How about good Scotch or Irish Whiskey?

In Irish Whiskey, I've had Black Bush and another one's 1990 version, I forget the name. Both were very, very nice but only as a change of pace from my standard bourbon and rye. As for scotch, wait until Vince and Hollow Point check in, and hopefully DocBarry will come around too. Those guys know a huge amount about scotch, especially single malt.

When I grow up, I want to be Bloofington, so I as well stick with Bourbon and rye.

The last scotch I had was Dalamore Single Barrel Cigar Scotch. Very tasty, quite a bit of peat, and did compliment my cigars rather well.

"When I grow up, I want to be Bloofington"

MEDIC!!! MEDIC!!! Quick, got a soldier with a case of heat stroke here, incoherent mumbling, nonsensical desires, self-esteem issues.

:mrgreen:

Jameson and macallans 12 mmmm mmmm good

Highland Park 12 and 18 yr old, and Lagavulin 16 yr. are all top notch.

I concur with the Redbreast selection. A friend brought me back some Jameson Distillery Reserve 12 y.o. from Dublin. It's quite good and nothing like regular Jameson. Sweeter and more heavily sherried than Redbreast....but I still like Redbreast a bit better.

Interesting discussion. That Black Bush is just about as good as anything I've ever tasted. I may have to revisit Irish Whiskey, just a weeeeeee bit.

Red Breast is a good one. I'm not well versed in Irish Whisk(e)y but was impressed with this one when I tasted it. Then again, the name was synonymous with the server so maybe that was an unfair influental factor.

Scotches I lean towards single malts mainly and am more a Highland - Island enthusiast. A few that I like are Laphroaig, Lagavaulin, Bruichladdich, Highland Park, Talisker, Caol Ila, Clynelish, Ardbeg...

Island singles tend to be peaty but I suspect you are talking about "Islay" (ICE-LA) the specific island with the Peat monsters.

Highland Park is produced on the Island of Orkney... There are drinks from other islands that are not as smokey and rough so to speak as the bulk of what Islay is known for.

If you are referring to an Islay that was robustly peaty but very what most refer to as smooth -I'd guess it was Lagavulin 16 which has a buttery zest on it. Bruichladdich is low in peat and offers some damn good whisky too - if you can afford to drink that stuff.

EDIT: Actually the correct pronunciation as I think about it for Islay is (I-LAH or EYE-LAH) ... I always want to put the S in play somewhere. :wink:

RedLeg0811 said:

Tnbackpacker, I have a bottle of the Jameson 1780 and it is good, but not as good as the Red Breast. When I first tried Jameson I was out camping and the gentleman who shared it with me had it in a clay jar so I am not sure which Jameson it was. Maybe it was the same as your friend brought back because I really enjoyed it.

Click to expand...

I don't believe 1780 is the same whiskey as Distillery Reserve. I was told the Distillery Reserve is only available in Ireland. I do think 1780 is the best value in Irish whiskey.

1780[img=left]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v125/tnbackpacker/whiskey/jameson1780.jpg[/img]

The six sampler set was likely "The Classic Malts" sampler put out by UDV (Johnnie Walker etc.)

Lagavulin (Island - Islay)
Talisker (Island - Skye)
Glenkinchie (Lowland)
Oban (Highland)
Cragganmore (Speyside)
Dalwhinnie (Highland)

Islay that was smooth but peated - perhaps a Bowmore?

And this guy's doing this from memory. Did I tell you he knows his stuff or what? :dunno:

I've had the Dalmore 12 and 18, Macallan 12 and 18 year, Glenlivet 12yr, Bowmore 12 in the single malts.

As far as bourbon's go, I've had Woodford's and Blanton's. Blanton's was nice and smoooooth!

Dalmore 12 is sweet. Goes great with just about any cigar out there. The 18 is a bit more citrusy and spicy than the 12.

The Macallan 12 is incredible. Powerful and rich with a nice oak-ish woodsy taste on the pallate.

We're running out of choices here - there are only 7 functional distilleries on the island of Islay (that I know of).

Ardbeg (highest of all peated smokers)
Laphroaig (second - I believe)
Caol Ila (third - I'm assuming)
Bowmore
Lagavulin
Bruichladdich
Bunnahabhain

There was also Port Ellen which is closed and would (I assume) generally represent a bottle with some age on it, or would be bottled at least a few back...

The last two B's are faintly smokey and have lower peat counts (least representive of the island most say).

- Talisker could also be the one your wife asked what you had smoked. It's reminiscent of Islay's giants in terms of wood burning aroma and taste, while fairly peppered with spice.

Martin -

No biggie the wonderful thing... or to many of us (me included) - MONEY TRAP - is there are so many different variables. What you had could be a wierd bottle of Ardbeg for all we know. I have one that just tastes absolutely NOTHING like anything I've ever known made from the said distillery. When you factor in IB / PB (Independent / Private bottlers) - the variations bottle to bottle can increase by folds!

I'm in the Bay Area (no longer specifically in SF although I maintain employment there) - but I'm across the bridge about 15-20 minutes from Palo Alto in the South-East Bay.

Let me know when you hit town. I only know a couple of places in Palo Alto, but some guys I know get together and hang out down the street in Menlo Park for drinks and fine cigars.