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Scotch Drinkers...

Had a couple of Glenfiddiches yesterday at the airports...then had a couple of Dewar’s on the planes.

Glenfiddich was fine. Didn’t love it but it was definitely not bad. I’d drink it again.

Dewars might be the worst thing I’ve ever tasted though. It was the only scotch on both of the planes I flew yesterday and I was committed to liquor by then...

Now I’m bellied up to the hotel bar in Lucerne, while my daughter is up in the room napping. They want $23 for a shot of some 10-year old scotch I’ve never heard of. Ouch. I’m having a beer instead.
 
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Further update, went down the road to “a great whisky bar” and paid $17 for a tiny pour of Macallan’s Amber...which I’d never heard of. Though I thought it was great!

Anyway, I did the math and figured it would pay a lot better for me to go buy a bottle of the Macallan’s for $70, and just sip on it over the duration of our trip...so thats what I did.

Take THAT, Switzerland!
 
I'm a bourbon drinker who would like to expand his tastes. So...
1. How much different is Scotch to bourbon?
2. Knowing that I drink primarily bourbons and ryes, which would be the first Scotch I should try? I'm not going to "learn to like it" because I'm too old and already like what I drink.
I would say Glenmorangie, Glenlivet, any of the Glens.
 
Last night we went to Warhorse (whisky bar in tallahassee on Gaines St). There I tried .5 oz pours of:

  • Balvenie 12 Single Barrel (Didn’t care for it)
  • Suntory Hibiki (liked it)
  • Glenfiddich 15 (liked it the most of the 3)

Still haven’t found anything close to as good as the Macallan 12 yet though. The search continues...
 
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What are the best Costco brand liquors, specifically scotch?

Also @62Nole, are you talking about the Costco in tally?
 
What are the best Costco brand liquors, specifically scotch?

Also @62Nole, are you talking about the Costco in tally?

Costco swaps out their Scotches here in Tallahassee quite a bit. The only ones I literally always see is Johnnie Walker Blue, Johnnie Red and Johnnie Black. They seem to always carry at least one Glenlivet, Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie but the variety will change (but they seem to always have either Glenlivet Founders Reserve OR the standard 12 up). They also seem to always carry at least one Japanese Scotch now in Tally on a rotating basis so whenever they have Suntory Hibiki or Toki I grab it. Currently they have a cheap one I haven't tried by Yamazaki I believe.

Basically just like everything else at Costco, they have a handful of staples and 80% of the rest rotates through. You can find some great Scotches and at great prices if you check every time you go like I do.
 
Speaking of Johnnie Walker, I tried the new "White Walker" which is a new blend supposedly matched to Game of Thrones. While the bottle is pretty awesome (it even changes to say "Winter is Here" when placed in the freezer), I can't say the inside product is that good. It was allegedly specifically blended to be served straight from the freezer like a vodka and unlike every other Scotch and Ive tried it both room temp and straight from the freezer. From the freezer it's so bland you can barely taste anything, it might as well be vodka. When served warm, you can actually a little bit. You can tell there's some ozone in there from an Islay single malt which goes well with the White Walker tagline. There's a little bit of spice and fruit but not much.

All and all, I'd say skip it unless you're a fan of very light Scotches or want to try one designed to be shipped straight from the freezer.

For comparison purposes I'm a huge fan of the Johnnie Walker Green and a decent fan of Spice Road and Double Black, but I've never cared much for Blue, Platinum or Gold considering their prices. Red is complete garbage and regular Black is useful for a mixed drink and that's about it.
 
Speaking of Johnnie Walker, I tried the new "White Walker" which is a new blend supposedly matched to Game of Thrones. While the bottle is pretty awesome (it even changes to say "Winter is Here" when placed in the freezer), I can't say the inside product is that good. It was allegedly specifically blended to be served straight from the freezer like a vodka and unlike every other Scotch and Ive tried it both room temp and straight from the freezer. From the freezer it's so bland you can barely taste anything, it might as well be vodka. When served warm, you can actually a little bit. You can tell there's some ozone in there from an Islay single malt which goes well with the White Walker tagline. There's a little bit of spice and fruit but not much.

All and all, I'd say skip it unless you're a fan of very light Scotches or want to try one designed to be shipped straight from the freezer.

For comparison purposes I'm a huge fan of the Johnnie Walker Green and a decent fan of Spice Road and Double Black, but I've never cared much for Blue, Platinum or Gold considering their prices. Red is complete garbage and regular Black is useful for a mixed drink and that's about it.

I love the Double Black. Got it for $25 here at Total Wine. Got a White Walker one strictly for the bottle. Haven't opened it yet, but I was already going into it with low expectations, as I assumed the whole sale point was the bottle itself.

Side note: while not a scotch, Crown came out with a Texas Mesquite version that...if you like smokey scotches, is well worth the $22 current price point.
 
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I’m curious about the Kirkland 18 scotch

Apparently it’s pretty decent. Buying for mass consumption, not personal use.
 
I love the Double Black. Got it for $25 here at Total Wine. Got a White Walker one strictly for the bottle. Haven't opened it yet, but I was already going into it with low expectations, as I assumed the whole sale point was the bottle itself.

Side note: while not a scotch, Crown came out with a Texas Mesquite version that...if you like smokey scotches, is well worth the $22 current price point.

I saw that Texas Mesquite Crown when I was last in the liquor store and ALMOST pulled the trigger.
 
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I’m curious about the Kirkland 18 scotch

Apparently it’s pretty decent. Buying for mass consumption, not personal use.

I haven't tried the Kirkland Scotch, but their XO Cognac is the only Cognac I keep on hand (not a fan of most brandies, too raising usually) and their vodka is better than Titos or other cheaper vodkas along the price point (I do prefer Crystal Head (regular), Crystal Head Aurora, Ocean (add it to POG and it's a Hawaiian dream), Russian Standard Platinum, Ultimat, and a couple of others).
 
Speaking of Johnnie Walker, I tried the new "White Walker" which is a new blend supposedly matched to Game of Thrones. While the bottle is pretty awesome (it even changes to say "Winter is Here" when placed in the freezer), I can't say the inside product is that good. It was allegedly specifically blended to be served straight from the freezer like a vodka and unlike every other Scotch and Ive tried it both room temp and straight from the freezer. From the freezer it's so bland you can barely taste anything, it might as well be vodka. When served warm, you can actually a little bit. You can tell there's some ozone in there from an Islay single malt which goes well with the White Walker tagline. There's a little bit of spice and fruit but not much.

All and all, I'd say skip it unless you're a fan of very light Scotches or want to try one designed to be shipped straight from the freezer.

For comparison purposes I'm a huge fan of the Johnnie Walker Green and a decent fan of Spice Road and Double Black, but I've never cared much for Blue, Platinum or Gold considering their prices. Red is complete garbage and regular Black is useful for a mixed drink and that's about it.
I was gifted a bottle of Game of Thrones Clinelish Reserve single malt (House Tyrell). I will report back.
 
I haven't tried the Kirkland Scotch, but their XO Cognac is the only Cognac I keep on hand (not a fan of most brandies, too raising usually) and their vodka is better than Titos or other cheaper vodkas along the price point (I do prefer Crystal Head (regular), Crystal Head Aurora, Ocean (add it to POG and it's a Hawaiian dream), Russian Standard Platinum, Ultimat, and a couple of others).

Which Kirkland Vodka are you talking about? There are two. The cheaper one is OK but still doesn't compare to Titos. The more expensive one is basically Grey Goose.
 
There’s a new whiskey out there.



https://www.myrecipes.com/extracris...utm_term=D5795238-0ABD-11E9-B5A2-A5A5984234C2


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@DFSNOLE for something to try as new to scotch I would start with Johnnie Walker Black. It is a good scotch, that is inexpensive and will let you know if you want to wade further into scotch, specifically single malts ( which are awesome) or just stick to what you love, delicious bourbon
 
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Was visiting in-laws and in the room full of junk we were staying in, found a bottle of Johnnie Walker green label under a pile of old papers/clothes. Still in the box and probably been there at least a decade, so I just took it home with me.

Any good? (I normally drink bourbon if I’m going brown liquor).
 
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Was visiting in-laws and in the room full of junk we were staying in, found a bottle of Johnnie Walker green label under a pile of old papers/clothes. Still in the box and probably been there at least a decade, so I just took it home with me.

Any good? (I normally drink bourbon if I’m going brown liquor).

Green label is my favorite Johnnie. While every otherJohnnie including the ridiculously expensive for its quality Blue is made up in part by cheap grain whiskey (colourless moonshine from corn and wheat that is in essence a vodka as it’s run through a continuous still), Green is made up solely of four different single malt whiskies. In fact, the Green takes one from the island of Sky (Talisker), one highland (Cragganmore), one Speyside (Linkwood) and one Islay (Caol Ila) whiskey and crafts a blend that basically takes on the character of the whole of Ireland rather than one region. And each one is aged a min of 15 years. You can get Green for as cheap as $50 on sale and normally at $60-65 but if you got a single malt of only Talisker that was 15 yo you would pay $80-100, for Cragganmore around $100-120, Linkwood around $85-100 and Caol Ila about $125-140.
 
I was wondering if this thread was still here. Good data.
 
I prefer Scotch from the Highlands as they don't use peat in their process (I just don't care for the peaty smoke flavor)

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We toured The Balvenie distillery and this would be one of my favorites...finished in a Rum Cask.
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Toured this distillery as well...also a favorite.
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Reasonably priced one.
Two solid choices especially carribean cask
 
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I'm a total newbie, but a burgeoning fan nonetheless.

So far I've tried:

Glenlivet 12 (I don't care for it at all)
Suntory Toki (I like it, but don't love it)
Macallan 12 (I absolutely love it)
Oban 14 (I didn't like it much)
Glenlivet 16 Nadurra (I loved it - just had one pour of it at Bern's the other night, but loved it.)

What is there in the $40-$50 range that's remotely as good as the Macallan 12, b/c that stuff is phenomenal, but at $75 (at ABC Liquors in Tallahassee) is a bit steep for an everyday drinking Scotch.


Costco has the best bang for your buck for the 50-75 dollar range you can get a good 12 year aged Scotch or Japanese whiskey they may still have the Hibiki Harmony blend at the Tallahassee location for around 60 bucks. I'd look into Glenfarclas I'm more of a fan of the Speyside style scotches don't like the campfire taste of the other ones.
 
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/thewhi...ner-scotch-people-think-dont-like-scotch/amp/

That article also recs Monkey Shoulder as a beginner's scotch, plus adds in Dalwhinnie which is one I temporarily forgot about but agree is a good beginners scotch. As a matter of fact I did three scotch "classes" two in Tally and one in Scotland and the one in Scotland and one of the two in Tally started with Dalwhinnie as the very first Scotch to taste as it's very light and mellow for a Scotch. Then you ramp it up until you end with Flavor bombs that destroy your palate like anything from Ardberg, Laphroag or Caol Ila.


Monkey Shoulder is a great everyday scotch especially at the prince point it's at.
 
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I'm a total newbie, but a burgeoning fan nonetheless.

So far I've tried:

Glenlivet 12 (I don't care for it at all)
Suntory Toki (I like it, but don't love it)
Macallan 12 (I absolutely love it)
Oban 14 (I didn't like it much)
Glenlivet 16 Nadurra (I loved it - just had one pour of it at Bern's the other night, but loved it.)

What is there in the $40-$50 range that's remotely as good as the Macallan 12, b/c that stuff is phenomenal, but at $75 (at ABC Liquors in Tallahassee) is a bit steep for an everyday drinking Scotch.

Bump
 
I'm a total newbie, but a burgeoning fan nonetheless.

So far I've tried:

Glenlivet 12 (I don't care for it at all)
Suntory Toki (I like it, but don't love it)
Macallan 12 (I absolutely love it)
Oban 14 (I didn't like it much)
Glenlivet 16 Nadurra (I loved it - just had one pour of it at Bern's the other night, but loved it.)

What is there in the $40-$50 range that's remotely as good as the Macallan 12, b/c that stuff is phenomenal, but at $75 (at ABC Liquors in Tallahassee) is a bit steep for an everyday drinking Scotch.


Bump
 
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1.75 liter 18 year old Glenmorangie is excellent. Can buy on sale between $90-$100. Agree on the double black if drinking a blend.
 
Laphroaig person myself. The smokier and peatier the better.
 
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