself... Not trying to be a D...

 

http://www.whisky.de...xperts/peat.htm

 

Scotland is in large parts covered by an 1 meter-thick layer of peat. It was formed in the past thousands to five thousand years by dead plants. Each moor grows approximately one millimeter per year. If a moor is 3 meters thick, it is therefore about 3,000 years old.

Within living memory humans in Scotland used the peat as an energy source. The peat is dug in narrow strips and piled in small pyramids to dry. The water runs off very fast from the peat and makes the soft strips to a hard briquette. This briquette contains, similarly to coal, the energy of the dead plants.

In contrast to coal dried peat burns down fast and thereby delivers a large amount of energy in a short time in the form of heat. If you once sat at a peat fire on an evening in Scotland, you can confirm the warming strength of the peat.

For what do you need peat in the whisky production? The old Scots used peat for heating the pot stills. However that didn’t lead to the smoky taste of the whisky. Only during the drying process of the damp malt over a peat heated fire, the smoke gets into the barley. The difference in the smokiness of the whisky depends on the time the barley is exposed to the biting peat smoke. The drying time of damp malt lies at approximately 30 hours. At Laphroaig about 18 hours of these 30 hours it is dried over peat fires; in contrast at Glengoyne it is dried over non-peat fire. Thus a huge pallet starting from extremely peaty up to whiskies with little smoke flavor develops. There is a special characteristics of malt. Even without peat, the seed develops a little peatiness.

Does the water, which flows through peat moors, have an influence on the smokiness of a whisky? The answer is a clear NO! Peat water contains only a few ppm (parts by million) of peat, which colors the water brown, however it contributes to the smokey taste in no way. Surely, the water is of crucial importance for the quality of whisky, but it does not have an influence on the smokiness. The peat smoke delivers a ten to hundredfold peatyness than the water does.

The mass production of Scotch over the past 200 years drove up the need for smoky whisky enormously. Particularly the distilleries of the island of Islay produce very smoky whisky. Especially the distilleries Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Ardbeg and Bowmore. The peaty taste of these whiskies is so strong that theystill can give their smokiness to Blended Whiskies, even if they are mixed with a 1:20 ratio with water and other unpeaty whiskies.

However there are also critical voices! The strong use of peat for the production of malt already exhausted some peat moors. In the area around Campbeltown the peat supplies are already exhausted, so that peat from areas further away e.g. from Islay, has to be ordered.

The whisky industry however tries to reduce the usage of peat by other means. Thus the distillery Bowmore grinds the peat to a coarse powder, which is spread on a normal fire and so produces the necessary smoke with less peat. In that way the smoke yield of the peat is increased. Also the modern large maltings like Port Ellen, Glen Esk and Glen Ord exploits the peat in an industrial way far better than it would be the case on a conventional drying fire in a kiln. In a closed system of a large malting drum the smoke doesn’t escape through the Pagoda roof though the Kiln into the environment after a single contact with the malt, instead it is led over the barley until the smoke is optimally used. The malt ordering distillery gives exactly the specification for their necessary peatiness to the maltings.

The modern digging methods for peat permit a wide area extraction of the peat layer, as it is shown on the following pictures. The digging doesn’t resemble the mining of brown coal at the surface. It is rather a harvesting of an agriculturally cultivated food. The agricultural machines with which the digging takes place, surely contribute their part to this feeling.

The drying process of the briquettes (they are after 200 years still briquettes) still happens on large heaps, from which the water flows out, followingthe law of gravity. When a peat area is exploited the machines drive further and continue at the next moor. Computer forecasts showed, that in Scotland grows more peat than it is constantly dug out.

[scratchswinger]

That is some interesting information. An "expert" (at least that what's he called him self) that I was chatting with told me that it's harder to find Scotch aged over 18 years with a strong Peaty taste because it wears off as it ages. Not sure if this is true or not as I have never sampled a "peaty" whisky that was over 16 years.

[MattTheTaff]

Got my father in law a bottle of lag16 two weeks ago for his birthday. He came over today and gave it back 4/5ths full - it was "too peaty" for him

Swapped it for a bottle of Jamesons I had lying around

SCORE!!!!!

[scratchswinger]

[quote name='MattTheTaff' timestamp='1395682127' post='8939669']
Got my father in law a bottle of lag16 two weeks ago for his birthday. He came over today and gave it back 4/5ths full - it was "too peaty" for him

Swapped it for a bottle of Jamesons I had lying around

SCORE!!!!!
[/quote]

Yeah those two are not even in the same ballpark. To me Jamesons is a mixer not something that I enjoy drinking neat, but I know some people do like it.

[eagle1997]

Reading about scotch in middle of the day... Not good thing for me.

*licks lips*

[Coheed]

[quote name='scratchswinger' timestamp='1395685062' post='8940119']
[quote name='MattTheTaff' timestamp='1395682127' post='8939669']
Got my father in law a bottle of lag16 two weeks ago for his birthday. He came over today and gave it back 4/5ths full - it was "too peaty" for him

Swapped it for a bottle of Jamesons I had lying around

SCORE!!!!!
[/quote]

Yeah those two are not even in the same ballpark. To me Jamesons is a mixer not something that I enjoy drinking neat, but I know some people do like it.
[/quote]

Jameson 18 is a good sipping wiskey, wayyyyyy smoother than the regular Jameson.

[AZPhys13]

Newcomer to the scotch game here, as in bought a bottle of Glenmorangie 10 after work last night after reading this thread over the last few days. One thing I haven't seen discussed yet is everyone vessel of choice. It sounds like rocks glasses are pretty common but what about nosing/tulip glasses?

[scratchswinger]

Glencairn or fluted tumbler

[MtlJeff]

[quote name='scratchswinger' timestamp='1395625356' post='8935199']
[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395587102' post='8930813']
[quote name='eagle1997' timestamp='1395541032' post='8928475']
[quote name='MtlJeff' timestamp='1395537201' post='8928041']
How are you liking it? I have the "prophecy" Jura

I really like it
[/quote]

Superstition is the shiz. Probably less peat than you are looking for to be honest, but it's perfect for me. Has a kick, smoke, light peat and spice on the finish.

I liked ardberg, but couldn't stand laprohaig10. No.1 for me will always be lagavulin16.
[/quote]

I'll still probably give it a go! I liked Highland Park 12 which i found was a little peaty, less so then the Jura Prophecy....but i like that stuff better then the Aberlours of the world
[/quote]

Have you tried the HP 15? Tasty stuff....
[/quote]

I have tried it once, on my bachelor party....unfortunately i probably didn't appreciate it enough.

[Coheed]

Alright Eagle...just about to kill the Superstition!
What are we moving onto next?

[eagle1997]

Holy Schmidt, what a coincidence! I am killing my bottle of Superstition tonight as well (minus two fingers that I am saving)... So i literally just opened a bottle of auschentoshan 12.

I know yours is a better 'vintage'... And that is my recommendation to you.

Cheers!

[clark827]

[quote name='AZPhys13' timestamp='1395781671' post='8949605']
Newcomer to the scotch game here, as in bought a bottle of Glenmorangie 10 after work last night after reading this thread over the last few days. One thing I haven't seen discussed yet is everyone vessel of choice. It sounds like rocks glasses are pretty common but what about nosing/tulip glasses?
[/quote]

Not really- just doesn't seem right. I go with rocks glasses- actually have a dedicated makers glass with the red wax on the bottom (like a built in coaster so the wife doesn't b*{€# when I set it on the end table). I bartended for 5 years and it just seems wrong to put scotch in anything but a rocks glass.