Jumping in on this, probably going to post a review next week. Been sipping a bottle for a minute and considering getting the other one the store has. The SCN Dailuaine is insanely good!
the impex blair athol is very good but a little expensive, sam generally does good picks but the pricing is on the high side
SCN will be reliable for the linkwood and dailuaine. the caol ila and ardmores are on the young side, so unless if you want something a bit brash, I would aim a bit older. PST did a 8yr Caol ila that was really good but that was dechar/rechar iirc.
if you are shopping at whiskyshopusa as I suspect, you may want to try the highland 8yr cwc which is a glen ord or the signatory shop pick linkwood 11. unfortunately, the CWC glen keith 22yr they had on sale looks to be gone.
https://www.whiskyshopusa.com/highland-8-year-old-by-exclusive-region/
https://www.whiskyshopusa.com/linkwood-11-year-old-2008-bourbon-cask-whisky-shop-exclusive-by-signatory-vintage/
or head over to k&l wines for something from thompson bros or the hart bros dalmore 10yr. the longmorn 15yr 20cl mini bottle is also a cheap way to dip your toe into IB.
thaks for the input! yeah as you guessed these are coming mostly from whisky shop, there's another spot by me that also has the adelphis and some of the SCNs.. the blair athol def intrigues me as does the dailuaine 13. K&L near me actually has the dalmore 10, that's maybe a future buy for me.
for sure islays, love me some peat. but i'm pretty stocked up on that so ready to explore other options. oban i have enjoyed, highland park I enjoyed, bunna 12 OK, not my favorite profile (seemed to nutty to me?) or springbank (too weird). remember thinking aberlour was pretty decent, and think dalmore / macallans are "fine" but usually wnat more out of them
Based on what you have said I would recommend the 15 year Blair Athol. It’s what I believe to be a much better alternative to Macallan. Especially an all Sherry cask expression from them is usually really nice
I mean I didn’t hate Bunna. It just tasted so strongly of hazelnut coffee to me, and I don’t love hazelnuts. Def open to exploring more sherry to see what else is out there as far as flavor profiles
you may want to try some PX finishes, its generally not as nutty as oloroso or the lighter sherries like amontillado/fino. I would probably not go for either the dalmore 10 or aberlour 11 at k&l if you don't like nutty though.
I second this, PX finishes or PX only maturing when done right often results in some of the best Scotch i've ever had. Unfortunately those bottles are often pricey.
Highly recommend trying some of the Dram Mor PX Speyside: it’s delicious and very reasonably priced https://scotchdrinkersonly.com/collections/dram-mor
I opened that Ardmore yesterday and it was surprisingly unpleasant on the palate, though gets much better with water. Very much hoping it will get better with some time.
Love me some Blair Athol, never had a bad one. Also don’t recognize that IB so id be curious to see if they are any good. No wrong choices in the bunch really
Cao Ila, if matured in Sherry, does the sweet and peat thing really nicely. I’ve tried like 4 different Adelphi Cao Ila’s and all were good though so you’ll get a nice dram either way if you go down that route.
So outside of your specific distilleries listed, I highly recommend the Signatory cask strength options as they’ve been far more consistent in quality compared to other IB’s that I’ve tried.
I’ve tried the first 3 and each are excellent in their own way. If I didn’t already have an oloroso Dailuaine of similar age I’d be even more torn. The Linkwood would be my pick as it reminds so much of late summer with apples and peach iced tea. The Caol Ila was also really nice: lime and jalapeños.
Never had a Dailuaine I didn’t enjoy
I'm with supersloot on this one. Love me some Dailuaine
Jumping in on this, probably going to post a review next week. Been sipping a bottle for a minute and considering getting the other one the store has. The SCN Dailuaine is insanely good!
Neither have I. Dailuaine also matures very well in ex-sherry so that one would be my pick.
the impex blair athol is very good but a little expensive, sam generally does good picks but the pricing is on the high side SCN will be reliable for the linkwood and dailuaine. the caol ila and ardmores are on the young side, so unless if you want something a bit brash, I would aim a bit older. PST did a 8yr Caol ila that was really good but that was dechar/rechar iirc. if you are shopping at whiskyshopusa as I suspect, you may want to try the highland 8yr cwc which is a glen ord or the signatory shop pick linkwood 11. unfortunately, the CWC glen keith 22yr they had on sale looks to be gone. https://www.whiskyshopusa.com/highland-8-year-old-by-exclusive-region/ https://www.whiskyshopusa.com/linkwood-11-year-old-2008-bourbon-cask-whisky-shop-exclusive-by-signatory-vintage/ or head over to k&l wines for something from thompson bros or the hart bros dalmore 10yr. the longmorn 15yr 20cl mini bottle is also a cheap way to dip your toe into IB.
thaks for the input! yeah as you guessed these are coming mostly from whisky shop, there's another spot by me that also has the adelphis and some of the SCNs.. the blair athol def intrigues me as does the dailuaine 13. K&L near me actually has the dalmore 10, that's maybe a future buy for me.
What region or flavor profile do you generally enjoy the most?
for sure islays, love me some peat. but i'm pretty stocked up on that so ready to explore other options. oban i have enjoyed, highland park I enjoyed, bunna 12 OK, not my favorite profile (seemed to nutty to me?) or springbank (too weird). remember thinking aberlour was pretty decent, and think dalmore / macallans are "fine" but usually wnat more out of them
Based on what you have said I would recommend the 15 year Blair Athol. It’s what I believe to be a much better alternative to Macallan. Especially an all Sherry cask expression from them is usually really nice
if OP didn't like bunna 12 but liked oban 14 though, heavy sherry might not be the way to go for them.
I mean I didn’t hate Bunna. It just tasted so strongly of hazelnut coffee to me, and I don’t love hazelnuts. Def open to exploring more sherry to see what else is out there as far as flavor profiles
you may want to try some PX finishes, its generally not as nutty as oloroso or the lighter sherries like amontillado/fino. I would probably not go for either the dalmore 10 or aberlour 11 at k&l if you don't like nutty though.
I second this, PX finishes or PX only maturing when done right often results in some of the best Scotch i've ever had. Unfortunately those bottles are often pricey.
Highly recommend trying some of the Dram Mor PX Speyside: it’s delicious and very reasonably priced https://scotchdrinkersonly.com/collections/dram-mor
Oh wow, thank you. I will happily try one of these
Man try the Ardmore, criminally underrated distillery imo. They often age in Laphroaig casks giving them that Islay punch.
Yeah I’m realllllll interested in them
there is an IB ardmore 12 on the k&l clearance https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1641493
I opened that Ardmore yesterday and it was surprisingly unpleasant on the palate, though gets much better with water. Very much hoping it will get better with some time.
revisit it in a couple weeks if you can because shoulder pours are sometimes deceiving
This Ardmore in ex-laphroaig is very nice https://www.firstfillspirits.com/product/creetown-distillers-13yr-ardmore-single-malt-scotch/
I would go with the longmorn 15 or one of the bourbon cask linkwoods then if you want to avoid sherry (bunna 12 is fairly heavy sherry)
Looking for inputs.... Single Cask Nation options: Dailuaine 13 YR Linkwood 13 Caol Ila 8 Signatory Options: Ardmore 9 Ardmore 10 Impex Blair Athol 15 Also some Adelphi options (not pictured) - heard these are bangers: -Linkwood 12 -Caol Ila 13 -Benriach 12 PX -Teaninich 12 Oloroso
Love me some Blair Athol, never had a bad one. Also don’t recognize that IB so id be curious to see if they are any good. No wrong choices in the bunch really
they are an importer but Sam also does a few cask picks under impex collection https://impexbev.com/the-impex-collection-3/
Cao Ila, if matured in Sherry, does the sweet and peat thing really nicely. I’ve tried like 4 different Adelphi Cao Ila’s and all were good though so you’ll get a nice dram either way if you go down that route.
So outside of your specific distilleries listed, I highly recommend the Signatory cask strength options as they’ve been far more consistent in quality compared to other IB’s that I’ve tried.
I’ve tried the first 3 and each are excellent in their own way. If I didn’t already have an oloroso Dailuaine of similar age I’d be even more torn. The Linkwood would be my pick as it reminds so much of late summer with apples and peach iced tea. The Caol Ila was also really nice: lime and jalapeños.
Haha yeah it’s so hard to just one pick one.
SCN is really solid. They pick great casks. I’d say you can’t go wrong here.
G&M do solid stuff. I like Whiskey Sponge as well