Five extra large ice cubes

Is your shitty drink gonna be a new thread every night?

>ice cubes in a top shelf

Single Malt: Made with spirit distilled from a single distillery, can be blended from multiple casks from the same facility

Single Barrel/Cask: Comes from on single barrel or cask, unblended.

No user, you're the retard

>top shelf

>that's the joke

>bothering with ice

just keep the bottle in the freezer

WTF? Ice, just wow, only use ice if you buy shit tier whisky

>you're overpaying for single barrel or single cask if you dilute it because that just ruins what makes it more expensive
Except your supposed to add a drop or two of water to open up the esters so the flavors actually become more visible on the palate and nose, it goes for all whisky especially higher proof ones.
Also Glenlivet is fucking shit outside of the 16 Nadurra and some special editions at higher strength, your better off getting Aberlour 12.

Except Glenlivet is single malt and not single cask. You're a retard QED

Is this the whisky general?

I cheap'd out and bought a bottle of JW Red as I've never tried it.
What a shit whisky

Which decanter would you pick? Yes I know of the dangers of lead crystal decanters, I just want some nice decor and occasional serving.

Curiosity got the best of you I see, saw a lot of reviews calling it shit so I simply avoided it, and a friend had also had it and he said it tasted meh (aka bad).

Whats the go to single malt scotch thats relatively affordable? Only had bourbon and shit blend.

Wait, is that actually the definition of single malt? I thought single malt meant it all came from the same mash, so they all have the same mash bill and weren't blended with any other mashes

Right looks nicer desu, but unless you're going to drink all of it in one sitting make sure you're not leaving it in there for the alcohol to evaporate off.

Yeah that's not even the most dangerous part, but that after 24hrs the drink already exceeds daily recommendation for lead! I have one cheaper in that style already which is glass with a great stopper, so the left one is currently fancying me, but it's not a "whisky" decanter... 1st world problems...

You're right. The other guy is dumb. It's called a single malt because it's made from one malt. Aka when they make the mash. Says in the name ck, get your shirt together.

If you're gonna water shit down, just get a cheaper blend. Dewars white label is nice.

I'd be keen to know what the well regarded relatively cheap blends are?

>glenlivet
>useful as anything other than drain cleaner

Welcome to the Trump years.

underrated shenanigans

Ok guys, I went and did some research. So it turns out that the term "Single Malt" is actually a complete meme. The true definition of Single Malt is simply that it is made by a single distillery. That is the only requirement. It has zero other implication. It can be a blend of completely different mashes from different barrels all aged for different lengths of time. The declared age only has to be the youngest of the whiskey that went into the mix.

Correct.

If it is made up of single malts from different distilleries it becomes a blended malt.

Otherwise it is just a blend.

If i have never had scotch before, but have had decent bourbon (elijah craig), what scotch should i start with? Single malt? Blended? Brands?

Single malt, start with lighter aperitif styled speysides like cragganmore, craigallachie or deanston etc. Then you can work up to richer, sweeter highlands, then spicier speysides and islays.

It's tempting to jump straight to the big bad boy flavor bombs, but you risk blowing out your palate or finding something too challenging which you'll hate. 9 out of 10 people who say they hate whisky do so because their first experience was stealing dad's Laphroaig when they were 15.

There are whiskies for every palate and taste, every time of day and occaision. You just need to find the one for you!

Some say this is the best blend on the market, better than teachers highland cream, much better than cheap single malts especially. True?

WHISKY BUMP

Bought pic related while I was on vacation in Spain (cheaper than where I live), I enjoy it a lot but it seems a bit "boring". Have you guys had any experiences with japanese whiskey?

Forgot pic

>pic related

Jap whiskey is terrible.
It's overpriced and they just don't get the process.
It's pretty much the 'craft beer' of whiskey.
Stick to Scottish single malts.

bullshit. you can still get 12. 12 is the best, 15 is pretty good, founders reserve sucks ass

I think I'll do that, it cost me 93 euro which is the most I've paid for a whiskey so far (just started drinking whiskey in general).

fuck no. don't dilute it. it's delicious just as is

cheap but powerful kek

Pretty much.
Jap whiskey is actually cheaply made but the racist nip government hammer it with export taxes due to a protectionist/weak economy.

But it is extremely well reviewed, even by non believers. Can it be that bad?

Just have a booze budget. I set aside $50 a month to work my way through the Alphabet Store, trying new liquors. I'm still pissed at how bad Bombay Hook gin tastes because I only had enough left for a cheap bottle of Canadian Club

>1957+60
>not buying whisky that's been aged in less than seventeen (17) barrels

I was gifted the one on the right with 2 glasses for christmas. Haven't used it yet but it's lead-free crystal so no worries there.

Why would you ruin decent scotch? Why not pour it in the toilet and lap it out like a hound?

Walking Potion:

10 parts sugar
90 parts whiskey

Thanks malt matey, probably will go with the right one then, it's the Nachtmann Highlander you got right?

>Peat tastes like raw bile to me
>Every scotch and even darker whiskies are off the table

There are other brown liquors out there, I guess.

...Are you saying that all scotches are peated user?

Because they aren't.

Jesus christ what terrible fucking opinions.

The Japanese started creating whisky in the early 20th century, when a plum wine merchant (Shinjiro Torii) saw opportunities in the whisky industry and founded a company (Suntory) and built a distillery (Yamazaki) to create whisky for Japanese people. His distiller went to Scotland where he would train at Bowmore before returning to create the first Japanese single malt, the Suntory Red Label. This was a huge commercial failure as they tried to ape Scotch in it's flavors which clashed with the Japanese palate, who preferred more delicate flavors found in blended whiskies. This nearly put Torii out of business, so they switched to making grain and malt whiskies for blending instead - in fact there's still a bottle of the awful red label in the museum at the Yamazaki distillery.

His head distiller who had trained in Scotland eventually left to found his own distillery, which would become the Nikka distillery.

Eventually Suntory would open two more distilleries, the Hakushu distillery which produced lightly peated malt using a combination of Japanese and peated barley from the Bowmore distillery, to reflect where the Suntory distillers had first learned their art, and a grain whisky distillery in the north. Eventually Suntory would grow to become one of the biggest global spirits conglomerates, acquiring Bowmore distillery to reflect the company history, as well as Laphroaig, Auchentoshan and multiple other Scotch distilleries, and Knob Creek, Basil Haydens, Maker's Mark and Jim fucking Beam amongst a veritable bevy of global spirits distilleries.

But back to single malt Japanese whiskeys. As early as the late seventies, Suntory started developing a new single malt, one that represented a Japanese flavor, using a combination of bourbon and sherry barrels for aging. The breakthrough, however, was when they started to use Japanese oak, or Mizunara.

Cont.

Why was Mizunara such a gamechanger
? Well, all oaks contain cis-3-methyl-4-octanolide, also known as whiskey lactone, or more importantly: quercus lactone. In low concentrations, such as in American oak, this whisky lactone produces sweet, woody aromas in low concentrations, such as when found in American Oak.

In Mizunara, or Quercus Mongolica however, the inverse is true, and contains high concentrations of whisky lactone which results in fresher, more tropical flavors. This flavor helped to define the Japanese style of single malt, a lighter, fresher style that won Yamazaki a bevy of international awards and put Japanese single malts on the map.

The product is expensive because 12 years ago (at the very least), when the whisky went down into barrels, they did not anticipate the global demand for Japanese whiskey to be so high. You cannot produce whisky overnight, and everytime in the global whisky market there are fluctuations of supply and demand you have shortages and gluts of the product. You only need to look at the rash of closures and shuttered Scottish distilleries in the late eighties and nineties, and the current release of 'lost distillery' whiskies like Port Ellen et al. Also, unlike Scotland, there is not a huge proverbial 'lake' of Whisky to be pulled from - while Suntory is producing a lot of whiskey, it pales in comparison to the amount produced by the large suppliers in Scotland.

So scarcity x high demand = high price, to the user who said it was cheap to make and priced up by a 'Racist Government'. Suntory isn't state owned, and up to 70% of the cost of the bottle you buy is taxes imposed by your own national government, depending on where you live.

Cont.
And in regards to not understanding the process, a big part of the conversation around whisky around the world has been the reticence of Scotch producer to innovate, and how that is stagnating the whisky - indeed you only need to look at the last few years when the global authorities in whisky have been awarding top awards in their annual rankings to whiskies from all around the world over Scotches - not just Japan, but to America, Australia and Taiwan, while scotch is slipping into tired old fatigues and producing increasingly unchallenging, dull, overly oaked vanilla bombs and NAS tripe while the rest of the world develops and experiments.

Ironically, the it is Scotland's adherence to tradition and preconceived rules that is proving to be the proverbial anchor about the industries neck.

If you want to know more, pick up Jim McMurray's annual whisky guide (even though he's an odious beardy little gnome), or search for work by Murray McDavid, Micheal Jackson, or follow current whisky blogs if you want to become more informed on the subject.

If not, why not fuck off to the thread with the guy drinking cutty sark and milk.

B-b-b-brandy!

Nah, nip whiskey is objectively, fucking shit.

>I know of the dangers of lead crystal decanters
Which are practically nonexistant since no one fucking makes them anymore.

just add ice.

What the hell are you talking about? You can walk into any bed bath and beyond and buy lead crystal stemware, decanters, tumblrs, grindrs, and so on.

No. You can't.

Here is your attention

Thanks.

Mine says Marquis by Waterford on the box. Looks identical though.

Has anyone here tried any of the Glenfarklas range of Scotch?

I want to buy a bottle of the 15yr old, for some reason my liquor store has it on sale for cheaper than the 12yr at the moment but I'm not sure if there is a reason for it.

Glengoyne > Glenlivet you fucking pleb

Glenfarclas is legit. My favourite is either the 105 (Big ballsy spicy spey at 60%) or the 25, but all the range is pretty solid. If the 15 is cheaper it's probably because integer ages tend not to sell as well - ie people shoot for '12' or '18', but '15' is a bit of an awkward in-between, so they probably bought a load but haven't sold any over the 12. Low sales volume equals cutting potential income - they're trying to offload unsold stock to create cashflow, so take advantage of the deal and take it.

Cool, thanks for the reply

Greatly appreciated. I did go for an charred oak barrel instead to age my whiskeys instead! The cheap glass one will do for now, maybe when my batch is ready to be consumed I will get a nice decanter.

You fucking pathetic weaboo

Fuck of, nippons know how to make stuff and his story was extremely interesting, also japanese whisky is just as highly rated throughout the internet and well awarded as single malts. Dont pay too much for it though, just as with single malts! Also remember its meant to be smooth not smokey

Thanks m8.

If I remember correctly, Red Label is supposed to be used exclusively for mixing not for drinking neat (if that's how you had it.)

>Ok guys, I went and did some research.
Really, this should be required of anyone who intends to post on any given subject that they were previously ignorant of.
Point is, what you "discovered" is the most common of knowledges among scotch drinkers. The fact that you had to come back and report your findings made me chortle.

So is Kentucky Straight Bourbon the most natural and straight up Real whiskey currently? Seems like they're adding colouring to the irish and scottish ones... baka

It might not be the peat then, though I was told it was. It's similar to that taste in other brown grain-based liquors (much fainter) and even the darkest beers (stronger).

Fruit liquors are tremendously underrated in the Anglosphere.

What do you mean by real whisky?

What makes you think they're adding colouring?

It's illegal under EU law to add caramel coloring to whiskey and still call it single malt, same for Irish.

In the US it's against the law to add caramel coloring to bourbon. This dates to a law passed during the great depression that said bourbon must be made in a new make American barrel every time.

The laws surrounding what you can do to spirit to be able to call it by an AOC protected name (Scotch, Single Malt, Bourbon etc etc) are incredibly stringent and have been for years.

Ah, you're thinking of malt then - peat is smoke/iodine/camphor

Try lighter, younger whiskeys, like brighter speysides and lowland whiskeys as they might be more up your alley.

Agreed, Japanese stuff is good. It is such a shame that Jim Murray started fawning over it so much because prices are now through the roof and it simply isn't worth it any more.

Same thing happened to Sullivan's Cove, Crown Royal Rye and Kavalan when he pulled the same shit with them...

But they do add you noob, look at Ralfyreviews he explains it nicely. Scotch is mostly a scam

>youtube account vs globally ratified AOC and market protection from the European union

k

>It's illegal under EU law to add caramel coloring to whiskey and still call it single malt, same for Irish.
Don't Talisker state on the bottle that they add colouring?

Either way, loads of them do it.

The coloring added is E150a, and is just that, coloring. Has to be ph neutral, flavorless and without sugar. Large brands add it for color consistency across core ranges since different whiskies that make up large SKUs are never 100% the same shade as each barrel is not genetically identical and produces different flavor compounds. It is the job of the master blender to create a product that is consistent, and sometimes color has to be added if the resultant whisky is too pale.

Keep in mindthat diferent mater blenders have different tastes and there will always be differrences when that palate leaves the house. Try pre and post Jim Mc Murray Bowmore for a good example.

Keep in mind these are the macro distilleries producing millions of litres every year. There are dozens of small distilleries producing whiskies that don't have any additives, look out for cask strength and non-chill filtered whiskies.

If you're really concerned about being 'scammed', look for independent bottlings, most of which fit into the mid-range price level and provide some of the most unique and interesting whiskies that showcase the characteristics of distilleries and their styles. Independent bottlers take a single cask from a distillery and bottle it themselves, usually whisky that doesn't fit into their core range and is seldom even cut down to proof - they are generally whiskies for enthusiasts. Keep in mind that these are usually single runs - so when they're gone they are gone. But that means there's always a new and unique bottle for you to experience!

If you're afraid of these being adulterated, rest assured that distilleries only sell to companies that they trust, usually family spirits merchants that have been in business for 100+ years and have a exemplary reputation. Your average Joe couldn't buy a hogshead of Lagavulin, pour a load of sugar syrup into it, cut it, bottle it and sell it. Look out for Berry Bros & Rudd, Gordon McPhail etc.

Happy Dramming!

If you

>Ah, you're thinking of malt then
Possibly, but I doubt it. I drink many darker beers and the only ones that give me a reaction are the ones that have an extremely dark taste, regardless of the actual color of the beer.

Glenlevit is fucking awesome, however something else is always on sale so I end up with Jameson or Johnny Walker red

Ghetto Blaster
50 parts whiskey
50 parts lime soda

How do you order a whiskey at a bar?
Just ask for a whiskey with water using well whiskey?

Fellow scotch whiskey nerd here, this man speaks the truth.

Japanese whiskey is so expensive because of import taxes, although the truth is that things from Japan just generally cost more than they would coming from elsewhere, particularly luxury goods such as alcohol or fine home decor.

To the shitters, Japanese Whiskey ISN'T objectively shit. Yamazaki 12, Hibiki 12, Hakushu 18 are all world class whiskies. The Japanese profile for fine whiskey generally leans in the lighter and crispier direction, with an emphasis on floral content. A good scottish example would be something like Ballantine's, where there's only mild peat, and heavy malt. I've found all of the best japanese whisky to be more effervescent than flavorful, which is kind of the opposite of a lot of my favorite scotches.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to the post i'm responding to, it's nice to see someone who actually knows what they're talking about weighing in on booze. It's very frustrating in this industry to deal almost exclusively with people who don't know a fucking thing about what they drink or why they like it.

funny, wine has the same problem with the boring vanilla bombs, except california is the guilty party

why do alcoholic beverage manufacturers keep trying to shove oak extract down everyone's throats?

Yamazaki used to be great til the price tripled. At $35 it used to be the absolute best bang for the buck there was. At $90 whatever, not so much.

>founders reserve
I saw the bottle at a local shop and it was NAS for the price of the regular 12y/o.

>awkward
>glenfarclas
Seeing their 8y/o was kinda weird, but intriguing at the same time.

They're discontinuing the 12 for the next five years in favor of the NAS, same as a lot of other brands. Again, when they pu tthe whisky down 12 years ago they didn't expect such high demand, so have to swap out age statements for NAS.

Cherish aged whisky expressions while you can get it, we've already lost Scapa 12, Longmorn 15, Strathisla 12 and they've started to bring in NAS on Talisker, Laphroaig and younger expressions of Lagavulin to try and reduce strain on the 10s and 16s

I bought a bottle of Yamazaki for $40 a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Japan has a remarkably storied history of whisky and is one of the largest producers of whisky nowadays. They got tutelage from the Scotch masters and they've got all that wonderful spring water to make some pretty amazing stuff.

I wanted to get another bottle of Yamazaki for a friend, but apparently now it sells out the same week it comes in. I spent $60 on a bottle of Mars whisky a couple of weeks ago which turned out to be pretty good stuff. Not necessarily $60 good, but it was pretty tasty.

It's funny how a market develops, when you have to plan your sales 10, 12, 18 or whatever years in advance.
I used to really like Laphroig 18 and I remember at around 2008, it was quite affordable. Not cheap, sure, but an affordable sipping whiskey you could get at every mid-tier supermarket.
Now you only get, if at all, 10yo or quarter cask. Really curious about that one.

I had dozens, if not a hundred, bottles of the Laphroaig 10 year. Haven't had any in years now, though; tell me it hasn't gone up in price from $40?

Well thank you for the extended explanation friendo, yes I just meant that there's no additives, think it's so much easier to just look for Kentucky Straight and you know straight up (pun intended) what you're getting, no additives or bullshit. I'll have to start looking for these more rarer types of whiskies then!

Scotch is for faggots, blended shite made in a feckin' coffey still, it's like calling McDonald's gourmet food

So Bourbon and Irirsh whisky is fine then I guess?
IMO whiskeys are the most purest of drinks unlike vodka and shite.