Need Help With a Whiskey Set as a Gift

[ajmanouk]

Hi Gents,

I have a good buddy of mine who has a birthday coming up. We're still young guys and have not had much of a taste for the finer indulgances in life, but he's the kind of person who I think would appreciate a whiskey set (last year I got him a simple dress watch and he loved it; he enjoys smoking cigars, etc.). I have a small group of people pitching so a price range of $150-200 would be fine.

I was tentatively thinking of buying him 2 bottles of some sort of booze + a whiskey set and was hoping to get some feedback. Forgive me, since I don't know a lot about above average-quality alchohol, but two that came to mind were Johhnie Walker Black Label and perhaps Glenfiddich 12 or 15.

Here in Canada, those two bottles would run around $55 each, so my real question lies in the whiskey set. Are there brand names or reputable sources for this kind of thing, or could I just google a little bit or head to ebay and spend 40-50 bucks on a set. Or, is the set something such that spending $100+ is a much better investment.

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[macdude357]

Regarding the Scotch, I wouldn't consider either of those very special. They are both somewhat run of the mill Scotches. If you want to stick with well known names, I would at least find something that you wouldn't find in your average bar. Glenmorangie has a line of "finished" Scotches that are somewhat reasonable ($50 or so). Nectar D'or (Sauternes finish), Finealta (Sherry finish) and Quinta Ruban (Port finish). Two of those would provide good contrast whilst not getting too over the top taste wise. If you want to stick with a blend and a single malt, then find some reviews on some lesser known blends (like Monkey Shoulder) and contrast that with a non-standard bottling of a single malt (like the Glenmorangie line above or, if you want to stick with Glenfiddich, the Solera Reserve 15).

I'm not sure what you mean by a set. You could always pick up 4 of the Glencairn Single Malt glasses and wrap that up nicely with the Scotch. At $10 a glass, that would leave you with $110-$160 for the Scotch.