Ardbeg prides itself on being the peatiest malt, so if peat is your thing (and since you like Laphroaig, I assume it is,) you’ll love it. I had it for the first time a couple months ago and have been resisting the urge to buy a bottle for myself ever since.
I really like Glenfidditch myself. I never realized so many people hated it.
I should add that there’s not much choice when it comes to single malts here in Thailand. We used to have Cardhu, which I thought was great, but then they stopped importing it. But I really do like Glenfidditch a lot. Liquor taxes being high here, a fifth of Glenfidditch runs about US$42.
As for cheap blended Scotches, Clan MacGregor is widespread and okay in a pinch. Something called 100 Pipers, too. A few others, too, that are vile, but then after drinking the rice moonshine upcountry, I don’t mind the vile stuff so much now. For medium price, Johnnie Walker is very popular, but I’ve always found it so-so. J&B and Chivas available, too.
I did stumble (figuratively speaking) across a single-malt bar on the riverfront in Phnom Penh once, where I did sample Talisker and I think Lagavulin. They were great! There were many others on the menu that I had never heard of but did not have time to sample. Just not much choice in Thailand.
[QUOTE=FordPrefect]
I had typed it without the e, but Firefox’s spell checker flagged it.
The other poster wasn’t correcting you so much as showing you that’s how a Scot in Scotland would spell it. The UK spells it “whisky,” while in the US and Ireland, it’s “whiskey.” Not sure about Canada; without the “e” I think?
If there’s an ‘e’ in the country’s name, they make whiskey. Otherwise, they make whisky.
Then why does England – or the UnitEd Kingdom – not make whiskey?
Scotch whisky can only legally be made in Scotland.
Siam Sam, can you get Japanese whiskies there? If so, Suntory Yamazaki Single Malt Whisky is pretty good. It has a bit of a Lowlands flavor with a cereal finish.
Shoshana: Probably, but I haven’t cared much for the regular Suntory, so I never looked for the single malt. Might give that a try if I see it.
Struan: Yes, I know Scocth whisky can only be made in Scotland, just like bourbon can only be made in Kentucky and champagne in France. But they do make other whiskies in England and still spell it “whisky.”
I don’t think any whisky is made in England, but there is one company in Wales that does, so your point stands. 
Well thank goodness for Wales then. I’m surprised, though, that no whiskies are made in England. No wonder they want to hold onto Scotland!
This thread inspired/obsessed me, and now I have good Scotch in the house, again. Talisker and Laphroaig. About this time last year, I poured some plastic jugs of Clan Mac Gregor and House of Stuart down the drain, after sampling Laphroaig in a bar. I’m ready to toast in the new year in fine fashion, and at the rate I drink, I’ll have those same bottles next Christmas.
Whoa! Hold on there! Clan MacGregor’s not bad in a pinch. Like I said, we can’t get Talisker and Laphroaig here, but Scotch is a popular drink in Thailand, and the lower-priced stuff prevails. I’ll keep some Clan MacGregor or 100 Pipers on hand for just regular imbibing. It’s not THAT bad.
I might add, too, that there was a period when I stayed primarily in some rural areas of northern Thailand. The tipple of choice was and remains “lao khao.” That literally means “white liquor.” In the US, we called it “white lightning.” This stuff is made from rice, though, and not from corn. Cheap and effective, which is what makes it so popular among the farmers. About as healthy for you as drinking varnish and probably a similar taste, although I’ve not sampled varnish – yet. It IS white, or clear rather. Very, very potent.
And as if it were not strong and nasty enough, they have been known to spike it with insecticide. I kid you not. Not only did an American friend of mine catch some guests at a wedding he was attending red-handed in the act of pouring in the insecticide, I personally had the misfortune of unwittingly getting ahold of some myself. The result was not pretty. I did not require medical attention – a damned good thing, considering the trouble it would have been to get me to anyone even resembling a doctor – but I seem to have provided a great deal of the night’s entertainment. I’ll spare you the sordid details, but to this day, more than 17 years later, I continue to be regaled with tales of my antics on that night. I swore off “lao khao” for a full decade after that, until I sampled some that was quite nice in up in Laos.
But anyway, the point of all of this is that some might consider me a cretin for drinking the likes of Clan MacGregor, but believe me, after lao khao, Clan MacGregor and 100 Pipers, etc, is some pretty good cheap shit.
Would that lai khao be similar to the liquid death my friends brought home after their stay in Taiwan? We each had an ounce. We started by sipping and after realizing how horrid it was, we decided to shoot it. Worst. Mistake. Ever. It actually tasted worse when shot. How that is even possible? I don’t know.
As you know, I am not a Scotch snob, but you are not a cretin until you drink Wild Irish Rose Which I haven’t, but I did get a bottle as a gag gift once. It became my barometer of alcoholism. If I ever drank from it, I knew I was drinking to drink, not to have fun.
I can’t speak for Taiwan, but I can’t believe the southern US, Thailand and Laos are the only places in the world that would end up making some cheap varnish remover - er, I mean, cheap alcohol for the benefit of the lower-income brackets. The effect sounds uncomfortably familiar.
BTW: I bought a cheap raffle ticket last month at my worksite for a New Year’s drawing and ended up winning a 1-liter bottle of Johnnie Walker Red. Is it true what I hear that nowadays in the US, giving away hard liquor like that at work would be extremely politically incorrect? Or is that just an exaggeration?
At my company its common to have functions on site that provide hard alcohol. I also gave a bottle of Oban to a coworker for the holiday.
I think it just depends on the particular company’s culture.
Thanks. I haven’t lived there for a long time and rarely visit any more. I hear all sorts of stories that really make me wonder.