recommend a whiskey for february

cormacjones

Started drinking whiskey last year and I've developed a taste for it.

I'm going to buy a nice bottle in Feb, when I'm back on the wagon, and looking for advice.

I've been doing a bit of research and I like the sound of Writers Tears. Am I correct in saying that no colourants are added and it's not chill filtered? It looks like the only one in the €40 bracket with these characteristics.

Budget is about €70 max.

Any help is appreciated.

thanks
CJ

irishcrazyhorse

Id say check out some of the japanesse range!

Im a big fan of the NIKKA black or red!
The black is quite peaty/oak

where as the red has alot more vanilla,fruit,floral notes and just just awesome!

But the black for its buck would be my pick! only around 45/50 in Celtic

Rangi

Some of the bottles I'm particularly enjoying at the moment are Monkey Shoulder,Bowmore Tempest,Laphraoig Quarter Cask,Glenmorangie Signet and Talisker 10yo.

Brockagh

cormacjones wrote: »

I've been doing a bit of research and I like the sound of Writers Tears. Am I correct in saying that no colourants are added and it's not chill filtered? It looks like the only one in the €40 bracket with these characteristics.

CJ

I am not sure if it's chill filtered or coloured. I can't find anywhere on the bottle where it says whether it is or not, although maybe it's on the box. Maybe it's the cask strength version that's not chill filtered or coloured?

It's worth buying. Very nice. Or, if it's this style of whiskey you like (that said, this one is unique, being a blend of pure pot still and malt...), you might try the Redbreast 12, Redbreast 12 cask strength or Redbreast 15. The last two are not chill filtered and are great whiskeys. They're all pure pot still.

I think colouring depends on the batch. Hard to know if it's been coloured or not, but they do colour some of it, I believe.

Powers John's Lane and Green Spot are other options in this category. Both great.

cormacjones

Thanks for the replies. Definitely going to try those Japanese and Scotch but I have my heart set on an Irish bottle.

I think I'm going to go for the Redbreast but:

Gun to your head........the redbreast 15 v the 12 cask strengh......what do you do....what do you do?

johnnyskeleton

cormacjones wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Definitely going to try those Japanese and Scotch but I have my heart set on an Irish bottle.

I think I'm going to go for the Redbreast but:

Gun to your head........the redbreast 15 v the 12 cask strengh......what do you do....what do you do?

the cask strength will go further as you need to add more water to it. The 15 has more ageing so should have different characteristics.

If it were me, I'd see if I could get two bottles in te 35-40 region rather than one in the 70-80 region. So a rb 12 standard bottling and a writers tears would be better than just one of the cask strength or the 15. Why not buy two bottles and drink them side by side with water in between so you can taste the difference in the two styles.

Brockagh

cormacjones wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Definitely going to try those Japanese and Scotch but I have my heart set on an Irish bottle.

I think I'm going to go for the Redbreast but:

Gun to your head........the redbreast 15 v the 12 cask strengh......what do you do....what do you do?

I don't know really. Personally, I'd probably go for the Redbreast 15. Although it's not cask strength, it's bottled at a higher abv than regular Irish whiskey - 46%.

But as Johnnyskeleton says, you might be able to get too good bottles for the price. Again, this is just my taste, but I'd prefer the Powers 12 to the Writers Tears. That's good value too.

gandalf

I'd suggest going to a bar with a good whiskey selection and trying one of each. You should have a good idea which is the one then. Personally I would go for the Redbrest 15 as well!

cormacjones

Thanks again for the advice. I think I'm going to try a few in Bowe's and see how I get on.

Anyone have a preference between the RB 12 and the Powers John's lane?
I was recommended the Powers just there.

twerg_85

cormacjones wrote: »

Thanks again for the advice. I think I'm going to try a few in Bowe's and see how I get on.

Anyone have a preference between the RB 12 and the Powers John's lane?
I was recommended the Powers just there.

Personally I prefer Redbreast, but both excellent.

Can anyone tell me how Redbreast 15 compares (i.e. is it worth twice the price)? I don't like Greenspot at all (seems very bland to me), love redbreast 12 and like powers john lane and powers 12 if that helps.

f.

Brockagh

Redbreast 15 is more intense, more sherry influenced, in my opinion. I think it's a bit heavier and oilier than the 12 - a better mouthfeel.

Slattsy

Greenspot is amazing, it hurts me to hear you think its bland

Brockagh

Speaking of chill filtration...

http://www.maltmaniacs.net/E-pistles/Malt_Maniacs_2012_01_The%20Taste%20of%20Chill%20Filtration.pdf

ntlbell

I don't think I've heard bland and greenspot in the same sentence before.

Granted Greenspot is not everyone's cup of tea but bland it isn't

twerg_85

I'll try it again, but i definitely thought it was bland rather than unpleasant. Might try the rb 15 in a bar first and thenspring for a bottle.

cormacjones

I tried a few in L. Mulligan's and tasted most of the ones I had my eye on, including both of the RBs. They had run out of the Writer's Tears which was a disappointment, but overall a great selection.

I went for the Powers John's Lane in the end. I thought it was head and shoulders above the rest.

Just a personal opinion of course.

Brockagh

It's a great whiskey, sure enough. Might have some myself tonight.

NapoleonInRags

Bought a bottle of the Tyrconnell 10 year old Port Finish.

Wow - what a whiskey - it's like Black Bush on steroids. Beautiful flavours and balanced finished. I'll defo be checking out the Madeira finish which is supposed to be even better.

adrian522

Check out the Madeira finish if you can, also excellent.

Slattsy

Lads,
I've always hugely preferred scotch over Irish for my sins. Laphroaig being my favourite by a county mile, on the quarter cask now, which I hugely recommend.

So clearly I love the peaty type, what Irish single malt would give my Laphroaig I good run for its money??

adrian522

Well my first piece of advise would be to try a range of whisky's that are not peated but to answer question, try something like connemara peated whiskey.

There's also Turf Mor - which some people rave about my I don't personally rate at all but if you are into peated whiskies you should certainly at least try it.

Not a huge amount of other peated Irish whisky's that I know about.

Brockagh

Slattsy wrote: »

Lads,
I've always hugely preferred scotch over Irish for my sins. Laphroaig being my favourite by a county mile, on the quarter cask now, which I hugely recommend.

So clearly I love the peaty type, what Irish single malt would give my Laphroaig I good run for its money??

Of the single malts, you'd have to get a Cooley, as mentioned above. In my opinion, the best Irish peated single malts are the single casks from Cooley or the Cadenhead Cooleys. They might be a little hard to get.

Connemara 12, Connemara and Connemara cask strength are the regulars from the range. The Celtic Whiskey Shop will have some single casks, but they're expensive. They would have also done some bottles for various places.

Locke's is slightly peated and very nice, I think. As is Innisowen. I'm not such a big fan of that one myself, though.

Hewitts used to be peated many, many years ago.

johnnyskeleton

Slattsy wrote: »

Lads,
I've always hugely preferred scotch over Irish for my sins. Laphroaig being my favourite by a county mile, on the quarter cask now, which I hugely recommend.

So clearly I love the peaty type, what Irish single malt would give my Laphroaig I good run for its money??

I would describethe different islays as follows:

ardbeg and laphroaig are very peaty, tcp flavoured whiskies whose 10 yo or less are too peaty for me. The older laphroaigs are quite nice though as the iodine flavour decreases. I'd like to try the ardbeg aligator (from a very charred cask) but at 120 squid it's too expensive for me.

Bowmore is less peaty than those two and has to my taste a more complex, heavier whisky.

Caol ila and lagavulin are more smoky than peaty and have a richer, oilier flavour. The laga 16 is often considered the benchmark islay.

Bruichladdich is not very peaty usually (well except the octomore) but they have many interesting varieties. They also have the slightly mental x4 + 3 which is an almost overpowering whisky.

I haven't really tasted much bunnahabhain, kilchoman or the closed port ellen.

So maybe try some other islays or perhaps talisker.

Brockagh

Bunnahabhain is gentle and not very peaty at all - sweet shop. I love it.

Port Ellen is peaty - I'd say a bit like Caol Ila.

Kilchoman is very good, for a distillery with such young whiskies. Peaty too.

My two favourites, that are somewhat affordable, are the Ardbeg Corryvreckan and the Lagavulin 16. Bowmore, they say, went through a period of producing a very perfumed whisky that wasn't to the taste of the bloggers etc. It appears they have rectified this, if it was ever the case. The best Bowmores are brilliant.

adrian522

Brockagh wrote: »

Port Ellen is peaty - I'd say a bit like Caol Ila.

Port Ellen haven't produced whiskey since 1983. you would be doing well to find a bottle much less afford one.

johnnyskeleton

adrian522 wrote: »

Port Ellen haven't produced whiskey since 1983. you would be doing well to find a bottle much less afford one.

The whisky exchange sells them. AFAIK they are doing limited releases of the last batches at the moment.

While were on the I lays, has anyone tried the unpeated caol Ila? I have a bottle but don't want to open it just yet

adrian522

You can buy it there yeah, not cheap though ...

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/B-40-Port_Ellen.aspx

TBH if I was spending that kind of money on a bottle I'd go in a different direction,

syklops

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

ardbeg and laphroaig are very peaty, tcp flavoured whiskies

This reminds me of the time I tried to explain what TCP was to my American boss via IRC to demonstrate why I dont like Laphroaig. A hard task since he loves Laphroaig.

johnnyskeleton

syklops wrote: »

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

ardbeg and laphroaig are very peaty, tcp flavoured whiskies

This reminds me of the time I tried to explain what TCP was to my American boss via IRC to demonstrate why I dont like Laphroaig. A hard task since he loves Laphroaig.

Medicinal iodine? Is that what it is? They probably have something similar in the us, sure they aren't that technologically backwards.

Reminds me of an anecdote I heard that laphroaig could be legally sold in the us during prohibition because the excise authorities couldn't understand why someone would drink it for pleasure.

BeerNut

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Medicinal iodine? Is that what it is?

It's mostly chlorinated phenols. Phenols are what makes Laphroaig (and any smoky beer or whisk(e)y) taste smoky.

johnnyskeleton

BeerNut wrote: »

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Medicinal iodine? Is that what it is?

It's mostly chlorinated phenols. Phenols are what makes Laphroaig (and any smoky beer or whisk(e)y) taste smoky.

I was talking about what alternatives to tcp they might have in the us rather than what makes laphroaig taste how it does.

EDIT: ah, tcp is phenols. Makes sense

Brockagh

adrian522 wrote: »

Port Ellen haven't produced whiskey since 1983. you would be doing well to find a bottle much less afford one.

There are lots of bottles available. They won't be producing anymore, because it's just a maltings now - the distillery equipment has been dismantled. But Diageo do an annual release and there were tons of casks, particularly 1982 casks, sold to independent bottlers. The price of them has gone up lots in the last few years. I bought a good few for around £50 in years gone by.

They can be great, but it maybe receives more attention just because it's closed and it is on Islay.

Best value ones these days are done by Old Bothwell.

Brockagh

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

The whisky exchange sells them. AFAIK they are doing limited releases of the last batches at the moment.

While were on the I lays, has anyone tried the unpeated caol Ila? I have a bottle but don't want to open it just yet

I have - the 8 yr old? It's grand, quite nice. And on the other end of the scale, the usually lightly peated Bunnahabhain are now making some heavily peated whisky.

Zeppi

my current favorite is the Oban single malt 14 years...
http://www.whisky.com/brands/oban_brand.html

johnnyskeleton

Brockagh wrote: »

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

The whisky exchange sells them. AFAIK they are doing limited releases of the last batches at the moment.

While were on the I lays, has anyone tried the unpeated caol Ila? I have a bottle but don't want to open it just yet

I have - the 8 yr old? It's grand, quite nice. And on the other end of the scale, the usually lightly peated Bunnahabhain are now making some heavily peated whisky.

So it's nothing special? I have the 12, but I feared that for my 50quid I'd only be getting a fairly ordinary single malt, but it will be interesting to side by side it with normal 12

syklops

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

They probably have something similar in the us, sure they aren't that technologically backwards.

.

I said "Do you have TCP over there?" and being hilarious(and Director of InfoSec) he said"No, only UDP ha ha". If you didnt get that, it was a poor computer joke.

johnnyskeleton

syklops wrote: »

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

They probably have something similar in the us, sure they aren't that technologically backwards.

.

I said "Do you have TCP over there?" and being hilarious(and Director of InfoSec) he said"No, only UDP ha ha". If you didnt get that, it was a poor computer joke.

TCP/IP protocol or something?

Morf

Brockagh wrote: »

I have - the 8 yr old? It's grand, quite nice. And on the other end of the scale, the usually lightly peated Bunnahabhain are now making some heavily peated whisky.

I bought my father a bottle of Bunnahabhain Totach which seems to be the one you're referring to. He's quite a fan.

Brockagh

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

So it's nothing special? I have the 12, but I feared that for my 50quid I'd only be getting a fairly ordinary single malt, but it will be interesting to side by side it with normal 12

Ah no, it's very nice, but I just don't think it's brilliant, but someone else might. Great to taste an unpeated Caol Ila.

Brockagh

Morf wrote: »

I bought my father a bottle of Bunnahabhain Totach which seems to be the one you're referring to. He's quite a fan.

Yeah, the Toitach, or something like that, and the Moine are the peated versions of the Bunnahabhains. There might be another name too.

I've a 10th share in a heavily peated Bunnahabhain that's maturing in Bladnoch, Wigtown. I forget I have it every now and again. Get excited when I remember.

twerg_85

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

The older laphroaigs are quite nice though as the iodine flavour decreases. I'd like to try the ardbeg aligator (from a very charred cask) but at 120 squid it's too expensive for me.

Try masterofmalt.com they do smaller samples. The alligator is much nicer than the 10 even if i only got 30ml of it

Brockagh

It could be in my head, but the pre-LVMH Ardbeg 10 is better than the current one. It's a truly great whisky.

I think they were using older whisky in it, as they didn't have the stocks of the 10 as the distillery was closed for a period. They may have also done things differently at the distillery.

IrishWhiskeyCha

Brockagh wrote: »

It could be in my head, but the pre-LVMH Ardbeg 10 is better than the current one. It's a truly great whisky.

I think they were using older whisky in it, as they didn't have the stocks of the 10 as the distillery was closed for a period. They may have also done things differently at the distillery.

Possibly a touch less sherry cask in the blend too maybe ... I had some of the old 17yo and it was wonderful.

Brockagh

I thought Ardbeg 10 was all bourbon cask matured? I don't know.

They have these rectifiers in the stills that they can turn on or off, which affects the whisky, and all sorts of other things, the way they peat the barley etc.

Ardbeg is very good, although there are lots of people out there who say everything they produce is a world-beater, regardless of how good it actually is.

Slattsy

Picked up some Connemara peated recently, sipping some here, tis lovely.
Not quite as peaty as laphroaig, has that distinctive Irishness (if that makes sense) off it that i like.