Let me first give the three helpful tips for selecting a great scottish whiskey. You should look for a bottle that fits these guidelines:
1) single malt
2) un-chill-filtered
3) no color added
With this, the full unrestricted nose and palate, as anticipated by the master distiller, is thereby preserved and perfectly transfered from cask to bottle. These points layout the traditional style of making fine scottish whisky. Most large bottling companies do not follow these guidelines. A pure single malt may sometimes acquire a slight harmless cloudy haze, which can appear and disappear with temperature changes. To keep this from happening, large commercial distilleries and bottling companies will add amber coloring and chillfilter the malt while bottling. This is done for pure esthetics and is widely regarded to take away quite a lot from the character of the malt. As you acquire a taste for fine whisky you may likely note that a 10 year old malt of traditionally bottled whisky will have much more flavor than a 25 year old bottle of the more common top name brands. And this is where these tips come to heart: price generally goes up with age. So selecting a properly bottled whisky will not only provide you with a better experience for your palate, but also your wallet. The general price range for a bottle of whisky is about $20 to... well the highest I have personally seen was $75,000 but I wouldn't be shocked to learn of more expensive bottles. Generally, good stuff can start to be found around $40, in my humble opinion, but prices quickly start to get into the $100s and above.
With this in mind, I would like to recommend a very well valued traditional whisky: Edradour Signatory 10 years - bottled by Signatory and distilled by Edradour, the smallest distillery in Scotland tucked away in the the massively beautiful southern highlands.
(side note: if you are ever in Scotland, near Pitlochry, the Edradour distillery is known you give very nice tours)
Price:
The Edradour Signatory 10 years is an excellent value. Depending on where you get it (and what the $/£ exchange rate is), look to spend $50-70 for a 750ml bottle. Again, this is a great price for what you are getting. It is an excellent malt, traditionally bottled: un-chillfiltered, no color added, and an extra tangy 46% ABV. Let us not forget, the bottle is personally labeled with bottle number, cask number, and bottling date - in real, actual hand writing (see picture).
Cask:
Sherry
Color:
As the pictures show, the malt captures a rich warm amber character in the bottle. In the glass it transforms to a soothing amber-bronze.
Nose:
I am too much of a novice to do this justice with my tumbler but allow me to entertain smoky, nutty, spicy, with hint of sherry.
Palate:
Smooth, creamy, sweet nuts, malty, full body
This is personally my favorite part. With the cup to my mouth, I like to let the whisky touch my lips and slowly seep though. The first sip gives an especially nice invigorating sensation. For the following sips I prefer to let the dram set in the mouth, forgetting about time, and slowly letting the finish settle in.
Finish:
The finish is really quite enjoyable as well: mellow, warming, calming ... just sit back, get comfortable, and enter your cocoon of awareness.
1) single malt
2) un-chill-filtered
3) no color added
With this, the full unrestricted nose and palate, as anticipated by the master distiller, is thereby preserved and perfectly transfered from cask to bottle. These points layout the traditional style of making fine scottish whisky. Most large bottling companies do not follow these guidelines. A pure single malt may sometimes acquire a slight harmless cloudy haze, which can appear and disappear with temperature changes. To keep this from happening, large commercial distilleries and bottling companies will add amber coloring and chillfilter the malt while bottling. This is done for pure esthetics and is widely regarded to take away quite a lot from the character of the malt. As you acquire a taste for fine whisky you may likely note that a 10 year old malt of traditionally bottled whisky will have much more flavor than a 25 year old bottle of the more common top name brands. And this is where these tips come to heart: price generally goes up with age. So selecting a properly bottled whisky will not only provide you with a better experience for your palate, but also your wallet. The general price range for a bottle of whisky is about $20 to... well the highest I have personally seen was $75,000 but I wouldn't be shocked to learn of more expensive bottles. Generally, good stuff can start to be found around $40, in my humble opinion, but prices quickly start to get into the $100s and above.
With this in mind, I would like to recommend a very well valued traditional whisky: Edradour Signatory 10 years - bottled by Signatory and distilled by Edradour, the smallest distillery in Scotland tucked away in the the massively beautiful southern highlands.
(side note: if you are ever in Scotland, near Pitlochry, the Edradour distillery is known you give very nice tours)
Price:
The Edradour Signatory 10 years is an excellent value. Depending on where you get it (and what the $/£ exchange rate is), look to spend $50-70 for a 750ml bottle. Again, this is a great price for what you are getting. It is an excellent malt, traditionally bottled: un-chillfiltered, no color added, and an extra tangy 46% ABV. Let us not forget, the bottle is personally labeled with bottle number, cask number, and bottling date - in real, actual hand writing (see picture).
Cask:
Sherry
Color:
As the pictures show, the malt captures a rich warm amber character in the bottle. In the glass it transforms to a soothing amber-bronze.
Nose:
I am too much of a novice to do this justice with my tumbler but allow me to entertain smoky, nutty, spicy, with hint of sherry.
Palate:
Smooth, creamy, sweet nuts, malty, full body
This is personally my favorite part. With the cup to my mouth, I like to let the whisky touch my lips and slowly seep though. The first sip gives an especially nice invigorating sensation. For the following sips I prefer to let the dram set in the mouth, forgetting about time, and slowly letting the finish settle in.
Finish:
The finish is really quite enjoyable as well: mellow, warming, calming ... just sit back, get comfortable, and enter your cocoon of awareness.
