THE MACALLAN -- Cask Strength (and sundry booze discussion)

[MDV]

I just got a bottle of Caol Ila. Ye gods this stuff is so strong! It's like Arbeg on steroids. I'm getting quite into it.  :D

I love caol ila. Beautifull stuff. The 18 year old is in my top 5 scotches, maybe in first place. Nothing in the least shabby about the 12 year either. Top 10 for sure.

About the laphroaig talk - personally I rank them

10yr cask strength
10yr
15 year

For some reason I find the 15 a bit bland.

[Johnny Mac]

I just got a bottle of Caol Ila. Ye gods this stuff is so strong! It's like Arbeg on steroids. I'm getting quite into it.  :D

I love caol ila. Beautifull stuff. The 18 year old is in my top 5 scotches, maybe in first place. Nothing in the least shabby about the 12 year either. Top 10 for sure.

About the laphroaig talk - personally I rank them

10yr cask strength
10yr
15 year

For some reason I find the 15 a bit bland.

I'm finding it not so fierce on the palette now andit is a great tasting Whisky.

Laphroaig is a great taste. I've only had the 10yr and the quarter cask. I'm still yet  to try a cask strength of any type, or should I say, 'Expression' :lol:

[shobet]

You really need to try some of the independent bottlings. They will give you a much better appreciation of the differences between distilleries from different parts of Scotland and the variation you can get within each of the distilleries. I prefer non chill-filtered editions myself as they taste better to my palette.

The independents tend to be a tad more expensive than the standard bottles you'll get from the less specialised shops and supermarkets, but well worth the extra in my opinion. I'm quite partial to the Signatory and the Queen of the Moorlands bottlings and I recommend these if you can get hold of them.

Have a look at my second home - http://www.wineandwhisky.com

And when I'm visiting the in-laws I have to go to these places as well.
http://www.no7-shop.de/catalog/index.php/cPath/2391_2404
http://www.isle-of-skye-online.de/

[Dr. Stein]

Now this is an oldie...

I love caol ila. Beautifull stuff. The 18 year old is in my top 5 scotches, maybe in first place. Nothing in the least shabby about the 12 year either. Top 10 for sure.

About the laphroaig talk - personally I rank them

10yr cask strength
10yr
15 year

For some reason I find the 15 a bit bland.

"Scotches"? "SCOTCHES"!? Are you mixing this up with the 'at the end of the day' thread?

Currently on my shelf are:

Aberlour 10 (had for at least 3 years, don't like it at all but it looks nice)
Royal Lochnagar 10 (probably my favourite 10 year old)
Glengoyne Cask Strength 12 (strong...)
Glenfiddich 21 (birthday present, personalised bottle and everything...)
Morrisons Best Ever 15 (what?)
Highland Park 12 (or 10, it tastes like piss whatever it is)

[Johnny Mac]

Now this is an oldie...

I love caol ila. Beautifull stuff. The 18 year old is in my top 5 scotches, maybe in first place. Nothing in the least shabby about the 12 year either. Top 10 for sure.

About the laphroaig talk - personally I rank them

10yr cask strength
10yr
15 year

For some reason I find the 15 a bit bland.

"Scotches"? "SCOTCHES"!? Are you mixing this up with the 'at the end of the day' thread?

Currently on my shelf are:

Aberlour 10 (had for at least 3 years, don't like it at all but it looks nice)
Royal Lochnagar 10 (probably my favourite 10 year old)
Glengoyne Cask Strength 12 (strong...)
Glenfiddich 21 (birthday present, personalised bottle and everything...)
Morrisons Best Ever 15 (what?)
Highland Park 12 (or 10, it tastes like piss whatever it is)

I don't fancy yours much!   :lol:

[MDV]

Now this is an oldie...

I love caol ila. Beautifull stuff. The 18 year old is in my top 5 scotches, maybe in first place. Nothing in the least shabby about the 12 year either. Top 10 for sure.

About the laphroaig talk - personally I rank them

10yr cask strength
10yr
15 year

For some reason I find the 15 a bit bland.

"Scotches"? "SCOTCHES"!? Are you mixing this up with the 'at the end of the day' thread?

Currently on my shelf are:

Aberlour 10 (had for at least 3 years, don't like it at all but it looks nice)
Royal Lochnagar 10 (probably my favourite 10 year old)
Glengoyne Cask Strength 12 (strong...)
Glenfiddich 21 (birthday present, personalised bottle and everything...)
Morrisons Best Ever 15 (what?)
Highland Park 12 (or 10, it tastes like piss whatever it is)

Oh shush.

You probably do actually refer to variations in SCOTCHES as 'expressions'.

Never understood what anyone saw in glenfiddich.

P.S. I hear that some japanese scotches are getting pretty good. Not personally sampled any though.

[MDV]

Oh. Threadnomancy has led me to pour a dram of the laphroaig cask strength I got for christmas. mmmmmmmm peaty goodness.

I think the reason that the 15 doesnt work as well as the 10 or CS is that I like it so much because its such an aggressive, inyourface flavour, mixed with peaty goodness.

Either that or it tastes like TCP. Depends who you ask. More interesting is; who drinks TCP?

[Dr. Stein]

Never understood what anyone saw in glenfiddich.

No, me neither. At supermarket level I could only describe it as inoffensive, the 21 has a bit more to it but it's still smooth to the point of being bland. Not a patch on the morrisons 15, which at £19.99 is a pretty decent malt.

I'm not a fan of anything peaty or especially smoky, which I think probably separates me from everyone else here...

[MDV]

Never understood what anyone saw in glenfiddich.

No, me neither. At supermarket level I could only describe it as inoffensive, the 21 has a bit more to it but it's still smooth to the point of being bland. Not a patch on the morrisons 15, which at £19.99 is a pretty decent malt.

I'm not a fan of anything peaty or especially smoky, which I think probably separates me from everyone else here...

We do seem to have a very disproportionate appreciation for peaty, smokey whiskys here. No idea why, but its far more than I normally. I love them, personally. The only really notable exception; a scotch I really like that is as far from peaty as it gets is balvenie. I like others, but thats the only one I can pull to mind thats up there with the laphroaigs, taliskers, caol ila etc for me.

[Dr. Stein]

We do seem to have a very disproportionate appreciation for peaty, smokey whiskys here. No idea why, but its far more than I normally. I love them, personally. The only really notable exception; a scotch I really like that is as far from peaty as it gets is balvenie. I like others, but thats the only one I can pull to mind thats up there with the laphroaigs, taliskers, caol ila etc for me.

I had a balvenie once but it wasn't my first dram of the evening, shall we say, so I've got little to no idea what it tasted like :lol: Might give it a go if I ever get rid of the highland park. Or get a bigger shelf...

[MDV]

We do seem to have a very disproportionate appreciation for peaty, smokey whiskys here. No idea why, but its far more than I normally. I love them, personally. The only really notable exception; a scotch I really like that is as far from peaty as it gets is balvenie. I like others, but thats the only one I can pull to mind thats up there with the laphroaigs, taliskers, caol ila etc for me.

I had a balvenie once but it wasn't my first dram of the evening, shall we say, so I've got little to no idea what it tasted like :lol: Might give it a go if I ever get rid of the highland park. Or get a bigger shelf...

Ah, come now, I'm *sure* you can make room for it somewhere!

The 10yr 'expression' is good stuff, likely available at your local tescos or morrisons...

Just give the highland park the high velocity meeting with a pavement it deserves and replace it with the good stuff :lol: (or one of the good stuffs).

(FWIW the highland park 12 isnt that bad. The 10 is nasty. Regardless, either should be discarded ruthlessly for any balvenie, imo :))

[Dr. Stein]

It's the 12 I have. It's pretty bad... I just keep telling myself it won't last forever. On inspection the royal lochnagar is also a 12, would have sworn it was a 10.

[Johnny Mac]

Balvenie 12 Double Wood is good stuff. I used to buy that quite often.

The smoke, peat and Iodine flavours are pretty intense at first but once you acquire the taste you're hooked. Islay has some amazing Whiskys. I don't bother with any others now, they always taste as if there is something missing.
If the peat is a bit much, try Bruichladdich Rocks. Gorgeous stuff.

[shobet]

Got my third bottle of this over the weekend, I can't recommend it enough.



They're starting to run out of them, I'm scared.

[Johnny Mac]

Got my third bottle of this over the weekend, I can't recommend it enough.



They're starting to run out of them, I'm scared.

I'd love to try it but at that price wont!

What's it like?  :D