OT: Scotch thread | The Boneyard

OT: Scotch thread

8893

8893

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HuskyHawk said:
I think we need a Scotch thread.
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Here you go @HuskyHawk.

I'll start: my house Scotch, which is my favorite, is Lagavulin 16 year. But all my locals are now charging $80 or more for it, which pisses me off because I used to be able to get it for $65 to $70. Now I'll need to make a trip to Total Wine to find that price.

Anyone got suggestions for something similar to Lagavulin that I might check out? I've liked a lot of the special Balvenie Scotches I've had, but they weren't much cheaper.
 
8893 said:
Here you go @HuskyHawk.

I'll start: my house Scotch, which is my favorite, is Lagavulin 16 year. But all my locals are now charging $80 or more for it, which pisses me off because I used to be able to get it for $65 to $70. Now I'll need to make a trip to Total Wine to find that price.

Anyone got suggestions for something similar to Lagavulin that I might check out? I've liked a lot of the special Balvenie Scotches I've had, but they weren't much cheaper.
Expand ...

I would seek out Ledaig 10 as a possible replacement. Caol Ila 12 is closer to the Lagavulin peat profile, but is almost as expensive as Lagavulin 16. Adding @History Geek Ardbeg 10 is a good bargain as well.
 
I'm only about peat. I keep four bottles at all times:

- Lagavulin 16
- Laphroaig Quarter Cask
- Ardbeg Uigeadail
- Caol Ila 12

I drink the Laphroaig most often since Lagavulin has gotten too expensive. Their Quarter Cask is far better than the 10 year IMO and only a few dollars more.

These days, I only buy Lagavulin when visiting my wife's family in California as it's $55 at Costco out there. I buy one bottle to leave at the in-laws, one is put in my luggage home and the other goes in my wife's bag-- those two bottles brought home last the year. I believe the last time I looked at the Total Wine in Milford it was $86 a bottle. I haven't been to the Norwalk location in a while.
 
I don't have any "house Scotch". I've traded for probably 50-60 samples over the last two years, and I've written 30 some odd reviews on Reddit. Current bottles: Lagavulin 12 Cask Strength, Longrow Red Shiraz, Ledaig 10, Macallan 12, Glenfiddich 14 (gift), a fantastic IB Tobermory at 13 years, Compass Box Great King Street Artists single marrying cask, Oban 14, Kilkerran 8 CS and others.
Here's the whole inventory. https: //www.reddit.com/r/whiskyinventory/comments/70c6ij/wildoscar66_usa_boston/

The Longrow Red Shiraz and the Tobermory are standouts for me. I like the Longrow Red Port better, and I'm contemplating overpaying slightly to get one. The Lagavulin 12 is wonderful, a nice upgrade to the 16.
 
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8893 said:
Here you go @HuskyHawk.

I'll start: my house Scotch, which is my favorite, is Lagavulin 16 year. But all my locals are now charging $80 or more for it, which pisses me off because I used to be able to get it for $65 to $70. Now I'll need to make a trip to Total Wine to find that price.

Anyone got suggestions for something similar to Lagavulin that I might check out? I've liked a lot of the special Balvenie Scotches I've had, but they weren't much cheaper.
Expand ...

I bought a case of it (my favorite too) for $40 a bottle offline. I gave some of it as presents (to soccer coaches, contractors, a teacher, etc., a sound tech). I had 20 bottles of it!

If you make that $800 investment, it might be worth it if you drink a lot of it.
 
upstater said:
I bought a case of it (my favorite too) for $40 a bottle offline. I gave some of it as presents (to soccer coaches, contractors, a teacher, etc., a sound tech). I had 20 bottles of it!

If you make that $800 investment, it might be worth it if you drink a lot of it.
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That is a great investment. How do I find it?
 
8893 said:
I like that, too.
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My friend and I would get a pour before many an evening class during law school.
 
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the Q said:
Macallen 18.

End thread
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Yeah, if you've got a spare $300+. The Macallan Classic Cut is delicious by the way. Much cheaper.
 
Lefty2one said:
I'm only about peat. I keep four bottles at all times:

- Lagavulin 16
- Laphroaig Quarter Cask
- Ardbeg Uigeadail
- Caol Ila 12

I drink the Laphroaig most often since Lagavulin has gotten too expensive. Their Quarter Cask is far better than the 10 year IMO and only a few dollars more.

These days, I only buy Lagavulin when visiting my wife's family in California as it's $55 at Costco out there. I buy one bottle to leave at the in-laws, one is put in my luggage home and the other goes in my wife's bag-- those two bottles brought home last the year. I believe the last time I looked at the Total Wine in Milford it was $86 a bottle. I haven't been to the Norwalk location in a while.
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I’m a Laphroiag guy. Been hitting the Triple Wood lately. Super smooth.
 
In my office - lots of gifts, including:

- Glentauchers 16
- Balblair 2003
- Couple of Balvenie variants
- Glendornach
- Laphroaig 10/15/18/Triple Wood
- Kilchoman

And old standards like:

- JW Blue
- Martell Cordon Bleu
 

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Not scotch but whiskey...

Hibiki 17. Blows the doors off of Blue.

I thoroughly enjoy royal salute also.

Macallan 18 is cheap at Costco FYI
 
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I'm partial to the Highlands - Macallan 12 and 18, special cask (was a gift), Kilchoman, Highland Park, Really enjoying a Belvenie 15, have the Ardbeg, Laphroaig 10 and 16,
but my favorite is Talisker 18, Talisker 10 or Storm will do in a pinch.
 
Drumguy said:
I'm partial to the Highlands - Macallan 12 and 18, special cask (was a gift), Kilchoman, Highland Park, Really enjoying a Belvenie 15, have the Ardbeg, Laphroaig 10 and 16,
but my favorite is Talisker 18, Talisker 10 or Storm will do in a pinch.
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You guys are snobs! Johnny Walker Red will wet my whistle just fine. Just kidding (although I don't hate JW Black).

I generally moved to bourbon over Scotch a few years ago. I found that Macallan 12 was my favorite and Scotch lovers mocked that a bit. I don't love the peaty Scotches like Laphroaig (but I respect them) and found that what I liked in the Macallan 12 was more prevalent in bourbon.

Separately, someone mentioned JW Blue. When I had season tickets for the Giants at the old stadium, my tickets came with a pre and post party that included a crappy buffet, but open bar. They had your standard drinks, but JW was a sponsor so they poured JW Blue (Giants = Big Blue)! I used to give the bartender a tip to go a bit heavy on the pour. After a couple pre-game drinks, he'd fill a small plastic cup for me on my way into the game. I typically had to share with others around me or I'd get too drunk (and look like a Jets fan). I probably drank/shared about $75 worth per game if I owned the bottle, a ton more than that if I bought at a bar/restaurant. That all went away with the new sterile stadium.
 
If you like peat on a budget, there are two recommendations I can give you:

Finlaggan, which you can get for $20 at Trader Joe's
Black Bottle, an islay blend which you can usually find for $25-ish

Neither's going to go head-to-head with the likes of Lagavulin 16 or Caol Ila 12 or even Laphroaig 10, but I still have fun drinking the hell out of them.
 
Ardbeg is great if you like the Islays. Its a little lighter/cleaner than Lagavulin or Laphroaig, but still a peaty Islay. Bowmore is hit or miss but can also be good. Or just drink tequila (Don Julio).
 
Point6 said:
Ardbeg is great if you like the Islays. Its a little lighter/cleaner than Lagavulin or Laphroaig, but still a peaty Islay. Bowmore is hit or miss but can also be good. Or just drink tequila (Don Julio).
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Oh i forgot Caol Ila (mentioned in post above), also very good.
 
Point6 said:
Ardbeg is great if you like the Islays. Its a little lighter/cleaner than Lagavulin or Laphroaig, but still a peaty Islay. Bowmore is hit or miss but can also be good. Or just drink tequila (Don Julio).
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Not sure about tequila, but if you like smoke, there are some very good Mezcals out there. Not cheap, but cheaper than Scotch.

The best bargain Spirit is rum. Amazing rum can be had for the price of very ordinary Scotch.
 
.-.
Did you guys know it was National Margarita Day yesterday? Just wondering.:eek:

I did!
 
What you guys may want to try is some Australian whiskey. Like Dobson’s Old Reliable. Here’s the backstory from their website.

It seems that every whiskey in the world has a back story, you know, of how it has been made by the same family of half blind midgets in a quasi quaint Scottish highland village...the reality is that most are made in huge quantities in factories called distilleries....
We thought that we really needed a back story for our whiskey...and it is as truthful as most of the others.
Before you recieve your bottle of Dobson's whiskey, it is best that you know the magical tale of how it gets from us to you. It all starts with a secret field in the lowland bayou where vestal virgins tend the fields of barley, all cloned from one grain, given personally to our farmer by a passing vagrant who said he was the messiah. The susequent barley is peated over a fire of burning goats tended by quadruple amputees who scoop the grain up in their blistered lips and spit it onto the smouldering peat.
The mash is cooked over a fire of burning maggoty small meats to impart a rich scaley texture. Fermentation uses the yeast harvested from between the toes of drunken riverside vagrants in Paris. This heady blend is then distilled in a pot still containing a dead pidgeon, as an offering to Barry the god of petty criminals. The spirit is then re-distilled in a plate still.
Upon the completion of ageing on Venezualan Goose oak. The resulting spirit is transported down the mighty Kentucky Creek, on the august new moon. By five small but perfectly formed Russian novelists, sworn to nasal abstinence. The portage is by old birch bark canoe, navigating only by astrolabe. Upon landing the cask containing just two bottles of Dobson's is poured into the bottles. One is capped and placed on an altar of the purest gold, awaitng sale to you . The other is poured over the acursed ground to make a pentangle on the ground around a sacred goat wearing lipstick (Revlon - Summer's Gold Shimmer ) named Denise. The pentangle is then set alight and the Russian novelists take their place, each on his own corner of the pentangle...at which time they perform the japanese sacred act of Seppuku , The act of ritual disembowelment using a sharpened HB pencil for a blade.
We think it is the birch in the canoe which really sets our whiskey apart.
 
A few times, I've allowed a friend to tell me the back story of hand-labelled, numbered, your own barrel, and Scotch-of-the-month club entries. I've found it interesting but nothing I'd ever want to get involved with, but makes for enough to weigh in on a thread like this.

Son-in-law has introduced me to Laphroaig & Macallan, but I'm happier with other distilled spirits, and his greater interest is wine.

At home, I have a bottle of Dewar's for my sister's visits, and a Balvenie option that noone has ever complained about.
 
8893 said:
Here you go @HuskyHawk.

I'll start: my house Scotch, which is my favorite, is Lagavulin 16 year. But all my locals are now charging $80 or more for it, which pisses me off because I used to be able to get it for $65 to $70. Now I'll need to make a trip to Total Wine to find that price.

Anyone got suggestions for something similar to Lagavulin that I might check out? I've liked a lot of the special Balvenie Scotches I've had, but they weren't much cheaper.
Expand ...

I buy my Lagavulin in LI when we go to visit my SIL. Still lists under $60 as of last Christmas.

If you think you've got it bad, it's now $91 at PLCB stores here in PA.

However, Lagavulin is my special scotch. House scotch is usually Famous Grouse, but that's been creeping up in price and I may switch to Sheep Dip in future.
 
the Q said:
Macallen 18.

End thread
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As a guy with more than 150 bourbons in my house, I’ve tried to like scotch just can’t do it. Someone gave me a Macallen 18 and I brought it to a 4wD club event just to get rid of it.

I know it’s supposed to be great juice, but I just can’t get the taste for scotch I suppose that’s what happens when you’ve been drinking bourbon for 30+ years.

I’m going to keep trying scotch in hopes that one sticks.
 
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