Scotch Whisky
 

I will be in Edinburgh for 2 days and wanted to buy some local distilled scotch whisky. Where can I buy? Any suggestions about what brands should I consider?

My favorite is the Balvenie 12 year,double barrel. But there are many others. Glenmorangie is a great scotch whisky as well. Make sure you get a single malt and do not call it scotch,just call it whisky.

thanks for your reply. You stated about single mault, are these different type of whisky than brands like Black Label?

Royal Mile Whisky is at 379 High St. It's got a great selection but you'll usually find prices no less than here in the States. You can ask what they have in 1/2 bottles if you want something to drink during your trip or if you want a smaller bottle to pack.

There aren't many 'local-distilled' malts near Edinburgh. One is Glenkinchie, a Lowland malt sold in the U.S. at 10 yrs old. It's a lighter style of single malt.

Non-local brands to consider are Macallan (18 yr), Glenmorangie (Port Wood Finish), Balvenie (Double Wood), Aberlour (A'Bunadh) & Glenfarclas (12 yr, 17 yr, or '105') are all very good brands from the Speyside region.

Single malts and blended whisky are different. Single malts take longer to distill because the process with a single malt is slower,blending ingredients quickens it.

It is all preference,single malts seem a bit smoother to me. Black label is a Jonnie Walker brand,but I think black label is a blend. The blue label is Walkers single malt,which I have never had.

'Single malt' scotch comes from only a single distillery. Johnny Black and others like Dewars or Chivas are blended scotch. Johnny Gold is a step above black, and it's very good (I actually prefer it over Johnny Blue, their top level). For blends, the maker takes malt whisky from different distilleries and blends it together with grain whisky which is much lighter. This is supposed to make the whisky smoother, but many single malt fans find blends less interesting.

Sheep Dip was one of my favorites.

Just ask any bartender which ones are good, taste them, and go to the local market and buy a bottle or two. That's what we did. Got to be drunk straight up, in a brandy sniffer, with no ice.

The Scots joke that they send their garbage scotch to the States and save the best ones for themselves. After tasting several, I think they are right.

Find something that's not exported.

Malt whiskies are definately a matter of personal taste(excuse the pun). They are produced all over Scotland and many have individual aromas. The ones from the Isle of Islay, for example, are very peaty in flavour, whilst one from Wick on the North East coast has a seaweed/salt taste. There are several specialist shops who sell oddities and rareities, but I have found the local supermarkets often retail excellent malts much cheaper. I would try several types and then purchase a bottle of the one(s) that takes your fancy. Lang may your lum reek.

The question of "local" has been addressed above. There are essentially five whisky "regions"- Lowland; Highland; Islands; Speyside and Islay.

Whilst everyone's tastes differ, most "objective" observers would say that the "best" whiskies are Islay and Speyside. My own personal favourites are Lagavulin (and the double matured is nectar) and Speyside.

Most "ordinary" whiskies are a mixture of grain and malt whisky. I This beverage may consist of 50 different kinds of Malt and Grain Whiskies.

If the whisky is a de luxe, such as Black label, it's still a blend but it has more matured malted whiskies in the blend.

A single malt is just that- one malt from one distillery and one distillation in one bottle. It doesn't take any longer to distill than blend. Every Scotch whisky MUST be at least 3 years old. Most are much older. If you buy a bottle of a blend that has an age on it, every whisky in the bottle must be at lease that age. Whisky stops aging when it comes out of the cask and goes into the bottle.

doc referred to Balvenie double barrel. He actually means Balvenie Doublewood, which, like my Lagavulin double matured, has been moved from a cask made of one type of wood, to a cask made of another. Glenmorangie, the basic whisky, is to my mind, totally bland, but they do a great range of whiskies finished in sherry casks, madiera casks, port wood casks. These are all a bit more expensive than "ordinary" malts, but I think they're worth it.

If you will be in Edinburgh you will most likely visit Edinburgh castle. There is a scotch wiskey Museum on the street leading to the entrance. Stop in and try a few. Buy what you like. Go home HAPPY.

When were shopping in Jenner's (department store on Prince's Street)they had someone handing out samples of various bottles of Scotch. I tried several and bought the one I liked right from Jenner's. Made my shopping easy. Plus Jenner's is a great place to shop for some Scottish souveniers.

Whatever you buy, don't buy it in Edinburgh. MUCH cheaper in the duty-free shop in the airport you leave the UK from. BAA will find a brand for you: go to baa.com

Snoopy- you couldn't email me, please?

Thanks for all the posts. This sure helped.