Any Scotch drinkers in the house?

[MoneyGuy]

#firstworldproblems

I have too much Scotch at home, if that's possible. I keep getting bottles as gifts and I don't drink it fast enough.

To answer the question I know is coming, yes you can all come over. I'm not sure the long drive will be worth it, however.

Disclaimer: I have a few bottles but in no way, shape or form is it too much. I guess I have to enjoy a glass more often than I do. Problem solved.

[Slava]

^ Good news, you can have some scotch. Bad news, you have to go to Edmonton. Worse news: after drinking the scotch you have to stay in Edmonton because you can't drink and drive. I'm not sure that the trade-off is worth it!

[Bean]

Liquor Depot in Brentwood had it a month ago. That's where I bought mine.

Delicious and packaged in a really beautiful bottle too!

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Has anyone else noticed Hibiki Harmony for sale in the city? First time I've seen Hibiki in Calgary. It's supposed to be able to stack up decently vs the Hibiki 12.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Bean

Liquor Depot in Brentwood had it a month ago. That's where I bought mine.

Delicious and packaged in a really beautiful bottle too!

It's an amazing glass bottle for sure. I'll have to nab one some time and give it a try. I've had other bottles of Hibiki and enjoyed those thoroughly, so I'm pretty excited to see it here in Calgary.

[MRCboicgy]

Kensington Wine Market has had it in at least twice since August.

I'm 1/5th through my bottle. Don't like it as much as Nikka From the Barrel, but that's not a knock on the Harmony, as it's great on its own.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by MRCboicgy

Kensington Wine Market has had it in at least twice since August.

I'm 1/5th through my bottle. Don't like it as much as Nikka From the Barrel, but that's not a knock on the Harmony, as it's great on its own.

Ooo, I had Nikka recently and it was really tasty too. I'll have to nab one of those as well.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

Pretty impressive for Crown Royal, and the hype around it means it is virtually sold out here in Toronto.

Virtually sold out every where. It's not even that good.

The ####ing guy hasn't had taste buds in 30 years for christ's sake. Now I have people all over me for it, spewing that "best whisky in the world" bull ####. UGH. I hate when something like this wins anything. There are no less than six different Canadian whiskies on my shelf that are as good or better and I get "Oh well I'm a member of the local whisky society and I tried it and it was the best thing ever and Jim Murray said it's the best in the world and this one you're suggesting can't possibly be as good." FROM ALMOST EVERY SINGLE ONE.


Diageo is creating an artificial shortage too. So now I get to hear the whinge about not getting any while I know there are warehouses full in Alberta and Saskatchewan. ####. ####. FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-.

[heep223]

Anyone tried this yet? Love the Oban 14, just picked this up:

[Komskies]

Any Macallan fans? What are you opinions on the no age statement switch? Is Macallan gold still a good scotch or is Macallan sacrificing quality for quantity?

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Any Macallan fans? What are you opinions on the no age statement switch? Is Macallan gold still a good scotch or is Macallan sacrificing quality for quantity?

An add on question. The new Gordon and Macphail single blends from 'mystery' distilleries are generally thought to be MacAllan. They are the ones with customized labels, Crowfoot or Kensington or Whereever. Has anyone tried one of these?

My thought on Gold is that it's only slightly better than the other introductory offerings like Glenlivet Founders or Glenfiddich 12. I would think that the value starts at Amber, and if you're feeling froggy, Sienna. If you're set on an introductory Scotch, Gold is still not a bad choice in that Highland/slightly sweet world. Bowmore 12 (peaty), Benriach 12 (sweet) would interest me a lot more for about the same price.

I would drop MacAllan Gold altogether, and give Sheep Dip a shot. Not as sweet, but such a nice balance of everything for slightly less than Gold, in a blend.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Any Macallan fans? What are you opinions on the no age statement switch? Is Macallan gold still a good scotch or is Macallan sacrificing quality for quantity?

This question is too broad for a useful response. Are you crazy rich? What's your budget? Are you limited to buying locally?

Macallan name has been around for a long time and is being used in marketing above what's reasonable today. Way too much, on other words.

I didn't like any of their stuff priced under $100 that I've tasted. Nothing there that really stands out to me. You're better off going with something distinct, proven, balanced and inexpensive like Balvenie 12, Aberlour 12 & 14, Highland Park 12 or similar. These malts are all reasonably balanced without too much peat or smoke (Aberlour is a bit more smoky/peaty of these three names).

Over $100 but under $200, there are some good malts from Macallan:

Fine Oak 15 is not bad
Fine Oak 17 is OK (not worth the price difference with 15 though, IMO)

The really good stuff from Macallan comes after $300, but who's got the money to buy it??? When our dollar was on par with $US, an array of their 18-yr old malts was available under $200, all very good. They still are in US, but irrelevant to us at this point. I tasted Macallan 40 yr-old malt a couple of weeks ago at a friend's house - that stuff was amazing (and he didn't show me the bottle until I tasted it). But this was a rare treat...

I feel guilty enough buying Lagavulin 16 and Bowmore 15 and paying well under $100. We do not have many good and affordable choices for single malts in Calgary, unfortunately.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

An add on question. The new Gordon and Macphail single blends from 'mystery' distilleries are generally thought to be MacAllan. They are the ones with customized labels, Crowfoot or Kensington or Whereever. Has anyone tried one of these?

My thought on Gold is that it's only slightly better than the other introductory offerings like Glenlivet Founders or Glenfiddich 12. I would think that the value starts at Amber, and if you're feeling froggy, Sienna. If you're set on an introductory Scotch, Gold is still not a bad choice in that Highland/slightly sweet world. Bowmore 12 (peaty), Benriach 12 (sweet) would interest me a lot more for about the same price.

I would drop MacAllan Gold altogether, and give Sheep Dip a shot. Not as sweet, but such a nice balance of everything for slightly less than Gold, in a blend.

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

This question is too broad for a useful response. Are you crazy rich? What's your budget? Are you limited to buying locally?

Macallan name has been around for a long time and is being used in marketing above what's reasonable today. Way too much, on other words.

I didn't like any of their stuff priced under $100 that I've tasted. Nothing there that really stands out to me. You're better off going with something distinct, proven, balanced and inexpensive like Balvenie 12, Aberlour 12 & 14, Highland Park 12 or similar. These malts are all reasonably balanced without too much peat or smoke (Aberlour is a bit more smoky/peaty of these three names).

Over $100 but under $200, there are some good malts from Macallan:

Fine Oak 15 is not bad
Fine Oak 17 is OK (not worth the price difference with 15 though, IMO)

The really good stuff from Macallan comes after $300, but who's got the money to buy it??? When our dollar was on par with $US, an array of their 18-yr old malts was available under $200, all very good. They still are in US, but irrelevant to us at this point. I tasted Macallan 40 yr-old malt a couple of weeks ago at a friend's house - that stuff was amazing (and he didn't show me the bottle until I tasted it). But this was a rare treat...

I feel guilty enough buying Lagavulin 16 and Bowmore 15 and paying well under $100. We do not have many good and affordable choices for single malts in Calgary, unfortunately.

Thanks for the great answers to a non-so-great question. You two seem to know your stuff.

[Top Shelf]

I have a Macallan 12 at home and it blows the socks off of the Gold.

If you want heavy Sherry influence, try GlenDronach or GlenFarclas. Aberlour and Benriach are great as well.

[LChoy]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Any Macallan fans? What are you opinions on the no age statement switch? Is Macallan gold still a good scotch or is Macallan sacrificing quality for quantity?

Not really a fan of the switch, but they needed to do it in order to keep up with demand.

The Macallan 12 (Sherry Oak) was the first single malt whisky I learned to drink, so it's one that I'm fond of. With the new new line, the equivalent in balance, colour, and taste would be between the Amber and Sienna. The entry level gold, while still drinkable, doesn't stand out compared to anything at it's price point, and is a Macallan in name only.
Unfortunately, for the Macallan experience, you'll have to shell out at least for the amber, or try one of their fine oak series. At the top end though, they are still producing the 25 and 30 Sherry oaks, but though are extraordinarily expensive

My 2 cents

LChoy

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I got a 750ml bottle of Glenfiddich 12 Year Old for $35 over the weekend. Is it usually that cheap? I've never seen a single malt for that price!

At first taste, I'm not so much of a fan. It has very strong apple notes along with a little more young harshness than the other Speyside I have on hand (AnCnoc 12).

Glenfiddich used to be my dad's favourite Christmas present. Now it's pretty mediocre compared to what else is available

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Top Shelf

I have a Macallan 12 at home and it blows the socks off of the Gold.

If you want heavy Sherry influence, try GlenDronach or GlenFarclas. Aberlour and Benriach are great as well.

I have one bottle of 18 left. Macallan went cheap and I was forced to stop buying their 15, which is also awesome if you can find it.

[JohnnyB]

Shouldn't this thread be in the Food and Entertainment forum?

Also, Ardbeg and Laphroaig are my two favourite distilleries. Unfortunately, they are hard to come by here in Shanghai and, like all Scotch here, they are over-priced. I've been having a little of the Ardbeg Corryvreckan pretty much every evening since I was able to get some in duty free on a trip to Hong Kong a couple of weeks back and I really love it. I could happily sniff a glass all evening.

[Scrambler]

I love Japanese Whiskey, mostly the single malts, but I tried this blended whiskey today and it was awesome:

[calgarygeologist]

I'm still trying to get into scotch and just got off a Norwegian cruise where we had unlimited beverages. I was drinking most of their available liquors to see what I liked. For scotch, I found that I really enjoyed Macallan Select Oak and Glenmorangie. They also had Johnnie Walker Blue available for a $3 upcharge which was fantastic.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Any Macallan fans? What are you opinions on the no age statement switch? Is Macallan gold still a good scotch or is Macallan sacrificing quality for quantity?

So.. The reason they do this is because of minimum age display. You can have a single malt with several barrel ages included (unless it's a single cask) and the age of the whisky is the youngest whisky in the bottle. So even if your malt is 99% 18 year, if you put 12 year in it, it's a 12 year.

I don't really care for the stripper series, but the 18 is great.