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Do any of you have an opinion on Auchentushan 12 yo, the 3 wood and the American oak?
Scotch recommendations for a bourbon guy.
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Try Cardhu - it's a Speyside that's very much on the sweet side - I'm reliably informed that the Spanish treat it more like a liqueur than a whisky. It has little or no peat flavour, with a biscuit, honey, vanilla opening that just goes on and on. I love it.
I think like anything else it really comes down to personal preference. I like a peaty scotch. I would read up on the different areas that scotch is made for the tasting notes and see what might appeal to you. If you have a good scotch place near you see if they offer sampler platters. I think a balvenie or glenfiditch is a good starting point.
I was reading through some scotch reviews on the Total wine and more site. One reviewer of Dalmore 12 year said that it is a good scotch for a bourbon drinker. Might have been an older version than the 12? I haven’t tried it but you might see if you can find it at a bar to sample before you spend $65 On a bottle.
It's a 3 year old thread, but a great topic.
Honestly, I've never thought it was all that difficult for a bourbon drinker to enjoy Scotch whisky. Just don't go cheap. One cannot grab a $15-20 bottle of Scotch off the bottom shelf and hope to find a gem in the same way you can do that with bourbon. (That said, one can do a lot worse than Cutty Sark as an introduction to Scotch.)
Also avoid the relatively cheap and iconic Dewar's White Label and Johnnie Walker Red at the beginning. While hardly terrible, they have quite a smoke (even medicinal) punch that turns a lot of folks off the whole lot of Scotch, and that's something of a shame. I tend to find that bourbon drinkers are less turned off by peat and smoke than they tend to think they are, but these whiskies are too much..
Of course, one need not go up to OP's limit of $100, either. There is a hell of a lot of great whisky in the $35-$65/bottle range, many of which have been mentioned in this thread. I would think that just about any $35-$40 bottle of 12-year-old Speyside whisky would be a good start. I also echo many of the recommendations already made above and agree that just about any whisky that spends some time in a sherry cask might likely is a good place to start for a bourbon drinker, and there are a lot of those out there. Any particular whisky may evoke a choir of angels, or it may evoke the reaction one gets upon flicking a cat on the nose, so try more than a few.
Here are a handful of whiskies I thought of per the OP's request, along with what I might pay for a bottle in my area:
Glenmorangie Original - $35 - Fruity, floral, and a bit sweet. Quite smooth for the price. Excellent value. My favorite of the 12-year-old Speysides
Johnnie Walker Black - $35 - A bit of smoke, but pretty smooth on that. It does have Islay in it, so just be aware.
Johnnie Walker Green - $65 - The new blend has virtually no smoke and a good deal more fruit; smoother than Black.
Highland Park 12 - $45 - Similar to JW Black, but a good deal smoother and more complex.
Dalmore 12 - $65 - Fairly rich and fruity with toasty notes; sweet
Dalwhinnie 15 - $65-70 - Also a bit sweet and fruity, but with a very mild smoke note and some spice.
Auchentoshan 12 - $45 - Fruity and a bit spicy with vanilla; lighter and drier than Dalmore and Dalwhinnie.
Honestly, I've never thought it was all that difficult for a bourbon drinker to enjoy Scotch whisky. Just don't go cheap. One cannot grab a $15-20 bottle of Scotch off the bottom shelf and hope to find a gem in the same way you can do that with bourbon. (That said, one can do a lot worse than Cutty Sark as an introduction to Scotch.)
Also avoid the relatively cheap and iconic Dewar's White Label and Johnnie Walker Red at the beginning. While hardly terrible, they have quite a smoke (even medicinal) punch that turns a lot of folks off the whole lot of Scotch, and that's something of a shame. I tend to find that bourbon drinkers are less turned off by peat and smoke than they tend to think they are, but these whiskies are too much..
Of course, one need not go up to OP's limit of $100, either. There is a hell of a lot of great whisky in the $35-$65/bottle range, many of which have been mentioned in this thread. I would think that just about any $35-$40 bottle of 12-year-old Speyside whisky would be a good start. I also echo many of the recommendations already made above and agree that just about any whisky that spends some time in a sherry cask might likely is a good place to start for a bourbon drinker, and there are a lot of those out there. Any particular whisky may evoke a choir of angels, or it may evoke the reaction one gets upon flicking a cat on the nose, so try more than a few.
Here are a handful of whiskies I thought of per the OP's request, along with what I might pay for a bottle in my area:
Glenmorangie Original - $35 - Fruity, floral, and a bit sweet. Quite smooth for the price. Excellent value. My favorite of the 12-year-old Speysides
Johnnie Walker Black - $35 - A bit of smoke, but pretty smooth on that. It does have Islay in it, so just be aware.
Johnnie Walker Green - $65 - The new blend has virtually no smoke and a good deal more fruit; smoother than Black.
Highland Park 12 - $45 - Similar to JW Black, but a good deal smoother and more complex.
Dalmore 12 - $65 - Fairly rich and fruity with toasty notes; sweet
Dalwhinnie 15 - $65-70 - Also a bit sweet and fruity, but with a very mild smoke note and some spice.
Auchentoshan 12 - $45 - Fruity and a bit spicy with vanilla; lighter and drier than Dalmore and Dalwhinnie.
I am going to drop in and suggest you look north, instead of east. There are a literal CRAP TON of Canadian whiskies that would suit a Bourbon or Scotch lovers palate. And, with the exchange rate being what it is, you will be getting them at a bargain. Just as an example, Wiser's produces Pike Creek 10 YO Canadian whisky, finished in Rum barrels. There are the bevy of Crown Royal variants and, if you live in a State which borders Ontario, you can slide across and pick up the bottlings from the Northern Border Collection each Fall. $70.00 USD will get you a 21 YO Cdn Whisky finished in Oloroso Casks which just won Whisky of the Year at the Canadian Whisky Awards out in B.C.
End of patriotic shilling.
End of patriotic shilling.
Excellent advice. I would actually pass on JW Red, period. I was also thinking that a bourbon drinker should trust that Scotch is a wonderful thing, that virtually anyone will grow to like, so long as the whisky is decent and one sticks with it. It is worth developing a taste for it.
Absolutely correct! To me there are inexpensive bargains in bourbon. I do not think there really are in Scotch. Texlaw's price ranges sound about right to me.
Oban, 14 year and little bay (little bay is fantastic!), and Pinch, both very nice and not too pricey
Scotch
That one might be a bit more aged than most I'll find at my local store.
Glenmorangie Nector D'Or, Balvenie Doublewood 12 YO, Glenlivet 12 YO, and Highland Park 12 YO are all good choices.
I would concur with quite a few recommendations here. Oban 14, Glemorangie original, Macallan, Auchentoshan (any expression), Dalwhinnie, Highland Park 12. Another light Lowland malt that would be a great starting point is the Glenkinchie 12. And The Monkey Shoulder blended malt as well. I'm mainly a peat and smoke bomb kind of guy but I like any of these especially during the warmer weather.
A slight caveat on that one. I would have thought it would have been sort of a perfect starter Scotch. I really like it. But my brother, who likes things like JW Red and Kirkland 12 year old (I like the Kirkland well enough, too), hates Monkey Shoulders. I really do not get it, but that is the way it is!
I'm a bourbon guy also, I like The Dalmore, 12,15, King Alexander III. No smoke, No peat!
We went to the Houston Whiskey Social, last night. After sampling somewhere between one and two billion whiskies/whiskeys, I'll add Glen Moray 12 to the list.
I’m entering my sixth decade of scotch drinking. The only thing I have to add is not to get too hung up on single malts or the age game. Yes they are nice, and now I have a shelf of them. But some of the best I’ve had over the years were in fact blends. Keep an open mind.
Back in the 70s, single malts were much more of a salon rarity here in the US. I remember suddenly getting bottles of Glenlivet as gifts after that famous Bo Derek movie, as casual drinkers finally figured out there was more than Cutty and J&B out there ... and that better scotch actually tasted better (and without hiding them in mixers).
And below a certain price point, you are likely better off with a good Canadian than a Scotch. No sense burning up one’s liver on lousy booze.
Back in the 70s, single malts were much more of a salon rarity here in the US. I remember suddenly getting bottles of Glenlivet as gifts after that famous Bo Derek movie, as casual drinkers finally figured out there was more than Cutty and J&B out there ... and that better scotch actually tasted better (and without hiding them in mixers).
And below a certain price point, you are likely better off with a good Canadian than a Scotch. No sense burning up one’s liver on lousy booze.
This Canadian agrees, eh!
Or sticking with bourbon. I think of Canadian as something of a sort of bourbon, anyway--really a type of rye whiskey--and to my mind, legal niceties aside, American bourbon and rye are not that distinct as far as varieties of whiskey. As I said before, if you like bourbon, I think you will develop a taste for Scotch, and the journey will be rewarding.
If you want a blend with lots of flavors try smokehead.
but if you want more soft and mellow the japanese whisky is no slouch either.
Just skip the real cheap rubbish.
but if you want more soft and mellow the japanese whisky is no slouch either.
Just skip the real cheap rubbish.
Canadian is similar to American like Irish is similar to Scotch.
"Rye" is the "peat" of Canadian whisky. Sometimes not really there, sometimes some, sometimes knocks your head off.
