Great idea for a thread. I'm fairly new to whisky. I'm not a big fan of the really peaty ones. Something like Ardberg Corryvreckan is interesting and different to try, but I would never buy a bottle. Actually, the one thing I've learned about whisky is to always try before buying a full bottle. I've got a couple of disappointments from airports.
My friend turned in his PhD thesis and we've been celebrating with a bottle of Dalmore 12. It's just a really easy to drink balanced whisky and I've really enjoyed it. I'm going to buy a bottle of Highland Park 18 when I turn in my thesis hopefully in February.
I visited Dublin last year and went to the Irish Whiskey Museum next to Trinity College. Was a lot of fun, would definitely recommend for anyone interested in the history of whiskey. Tried some single pot still whiskey which is an Irish specialty. It's made from a mix of malted and unmalted barley (single malt must be 100% malted barley hence the different name). This was originally done to avoid tax, but does give the whiskey a different flavor. I bought some Redbreast 15 and I've quite liked it.
I'd be really interested in trying more Japanese whiskys like the Yamazaki single malts, but availability outside of Japan seems really limited and the prices are high. I bought some Hibiki Japanese Harmony Master's Select, which is a special version of the Hibiki blend. It's good stuff and really great for a blend, but I wish it was smoother. It's a No Age Statement (NAS) whisky, so the majority of it is likely to be quite young. There is Hibiki 17 and 21 but those have the aforementioned problem of high prices and limited availability.
I don't know anything about bourbon or rye, will probably try some the next time I go to the US. Any recommendations?
