Gift ideas for a budding whiskey enthusiast :)

Old Man

Old Man

Old Man

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I am interested in some good ideas (including books on the subject, so not just/only nice bottles of the stuff pls) on what to buy my son as he really enjoys a fine whiskey. Money is an issue on my part so nothing in total over £200 pls ..

ty
 
A pair (or just 1) crystal glencairn glass and a bottle of the good stuff.
It depends on his tastes though for the whisky so let us know his preferred tastes. Does he prefer a bourbon or sherry finish.
For my 40th I got 40 samples, most of which were from 1978 or 40yrs old. Have a look at that for lots of options.
 
Loads of gift ideas at Whisky Exchange, sample sets of 30 year old whisk(e)y's for instance.

As an alternative to a liquid gift, you could also look at getting some Norlan or Glencairn glassware - The former look pretty darn cool, but not suitable if you have ice in your whisky, apparently.
 
Has he been to a whisky distillery? If they do tours they probably do a tasting too. There are a couple of small Distilleries in Kent - don't know how good they are. Cotswold Distillery isn't too far for a day/weekend away if that's something he'd be in to.
 
There are various 'clubs' you can subscribe to which send small bottles of different whiskies to try out on a monthly basis. Depending on how much you spend, sometimes quite rare or expensive ones.
 
Id probably go with a couple of nice glencairns a couple of nice old fashioned glasses, the whisky bible.

Then whatever money is left over and he's not really certain which he prefers a seleciton of a few different bottles.
 
OK, found out my son likes Canadian Whiskey and so I am once again asking for any suggestions for this and something you can order for delivery to the SE (Folkestone.. I am housebound, so the only way to get things would be if they are delivered.)..

TY in advance
 
Canadan whiskies are not really my forte, but with the amount of time you have left it would need to be something relatively common to make sure you get it by Christmas. I'd probably suggest JP Wiser's 18 Year Old blend. It's not somehing I have tried but it gets good reviews, is not too pricey at around £40 - £50 and is available to order from The Whisky Shop and Masters of Malt with the latter being the cheaper option.

If he'd been more of a Scotch fan I'd have suggested Scotch Malt Whisky Society membership as a gift idea, along with the book Whisky Classifed by Dvid Wishart. If he's not really into scotch though I'd skip those, although the book might still be of interest.
 
2nd to Norlan glasses, got the standard and the matt black versions (was a kickstart backer originally).

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The matt black has an amazing glow about it when it's got some whisky in there.
 
What makes these glasses worth spending hundreds of pounds on?

Same goes for the whisky.

I've tasted whisky that was a fiver and some which was £200 And I couldn't tell the difference. I've tasted a lot of different ones over the years inbetween and all the exact same to me.

But I'm not a fan of it. It's not something I have unless it's the only option.

Guy at work is convinced that £13 bottle out of Aldi is the only whisky worth buying. He's a big whisky drinker too. He's not short of cash and has on occasion bought shots for 3-4 times the cost of a shot of grouse on nights out so he does like expensive stuff too but he says it ain't worth it.
 
They’re only £50 I think for 2. But yes, they’re specifically designed for whisky drinking and specfically for bringing the aromatic smells out of it to enhance the taste due to the shape of the bottom and slightly restricted opening on them.

Of course it could all be pseudo-science, but I enjoy them!

Your mate isn’t wrong, price means nothing when it comes to whisky, Aldi’s whiskys have repeatedly won awards in blind taste testing.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
What makes these glasses worth spending hundreds of pounds on?

Same goes for the whisky.

I've tasted whisky that was a fiver and some which was £200 And I couldn't tell the difference. I've tasted a lot of different ones over the years inbetween and all the exact same to me.

But I'm not a fan of it. It's not something I have unless it's the only option.

Guy at work is convinced that £13 bottle out of Aldi is the only whisky worth buying. He's a big whisky drinker too. He's not short of cash and has on occasion bought shots for 3-4 times the cost of a shot of grouse on nights out so he does like expensive stuff too but he says it ain't worth it.
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There is a very simple test you can do to disprove that. Order 3 different neat whiskies, at the same time, from a pub with a decent selection (i'd suggest an Islay, a highland and a lowland whisky) and sniff and sip between them. Unless you have the sense of smell and taste of a stone the difference will be very obvious, whether you enjoy them or not is a different matter though. Even better if you know someone with a few you could try for free, but the key is doing them side by side at the same time.

There were whiskies I used to think were very similar, but when you actually compare them directly it's really surprising how different they actually are. It's like your brain lumps them all together when it doesn't have something to directly judge it against. It's one of the reasons tasting sessions are so interesting, and popular.
 
Lupis said:
There is a very simple test you can do to disprove that. Order 3 different neat whiskies, at the same time, from a pub with a decent selection (i'd suggest an Islay, a highland and a lowland whisky) and sniff and sip between them. Unless you have the sense of smell and taste of a stone the difference will be very obvious, whether you enjoy them or not is a different matter though. Even better if you know someone with a few you could try for free, but the key is doing them side by side at the same time.

There were whiskies I used to think were very similar, but when you actually compare them directly it's really surprising how different they actually are. It's like your brain lumps them all together when it doesn't have something to directly judge it against. It's one of the reasons tasting sessions are so interesting, and popular.
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My sense of taste when it comes to food is extremely good.

When it comes to whisky the harsh taste of the alcohol overpowers mostly everything else for me. I can tell it's whisky but I wouldn't be able to tell you what or how much it is.

It just seems like the snob of the spirits world. I don't drink spirits because they taste good. My preferred lager is cobra with a dash of lime syrup (not cordial but syrup). My preferred drink is a half decent vodka in the £15-20 price range like Russian standard with bundaberg ginger beer and again a dash of lime syrup.

If I'm drinking something straight I'm not doing it for the taste but because everyone else is having a shot (usually tequila which I hate so I normally have Sambuca) and it's to get on it.

Whisky and me will never be a thing and it's because it tastes like crap to me. Even with a lot of coke I still don't like it. But the last few times I've drank it I've forced myself to have with 2 blocks of ice and a dash of water and both were really expensive ones a chivas regal £200 bottle and the other was a £140 bottle of royal salute. I've tasted all 3 royal salutes now too. I honestly couldn't tell why anyone would pay that much for them apart from the fancy ceramic bottles and velvet case it comes in. But still £100+ overpriced in my opinion.

The only shots I enjoy drinking on the rocks are limoncello and disarrano.

To me whisky is like bitter gourds (Also known as bitter melon).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momordica_charantia

I don't understand why anyone would like it's bitter taste other than it's a sign of snobbery. People who have been systematically taught it's cool to have it through tradition. I've had bitter gourds on a few occasions and yup still taste terrible no matter how good the chef was.

"Bitter melon is commonly eaten throughout India. In North Indian cuisine, it is often served with yogurt on the side to offset the bitterness, used in curry such as sabzi or stuffed with spices and then cooked in oil."

Kind of proves my point it's preferably eaten with yogurt to mask it's bitterness.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
My sense of taste when it comes to food is extremely good.

When it comes to whisky the harsh taste of the alcohol overpowers mostly everything else for me. I can tell it's whisky but I wouldn't be able to tell you what or how much it is.

It just seems like the snob of the spirits world. I don't drink spirits because they taste good. My preferred lager is cobra with a dash of lime syrup (not cordial but syrup). My preferred drink is a half decent vodka in the £15-20 price range like Russian standard with bundaberg ginger beer and again a dash of lime syrup.

If I'm drinking something straight I'm not doing it for the taste but because everyone else is having a shot (usually tequila which I hate so I normally have Sambuca) and it's to get on it.

Whisky and me will never be a thing and it's because it tastes like crap to me. Even with a lot of coke I still don't like it. But the last few times I've drank it I've forced myself to have with 2 blocks of ice and a dash of water and both were really expensive ones a chivas regal £200 bottle and the other was a £140 bottle of royal salute. I've tasted all 3 royal salutes now too. I honestly couldn't tell why anyone would pay that much for them apart from the fancy ceramic bottles and velvet case it comes in. But still £100+ overpriced in my opinion.

The only shots I enjoy drinking on the rocks are limoncello and disarrano.

To me whisky is like bitter gourds (Also known as bitter melon).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momordica_charantia

I don't understand why anyone would like it's bitter taste other than it's a sign of snobbery. People who have been systematically taught it's cool to have it through tradition. I've had bitter gourds on a few occasions and yup still taste terrible no matter how good the chef was.

"Bitter melon is commonly eaten throughout India. In North Indian cuisine, it is often served with yogurt on the side to offset the bitterness, used in curry such as sabzi or stuffed with spices and then cooked in oil."

Kind of proves my point it's preferably eaten with yogurt to mask it's bitterness.
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It's odd you find whisky bitter, there are very few I find have a bitter element to them. Possibly it is just your palate that is very sensitive to bitterness. I also notice it is mainly blends you have tried, the chivas and royal salute rather than single malts. But each to their own, the one thing I will say though is that snobbery has nothing to do with the enjoyment countless people get from whisky, many taste delicious. For years I thought I hated whisky because I had only been subjected to blended scotch and I thought all whisky was like that. I was very wrong.
 
It’s one thing to say you don’t like whisky, it’s another to infer from that everyone thinks it tastes bad/bitter and is just pretending otherwise because snobbery (otherwise I don’t see the point of the bitter melon analogy). What a bizarre thing to say.
 
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