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Single malt whiskey recommendations

Posted by Max Dunn Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:43:00 GMT

A friend asked for a few recommendations for single-malt whiskeys to give as a gift this holiday. However, like I often do, I couldn’t stop myself and ended up going on-and-on about all sorts of whiskeys that I like.

In case anyone else is interested, here is my little tour of single-malt Scotish whiskeys.

I buy most of my scotch from is a store in San Francisco called The Whisky Shop (appropriate, no?). If you go to this page and click on the Single Malt Whisky link, there is a great page showing the different regions and which whiskies are from that region.

BevMo does have a lot of nice whiskeys, but interestingly, they are sometimes a little more expensive than the Whisky Shop.

Speyside

The Speyside whiskeys include the ubiquitous Glenlivet and Glenfidditch which you can find everywhere, but I don?¢‚?¨‚?¢t really recommend.

Probably my favorite whisky overall, which just happens to be a Speyside whiskey, is the Glenrothes 1974. This is very smooth, with lots of caramel and other flavors, but sharper than an Highland malt. I bought a 1972 and 1974 in the Whisky Shop, and then found two more at Hi-Time liquor in Costa Mesa for about $100. However, I don?¢‚?¨‚?¢t know if you can find this vintage anymore. I do see that the Whisky Shop has the 1984, for $95 but I don?¢‚?¨‚?¢t know how good this is.

Glenrothes 1984, $95

They also have the 1972, which is awesome, but at $165 probably at the high end of what most people would be willing to spend:

Glenrothes 1972, $165

Highland

Moving to the Highland region we can find the smoothest, all-purpose single malts. The first mainstay is Glenmorangie, which is a very nice, everyday whisky. You can find this at Costco, BevMo and lots of other places

Glenmorangie 10 Year Old Distillery Bottling, $40

Same at BevMo, but for only $32

For an even smoother variation, the 18 year is very, very nice and is a great present since it is a recognizable name, older bottling, very smooth and easy to drink, and easy to find:

Glenmorangie 18 Year Old Distillery Bottling, $95

Another Highland I like a lot is from Clynelish. Still Highland smooth, but with more caramel flavors:

Clynelish 14 year Distillery Bottling, $50

I also see that BevMo has this:

I also like the cask strength whiskeys, which means that instead of watering it down to produce 40% alcohol, they leave it at whatever strength comes out of the barrel, which can be 50% or higher, and with more concentrated flavors. However, cask strength whiskeys are usually too strong for the inexperienced whisky drinkers, or even the the experienced but faint-of-heart drinker:

Clynelish 14 Year Old 1988, Hart Brothers, Cask Strength, $80

Islay

Now getting into the more ?¢‚?¨??muddy?جø¬?? whiskeys (actually this is a peat flavor) from Islay, here is a nice one is Bruichladdich:

Bruichladdich 15 Year Old Distillery Bottling, $71

Another good Islay is Lagavulin, which has a smoky flavor:

Lagavulin 16 year old Distillery Bottling, $80

Now for the peatiest whiskeys, you have Laphroig, which some people really like but I don?¢‚?¨‚?¢t care for much. The first time I drank it, I remarked that it tasted like some spilled it on a barn floor, and then swept it up and put it back into the bottle!

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Distillery Bottling, $40

I haven?¢‚?¨‚?¢t had this 15 year Laphroaig, but it is possible the extra time has mellowed it out a little:

Laphroaig 15 year old Murray McDavid bottling, 1988, $90

Here is a different bottling from the same year at BevMo for less:

Laphroaig Scotch 15 Year Price: $63.99

The different bottlings can taste somewhat different because typically the bottler will go to the distillery and taste the different casks and then select the ones that they like the best.

There aren?¢‚?¨‚?¢t many whiskeys in the Island region, but the older Highland Park whiskeys are highly rated, but I don?¢‚?¨‚?¢t think the younger 12-year old is very special. I do like Talisker for its very smoky flavor (without the peaty flavors of Islays), but it can be hard to find:

Talisker 10 Year Old Distillery Bottling, $54

and at BevMo

Talisker Scotch 10 Year (750 ML) Price: $52.99

Others

I don?¢‚?¨‚?¢t have experience with any whiskeys of the Lowland or Campbeltown regions, so we will end our tour here.

Thank you for traveling on the Max Dunn Whiskey Tour. ;-)