The OCUK Whisky (and Whiskey) review thread

Hello fellow whisky fans!

I am putting together a set of whisky's for my father and myself to cover all the main whiskey producing regions. We have a budget of £60 per bottle and currently thinking as follows:-

Lowland - Glenkinchie 12
Highlands - Old Pulteney 17
Speyside - Glenfarclas 15
Island - Highland Park 18
Campbeltown – Springbank 15
Islay - Lagavulin 16

We are both quite new to single malts, we have been enjoying Balvenie Double Wood and the 15 year old but would like to sample other regions as well.

Any advice or recommendations gratefully received.
 
ramdrive said:
Hello fellow whisky fans!

I am putting together a set of whisky's for my father and myself to cover all the main whiskey producing regions. We have a budget of £60 per bottle and currently thinking as follows:-

Lowland - Glenkinchie 12
Highlands - Old Pulteney 17
Speyside - Glenfarclas 15
Island - Highland Park 18
Campbeltown – Springbank 15
Islay - Lagavulin 16

We are both quite new to single malts, we have been enjoying Balvenie Double Wood and the 15 year old but would like to sample other regions as well.

Any advice or recommendations gratefully received.
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Just a couple of suggestions based on personal taste.

For Lowland, have you considered Auchentoshan three wood? It's a very nice whisky.

For Speyside, if you fancy something a bit less common, I can heartily recommend Dailuaine 16 Year Old. I had a bottle a while back and was most impressed.

Finally, I'm not a fan of Highland Park. For an Island whisky I'd be more inclined towards Talisker or Jura. You can get the Talisker 2000 Distillers Edition for £53 or the Jura 16yo for £44 - both of them are very nice whiskies.

Just a few alternatives - all, as I say, based on my personal taste.
 
Started to get into whiskey; much prefer speyside to peaty ones. Any way came across this the other day and only just relaised there is a whiskey thread :D

2jg2uzd.jpg
 
I managed to try a lot of whisky last weekend as I was visiting a friend in Aberdeen who has a good collection. Friday evening was spent sampling at home. On the Saturday we popped in to The Grill to try a few more. The menu is impressive http://www.thegrillaberdeen.co.uk/2013 JUNE MENU LIST.pdf

Highlights from Friday

Highland Park 18, 21 and a 1990 (22?) - All excellent, not much between them for me
Talisker 18 - I'm not impressed. It's a nice whisky but missing what I love about the 10
Caol Ila 18 - So much better than the 12

Saturday highlights (some were just tastes rather than full measures)

At home

Old Pulteney 21 - I don't like it but I can understand how someone could. Just too salty. The 12 I've had in the past was really bad.
Glenlivet 25 -Christmas Pudding in a glass.
Macallam 10 oak - Tastes like a very average speyside

From the Grill

Port Ellen 27 - I'll never drink this again but I'm glad I have. Excellent whisky that goes someway to justifying the praise it gets but it's not a massive step up from say Lagavulin
Highland park 30 - It tasted like Highland park 18 but a bit smoother.
Ardbeg 1990 Airigh Nam Beist - Lovely. Also not worth what it costs now but at least we should be soon at the stage where we may have some 1997 bottles soon.
Macallan 25 oak - Disappointing. To me it wasn't much better than the 10.
Kilchoman 3 - Rough but plenty of flavour. It's going to be very good at 10, probably on par with Ardbeg.

A lot latter on I had a Yamazaki 12 in a Weatherspoons. It just tasted like un peated whisky by this point but a double was only £3.25, actually cheaper than buying it by the bottle.
 
Stan_Lite said:
Just a couple of suggestions based on personal taste.

For Lowland, have you considered Auchentoshan three wood? It's a very nice whisky.

For Speyside, if you fancy something a bit less common, I can heartily recommend Dailuaine 16 Year Old. I had a bottle a while back and was most impressed.

Finally, I'm not a fan of Highland Park. For an Island whisky I'd be more inclined towards Talisker or Jura. You can get the Talisker 2000 Distillers Edition for £53 or the Jura 16yo for £44 - both of them are very nice whiskies.

Just a few alternatives - all, as I say, based on my personal taste.
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Thanks for the reply Stan.

I will try some of your suggestions.
 
Phal said:
As I had to fly to Canada to visit the parents I had a shop around duty free and ended up picking up a bottle of Balvenie Triple Cask which seems to be available only from international duty free areas which seems odd!

I'm not all that good at describing tastes but I know I like it lol :)

http://www.thebalvenie.com/our-range/triple-cask-range
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Just tried a bottle of Balvenie 21 Port Wood...

The most amazing whiskey I have ever tried, smooth as silk...
 
Gribs said:
I managed to try a lot of whisky last weekend as I was visiting a friend in Aberdeen who has a good collection. Friday evening was spent sampling at home. On the Saturday we popped in to The Grill to try a few more. The menu is impressive http://www.thegrillaberdeen.co.uk/2013 JUNE MENU LIST.pdf

Highlights from Friday

Highland Park 18, 21 and a 1990 (22?) - All excellent, not much between them for me
Talisker 18 - I'm not impressed. It's a nice whisky but missing what I love about the 10
Caol Ila 18 - So much better than the 12

Saturday highlights (some were just tastes rather than full measures)

At home

Old Pulteney 21 - I don't like it but I can understand how someone could. Just too salty. The 12 I've had in the past was really bad.
Glenlivet 25 -Christmas Pudding in a glass.
Macallam 10 oak - Tastes like a very average speyside

From the Grill

Port Ellen 27 - I'll never drink this again but I'm glad I have. Excellent whisky that goes someway to justifying the praise it gets but it's not a massive step up from say Lagavulin
Highland park 30 - It tasted like Highland park 18 but a bit smoother.
Ardbeg 1990 Airigh Nam Beist - Lovely. Also not worth what it costs now but at least we should be soon at the stage where we may have some 1997 bottles soon.
Macallan 25 oak - Disappointing. To me it wasn't much better than the 10.
Kilchoman 3 - Rough but plenty of flavour. It's going to be very good at 10, probably on par with Ardbeg.

A lot latter on I had a Yamazaki 12 in a Weatherspoons. It just tasted like un peated whisky by this point but a double was only £3.25, actually cheaper than buying it by the bottle.
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Try some Nikka from the barrel... Sublime for the price...

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-2928.aspx
 
Thinking of buying a lady friend a bottle of whisky for her birdthday; her favourite is Bunnahabhain from Islay. Any recommendations - unfortunately my budget won't be too high as after Glastonbury July is going to be tight (>£50).
 
It's a little bit over budget but you can get the 18 year old Bunnahabhain for £55 and if she likes the 12 she'll love that. Otherwise Bunnahabhain isn't really like any other Islays so it might be worth getting her a Speyside of some description.
 
I thought this one was a peaty one? She does have a pallet for both speyside/peaty whiskys but I believe more so for peaty ones. I just happened to overhear her mention Bunnahabhain/Islay as her favourite, can try and investigate without arising suspicion. £55 should be fine. Know nothing about whiskys, is the 18 year much better than they 12? Or is it down to preference?
 
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Ooooo that's music to my ears as I dislike peaty ones; assumed it was because she leans that way. I can help her enjoy it :D. 18 year it is then. Thanks for your help.
 
I went for the following in the end, and what nice drams they are :cool:

Lowland - Bladnoch 20
Highlands - Old Pulteney 17
Speyside - Balvenie 21 Port Wood
Island - Highland Park 18
Campbeltown – Springbank 12
Islay - Bruichladdich Laddie 22 Year Old

Thanks again for your help with this little project.
 
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xibinim said:
Thinking of buying a lady friend a bottle of whisky for her birdthday; her favourite is Bunnahabhain from Islay. Any recommendations - unfortunately my budget won't be too high as after Glastonbury July is going to be tight (>£50).
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If you can stretch to £53 I can recommend the Islay Bruichladdich Laddie 16 (It is actually 18 years old) very smooth and unpeated, in all a very nice dram.
 
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xibinim said:
More choice now though I haven't heard her mention a completely unpeated one before - some more sleuthing me thinks.
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There is still a faint peat note in the whisky that balances well with the other notes.

I have had this dilemma many times when buying whisky for fiends. What do they like etc, it is very easy to just buy what they have tried before but I personally like to purchase something different that they have not tried, there is more excitement, uncertainty and appreciation when your friend discovers a new favorite whisky.

Try and find out what notes she likes in the Bunnahabhain , I find it quite over powering in the sherry dept personally but if she likes the Sherry note maybe try a Speyside like Aberlour A'Bunadh or Glenfarclas 21 both top notch and IMHO way better than the Bunnahabhain.
 
Thank you for the advice :)

Got three more weeks to find out additional information. Like the idea of trying something new (the safe but perhaps a little 'standard' choice being 12/18yr old Bunnahabhain) though she knows her whiskys quite well. Extra points/kudos if I get it right though :p
 
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