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From the Gaelic uisce beatha, translated as “The Water of Life.” Which, of course, is from aqua vitae. Whisky (Whiskey to the Irish and the Americans) is one of life's great joys, and deserves a venue. Also, for anyone wanting the world's most fun whisky book (and least informative), Ralph Steadman's "Still Life with Bottle" is unmatched.
Scottish Whisky, or "Scotch" is twice distilled, and peated (distilled using peat smoke as I understand it). Probably no one cares about the trivia so much as the dram.
Regions (stolen without any added value from Soho Whiskey),
Lowlands:
This area tends to produce whiskies in which the softness of the malt itself is evident, untempered by Highland peatiness or coastal brine and seaweed. The Lowlands is defined by a line following old county boundaries and running from the Clyde estuary to the River Tay. The line swings north of Glasgow and Dumbarton and runs to Dundee and Perth.
Highlands, Islands, Speyside:
The far north of the Highlands has several whiskies with a notably heathery, spicy, character, probably deriving both from the local soil and the coastal location of the distilleries. The more sheltered East Highlands and the Midlands of Scotland (sometimes described as the South Highlands) have a number of notably fruity whiskies.
The Speyside single malts are noted in general for their elegance and complexity, and often a refined smokiness. Beyond that, they have two extremes: the big, sherryish type, as typified by The Macallan, Glenfarclas and Aberlour; and the lighter, more subtle style.
Cambeltown:
On the peninsula called the Mull of Kintyre, on the west coast of Scotland, Campbeltown once had about 30 distilleries. Today, it has only two. One of these, Springbank, produces two different single malts. This apparent contradiction is achieved by the use of a lightly peated malt in one and a smokier kilning in the other. The Campbeltown single malts are very distinctive, with a briny character. Although there are only three of them, they are still considered by serious malt lovers to represent a region in their own right. (my note: Other Cambeltown distillers products are available in independent bottlings still, though they are now reaching ages where they're mostly a bit past their prime. Fortunately scotch effectively stops aging when bottled, so older bottlings can be found)
Islay:
The greatest of whisky islands: much of it deep with peat, lashed by the wind, rain and sea in the Inner Hebrides. Its single malts are noted for their seaweedy, iodine-like, phenolic character. A dash of Islay malt gives the unmistakable tang of Scotland to many blended whiskies.
Whiskies,
Lowlands: Probably best known for Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie. These are extremely easy-drinking whiskies that I find veering towards blandness. They are a touch sweet, not as sweet as some of the Highlands or Speysides, but still quite sweet. Auchentoshan is known as a light, somewhat citrusy or lemony whiskey with a bit of an oily feel.
Highlands: Likely best known and recognized by Dalmore, Dalwhinnie, Glen Garioch, Glen Ord, Glengogne, and Glenmorangie. Highlands tend to be very sweet whiskies, though they have enough spice and peatiness to be more interesting than the lowlands whiskies. Things like Glenmorangie are much more approachable than the whiskies many connoisseurs (read: drunkards) gravitate to. They are fantastic “starter” whiskies, and have exposed many people to the world of scotch.
Islands: This is really not a coherent region, it is widely varied. Best known for Highland Park, Talisker, Scapa, and Tobermory, which says it all. Talisker is a famously smoky, peaty malt. Scapa is probably the mildest of all scottish whiskies. I suspect this region exists because whoever was naming regions got either bored or drunk. Tobermory is closer to Scapa than anything else, and Highland Park is a big-bodied relative of Talisker, though it’s a hell of a lot better and less aggressively smoky.
Speyside: Nothing I need to say, Speyside is famous. Aberlour, Balvenie, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenrothes (one of the greats), Macallan, Tomatin and on and on. You know what speysides taste like.
Cambeltown: I’ve had a few 40+ year cambeltowns, but have never tried the current incarnations, I have no insight.
Islay: I’m an Islay drinker. Peaty, smokey, rich whiskies that are invariably described as briny, seaweedy, “like a face full of campfire” and on and on, whether a drinker is enthused or disgusted. Bowmore is the most famous of the islays, though it isn’t one I know well.
More recently Bruichladdich has become the most prolific, releasing something akin to 20 different bottlings a year. No one can keep up. Some lovely ideas from him of late, like “Rocks,” a cheap easy drinking dram that really stands out. Some awful ideas as well, such as Octomore, which needs another many years in the cask before the “put as much peat as humanly possible into this” is brought into line by the oak. In addition to their slew of wine finished casks, smooth unpeated casks, overpeated casks and on and on, Bruichladdich’s enthusiastic distiller re-opened Port Charlotte in 2001 and has been releasing port charlotte bottlings at a manageable rate of one a year since 2006. The Port Charlottes are unusual. They start sweet and smooth like a Balvenie, and end with a long pungent, peppery, peaty finish. Delicious, unusual, little tricky to find, but fantastic.
Port Ellen, sadly gone now, was the whisky that made Johnny Walker Blue what it was. A few 20-26 year old bottlings of Port Ellen are still available, but it takes some research, as a few were from pretty undistinguished casks. The Cask 4808 bottling is a great one to find.
Caol Ila - I always love Caol Ila, I never remember anything about it.
Laphroaig - One of the great deals in Islay, along with the Caol Ila 12.
Lagavulin - possibly the world’s greatest distillery. Lagavulin 16 “White Horse” is the classic, huge flavors, wonderfully smooth and full bodied. The kind of whisky that you would say is an aquired taste, except everyone loves it. Lagavulin 16 Distiller’s edition is the standard 16 finished in sherry casks. It takes all the peat and smoke and richness of the standard, but adds a sweetness and smoothness from finishing in sherry, manages to surpass the original, very difficult to find, not too expensive. The Lagavulin 12 year “Cask Strength” is a bit tricky to find as well, but is good fun. It’s a bit more aggressive than the 16, and probably not as good, but it is very worth drinking once.
Ardbeg - I have only recently come back around to Ardbeg after tasting it too early in my whisky drinking life. The regular Ardbeg 10 is actually peatier than the lagavulin, but the lightness combined with the almost overwhelming iodine taste can make it a bit of a handful. Ardbeg’s recent bottlings, including the Uigeadail, Airig Nam Beist, and Corryvreckan are much better put together, with the Uigeadail and Airig Nam Beist (shelter of the beast) being much more refined, better assembled imaginations of the standard 10, and the Corryvreckan being something of a nod to common tastes that moves closer to the Lagavulin end of the range, adding some fullness and gentleness. My favorite at the moment is probably the Beist. Ardbeg also recently released the “Supernova,” of which about a 1/3 of an ounce will do you for life. Fascinating, deadly.
A useful tool is here:
Irish Whiskey
Irish Whiskey is triply distilled, and with the exception of Connemara is unpeated. This is why Irish Whiskey generally tastes smoother and sweeter than Scottish Whisky, and also why many think it is blander. Because of how poorly the Irish distillers handled the start of, and end of, prohibition, all but 2 Irish distillers were out of business by sometime in the late 70s. A third has now opened, but all varieties of Irish whiskey come from either Jameson, Bushmill's, or Cooley. Independent bottlers do bottle some older casks here and there, but it has been too long for many of those independent bottlings to be around any more.
Bourbon (to come)
Rye (to come)
Scottish Whisky, or "Scotch" is twice distilled, and peated (distilled using peat smoke as I understand it). Probably no one cares about the trivia so much as the dram.
Regions (stolen without any added value from Soho Whiskey),
Lowlands:
This area tends to produce whiskies in which the softness of the malt itself is evident, untempered by Highland peatiness or coastal brine and seaweed. The Lowlands is defined by a line following old county boundaries and running from the Clyde estuary to the River Tay. The line swings north of Glasgow and Dumbarton and runs to Dundee and Perth.
Highlands, Islands, Speyside:
The far north of the Highlands has several whiskies with a notably heathery, spicy, character, probably deriving both from the local soil and the coastal location of the distilleries. The more sheltered East Highlands and the Midlands of Scotland (sometimes described as the South Highlands) have a number of notably fruity whiskies.
The Speyside single malts are noted in general for their elegance and complexity, and often a refined smokiness. Beyond that, they have two extremes: the big, sherryish type, as typified by The Macallan, Glenfarclas and Aberlour; and the lighter, more subtle style.
Cambeltown:
On the peninsula called the Mull of Kintyre, on the west coast of Scotland, Campbeltown once had about 30 distilleries. Today, it has only two. One of these, Springbank, produces two different single malts. This apparent contradiction is achieved by the use of a lightly peated malt in one and a smokier kilning in the other. The Campbeltown single malts are very distinctive, with a briny character. Although there are only three of them, they are still considered by serious malt lovers to represent a region in their own right. (my note: Other Cambeltown distillers products are available in independent bottlings still, though they are now reaching ages where they're mostly a bit past their prime. Fortunately scotch effectively stops aging when bottled, so older bottlings can be found)
Islay:
The greatest of whisky islands: much of it deep with peat, lashed by the wind, rain and sea in the Inner Hebrides. Its single malts are noted for their seaweedy, iodine-like, phenolic character. A dash of Islay malt gives the unmistakable tang of Scotland to many blended whiskies.
Whiskies,
Lowlands: Probably best known for Auchentoshan and Glenkinchie. These are extremely easy-drinking whiskies that I find veering towards blandness. They are a touch sweet, not as sweet as some of the Highlands or Speysides, but still quite sweet. Auchentoshan is known as a light, somewhat citrusy or lemony whiskey with a bit of an oily feel.
Highlands: Likely best known and recognized by Dalmore, Dalwhinnie, Glen Garioch, Glen Ord, Glengogne, and Glenmorangie. Highlands tend to be very sweet whiskies, though they have enough spice and peatiness to be more interesting than the lowlands whiskies. Things like Glenmorangie are much more approachable than the whiskies many connoisseurs (read: drunkards) gravitate to. They are fantastic “starter” whiskies, and have exposed many people to the world of scotch.
Islands: This is really not a coherent region, it is widely varied. Best known for Highland Park, Talisker, Scapa, and Tobermory, which says it all. Talisker is a famously smoky, peaty malt. Scapa is probably the mildest of all scottish whiskies. I suspect this region exists because whoever was naming regions got either bored or drunk. Tobermory is closer to Scapa than anything else, and Highland Park is a big-bodied relative of Talisker, though it’s a hell of a lot better and less aggressively smoky.
Speyside: Nothing I need to say, Speyside is famous. Aberlour, Balvenie, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Glenrothes (one of the greats), Macallan, Tomatin and on and on. You know what speysides taste like.
Cambeltown: I’ve had a few 40+ year cambeltowns, but have never tried the current incarnations, I have no insight.
Islay: I’m an Islay drinker. Peaty, smokey, rich whiskies that are invariably described as briny, seaweedy, “like a face full of campfire” and on and on, whether a drinker is enthused or disgusted. Bowmore is the most famous of the islays, though it isn’t one I know well.
More recently Bruichladdich has become the most prolific, releasing something akin to 20 different bottlings a year. No one can keep up. Some lovely ideas from him of late, like “Rocks,” a cheap easy drinking dram that really stands out. Some awful ideas as well, such as Octomore, which needs another many years in the cask before the “put as much peat as humanly possible into this” is brought into line by the oak. In addition to their slew of wine finished casks, smooth unpeated casks, overpeated casks and on and on, Bruichladdich’s enthusiastic distiller re-opened Port Charlotte in 2001 and has been releasing port charlotte bottlings at a manageable rate of one a year since 2006. The Port Charlottes are unusual. They start sweet and smooth like a Balvenie, and end with a long pungent, peppery, peaty finish. Delicious, unusual, little tricky to find, but fantastic.
Port Ellen, sadly gone now, was the whisky that made Johnny Walker Blue what it was. A few 20-26 year old bottlings of Port Ellen are still available, but it takes some research, as a few were from pretty undistinguished casks. The Cask 4808 bottling is a great one to find.
Caol Ila - I always love Caol Ila, I never remember anything about it.
Laphroaig - One of the great deals in Islay, along with the Caol Ila 12.
Lagavulin - possibly the world’s greatest distillery. Lagavulin 16 “White Horse” is the classic, huge flavors, wonderfully smooth and full bodied. The kind of whisky that you would say is an aquired taste, except everyone loves it. Lagavulin 16 Distiller’s edition is the standard 16 finished in sherry casks. It takes all the peat and smoke and richness of the standard, but adds a sweetness and smoothness from finishing in sherry, manages to surpass the original, very difficult to find, not too expensive. The Lagavulin 12 year “Cask Strength” is a bit tricky to find as well, but is good fun. It’s a bit more aggressive than the 16, and probably not as good, but it is very worth drinking once.
Ardbeg - I have only recently come back around to Ardbeg after tasting it too early in my whisky drinking life. The regular Ardbeg 10 is actually peatier than the lagavulin, but the lightness combined with the almost overwhelming iodine taste can make it a bit of a handful. Ardbeg’s recent bottlings, including the Uigeadail, Airig Nam Beist, and Corryvreckan are much better put together, with the Uigeadail and Airig Nam Beist (shelter of the beast) being much more refined, better assembled imaginations of the standard 10, and the Corryvreckan being something of a nod to common tastes that moves closer to the Lagavulin end of the range, adding some fullness and gentleness. My favorite at the moment is probably the Beist. Ardbeg also recently released the “Supernova,” of which about a 1/3 of an ounce will do you for life. Fascinating, deadly.
A useful tool is here:
Irish Whiskey
Irish Whiskey is triply distilled, and with the exception of Connemara is unpeated. This is why Irish Whiskey generally tastes smoother and sweeter than Scottish Whisky, and also why many think it is blander. Because of how poorly the Irish distillers handled the start of, and end of, prohibition, all but 2 Irish distillers were out of business by sometime in the late 70s. A third has now opened, but all varieties of Irish whiskey come from either Jameson, Bushmill's, or Cooley. Independent bottlers do bottle some older casks here and there, but it has been too long for many of those independent bottlings to be around any more.
Bourbon (to come)
Rye (to come)
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