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Some scotch education if you please

I totally agree with you guys on The Macallan 12. I got it as my first single malt, and have been enjoying it all this Christmas. I just love it, so sweet. The honey and vanilla just bursts into my mouth after half a second after the sip and I was completely surprised that a whisky can taste so good!

All my friends (the ones I've deemed worthy of trying a sip anyway), have also been surprisingly impressed.

Now what to get next?!
 
Glenlivet 12 is good stuff, and as another member posted the 18 yo stuff is quite nice too. But for my money, the 15 yo french cask (aged) is the tastiest. but like DE razors to each their own.
 
I totally agree with you guys on The Macallan 12. I got it as my first single malt, and have been enjoying it all this Christmas. I just love it, so sweet. The honey and vanilla just bursts into my mouth after half a second after the sip and I was completely surprised that a whisky can taste so good!

All my friends (the ones I've deemed worthy of trying a sip anyway), have also been surprisingly impressed.

Now what to get next?!

If you like Macallan, you'd most likely like Balvenie as well. Balvenie has a new 14yr Caribbean Cask out right now that uses rum casks as finishing casks. It's a very sweet scotch, but I thoroughly enjoy it.
 
When most people drink scotch for the first time, they probably recall actors in movies who order scotch and drink it down in gulps. Looked glamorous and sophisticated. But the reality is that if you drink strong alcoholic beverages like scotch on the rocks for the first time, your mouth and throat are not ready for the new experience and you'll "gag". It takes time for you to train your mouth to accept and enjoy whiskey. I sip my scotch (single malt) straight up with water chaser (cold or room temperature depends on my mood).
 
When most people drink scotch for the first time, they probably recall actors in movies who order scotch and drink it down in gulps. Looked glamorous and sophisticated. But the reality is that if you drink strong alcoholic beverages like scotch on the rocks for the first time, your mouth and throat are not ready for the new experience and you'll "gag". It takes time for you to train your mouth to accept and enjoy whiskey. I sip my scotch (single malt) straight up with water chaser (cold or room temperature depends on my mood).

Those old movies can mislead a person disastrously without full contextual knowledge. When we were kids watching those films, we may have thought it was sophisticated to down a full measure of scotch. Now that we're (kinda-sorta) grown up and know first-hand what scotch whisky is, we realize that those film characters were meant to play either as classless boors or hopeless drunks!

It's worth remembering that, on black and white film stock, even an apparently falling-down-drunk cheeseball looked good in a tux with Brylcreem in his hair.
 
I took scotch like a baby to milk
It was Brandy/Conac that totally put me off..

Movies- it's where bad cigar habits come from too..
 
Gents,
I have recruited a friend in this endevor I turned him on to the Macallan and he is bringing over a range of JW colors he got in a set this holiday. The girls will be chatting tonight while the gentlemen enjoy the spirits.
 
Hello Gents,
I have been interested in trying a new drink as of late. I am typically like a stiff gin and tonic (Hendricks), a Sauvignon Blanc, or Pino Noir. I have been reading about scotch and picked up a bottle of Glenlivet 12. I poured some over three ice cubes swirled and sipped... and almost gagged.

Can someone wiser than I provide some help? How should I start?

I can tell you that scotch is an acquired taste.

Patience, always patience. I'd recommend you try it "neat" in a glass.


I attended a Johnny Walker tasting event a few years ago. :thumbup1:

Their chief blender was there, and he recommended that you add a little water to your scotch. Let the scotch breathe for a few minutes. And never gulp the stuff.

Keep working on it, it's a good problem to deal with.
 
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