Malt Whisky - once opened, does it go off?

I would recommend the Whiskey magazine web site, which you can find at www.whiskymag.com.
Under tastings you can get a wide variety of reviews done by the infamous Michael Jackson amongst others.

There are other interesting items there as well.

I would also recommend www.whiskyweb.com which is the other site that Michael Jackson is affiliated with. tw

Anyone know what the produce of Tom Alves soon to be local distillery (Glenturret) is like?

Oddbins own label are good value. They offer a geographical range of single malts. Most around £20.

regards

Richard S

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Originally posted by Steve G:
Anyone know what the produce of Tom Alves soon to be local distillery (Glenturret) is like?

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Well it's mainly used in the Famous Grouse and Michael Jackson rates it about 75-80 so probably quite palatable. I can see an early visit on the cards (purely to get my bearings of course and it's only a 25 minute walk away). I'll report back when I get there. Apparently an old friend of the family is general manager of Grouse in Perth. Time to get reaquainted.

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

quote:

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Originally posted by Richard S:
Oddbins own label are good value. They offer a geographical range of single malts. Most around £20.

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Been drinking quite a bit of Aldi's own label. Last couple of years quite good. This year is a duff Speyside

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

I've had a rake and found a half-full bottle of Macallan 10 year old which I'm pretty sure my wife won in a competition about 15 years ago. Just tried it (with a spot of water as advised by Mick) and it still seems drinkable enough.

Tom - so are we doing Ben Chonzie from the Loch Turret side then?

There's a round of Loch Turret starting at the carpark going up Carn Chois to Ben Chonzie and then back round to Auchnafee Hill and Choinneachain Hill to the car. Seems about 14 miles. Hard going for a first hill walk in 18 months but it's a start.

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

Tom,

That route sounds good. I've been up Auchnafree hill many years ago when the snow was to deep for Ben Chonzie to be done from the Glenturret side.

The snow's never to deep unless it's going to avalance. Anyway, there's whisky and a haggis carry out at the end. Not to mention an active Naim sistem.

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

I have 21 different single malts.

Some have been opened and put back in their boxes with the lid on for years.

They all taste just fine.

The biggest single thing you can do to enhance your enjoyment of any malt is to shout yourself and a mate a couple of Riedel single malt glasses. The difference is like going from a 72 to a 552.

My pic is Bunnahabhain with a couple of bits of chocky.

Laphroiag is the most distinctive and the Islay malts are generally in a different category as they are produced using peat around the island and aged in Sherry barrels.

Most of them are really bacony in flavour.

Yes, a good thing to sip on while the hi-fi is going especially when its brass monkeys outside.

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Originally posted by Jonathan Hales:
The biggest single thing you can do to enhance your enjoyment of any malt is to shout yourself and a mate a couple of Riedel single malt glasses. The difference is like going from a 72 to a 552.

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I've always been a bit of a glass nutter. I considered the Reidel:



As far as I was concerned, both felt like wine glasses with stubby stems, whereas I prefer the solid-bottomed heft of a rocks glass.

I explained Riedel's approach to my wife: an elongated thistle shape on a truncated stem. The design incorporates a small, slightly out-turned lip that directs the spirit onto the tip of the tongue, where sweetness is perceived, and serves to bring out the elegant creaminess of a top-quality single malt. I added my desire for a solid base, and she found a great bit of crystal that satisfies all the criteria. It is indeed an extreme pleasure drinking Scotch from this glass.

Coincidentally, I was also given a set of Glenfiddich branded glasses from my ex-wife. They look like inverted cones, are not crystal, and also have a solid base. My best friend prefers that glass, although I think it's for the looks and not to accentuate the qualities of the Scotch. Of course, he also insists on drinking his Scotch with ice, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

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My pic is Bunnahabhain with a couple of bits of chocky.

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I've also discovered that chocolate goes well with Scotch. (Perhaps I'm late to the game with this one.) When I mention this to people, though, they often look at me like I'm daft.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

The tasting glasses I was sent by Balvenie were like long stemmed sherry glasses but for normal drinking I tend to use a brandy balloon. I remember doing a whisky tasting session at Oddbins one Christmas where we got through 20+ brands. Towards the end I don't think it mattered what the glass was like To be truely authentic surely you should use a Quaich

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

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Originally posted by Tom Alves:
I tend to use a brandy balloon.

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I assume you're talking a big bellied snifter, with narrow top. I find that this type of glass accentuates the alcohol too much, making Scotch seem too much like Brandy.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

But I can get a lot in the glass

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Hanson:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jonathan Hales:
The biggest single thing you can do to enhance your enjoyment of any malt is to shout yourself and a mate a couple of Riedel single malt glasses. The difference is like going from a 72 to a 552.

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http://www.avzine.com/images/riedel.jpeg http://www.avzine.com/images/riedel2.jpeg

As far as I was concerned, both felt like wine glasses with stubby stems, whereas I prefer the solid-bottomed heft of a rocks glass.

I explained Riedel's approach to my wife: _an elongated thistle shape on a truncated stem. The design incorporates a small, slightly out-turned lip that directs the spirit onto the tip of the tongue, where sweetness is perceived, and serves to bring out the elegant creaminess of a top-quality single malt._ I added my desire for a solid base, and she found a great bit of crystal that satisfies all the criteria. It is indeed an extreme pleasure drinking Scotch from this glass.

Great reply Mike.

I know exactly what you mean. There is something so right about drinking a Scotty out of a heavy based tumbler rather than an egg cup but the taste difference is incredible.

It makes most Whiskys taste slightly sweeter and smoother.

And yes, chocolate is a great partner as a lot of the sinlge malts are kind of chocolaty anyway.

Chaps

There is more twaddle writtem about whisky glasses than about whisky itself.

The best whisky glasses are made by Gleneagles.

The bases should be about 1/4" thick and the walls should be thin and tapering slightly inwards to arrest the aroma.

The thin walls allow the warmth of the hands to warm up the whisky in the same way as a brandy glass works.

Drinking from this type of glass definately improves the overall experience.

Regards

Mick

You mean you don't slug it out straight from the bottle like Berlin Fritz. How civilized

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

Mick,

So I can take it from your usual sage like authority that you have drunk said spirit in a Riedel glass?

How's the CDS3?

Do you listen to it display on/off?

Do you reckon it makes any difference?

Cheers,

Jono.

So I can take it from your usual sage like authority that you have drunk said spirit in a Riedel glass?

No I have enough whisky glasses to last a lifetime.

How's the CDS3?

Brilliant

Do you listen to it display on/off?

I tend to have the track number on display

Do you reckon it makes any difference?

Only slightly and only late at night.

Regards

Mick

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Originally posted by Richard S:
Oddbins own label are good value. They offer a geographical range of single malts. Most around £20.

regards

Richard S

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Er.........unfortunately no longer available according to Oddbins in Liverpool. Ah well.

The best blend I have come across is Peaty Creag, the own label whisky offered by Tanners of Shrewsbury the wine merchants. At £11.60 a bottle it's an absolute steal.

regards

Richard S

Sorry guys, the best way to drink a good whisky is from a tin cup whilst sitting around an open fire with good friends somewhere in the Scottish Highlands waiting to retire to your tent.

It might not have the absolute taste-rendering properties that other glasses bring to the party but there is nothing to beat drinking a good malt in these conditions.

"It's all in the occassion"

Over to Mr. Tom, who really advocates a "source is best" policy to whisky

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Originally posted by long-time-dead:
Over to Mr. Tom, who really advocates a "source is best" policy to whisky

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Straight out of the still?

Tom

Actively enjoying it all

So, getting back to whisky glasses again, do these Riedel glasses *really* make that much of a difference?

I'm on a diet* right now and I've set 'targets' and 'rewards' - my reward for the first target is a bottle from the Winter 2004 SMWS bottling (probably the Bruichladdich early cask bottling which has had an excellent write up thus far) but I might stretch that to include a Riedel glass if they make that much of a difference...

I've lost about 2/3 stone in a week if my scales are to be believed, so perhaps I should ask for better scales...

* diet is 1200 cals per day, no food with > 4% fat, no alcohol/fizzy drinks/rice/pasta, reasonably tough to stick to (250 cals for lunch is really tough!) but it's only for two weeks so I'll cope... I'm missing my drams though...

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

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Originally posted by Top Cat:
So, getting back to whisky glasses again, do these Riedel glasses *really* make that much of a difference?

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Glasses always make a difference! Whether the Reidel is that much better than a better than any other good crystal glass might be up for debate, though. I've not tried the Reidel, but I know I prefer drinking Scotch out of a "proper" glass, versus some tin cup (even if it is around a campfire with your mates).

I also drink port, and I've got a variety of glasses, depending on the character of it. I occasionally use "port pipes" when drinking LBVs, although not always. When I try using the pipes for a Tawny, though, it's a terrible experience. For that, I prefer a crystal rocks glass. For vintage ports, I like a very small wine glass (a.k.a. sherry glass?). That's the same glass, btw, that I use for drinking ice wine.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Top Cat,

You have lost 2/3 stone in a week?!!!! Was that a whisky only diet?

Well dieted.

Roddy