Does anyone here enjoy a whisk(e)y ?

I enjoy good scotch or rye, and have also enjoyed Irish whiskey and some bourbons. I'm in Canada, so we don't get the cream of the Irish crop over here; I keep it simple with Jameson's Black Barrel. Red Breast Single Pot is also great.

My current scotch of choice is Lagavullin 16, though I also enjoy a nice smokey Talisker that my wife brought back for me from Scotland a while ago.

My current favourite Rye is Dillon's small batch rye. It's a very nice, smooth rye, and Dillon's is full of good people. I've done the distillery tour there, and they also make great gin and gin based cocktails.

I'll throw in another vote for Redbreast 12yo. It's risen significantly in price in recent years but still reasonable enough, given the quality, to remain a fixture in the cabinet. Some nice alternatives in Irish single pots are Green Spot and Yellow Spot, both lovely and lively without any harshness.

I'm not very well-versed on the Scotch end of things, though I typically turn to a Glenfiddich 12 when the mood strikes, but a nice related avenue that I've been exploring is Japanese whiskeys which are very much in the Scotch tradition. It's up on the 'special occasions' shelf but I've a bottle of Suntory Hibiki that is a beautiful blend.

Sláinte!

I’m a big fan of Redbreast 12 Year. It’s a single pot still and manages to provide some nice complexity while still maintaining the well-rounded profile I’ve come to appreciate in Irish offerings.

That said, I’m also providing this parent comment as an outlet for folks who may prefer offerings from across the pond—I’m a pretty big bourbon hound and would love to talk shop about American (or American-styled) whiskey and rye offerings!

I love smoky peaty whiskies. I grew up thinking I didn't like whisky because I only ever tasted the most common mainstream stuff like Jameson (least bad but still not great), Tullamore Dew, Johnny Walker Red or Jack Daniels. Thought it was decent with a coke but that's it. I still dislike most cheap blended whiskies with the exception of Grant's, which I think is surprisingly good for the price.

Then a few years later in a café/bar I randomly decided to order a glass of Laphroaig 10 and immediately fell in love just from the smell. A completely different world. And I just recently got back into it after not drinking at all for a few years so I do have a few discoveries that were new to me, though perhaps well known to real enthusiasts.

I still really like L. 10 and even prefer it to other classics like Lagavulin 16 or Talisker 10, although it is certainly made worse by watering it down to 40%. I love Laphroaig An Cuan Mor, which is kind of like a stronger spinoff, and I bet the cask strength is great as well, but both are too expensive and not really worth it these days. Just like Lagavulin. And Ardbeg is supposedly not nearly as good as it used to be either.

Of the slightly less known stuff I'm a fan of As We Get It, independent cask strength bottling of anonymous distilleries - they buy quality whisky that doesn't really fit a distilery's profile and sell it as is. They do two editions: Highland and Islay. I've tasted three or four different bottles of Islay and while one was noticably better than others, all were great. Obviously very young, carrying a hint of the new make taste, but good quality and interesting. I thought the Highland edition was slightly less interesting, but that may just be my preference.

No idea how well known Ledaig 10 is, but I recommend it to everyone who likes smoke and wants to try something different from known Islay distilleries, it's also one of my favorites. In a local whisky bar it used to be the second most ordered drink after Laphroaig 10 for a while.

I'm also a fan of Glen Scotia 15, which is more expensive than it used to be, but it's one of the few non-peated whiskies that I really enjoy. Next from the non-peated category I recently (slightly less) enjoyed Inchgower 14, which is sadly not InchGrower and does not make your dick bigger, but it still tastes good.

Another recent discovery was AnCnoc, which makes a couple excellent whiskies for a very good price. Supposedly the 12 yo is excellent (I only gave it as a gift to a friend, but he was very happy), non-peated, and the Sherry Cask Finish Peated is really great as a cheapish "everyday" drink as well, not too peaty (and I usually don't enjoy sherry cask).

I live in Scotland and have really come to enjoy a good peated whiskey. I recently picked up a bottle of Kilchoman that’s delicious. My wife tends toward non-peated whiskeys that have spent some time in sherry casks. I like those too from time to time but for me it’s the earthy smokiness that I’m drawn toward.

As for Irish whiskeys, a friend of ours in Dublin gave us a bottle of Yellow Spot that was fantastic. Other than that, I can’t say I have much experience with them.

I used to enjoy whiskey quite a bit, though I rarely invested in the better class of spirits. That's partly due to how liquor is regulated in my state, and partly due to how I approached drinking. I was almost always out to get pissed rather than to enjoy one of life's little fineries. It's not really worth spending $100+ on 750ml of a nice scotch if all you're really looking to get out of it is shitfaced.

I did get pretty adept at finding whiskeys that punched above their price class, but I don't think those are really the kinds of tipples you're interested in. I doubt you're looking for recommendations on $20 bottles that can beat $40 bottles in blind taste tests, but if you're looking for nicer swill, I'll send along my suggestions.

I share your assessment that Irish whiskeys tend toward the monotone, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's usually a pretty damn nice monotone, and besides, I think some liquors are just a little too complex. A lot of scotch falls into that group for me, and it's why I never got into gin beyond the occasional Rickey. I think three, possibly four notes is all I can jive with when it comes to spirits.

I like whisky enough that I went on a distillery tour of Islay this year. We visited Bunnahabhain, Bruichladdich, Kilchoman, Bowmore, Laphroaig, and Lagavulin (Ardbeg was closed). Bruichladdich was my favorite. I'm a fan of heavily peated whiskies, so the single cask Octomore I tasted was my favorite. I'd love to drink more of the stuff, as they have ~3 versions each year, but at $200-300 a bottle it's a pretty big investment in something with steeply diminishing returns on price like whisky. The Port Charlotte 10 and Ardbeg Uigeadail are still pricey but slightly more affordable alternatives that I can have more often. Another whisky I liked recently was Benromach 10, which is a lightly peated speyside whisky aged in bourbon and sherry barrels.

I do like Whiskey, but I’m in the US, so no real recs I can give.

I’m also don’t buy anything too expensive (at least, not yet), and still have a bunch of Bulleit Bourbon leftover from my wedding, so that tends to be my current drink of choice. I think I like Ryes more than bourbons, but Bulleit is a rye-heavy bourbon and I like it decently enough.

I’ve been making “Sazeracs” with it recently, and they’ve turned out pretty decent.

I have had an American Single Malt Whiskey from Stranahan’s in Colorado that was pretty good (100% barley mashbill, they claimed it’s similar to a Scotch but I certainly couldn’t tell you).

I'm probably not as well-versed but have a broad appreciation of whiskeys.

I've been really into white whiskeys (aka Moonshine) after my brother went to Tennesee last year. There's something about a good one that has this sort of corn flavor, smoothness, and sweetness to it. I can't find anything that compares to the stuff he brought from TN, but Sugarlands' Backpacker is pretty close. Hudson Whiskey, out of New York, has a pretty good one, but Backpacker has more of what I like (corn), and less of what I don't. A side note to Mellow Corn, which is an interesting barrel-aged, but still corny moonshiney whiskey.

Otherwise I'm often in bourbon and rye. I think Sazerac Rye is one of the best in the segment, but there's plenty of great Bottled in Bond (legal classification requiring 50% standard), like Rittenhouse that has a nice flavor profile. Evan Williams has a surprisingly nice bonded rye as well.

I've been into Uncle Nearest for bourbon. Basically this distilliery is run by the descendants of Earnest "Nearest" Green, one of the original master distillers of Jack Daniels. Their whiskey is a bit smoother, more barrelly (sweet, vanilla, oaky notes), less harsh burn that Jack. I would recommend Nearest Green as a comparison to the standard Jack Daniels for a comparison. 1884 was the first I tried and was an improvement, but not quite twice the improvement for the price.

For scotch I like Islay but am not particularly versed. I prefer the nasal peatiness of Islays (like Lagavulin 16, but 8 is also pretty nice), or the Johnnie Walker blends (Green and Double Black for me, blue doesn't offer as much for the price point, IMO). I haven't explored much in the highland scotches, but definitely intend to.

You’re Irish? You have/had one of the best whisk(e)y bars in the world in Dublin!

The first time I went it was called Dingle Bar, then Distilled. Looks like it may be named Harty’s Bar or sadly be out of business.

From my trips to Dublin I learned about Teelings which have some lovely whiskies that may be smoked or smooth. Last time I learned about Glendalough who make AMAZING whiskies and have become my go-to in the US when I can find it.

I’ve since moved back to Ireland and am on a quest to find good Irish whiskey.

Aside from Jameson, the only other Irish whiskey brand I've tried is Perase. I went to Dublin for my birthday four years ago and visited the Guinness Storehouse and Pearse Lyons Distillery. We originally planned to tour the Jameson distillery but they were heavily overbooked.

It was a really nice tour where they went through the history of the church it was built upon, and talked about how they restored the nearby graveyard and converted the building into a distillery.

My only regret was that we went to Dublin while COVID restrictions were in place. There was an 11pm curfew in place on all bars, you had to show proof that you were vaccinated to enter most places, and the whole tourist experience felt pretty watered-down. Had we gone just two months later after we saw just how mild the Omicron variant was, none of this would have been in place.

You can buy 700ml bottles of Pearse Original from €50 - €85 directly on their website, depending on if you want whiskey that's been aged in a barrel for 5, 7 or 12 years..

I'm not much of a whiskey drinker but I do recommend Pearse.

...we've a couple hundred single malts in our collection, mostly scotch + about a shelf of world whiskies, acquired a few bottles per year over the past couple of decades...

...almost anything over 62% ABV gets my attention: i've yet to meet an unadultrated single-cask cask-strength sipping whisky which i couldn't learn to appreciate, so independent bottlings get very high marks from me in general...

...that said, most of our collection are mass-market single malts; i recommend any of the springbank campbeltons for a reasonably easy-to-find quality scotch (hazelburn/triple-distilled, springbank/two-and-a-half-distilled, longrow/peated), but amrut's indian cask-strength malts i think might be the deal going these days...

...i've yet to find an irish malt which i've fallen in love with; i've had a few but the regional style tends to thin whiskies out of the market, and i say that despite appreciating english-style lowland malts...my current favorite is probably teeling's single cask, which is a perfectly respectable whiskey but doesn't sit particularly high on our shelves...

I've had a few, and had the opportunity to visit Ireland and visit some of the larger offerings, but personally Fercullen's (at Powerscourt) options were some of my favorite. We're also able to get a 12 year here in New England, though if I were to buy a case, I could save money by flying back and getting them in person. I believe Bushmills had some good options as well (sorry, I am not generally into whiskey enough to remember which types or cask styles, etc).

Other than that, I don't care for the peaty sorts, and sadly on my visit to Scotland in July, our bungalow in Speyside (where we had three whisky tours lined up) was flooded out. Since I was leaving the next day we had to stay about an hour away, which made the easy ride back for the night no longer doable.

Killowen is incredible, particularly the experimental series doing some interesting things and succeeding at it. I've heard it's harder to find domestically than in the US though.