thats from the town of Keith isint it? was there in the weekend and theres distillary called strathisla, dunno if it is actually that one though

Oban 14yrs. Talisker. Jura 12yrs.

If you want to see a long list that's sold in a pub, head to The Grill on Union Street in Aberdeen.

Yep.

A lot of malts mentioned, no bad thing of course.

I'll throw in Haig's Dimple to champion the blended crowd.

I know what you meanI have a few on the go:
Laphroaig 10 years, cask strength (wow!)
Lagavulin 16 years, (Very wow)
Bunnahabhain 12 years, (an easy going islay malt)
Glenfiddich 12 years Caoran Reserve. (which is no more than average)

and a few unopened:
Ardbeg Uigeadail (not for the faint hearted but very, very nice)
Longrow CV (very quaffable)
Another 10 year old Laphroaig at cask strength.

I love the Islay malts (can you tell?) usually in a glass like this 492 gram monster:

But the question=
Ice/water/straight up?

My personal view is if its nice enough to drink straight never a drop of water to touch it.

Straight.

Rarely a little water if the mood takes me. But never on ice.

Take this person OUTSIDE and SHOOT him now


bloody ice/water

mutters out of here swearing

Never with ice - it masks the flavours. Never ever anything else.

Cask strength whisky needs a little water to dilute it. Some malts especially things like Ardbeg 10 or Laphroaig quarter cask bottled at 46-48% are helped by about 1/5 water added as it releases some of the aromas and subtleties.

Most bottled at 40% are fine straight - like the Caoran Reserve Glenfiddich I'm currently drinking which is a little on the boring side it has to be said.

I can't stand it when people add ice to my whisky. I want to taste it, and even if you fish out the ice after 2 seconds it's already destroyed the flavour beyond all recognision. Evil people I say, Evil!!

I can understand adding a little water to the cask strength stuff, although personally I don't.

My favourite "affordable" whisky is Bells. It's what I usually drink when I'm out, and I much prefer it to any other blended malt in the same price bracket.

My favourite "nearly affordable" malt is Laphroaig. I love richly flavoured Islay malts, and the 10 year old is what I ask Santa for. I've never actually bought it for myself because it's just too costly to have more than once or thrice a year.

My favourite "You can't have it because it's all gone now" was the 1998 distilled Ardberg Renaissance as bottled in the 2008 "Arrived" special edition. It was pretty much perfect. Unfortunately, I've bought Ardberg since and it's not been as good. However, it was still a very excellent Islay and I would buy it again. In fact, if I can find any I might buy some for my friend's upcoming 40th birthday.

I've had some very nice Japanese whisky, but I can't remember what it was called. I'll try anything once, but I'll go for Islay if I want to be sure of something I'll really enjoy.

Generally speaking, I've found a bit of a pattern. The more you can't afford it, the better it is.

I've got a couple of 'official' whisky tasting glasses and both of them (from different distilleries) have marks for both whisky and water - roughly 80% - 20% or 4/5ths - 1/5th.

A very wise man once tutored me on how to taste a whisky and he said 'if you drink it neat then you will destroy your taste buds but add just a touch of water and you will be aware of all the flavours'. He also said that one whisky was no better than the next but that there was only one that would suit your pallet. His choice of whisky was surprising too - Bells. He said it had more depth of flavour than any single malt.

So, ice/water or coke - each to their own and if you want to drink it straight, that's ok too. Main thing is to enjoy it. Hic!

Al

Yeah, nice but boring, much like, I have to say, most Glen Livets.

I think the main reason I so enjoy the single malts is simply because I only drink them very rarely. Basically Christmas or birthdays, so they're a rare treat. If the prices were reversed, I'd probably have the Bells as a treat and drink single malts every week! Likewise, I do occasionally drink whiskey instead. It's a welcome change of scene, but I always go back to the Scotch.

I've often said that an expertly blended whisky has the potential to be far more interesting than any single malt. Unfortunately, most blends just attempt to cover up the inadequacy of the cheap grain distillate they use as a base. I think Teachers is quite revolting, for example. It's not much better than Tesco Value.

+1

Ice and water just ruin the flavour for me.