So I was at a bar with my cousin last week and at one point he suggests buying a round of scotch. I didn’t mind, but I’ve never been one for the drink (or for straight hard liquor in general) – my idea of high quality scotch is a drink that tastes good in the mouth and then burns like the dickens going down.
So my cousin goes to the bar and brings back a couple of glasses of what turns out to be Lagavulin (16y). Wow. It was a revelation. Delicious, with a long, very smoky finish, and extremely smooth going down.
Now, at the moment I really can’t justify the purchase of an $80 bottle of scotch, so I was wondering if anyone here who’s more knowledgeable than I has a cheaper, comparable alternative? Smoothness is principally important, though of course if the taste is just meh there isn’t any point.
Also, any advice or words or wisdom regarding scotch in general would be appreciated.
It’s funny because I recently found I had a love of Scotch whisky after having Lagavulin 16 as well! Islay whisky is known for being heavy on the peat smoke character. I am just started to try more of them too. Yeah 70 bucks is steep for a bottle, though it tends to last me a few months.
My husband is having a love affair with Lagavulin these days. He got turned on to it on a trip to Canada a few months ago and it’s turned him into a scotch whore. He came home with a bottle last night after his last ran out a couple of weeks ago.
I love whiskey, but I’m more of a Bourbon girl myself. Lagavulin is just a little too peety, smoky, and almost medicinal to me.
Seconding, sorry, thirding, the Laphroaig suggestion above. Bruichladdich or Balvenie are also highly recommended. I can think of cheaper ones that are less peaty yet still wonderful - Glenrothes has a fabulous rainbow of tastes and yet, tends to be in the $50 - $60 CAD range, rather than the $109 CAD for Lagavulin.
Highland Park or Talisker are also two I’d recommend highly - then again, I’ve yet to meet a single malt that didn’t have something nice to say to me…
On an unrelated piratical hijacking kind of note, I used to have the occasional Scotch, and am definately a fan. However, after marrying into a family of Irish, and sometimes getting a little gift from the duty free after a trip home, I’ve become more of a fan of Irish whiskey. Its just a bit less peaty and medicinal, and never has the smell of a fresh bandaid, the way some scotchs do. When you’ve finished you tour of Scotland, try some Irish as well.
I’m with you! To my palate, Laphroaig is bong water. Balvenie is wonderful (as is Jura; was given a bottle for my birthday earlier this year, and I’ve been rationing it). I also really love Redbreast (an Irish).
Lagavulin is a great big smoky monster, and you’re not too likely to find many other whiskies which pack quite the same peaty punch. Any similar single malts are likely to be similarly priced.
For malts, I’d recommend Ardbeg. If you like Lagavulin then you’ll love it.
If you can get hold of it, Black Bottle is a surprisingly excellent blend made primarily with Islay malts (same region as Lagavulin and Ardbeg), and it should do the job on a budget (get the 10 year old if you can).
I’m with you on Redbreast. I think it runs around $40 a bottle around here, so it’s not my regular drink. The bottle I keep around the house just for a before-dinner drink is Powers.
If you like Redbreast, you might really like Middleton. Unfortunately, it goes for something like $130 a bottle, when you can find it.
I wouldn’t call myself an expert, but my GF and I went on a tour of a scotch whisky factory when we went to Edenborough, Scotland last year. They gave a pretty good overview of what Scotch is and how it works (along with lots of samples). So if you ever happen to be in Scotland.
First of all there are “single malts” and “blended”. Blended tend to be a bit smoother IIRC, but mostly it’s just personal preference. I’m not a huge scotch drinker but I usually go with a Macallan 12 or Glenlivet 12.
If you happen to be in NYC I highly recommend a Scotch bar called St Andrews near times square. They have all sorts of Scotch whisky and the bartenders are pretty good at finding you something if you can tell them what you like.
The Cardhu you knew and loved is gone. Diageo has “repositioned” the label as a “vatted” malt, which means it’s a blend of single malts from different distilleries.
I think Bowmore is a really good value. But if you are saying that you like Lagavulin in particular but not Scotch in general, then I can’t promise you’ll like it.
(Lagavulin is also my favorite Scotch, by the way.)
