The scotch tasting experience.

For some reason a lot of people around me like scotch, mostly single malts and so I thought I need to test this sometimes to see what this all is about. Also after my last vodka experience I just can't go near to vodka anymore :(

So after reading up a bit, I found out that there are basically 6 types of whiskey

• bourbon
• canadian
• irish
• scotch
• single malt
• blended
• blended malt

this seems to be all quite pricey and so I decided to stick to scotch for now...

Since I always try to keep an open mind my first approach was 45 days ago trying to get a collection of some cheap too medium priced whiskeys to cover each of the regions with 2 bottes. Why 2? So that I have a comparison and give each region a fair chance. The statistical correct way would be 7 different bottles, but neither my liver nor wallet permits this.

The Regions

Lowland:

nothing in the collection so far, need to find one of these: Auchentoshan, Bladnoch, and Glenkinchie

Highland:

Glenmorangie Original

Islay:

Bowmore 12
Laguvilan 16, I only tried a glas of it at a party, but it was incredible smooth and tasty. Defiantly my preferred whiskey right now. Now I just need to find a bottle somewhere for under 80$.

Campeltown:

nothing in the collection so far, need to find one of these Glen Scotia, Glengyle and Springbank,

Speyside:

The Maccallan 12

The Glenlivet 12

The Islands:

nothing in the collections yet, but people highly recommend Highland Park.
I did try a tallisker 12 from the Island of Skye and was not a fan of it at all, way to sprity for my taste.

The other whiskeys?

Just for the sake of comparison, I added

blends:

chivas regal 12 - I really don't like it, but it's great for BBQ sauces. I need to get a bottle Johnie Walker Green sometime.

ireland:

Jamison 12

Drinking it?

Since I know from past experiences I neither like whisky in mix drinks (except manhattans, but this is canadian whiskey) or neat or on the rocks. Which means I have to water it down. After a bit of testing It turned out to be the most tasteful with 10-15% water from norway on a glas of scotch. Yes I actually did test water from different countries in different combinations.

Enjoying it?

It is really impressive how much the flavors varies between a highland and an Islay scotch for example. I tried Glenmorangie now several times and I just dont like it for some reasons, except with 40-50% of water and after standing for 10-15 minutes. Than it's quite enjoyable, but not nearly as enjoyable as an Islay.
I can't really say this about all Highland Whiskeys, since I did not try enough to make a statement on this. But most defiantly I like to continue the exploration to Speyside and Islay.

..sometimes I think I just need the right motivation to write...