What should my next bottle be?

[vaio_v]

Hello dear malt friends. I am a new user in this forum and fairly new into the great scotch whisky world.

My collection currently consists of Cutty Sark, JW Red Label (I know, dont judge me from these haha!) and my most admired whisky, Laphroaig 10. I have tried many whiskies in bars such as Jamesons, JW Back, Glenffidich 12 but I tend to really enjoy the peat and smoke in my Laphroaig.

In fact, today, while searching for a new whisky within my budget (around 50$ mark, so I can have multiple open bottles), I concluded with the JW Double Black, which, despite the negative reviews actualy surprised me. I was not expecting to get such peat both while nosing and tasting. What do you think of it?

I am looking to get another bottle soon. Should I try the Macallan, or perhaps more Islay Single Malts such as Lagavulin? Maybe Talisker? I've heard great things about it, being the "whisky of sailors" something that reminds me of the seaweed-oceanic flavour of the Laphroaig paired with peat.

Any recommendation is more than welcome.
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“There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.”

[WinBase]

I too love Islay whisky's including laphroig, and lagavulin, but IMHO the prince is Ardbeg, and while the 10yo is excellent, i prefer Uigeadail. its a tad more that $50, in fact about £51, but IMHO worth the extra. GL

[vaio_v]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, many of my friends also recomended me the Ardbeg 10yr. I might give Uigeadail a go. So I should perhaps stick with Islay and not try something else since thats what I like?
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“There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.”

[Timp]

Hi vaio_v

Welcome to your journey..

There is so much out there that research is the key I reckon. From books to forums and the myriad of blogs/vlogs out there.

Any reviewer worth their salt will always make it clear that it is just their opinion.

If you havnt tried lagavulin 16, I would definitely recommend it, but then I always have a talisker 10, ardbeg 10 on the go as well seeing as you mention them..

Have fun and let us know where you spend your hard earned cash..

[vaio_v]

Thanks for the reaply dear malt friend! I really want to give lagavulin 16 a go but it is currently out of stock in my local liquor store....
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“There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.”

[Olorin]

I certainly agree with the suggestions so far. If you are fairly new I think it is good to try all the different "standard" bottlings of different Islay distilleries before venturing out to other ones. Lagavulin and Ardbeg are excellent (I also prefer the Uigeadail). Coal Ila 12 year could be another to try. It is an Islay malt also and is in most large supermarkets in the UK. May not be so readily available in other countries?

[arqueturus]

I agree with all of the above but if I can tempt you away from the Islays I would suggest Old Pultney 12 (no Peat or Smoke but a lovely sea flavour none the less) and Highland Park 12 (no peat but delightful smoke)

[WinBase]

Iv'e lost count of the number of different expressions ive had, both at a cheaper and more expensive price point as i like to try all sorts, (at a guess it must be at least a couple of hundred), and im sure compared to some people on here im just an amateur, but id say the best you can do is check reviews and try the ones that get good recommendations by regular folk, but be warned that You will probably find that as you get into it more, you will gradually spend more and more per bottle , but theres still a few i come back to time after time and always have a bottle or 3 in, and that's various Glendronach's (no-one does sherry casks better) and ardbeg's, but it's quite hard to find any single malts that are that bad as to be undrinkable, just some you'll like more. GL