whiskey recommendations please?

Yellow Spot. An absolutely delicious whiskey. One of the finest Irish whiskey's imho and aged in sherry casks giving it a subtle sweet note but it's much more complex than that.

Passenger wrote: »

Yellow Spot. An absolutely delicious whiskey. One of the finest Irish whiskey's imho and aged in sherry casks giving it a subtle sweet note but it's much more complex than that.

Really like yellow spot too. Connemara Cask Strength is also very good

Loire.

Was going to start a new thread but think I'll highjack this one instead as its related.

I'm no whiskey expert op but I love bushmills 10year old. Sooooo tasty.

I've a bottle of Middleton in the press that gets the odd sup. very special.

You mention the Islay whiskeys. I've a bottle of the Aldi one in the press which I'll be buying another bottle of. €25, very peaty but very morish if you take to it.

Anywho onto the highjacking...

I just bought a bottle of 10year old whiskey in Lidl by Dundalgan. Hoping it's decent.

Anyone any experience of it?

Very little info on it online. Maybe distilled in Cooley? ... Edit saw something else about Cavan maybe?

It's €30 a bottle which is why it caught my eye vs about €40ish plus for my usual 10year old bushmills.

...edit.... it's tasty.

L1011 wrote: »

The Dundalgan 10 is wildly disappointing. Much better uses of 30 quid. Bush 10 is 35-37 on offer at peak periods so stock up.

It's Cooley, likely identical to another of their 10s - Tyrconnell matches in taste profile.

I only had one small glass of it last night in fairness so just going on that.
I thought it was tasty enough but yeah if I saw bushmills 10 for €35 I'd definitely stock up. I never have though. Lowest I've seen it was €40

Not that I mind spending the extra tenner, it was more out of curiosity tbh with the dundalgan.

Personally from the glass I had I found it quite nice, nothing special mind you, in particular vs the bushmills 10 but very drinkable.

Sweeter than bushmills 10 and not as full on flavour malt wise I found but that's just me.

Anyway it won't go to waste.

The Aldi Islay bottle for €25 is great value if you're into your peat imo

Interesting to see the love for Yellow Spot on the thread. Green Spot or Redbreast and Powers Johns Lane seemed to be all favoured for Irish single pot still whiskeys.

syklops wrote: »

Makes a nice change from Laphroaig being the one to be touted all the time.

That's only because we're too far away from xmas

Sorry to hijack, but reckoned this might be a good time and place to ask this.

I'll be flying from Toronto in a couple of weeks, and would like to avail of the duty free options. If you were to recommend a widely available duty free "treat", what would the "boardnescenti" recommend??

I'm a fan of redbreast, but reckon I can get it and similar here, and doubt it's the kind of thing I'd be able to get at a good price in somewhere like Toronto

Laphroaig? Talisker? Balvennie?

Something like those??

syklops wrote: »

One of the most expensive places to buy Irish Whiskey is Ireland.

Reverse is often true. $36.95 (€32.99) for Black Bush in Oregon, a state with 0% sales tax when its avaible for €25 here. "white" Bush is €24.06 which is vastly more than it sells for here, and so on - http://www.oregonliquorsearch.com/browse_categories.jsp?category=IRISH

The manufacturers have to semi-subsidise (they're still making a profit) the product in this - and others - market compared to what they can sell it for elsewhere. The major brands that have international appeal sell for very high prices abroad.

It's not exactly an example of a connoisseurs choice, but I find Bushmills Black Bush to be an exceptionally solid whiskey if you take it's price and availability into account. It costs half the price, at least, of many of the whiskies you'll read mention of here, and I don't really know if that means they are really twice as good as Black Bush . It's a good introduction to whiskey that you can sip relaxingly on and without breaking the bank.

I'd find myself agreeing with lot of the usual suspects that have been mentioned here. Redbreast - Solid. Powers John Lane - Quite nice. Yellow Spot - Complicated; I bought a bottle after reading about it constantly. It's nowhere near a bad whiskey, but I wasn't as blown away as I was expecting to be. I'd be slightly wary of this one. Like I said - Not bad, just perhaps slightly overrated, but you may love it, so who knows. I've also drank a few Jamesons of varying types, which I've always found to be underwhelming, but I live in hope. It's a bit odd because of all the mass market whiskey I think Jameson is the most easily drank.... After Black Bush of course.

The whiskey that's given me the most non extortionate pleasure overall is probably Bushmills 16 year old. I love that stuff. Smooth and choclately. Nice to sip; very easy to guzzle.

I think the OP said that the upper echelons of his budget was around the 100 quid mark. If you were willing to be ultra brave you could chance the extra fifty quid for a bottle of Middleton. Owing to the fact that I am not a multi-millionaire, it isn't something I drink a lot of, but whenever I can - Ah yeah.... Like velvet and the finish just lasts and lasts.


100 is a big psychological and financial barrier to break - I never have - but if you have bigger balls than me and you really want to push the boat out - Middleton.

I wouldn't have drank as much Scotch, but that something I'm looking to rectify as time goes on. I went all in initially and bought a Laphroaig 10. At first I couldn't get over the sheer peatyness of it. Very distinctive taste. It felt like I was drinking distilled turf. My mind decided it wasn't for me and it went into the press for a while to gather dust. But Laphroaig was the whisky that wouldn't die. Slowly, I found myself having a little bit here and there and it really does grow on you after a while. I actually now most enjoy the aspect of it that I found most repellent in the beginning. That might be some sort of definition of love I guess. I think if you get over the opening shock of -what's this crap? - then you're on your way.

syklops wrote: »

Who is charging 400 for it?

http://www.celticwhiskeyshop.com/jameson-rarest-vintage-reserve?filter_name=jameson%20rarest

Lagavulin 16 is a great whisky. not sure what is costs in Ireland these days.

Posts deleted. Let's start again. No more mention of poison. Thanks.

tHB

the beer revolu wrote: »

Arghus, do you think Middleton is twice as goodas Yellow Spot?.?

I find it odd that you talk about overrated whiskies and then recommend Middleton.
I think it's a very nice whiskey but way, way overpriced and overrated. And don'tget me started on Barry Crockett Legacy!

I didn't say anywhere in my post that I thought Middleton was twice as good as Yellow Spot.

I did say that I thought Black Bush wasn't, strictly speaking, half good as whiskeys that were twice it's price, but that was mainly to argue in favour of the relative strength of Black Bush. That doesn't mean that I think the comparison of - "this whiskey is twice as good as this other whiskey, because of the price" is valid on every occasion. It can be, sometimes.

I was a bit harsh on Yellow Spot, I think I said it was "not bad". I really should have said: it's a good whiskey. I would have no problem drinking it 90% of the time; but there are other whiskeys that I'd like to drink all the time. I just find that Yellow Spot is one of the whiskeys that you always read about in threads like this and it's the only one I've bought- out of any in the similar price range- that I found underwhelming, considering what I heard about it previously. And, in my honest, fallible and, totally subjective opinion makes me think it's a bit overrated.

As for Middleton -Is it overrated? Yeah, probably. It does cost an arm and a leg, but, honestly, I've always really enjoyed drinking it. I think it tastes great. And that's what I've taken away from it every time - That I really like it as a whiskey. Maybe it is overrated, it's definitely overpriced, but I do love it. I most definitely prefer it to Yellow Spot. Is it twice as good? Oh I don't know... maybe..... perhaps. I've enjoyed it more. I'll say that for sure.

I suppose really we just be thankful that there's such variety out there that we can argue about these matters of personal taste.

jackrussell007 wrote: »

so from what i can see from the diverse recommendations, whiskey like anything else i suppose, all down to personal preference.

anyway i went out to O briens offie at the weekend, I was tempted by Teelings single grain and also Redbreast and Greenspot but in the end I went all in and got a bottle of Yellow Spot.

having another sup here, it is lovely, undoubtedly, but so was the bushmills. I'm not sure yellow spot is twice or three times nicer . Maybe I'll get the bushmills 10 next seeing as many of ye recommend it..
anyway. cheers for all the recommendations. I learned a lot reading.
Sláinte

Glad you went with the Yellow Spot tbh. Maybe you might have to develop a palate to distinguish between and appreciate different flavours of various whiskey's. Everybody is different and the more whiskey's you try the more you'll notice the subtle differences. I've even heard from people that they prefer Green Spot to Yellow Spot even thought it's a cheaper whiskey.

It's not necessarily about the price attached to a particular whiskey but the flavours that compliment your individual palate. Speaking of Bushmills, I think Black Bush is a fantastic whiskey, equal in many respects to a lot of the more expensive niche whiskey's, and it's usually available for only €25 in Tesco, O'Brien's, etc.

Irish whiskey's have inflated in price in recent years as well, what with the increase in demand for Irish whiskey around the world so price isn't necessarily a measure of the quality.

I'm tempted to whet my whistle with a dram of Yellow Spot what with all this whiskey talk.

limnam wrote: »

or maybe for now don't open the bottle with any sort of expectations, just sit back and enjoy it. maybe buy a few cheap bottles in lidl and aldi and get a taste for it then move on to paddy/jameson etc find a cheaper way to the type of whiskeys you enjoy the most.

id disagree with this a little. Im in no way an expert, but even as a novice i can easily taste the difference between standard stuff in an optic in a bar, and a nice bottle like green spot or jameson black barrell.

Some of the cheaper stuff isnt even particularly nice and could stop someone sticking with it and really getting to know how to enjoy a nice whiskey.