What dram is in your quaich?

[ASinclair]

I've been an Irish Whiskey drinker, Jameson 12 year old. This past week my wife got me a bottle of Jameson 12 year old and Jameson Black Barrel. For Christmas she got me a bottle of Oban 14 year old.

I don't always drink Irish whiskey. But when I do, I prefer Bushmills.

[mookien]

I like Irish whiskey. I stock and enjoy both Jameson and Bushmills. My favorites are Paddy (great finish) and Tullamore Dew (great flavor).

I enjoyed a glass of the latter tonight before dinner, followed after dinner by a dram of 18-year old (1995) Glen Elgin Signatory bottling. "It's good to be the king" ... in my house, after my wife goes to bed, anyway.

[auld argonian]

I don't always drink Irish whiskey. But when I do, I prefer Bushmills.

We've been quietly trying to convert the great unwashed masses hereabouts from Jamesons to Bush for a while. It's pretty much a given that Bush is the better whisky but there are some "political" considerations that seem to persist in amongst those of Irish ancestry as to which is the proper whisky.

I happened to score a bottle of the Bushmills 10 in one of those cute little Christmas special boxes with a couple of wee shot glasses as an after-the-holiday-clearance item a few years ago and it was an absolute revelation. Couple of my liquor store guys who I meet for lunch now and then have made the comment that Jamesons regular is very inconsistent from batch to batch….I don't taste enough of it to be able to make that judgement but I do trust the palates of these guys.

Best,

AA

[The Q]

I went through a phase of trying many different whiskies, including several regimental Whiskies not available to the public (Dad worked at Edinburgh Castle).
But in the end I settled on Highland Park (normally 12 year old), which I first had when handed me by the skipper of a 25ft yacht as we sailed past the Orkneys. We were moving the yacht from Mallaig to Grimsby.

[mookien]

You certainly settled on a famous malt - in these parts, anyway. It's way too peaty for my taste, though. I prefer the whisky from a lesser known distillery about a mile southwest of Highland Park - Scapa. Their 16-year old " 'the' Orcadian" pours a very nice dram, neat or on-the-rocks.

By the way, last night I moved my yacht from the soap dish on the right to its more permanent mooring on the shelf behind my left shoulder.

Slainte!

[ASinclair]

Highland Park 12 is on my favorites list. I like the peat monsters, so to me it seems only mildly peaty. My sweetie, carolinanan117 does not like the peat monsters but does enjoy a wee dram of Highland Park 12 occasionally. She calls it smoky rather than peaty.

[tky58]

To be honest, I am currently rediscovering a taste for American bourbon (Maker's Mark). I rather like its sweet quality.

We had a whiskey tasting at our local Burns' night dinner recently and I was excited to try Oban. Imagine my shock when I found out I really don't like the taste of peat. The more mild Speyside and lowland whiskeys were far more to my taste.

To mark the other side of it, my wife needed a flask shaped bottle as a stage prop. Since the play was being performed for the benefit of the inmates at our "local government hotel" (Belfast, ME's early release facility) the bottle had to be emptied and I ended up with a pint of Seagram's 7. I can only describe that as well - weak.

My open bottle of single malt is a 10 year old Speyburn which is somewhat peaty. Sitting in the wings is my first bottle of Glenmorangie, which I found on (gasp) sale. I naturally had to save it even though I won't crack it for a while.

Steve Wilson

[mookien]

Steve: My favorite bourbon for mint juleps is Maker's Mark, mostly for its sweetness, though it has a good flavor, too. I have a mint garden (actually a patch of mint "weeds") that I harvest in the summer and fall, and from which I (often, in fact, my wife) make mint syrup. Then, it's a tall glass filled to the brim with crushed ice over which I pour equal portions of mint syrup and Maker's Mark. It is a wonderful, but potent drink, and as you say "sweet".

Oban is not so much peaty as it is briny - a "salty, ocean-like" flavor that ostensibly comes from its ageing in barrels near the shores of the Irish sea. Though all are fine malts, my favorite is the Oban 18. Old Pulteney has that same characteristic, but from the North Sea. My fav is the 17-year old - briny, but not salty. I love them both, so don't give up on them prematurely. They are truly wonderful malts with their own distinctive characteristics.

In my younger years I drank a good bit of Seagram's 7 with 7-Up, "7&7", as they were called. I'm not surprised you found it "weak". It is a grain whiskey and cannot compare in flavor, richness, and complexity to most good scotch whiskys.

If your Glenmorangie is their 10-year old, you are in for a taste treat. It is a relatively inexpensive, but excellent "highland" malt - one of my favorites. Also, try any of their wine-barrel finished malts - port, sherry, sauternes, etc . Choose the wine you like the most, sit back, and enjoy.

As I wrote above, I too do not like heavily peated malts. But, don't give up on peat. There are many that balance the peat with other flavors that mitigate/blend the "rubber tire" character of the peat. Examples (for me) include Auchentoshan Three Wood, Jura Prophecy, and Bowmore 18 (exceedingly smooth, but with a wicked peat finish - pleasure before pain, one might say). Slainte!

John

[William O'Cairns]

Currently drinking Cardhu 12 yr old Single Malt. Not a common bottle to find around here, but when I see it I like to pick one up. A little sweet for some people, but one of my favorite scotches, and cheap enough for a single malt I don't feel bad if I mix it into a Rusty Nail or a Rob Roy

[Tomo]

Have a couple of bottles on the go at the moment (as always). Just finished a nice bottle of Balvenie Doublewood (a thank you gift from a work placement student - he'll go far). The others include a very smooth Glenrothes Manse Reserve, a heavy hitting Talisker Dark Storm and my current (recently discovered) favourite, the sublime and complex Auchentoshan Three Wood.

If only I could still get my hands on a reasonably priced Glenfiddich Caoran Reserve... although I think the Three Wood might have now relegated this to 2nd place - it would be a close run thing and an interesting evening!!