Can't go wrong with a bottle of The Macallan.

Other favourites of mine are The Singleton and Laphroaig (although some people don't like the more peaty flavors of Islay malts).

If you want something really unique / different it may be worth checking out the Whisky Society. They have a bar / shop in Edinburgh and I think in London. They take excess barrels from the distilleries and bottle them - not only as single malts, but single barrel malts. They can't disclose which distillery they ard from and so they have a number - the tasting notes give pretty good clues though !

Edit : here's a link... http://www.smws.co.uk/

..has always been my fave, the blends as well and the singles.

http://www.bennevisdistillery.com

Sadly the 26 year old is out of stock at the moment because, it would appear, the distillery had a brief halt in production running 26 years ago but the 10 year old will certainly be worth a try and will be different to anything you'll pick up in your local Unwins.

If you are in London then Cadenheads is a great place to go for whisky. They used to be in Covent Garden but have moved to W1 somewhere now.

...a cask strength Caol Ila in Waitrose for 40 quid which I've recently availed myself of. Smokey, subtle, beautiful. As my token jocko mate David recently said, it's a lovely dram.

I am no expert, but a friend who is generously lets me drink his Edradour. Rare as hen's teeth, but very drinkable. T'internet says about £30 per bottle.

"That's Hennigans, the no-smell, no-tell, scotch."

If you're new to the uisge beatha and you have £40 to £60 to spend then I'd suggest you buy two bottles of decent malt rather than one bottle of something extra special.

Get two radically different drams:

Laphroaig (Islay) and Glenmorangie (Highland)
Bruichladdich (Islay again) and Glenlivet (Speyside)
Talisker (Skye) and Glenkinchie (Lowland)
Highland Park (Orkney) and Edradour (Highland)

That said, you can't go wrong whatever you do. (Though don't touch either Glenfiddich or Glengoyne as they're boufin!)

Islay (smokey, peaty,some say medicinal)
Highland (tend to sweeter some are even honeyed)
Personally I like Macallan but also Laphroaig depending on the occasion.

Can you get some taster bottles maybe or perhaps have a sly tasting session next time your in the pub.

It tastes of soil

If you fancy being a bit more adventurous, go for a Japanese malt. They're wonderfully well-made and very user-friendly.

From the duco01 collection I'd recommend, in your price range:

Miyagikyo 10 y.o.
Nikka Yoichi 10 y.o.
Hakushu 12 y.o.

only one Lagavulin, one Lagavulin, there's omly one Lagavulin!

My brother loves his whiskey and always drinks it neat. A work colleague of mine is also a big whiskey fan but insists you should always drink it with water. Who's right?

I love most whiskys. Tallisker is reliable. So's Lagavulin and the others mentioned. But the first one I really liked and love to this day is Glenfarclas. Right price too for your pressie.

http://www.parkerswhisky.co.uk/glenfarclas-15-year-old-malt-whisky-p-84....

Laphroaig is probably the top Islay malt but if you want something different, Bowmore is worth a try - I've a soft spot for it as I worked there for a while about 30 years ago.

Glen Garioch (pronounced Geery)is an interesting one - one of the few (perhaps only) Speyside distilleries which used peat kilns, so it has an Islay character about it (might be hard to find though - possibly closed a while back).

If pushed though, I'd say the Macallan is the king of the malts...

If you want a smooth Speyside, then the Cragganmore is simply divine

Although, I suspect it will be slightly frowned upon by those who prefer an altogether eartier product

As for water, I always liked the smallest splash (room temp preferred)

Mind you, since I knocked the demon booze on the head 3 years ago, I've not had the joy of the particular exeperience above...oh well...

Highland malt, found in Nicolas for some strange reason. Very smooth and perfect for the peat-denier. Glenmorangie made in a Sauternes cask is equally smooth, but lighter. If he wants something challenging, then Lagavulin. One ice cube for me.

in Edinburgh one night my scottish friends taught how to say "Bruichladdich" woke up the next and had completely forgotten (along with most other things) I seem to remmeber it tasted ok. Shame I can't re-order it! :)

That you cant go wrong with Talisker, Singleton, & the wonderful Glenmorangie.

Splash of water, jobs a good un.

Asking about "favourite whisky" is a bit like asking about "favourite band" and draws a sincere if predictable range of responses ... the only thing i'd disagree with thus far, from the comments above, is that Glenfiddich and Glengoyne are "bowfen'" (ie nae nice) because they're not ... confusingly, everything else everyone says up there ^ is true ...

back when our dads were whisky drinking sophisticates with a range of James Last albums, the whisky trade was pretty simple as the classy brands were all premium blends (Chivas Regal, Johnny Walker, the Antiquary etc, or cheaper blends like Bell's, Famous Grouse etc) ... but over the last few decades, single malts have dominated the premium end of the market and there are just *stupid* numbers of single malts from different distilleries

consequently, what's "good" these days is really down to personal taste but the choice is bedevilled by advertising, snobbery, fashion and more ...

some observations on single malts

1. age is not a guarantee of wonderfulness - a 16 year old is not always better than a 12 year old etc
2. price ditto ... if a 16 year old Lagavulin (£40+ at Oddbins) makes you gag, then you really are better off with a nice sub-£20 blended whisky like Ballantine's, J&B or Baillie Nicol Jarvie
3. exclusiveness ditto ditto (i'm a member of the Scotch Malt Whisky Soc in Edinburgh and some of the single cask malts they have are lovely in the extreme but some taste like cheap lavender sweets with lots of alcohol)

For someone who is really starting out and knows little (at this point) then if they really want a single malt an all-rounder would make sense ... in that case i'd echo what people above said about the ten year old Macallan (not the Fine Oak but the original, more sherried version) or the rather splendid Highland Park 12 year old ...

The more adventurous might opt for an Islay malt like Ardbeg, Lagavulin or Laphroaig (big flavour, medicinal, iodine, TCP, peat, maritime elements, acquired taste)

And if you're going to take the word of an expert then Jim Murray who publishes a whisky guide every year has raved about a specific expression of Ardbeg called Uigeadail which he has chosen as "best whisky of its kind in the world" in recent years ...

Mind you, the person above who said "buy two bottles" had a valid point and taking that even further, you could get three very nice bottles of interesting blended whisky for around £40-50 with many contrasting characteristics ...

And personally, if someone put a gun to my head and said "go spend over £40 on a bottle" i'd get the 16 year old Lagavulin ... "wave upon surging wave of giant peat" says Murray and goes on to make more subtle descriptions which i can't be bothered to quote in full - affa fine tho'

"wave upon surging wave of giant peat".
Yummy - and only £40 a bottle.

...a glass of 10-yr-old Ardbeg. Your only man, IMHO.

On a recent trip to Skye and the astonishing 400+ optics at the Sligachan hotel, hows about a Mortlach? Dark brown and liquorishy almost, most odd for a Speyside. Hard to catch but I am desperately seeking a bottle.

...to ask for the 12-year-old sherry cask Macallan for Christmas. Yum.

Slàinte mhath. [slawn-je vah]

Talisker is a reliable one - a longtime favourite of mine but some people find it a bit strong.
My current favourites are both Speyside and nice and smooth - Imperial and Linkwood.
I'm heading up to Speyside next week and hope to visit the Imperial distillery.
The best place to buy them - the Whisky shop in Inveraray. Fantastic selection, friendly staff, samples discounts...I usually leave the place having spent at least £75, but it's a great shop.
I joined the SMWS for a year, but I didn't renew it - it felt like I was paying for the privilege of being on a mailing list. It didn't feel like a club or "society" to me.

My sorely missed father in law passed away last xmas. He was a proud Scotsman from Perth. At his wake we toasted him with a 15 year old Dalwhinnie single malt. It tasted like Nectar - so much so that I ended up having rather a few and have dabbled a couple of times since. Lovely stuff. Think it is about £30 in Waitrose.

Although I like a good bottle of Malt I like a drop of Calvados even better. Well worth a try if you've never had it

Loch Fyne Whisky on the web-type thing:

http://www.lfw.co.uk/

I have tried to list the most popular and will try one of these poll thingys. Hope it works....

is a very nice Welsh single malt, premium strength yet very light I find, both on the tongue and on the head the following day. Around £35.

I'm currently enjoying the madeira finished whisky and would happily recommend it. I'm no expert, but I shall be investing in further botles from their range.

http://www.welsh-whisky.co.uk/whisky-range.aspx

for me - lovely distillery too up on Orkney.

http://www.highlandpark.co.uk/

If your relatively new to whisky the difference in quality isnt going to be really noticeable between £25 and £50.

One thing which I wished I'd known when I started getting into whisky was that you're much better with a good blend than an average malt. Blending is a real artform and a well-made, rounded blend is better than some of the rather thin and acidic malts you sometimes come across.

I've yet to come across any whisky I like better than Johnnie Walker Black Label. You'd get two of those for £50.

They are not all as madly peaty/seaweedy as Laphroaig. (I do like the fierceness of Laphraoig, especially the cask strength, and the quarter cask).

Several of the Bruichladdich small runs are more 'approachable'.
I'm keen on the Bruichladdich Rocks. They were doing "taster packs" of Rocks, Waves and Links for about £13 a while ago.

http://www.bruichladdich.com/wwwproduct/pdfsheets/rocks/rockssell.pdf

I've not had anything disappointing from Bruichladdich, and they do a lovely tour.

My current favourite for regular drinking is the Bunnahaibhen Darach Ur. If you fly at all, even just in the UK, you can get a litre of this for about £32. It is a lovely complex dram, with an island heritage but with a sweet honey/fruity flavour. It can be described as a "session dram" - unlike some of the other big guns that can be a bit overwhelming. Of course this means some aficianados look down on it.

http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/Bottles/Bunnahabhain_EN.shtml

Some people say the only thing you should put in malt whisky is more of the same. I find that a wee splash of water opens up the flavour. I worked for a while in the whisky industry, and the experts there put 6 drops in a pub measure. More water than that is fine by me depending on the whisky - the cask Laphraoig needs a very big splash!

Ardbeg is great, too, and I have occasionally had Black Bottle in a hot toddy when I've run out of cooking whisky. I enjoy Black Bottle with a big splash of water.

The Jura malts are very good - not as peaty, but definitely interesting. It used to be you had to go to Oddbins to find the Island Malts - now most Morrisons have some representation, at pretty sharp prices.

Whisky snobs will be outraged by this idea, but Morrisons Own Brand Islay Malt is a cracking drink, and was only about £16 in the run up to last Christmas. If the label says "Islay Single Malt Whisky", then it can't be anything else.

Oddbins may well do small tasting sets - they are a really good idea because it can be a bit grim spending £35 on a bottle that you've read about and finding that it tastes like TCP to you. (I have "helped out" pals who have bought a bottle of Laphraoig and realised it's not for them).

I'd opt for an 18 year old Laphroaig. Less petrol, smoother but also more complex. An extraordinary sensation as a drink. I've only had the pleasure of drinking it (or its 15 year old) three times. The first at a wedding, the second at a tasting event and the third time at an impromptu party when the Scot's host swelled with pride having asked me a very direct and obviously mettle-testing question: "what's your favourite whisky"?

to put in a word for Springbank.

http://www.springbankwhisky.com/

But if he's a beginner, I'd opt for a tasting kit covering all the regions.

http://www.whiskyshop.com/Shop/Detail.aspx?whisky=%27The-Whisky-Regions%...

as a future venue for a N.W. Massive mingle

http://www.fishermansretreat.com/

Out in the wilds of Ramsbottom and boasting

Our fantastic whisky bar is one of the best stocked bars in the world, with over 500 Scottish single malt whiskies, all available as a dram or bottle. If whisky is not for you we have a fine selection of award winning real ales and lagers always on tap.

There must be other venues that offer similar tasting evenings or miniature bottles of the good stuff. See their list as a PDF file - the dearest 25 ml dram is £15; the dearest bottle £2,000.

Would be proud of this list.

Exhibitors include :

* Aberlour
* A D Rattray Ltd
* Abhainn Dearg
* Adelphi Distillery
* Amrut
* anCnoc
* Auchentoshan
* Balblair
* BenRiach Distillery
* Black Bottle
* Bowmore
* Bruichladdich
* Bunnahabhain
* Chivas Regal
* Creative Whisky Co.
* Compass Box
* Dalwhinnie
* Deanston
* Douglas Laing & Co
* Duncan Taylor & Co
* Edradour
* Four Roses
* Glen Garioch
* Glen Grant
* Glen Moray
* GlenDronach
* Glenfiddich
* Glengoyne
* Glenkinchie
* Glenmorangie
* Gordon and MacPhail
* Ian Buxton
* Ian Gray
* Isle of Arran
* Isle of Jura
* Kilchoman
* Lark
* Ledaig
* Master of Malt
* Old Pulteney
* Potstill Publishing
* Scottish Leader
* Springbank
* Talisker
* The Balvenie
* The Dalmore
* The Glenlivet
* The Singleton of Dufftown
* Sustainable Wood Solutions
* The Tweeddale Blend
* The Vintage Malt Whisky Co.
* Tobermory
* Tomatin Distillery
* Wemyss Malts
* Whyte & Mackay

http://www.glasgowswhiskyfestival.com/index.php

I wonder if Bruichladdich will have any of the amazing gin tehy were trialling in August?

(and yes, I am aware that Scottish Leader is more of a "whisky-style drink")

Of malt whisky has made me thirsty, so I have opened a bottle of Glenmorangie.............

Oblivion beckons.

There hasn't been much mention of lowland malts yet, apart from a brief reference to Glenkinchie earlier on.
Actually, I think that lowland malts make quite a good introduction to the whisky world for the newcomer. They're light, pleasing - you could almost have one as an aperitif. Much better than starting the neophyte on some humungous, super-abrasive, monster-phenolic Ardbeg or Laphroaig.

So ... what to go for?

Well, my No.1 tip is a bottle of St. Magdalene (a.k.a. Linlithgow)

The St. Magdalene distillery closed in 1983 and is now an apartment complex. This means that bottles of it are a little harder to come by than most malts. And, inevitably, they don't tend to be too cheap. But they're well worth hunting down from specialist whisky merchants - the St. Magdalene has a phenomenal roundness and length on the tongue that other lowland malts can only aspire to.

If you can't find a St. Magdalene, my second choice lowland malt would be a Rosebank. Mmm ... I had a lovely 12 y.o. Rosebank Signatory bottling a few years ago. So light and refreshing. You could almost have put an olive on a cocktail stick in it.

...Rosebank has been shut down too(mid 90's I think). Some of the original buildings still stand but most of the land has been taken up by housing.

These were my local distilleries. I could drive to either in 10 minutes. Single malt whisky is my spirit of choice and I've never tried either of them...shame on me.

You've given me a great idea for a Christmas gift though!

Terrific thread chaps, feel like I've learnt a shedload about a subject I knew very little of, and that proves my personal thereom that whiskey is like jazz - veritably impenetrable for those on the outside looking in, peering in on a world through a window darkly, faces pressed against the windows like Dickensian street urchins.

At least with jaaazzz you have the astronomical equivalency of Polaris in Miles and Coltrane, 'nails of heaven' who anybody worth their musical salt has heard of. But with whiskey, its maybe just the usual suspects that you can pick up in any aisle 6 but, if in the mood for some quality, all the average layman like me-ski know is to score a bouteille of a 'single malt'.

I like my stout and especially my vino and its taken years to work out the nomenclature for the latter, but the ins and outs of the peaty stuff are in another league altogether. 'WTF?' indeed!

Glenbervie, triffic post man, good to know that there's some decent blended drams out there for beginners, and that just cos its a single malt doesn't necessarily mean its of primo verity and might well taste of a mixture of 'genocide' and 'BP Forecourt'!

BR
FT

Much like jimmyshoes01 I am in the first year of my whisky apprenticeship.

So far I am liking:

Auchentoshan (Three Wood)
The Balvenie (Double Wood)
Ledaig
Highland Park (12 year old)
Macallan (10 year old)
Bowmore

I still havent decided what to ask Santa for yet

Just a splash of water by the way is all you need.

Buy two nice malts with your money rather that something special

Useful thread.
I haven't graduated beyond Glenfiddich, but it sounds like I ought to.
I like it, but I've little frame of reference.

Oh, come on, you know it had to happen at some stage.

My favourite has to be this with the pretty label

... I know its the 'connoisseur's choice' and all that, but I'm a more than casual whisky drinker (insert jokes about suit wearing/alcoholism here) and I'm afraid it tastes pretty disgusting to me - oily rather than peaty.

You can't go wrong with Glenmorangie or Glenlivet - and better still, you can sometimes pick up a c.£38 bottle of either of these from Sainsbury's with substantial discounts (like £14 off). Highland Park from Orkney is another goodie.

Of the Irish ones, I'd recommend Bushmills 10 year old - better by far IMHO than the 12 or 16 year olds, the difference seeming to be that the 10 is kept ijn bourbon rather than sherry casks for several years.

The Quarter Cask expression is quite sweet and nice by Laphy standards. But a general rule of thumb is if you don't like Laphy then you won't like Ardbeg or Lagavulin either, and you might find the other Islays (Caol Ila, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Bowmore, the hard to find Kilchoman) a bit aggressive as well.

No specific mention of the Highland Park 18-y-o here, which is a major surprise; generally acknowledged as the best all-rounder of the moment, almost universally loved and called "the best spirit in the world" by one expert. Costs about £50-60 a bottle, but worth it even compared to the regular 12-y-old.

...that's why you haven't heard it mentioned, I'd guess! Certainly, I couldn't afford that price - though I was at the HP distillery in July looking wistfully at such bottles...

Curiously, though, I HAVE enjoyed a bottle of Bowmore in the past couple of years - I'd forgotten this, but stumbled on the (empty!) cannister in a clear out a couple of days back. It didn't, from memory, taste anything like the dreadful Laphroaig... or I wouldn't have finished it!

Another shout out for the Springbank. Not only is their 10 year old the finest 10 year old out there, it is one of the finest single malts period.

I am also passionate about the Highland Park 18 year old. It is simply amazing - pure pleasure. You will mourn the last drop.

I Recall a discusion in a Usenet newsgroup some years back where the topic was Single Malts and some sly dog reeled out a list of Malts with a wrongun' in it's midst.

One poor soul (a Rugby Union fan) replied saying he was familiar with all of them but one.
"I've never heard of Glenoddle.", he replied.

If you've been tasting single malts for a few years, and fancy getting hold of something a bit special for Christmas, I can point you in the direction of the Blackadder Raw Cask series of bottlings (nothing to do with the Rowan Atkinson comedy character of the same name).

I suppose I must've tasted at least 15 different bottlings over the years, and a Blackadder Raw Cask is always intriguing. If you look carefully at the bottom of the bottles, you'll see a blackish, ashy sludge. This is because the only thing that Blackadder filters out is splinters and chunks of wood from the casks. Everything else, including the natural oils and fats in the gungy sediment at the bottom of the barrel, is kept in. This means that the malts have an incredibly long and intense finish.

Sadly, your local Tesco's or Sainsburys won't stock any Blackadder Raw Casks. Nor do any of the off licence chains. The only place I know of in London where you can get 'em is the Vintage House in Old Compton Street, Soho. Prices? Well ... from about £30 to about £100, depending on the malt in question. But it's well worth the extra effort and expense. An incredible dram is guaranteed.

Suddenly it's autumn. The crisp cold rosé vinos of the (???) summer are gone. My thoughts turn to something warming and cheery. This is a great thread, but I wondered...any new discoveries? I haven't even got a bottle in, so it's off to Waitrose tomorrow. Or are there better places to buy from?

I can thoroughly recommend Penderyn, which is competitively priced as well.

http://www.welsh-whisky.co.uk/whisky-range.aspx

I've been enjoying quite a bit of the Jura - it has been described as a good "session dram", as it is not as powerful as the massive peaty Islay malts. Still a good interesting dram, and there are regular promos in supermarkets where you can get a bottle for around £20.

That's my tip for winter 2011

But I've had some very nice English whiskies from

http://www.englishwhisky.co.uk/home.html

I'd particularly recommend Chapter 6, Chapter 11 is one of the most heavily peated whiskies I've ever tasted, a bit too much for my tastes.

I have a couple of friends that I've known since childhood, we're all hitting 60 in 2012 so, especially given recent events, I thought it'd be nice to buy them a 60 year old malt as a birthday gift.

I appreciate this isn't going to be cheap but I want to thank them for a lifetime of friendship.

Now, I know less than zero about scotch but they're both real connoisseurs. I know enough to realise that I'm not going to be able to pick these up in my local Waitrose so, my question us, where should I go? Any advice or suggestions?

Thanks

.

why not try peat.