How do you like your whisk(e)y
So, whisky is an incredible beast. Wildly unfriendly when you first meet and often gives you a pretty solid scare but if you persevere, keep saying hello when you walk in the pub, he’ll eventually warm to you.
What do you want from an experience? A Tesla or a vintage Porsche
So, fair warning, I’m going to use a bit of slightly frayed old masculine trope for this but bare with me, . If you were to book a track day for yourself, you know the kind of thing, eighty quid for a safety briefing, terrible free and a few laps in some kind of spectacular motor vehicle, what vehicle are you choosing? They’ve a snazzy new Tesla which will accelerate like the dickens, calculate corners for you to truly optimize the speed and if you pass out it’ll finish your lap, record your time and drop you off safely at the portacabin, tremendous. Or do you go for the vintage Porsche, it’ll stick take off with plenty of rocket but youre going to have to work to love this drive, it’ll be bumpy, it’ll roll terrifyingly into corners, you may even spill your sippy cup and spin it out of a turn, but when you get it right… oh heavens.
I’ve always viewed whisky a little like this, you can splash out on a tasty old Macallan, it’ll be friendly, like liquid gold full of butterscotch, chocolatey, orangey notes and any heat that comes at you will be like a cup of tea at perfect 9 minute temperature, too hot to chug to but sipped with a little respect and its grand. However, if prefer a little more adventure in your adventure, maybe a stormy wee Islay billowing with peat smoke and salty anger, like a glass of the moment Gandalf hit the lake while fighting the fiery ol Balrog of Morgoth, like the moment your mermaid wife aint happy your up late drinking whiskey so tosses her bathwater over your campfire before sending your mates home? I like that vibe in a dram.
So with that in mind, here’s five top whiskeys to transport you from your Toby carvery to Mos Eisley cantina… with the added bonus… you can buy these whiskies, in store, on line, easily and relatively affordably.
- The Classic Laddie!, Landing in first, or last… or just happily part of our jolly wee groupie is the Classic Laddie from Bruichladdie. Pretty unique in its usp, an Islay whiskey without the face curling trowel of peaty violence we love to love, the laddie is as gloriously fruity and sweet bready as they come. Beautiful notes of berries, brioche or maybe something sweeter, a blueberry bagel drizzled with a lemon infused wild honey.
- Highland Park 12! Now, here we have a great little showcase of all the mad and wonderful things whisky can bring to the table in one glass. Sherry finish and a little smoke.
- Ardbeg Uigeadail – All of that briny, seaweedy, smoke but with beautiful honeyed apricots. In that smoke, we’re not getting medicine, tcp but all the fatty, burnt end bbq flavours.