Recommended Not Too Smoky Malts

[Thomas]

Hi

Great forum, I have just stumbled across your site and have been reading it for most of this afternoon.

I am a recently converted blended whisky drinker who recently discovered malt whisky. I always enjoyed blended whisky and always thought that single malts could not possibly be that much better and worth the extra money. But luckily i have discovered how wrong i am when my family treated me to a few bottles of single malt for christmas instead of my usual blends. I am well and truly hooked.

What i want to know is what should i try next? So far i have had Highland Park 18, Glenfiddich 18, Macallan 10. These are the 3 bottles i received at christmas and normally 3 bottles of blended whisky would have lasted me 6 months but i enjoyed them so much i finished them in 2 months.

So what should i try next? I am sure there are quite a few malts on the supermarket shelfs which i should try. I was thinking around £20 - £40. Reading through the site i think i may want to avoid the extremely smoky malts for now.

Thanks

Thomas

[McKay]

Hi Thomas and welcome to the world of malt whisky.

There are a huge amount of whisky for you to try and many of them available at decent prices from the supermarkets. Going by what you have had already here are some i would say are worth trying which should be available from the big supermarkets:

Aberlour 10
Balvenie 10 Founders Reserve
Balvenie 12 Doublewood
Highland Park 12 & 18
Glenfarclas 10
Glenfiddich 15 Solera Reserve
Auchentoshan 10
Balblair 10
Cragganmore 12
Talisker 10 & 18 (Bit of smoke but not to heavy, lesser smoke in the 18, both very nice drams.)
Glenlivet 12, 15, 18
Old Pulteney 12 (Touch of smoke)
Bushmills 16 (A nice Irish dram)

They should keep you going for a while.

McKay

[Big Mac]

Hi Thomas

That is a very good list MacKay has given you and i am sure you would like them all given what you say you have already had.

Out of the list i would recommend the Balvenie Doublewood and Aberlour 10 as 2 sherried must try malts for anyone new to malt whisky.

Mac

[Andy M]

Hi Thomas

I agree they are very good suggestions. Just thought i should mention that it is worth while watching out for special offers at the big supermarkets. The best time of year for supermarket whisky offers is around chistmas and new year and also around fathers day. Although you can find good deals throughout the year for instance somerfield has the Aberlour 10 mentioned above at the moment for only £13.99 which is an excellent price.

Andy M

Found it, i knew i had seen it somewhere. Here is also a good list of whisky under £30, not all available in the supermarkets unfortunately. Watch out, some on this list may be a bit smoky.
http://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=204

[Thomas]

Thanks for the list McKay just what i was looking for and thanks Mac and Andy for the advice.

I have had a look at the tasting notes and I think this weekend i will pick up the Balvenie Doublewood, Highland Park 12 and the Glenfiddich 15. I think it will be more interesting having a few bottles to compare rather than just buying one bottle at a time.

Cheers

Thomas

[Alastair]

If you havent already got some i would recommend a couple of good tasting glasses such as the Glencairn glass.

Alastair

[islayonspey]