Monkey Shoulder (or really, most blended scotches) are quite nice to sip straight. Same with Jim Beam (though I prefer Four Roses). All gin tastes like hairspray.
I may prefer a fine scotch over a bourbon 99 times out of a hundred…but I must confess that right now I am sipping a maple bacon moonshine, while nibbling on thinly-sliced Russian salami (no, I don’t know what kind of salami because I don’t speak Russian-ghod I love little foreign markets!) and Pop Daddy garlic Parmesan sticks…and I haven’t been this happy in weeks.
Words and experiences to live by. You go dude!
My personal preference is for a nice peaty single malt scotch. Lagavulin may be my favorite. I sip from a brandy snifter.
That is definitely something I enjoy at room temperature.
Any peaty Scotch recs? I’ve enjoyed all of: ardbeg, lagavulin, Laphroaig, talisker, and bruichladdich port Charlotte. I’ve had a fair amount of different ardbegs but but explored any of the other lineups. The only higher end bottle I’ve had was an octomore (didn’t recall the exact bottle) which was great and intense.
Oh, yes, Laphroaig may be better than Lagavulin. I think it’s more expensive and i like them about equally.
You’ve covered all the ones I’m familiar with, and those are my two favorites.
I remember Laphroaig being about $25/bottle at Trader Joe’s in L.A. With inflation and a hefty sprits tax, I think it’s over $60 now. (It’s been a while since I noticed.)
In Virginia Lapgroaig is ~60 and Lagavulin is ~90. The only double blind scotch tasting I’ve done is Ardbeg 10 vs Ardbeg Corryvreckan so I don’t know what I’d prefer on a $ amount. I should do that at a bar and then I’ll know what to buy rather than just whatever strikes me in the moment.
Prices are similar in FL. But … I’ll point out that standard Laphroaig is a 10year, while standard Lagavulin is a 16year. not surprising in general the older bottle is more expensive.
15-20 years ago Laphroaig also made a 16 or 18 that was great and priced about the same as the same-age Lagavulin. Now both distilleries seem to have gone for a baseline product and some very limited edition solidly expensive products.
Same here re: prices, but there is also a Lagavulin 8 I sometimes see at bars, which is around the same price or cheaper than the Laphroiag. The 16 seems to be more common, and in a quick review of 6 menus from bars around here, I see that 5 of them stock the 16 and one stocks the 8. I would consider Laphroaig 10 an excellent introduction to the style of peated scotch. It’s the one you’re most likely to find at a reasonably stocked bar that doesn’t have a deep scotch collection, much in the way you’re likely to find Glenfiddich 12 and/or Glenlivet 12 as a Speyside exemplar (and the Speysides I find a decent introduction to scotch in general.) The Lagavulin 16 is one of my favorites, especially for the price at 16 years, but I do enjoy a dram of Laphroiag as well. For a gentler introduction into Islay malts, I always recommend Bunnahabhain 12 if it’s available.
If like their 12, arrange to get a taste of the Bunnahabhain 18. It’s spendy, but a very special experience. Unlike a lot of other seriously high-priced scotches that are far more about proving how big your wallet is versus proving how much you enjoy (or can even recognize) good scotch.
Dammit. I got it right once out of three tries: LAPHROAIG.
The more of it you sip, the less of it you can spell?
I highly recommend finding a bar with a top shelf of stuff you’re curious about.
For the price of a shot, I’ve saved a lot of money by not buying whiskies that “people online” love, but I’m just not wild about.
Oh, and a knowledgeable (and friendly) bartender. One at my local dive bar has introduced me to some of my favorites: “Hey, Digger, if you like Speysides, have you tried Redbreast? It’s a very smooth Irish, I bet you’ll love it.” And I did!
Yes. Agree completely. By the shot seems pricy, but you can buy a lot of shots for the same money as avoiding buying one wrong bottle you don’t enjoy.
We have a very well-equipped bar/restaurant near here that runs a Whiskey Wednesdays happy hour promo. If it’s amber, it’s half price, period. The Scotch part of their menu runs to 2 pages times 2 columns; around 80 varieties. Then there’s the bourbons, the ryes, the Japanese stuff, the Irish stuff …
I’ve spent a lot of money there. But at half price it’s a great way to sample everything. I do however find my 5 or 6th shot is less informative than the first of that evening was. Oh well, it’ll still be there next week! 
Now that’s an interesting way to think about it! With Scotch, I think that would work well for me because I know there are some sublime Scotches that I go ga-ga over, and I’d like to find more. With bourbon, on the other hand, I routinely ask bartenders to surprise me with something special as part of a blind flight of mixed heritage, and I rarely pick it out of the bunch. Although I much prefer pedestrian bourbon to pedestrian Scotch, good Scotch is really awesome but I haven’t found a correspondingly satisfying bourbon. Yet.
Straight line bourbon I prefer Basil Hayden’s. Inexpensive, flavorful, not boring.
They make a dark rye that’s quite nice too for a darn good price. Angel’s Envy dark rye is more expensive but also more complex.
All depends on where one draws the line between routine drink, occasional indulgence, and wretched excess.
Where is this?!?
And how much would gas cost for me to run over there on a Wednesday evening?
Southern Palm Beach County, Florida.
But the bar is part of a high end restaurant chain w other locations in Philadelphia, Houston, & Baltimore. If any of those are geographically plausible for you, let me know.
IIRC the Bunnahabhain 18 was $50 a shot full price, $25 on Whiskey Wed.