What's in your collection?

[ForresterModern]

You lads are serious about your Scotch!!!

I feel inadequate, but here's my list:

Auchentoshan Three Wood
Glenmorangie Original 10 yr
Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or
Glenmorangie Signet
Glenfiddich 12 yr
Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix
Talisker 10 yr
Jameson 12 yr
Jameson 18 yr

I know the last two aren't single malt Scotches... but I just wanted to fluff my menu

Has anyone ever tried anything from Douglas Laing? I'm a Laing on my pop's side. Not saying that I'm related to the proprietor of this distillery, but would still be interesting to have a bottle of the "family" Scotch

Color me jealous of the Glenmorangie Signet---oh yeah. Kelly green with envy.

j

[Woot22]

I noticed everyone seems to store their bottles upright. Once again I forget exactly where I read this but I was under the impression you should always store bottles that have a cork top on there side to keep the cork from drying out. Is this only with wines so not really applicable to whiskey's? Just curious as I am starting a rather small collection at the moment and want to store them properly. Also is temperature an issue with whiskey as it is with wine? Great collections so far but my Scotch preference is for Oban 14year and a Lowland whisky called Glenkinchie 12year. I really have to try Talisker now. I am not a fan of Ardbeg so I am hoping its not similar to that whisky.

[ForresterModern]

I noticed everyone seems to store their bottles upright. Once again I forget exactly where I read this but I was under the impression you should always store bottles that have a cork top on there side to keep the cork from drying out. Is this only with wines so not really applicable to whiskey's? Just curious as I am starting a rather small collection at the moment and want to store them properly. Also is temperature an issue with whiskey as it is with wine? Great collections so far but my Scotch preference is for Oban 14year and a Lowland whisky called Glenkinchie 12year. I really have to try Talisker now. I am not a fan of Ardbeg so I am hoping its not similar to that whisky.

Excellent question, I know, because I asked the same thing at a distillery tour and recieved the following answer. The same concept applies to the corks with scotch as wine with the exception that, due to the distillation process, by the time of bottling there is no remaining yeast left in the scotch distillate as there is in the simply cask aged then bottled wine to be as much of a nuisance and to cause cork rot. Corks typically dry out in upright wine bottles, less so in scotch whisky bottles, and so are not as much a problem. Probably also has something to do with wine only 8-12 proof ethanol while most scotches are more like 80-86 proof, some as high as 130+proof (these latter I might be tempted to add a touch of water to), with the ethanol acting pretty much as an antiseptic. Old Scotch bottles do over time lose a small amount of their contents to evaporation through the cork, which with an expensive still sealed collectible bottle can seriously affect its value. Although some call this "the angels share" that term is better reserved for the similar losses that occur during the prolonged cask aging time in the warehouses. You can tell this occurs if you ever walk through, or even drive by, a whisky aging barn on a warm afternoon, something which to a real whicky lover can be something akin to a minor religious experience.

I have had Oban, it is just out of my current stock. Glenkinchie is on my list and a frequent pleasant visitor to my glass. As is Talisker, and with a lesser frequency Ardbeg. To date I don't think I have found a single malt I did not like, albeit some required (heaven forbid) a touch of water to "open" the flavor a bit (read "reduce the bite").

Enjoy.

j

[Woot22]

Awesome, thanks for the info Forrester. How does Talisker compare to Ardbeg, similar or completely different?

[Spiff]

My collection is always 3 bottles (2 if I just finished 1.)
Balvenie 12 years Doublewood finish. My go to scotch for general socializing and relaxing.
Laphroaig 10 years. This one I take on all my camping trips for sitting around a campfire.
Glemmorangie 10 years port wood finish. A favorite of some of my friends.
I have currently have a bottle of Macallan 12 years and think it will become a permanent member of the collection.
I also like and have purchased from time to time,Talisker 10 years, and Lavagulin 16 years, and a good friend provided me with a bottle of Glenlivet 12 years.
The main reason for keeping the list small is of course the cost.

[ForresterModern]

To Beloit Piper

If you find that you are ever going to be in the Louisville area give an advance shout out and we will try to set up a kilted meet where we can also have a massive tasting of the collection, something that does not happen often enough IMHO. It would be a convenient opportunity for a kilt night for the locals, too, one which we are sorely overdue for. I am not sure how much exposure you get in your enviable post to all the whisky varieties out there. WIFE and "the boy" and I are in Madison frequently, having friends and family there and in the area after leaving there only a little over 4 years ago. Unfortunately the whisky collection is not a travelling one (except with my frequent job moves lately) else we might bring it to you the next road trip. We will be up and in the area mid May for my son's college graduation, as well as for a longer visit in mid July for a charity cycling event we do each year. We should try to get together sometime and swap stories and beverage selections. I would love to hear what your job is like.

jeff

[mookien]

Singlemalt: Believe it, or not, you are the first person who has ever tried to describe to me why they like peated whisky. Thanks. It evokes earthy, natural associations, which you enjoy. That makes perfect sense to me.

I'm assuming you do not smell/taste the "old rubber tire" that I and others who don't like peat get from it. Please correct me, if that is wrong.

Everyone who likes peat, and whom I have queried about the "rubber tire", has said they don't sense it at all. I have yet to meet a scotch drinker who has told me, "Yes, I just love the smell and taste of old rubber tires." :-)

I don't consider myself an expert and I suspect my palate isn't any more refined than yours. In fact it may be less refined, since you sense and appreciate subtleties in peat that are totally lost on me.

I, too, do not understand or empathize with those "experts" who find all the nutty, fruity, vegetable, baby-diaper, mustard gas, etc. smells/flavors in scotch. They treat it far too much like wine, I'm afraid. But, then again I may just be a sensory cretin compared to them. :-)

[mookien]

Jeff: What a treasure chest! I assume it is protected by internal, double-compensating, 10-tesla minimum magnetic field, explosive locking bolts? If I lived in your neighborhood, it would have to be. ;-)

Last night I toasted you and Carter with a dram of (what else?) Aberlour 16. If you look again at the picture of my bar, you'll see the bottle at the leftmost upper location. Note that it is full. It no longer is.

It's funny, but I often get one of my son's old baby bottles, put some scotch in it, and lay down in bed and suck on it. Most often, I go to sleep. :-)

[azwildcat96]

It's funny, but I often get one of my son's old baby bottles, put some scotch in it, and lay down in bed and suck on it. Most often, I go to sleep. :-)

What?!?!

I've been to co-ed baby showers and participated in games where the men all attempt to suck beer from baby bottles...but that was just for the fun and amusements of the women.

[mookien]

Has anyone ever tried anything from Douglas Laing? I'm a Laing on my pop's side. Not saying that I'm related to the proprietor of this distillery, but would still be interesting to have a bottle of the "family" Scotch

lethearen: Douglas Laing is a blender and bottler, not a distiller per se. I think they buy and bottle single malts from distilleries. Please correct me, if I am wrong. See

http://www.scotchwhisky.net/independ...glas_laing.htm

I have not seen their whisky for sale, but even their web page states, "Getting your hands on a bottle from our coveted Old Malt Cask range, for example, can prove a pleasant adventure, nothing too intrepid ...". If I ever see a bottle, I'll be sure to sample it. And then, if I don't like it, I'll put the cork in and put it back on the shelf. ;-)