Building the Perfect Beast

A friend of mine recently asked me to write a blog about how to build a good whisky cabinet for the home.  I thought this was a fantastic idea and have been giving it a ton of thought.  The perfect whisky cabinet should appeal to you and your guests while pushing you to expand tastes and dispel stereotypes.  I also took this as a challenge – this isn’t meant to be my top ten list, or my wish list, or to appeal to my eccentric love of, erm, different whiskies.

Obviously, this is meant to be a guideline only.  Your collection will grow (and some of it will magically disappear).   But following these simple steps will give you the foundations of a collection to be proud of:

- Your favorite – Whatever scotch that is, it needs to be a constant in your collection.  This is what you’ll use to compare other whiskies.  (warning: follow these steps and your favorite may just change.

- The Applebees Whisky – You need a scotch for what everyone thinks scotch is, a good solid whisky with mass appeal.  You’ll almost always seem Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, and/or The Macallan on the top shelf of your local chain restaurant.  Instead of one of these three, I recommend going with Glenmorangie.  Wildly popular worldwide, it still holds a little bit of mystery in the US.  And, there’s the fact that this is an extremely good example of a highland whisky. 

- Lowland – Lowland whiskies are typically milder than other regions.  One of them may be a good introductory whisky for your friends.  There are only three Lowland whiskies currently on the market: Bladnoch, Glenkinchie, and Auchentoshen.  Go with Auchentoshen, it’s a LOT easier to find than the other two and it is a really nice dram.

- Island – An island whisky is perfect for a cold night, a long slow drink in front of the fire.  And with the whiskies available, it’s hard to go wrong: Arran, Highland Park, Jura, Scapa, Talisker among them.  Which one to pick?  If you’ve ever read this blog before, you know the answer is Highland Park 12.  There are so many reasons.  An excellent whisky, very reasonably priced, and very easy to progress – 15 and 18 year olds are readily available if you become more of a fan.

- Islay – look, you need an Islay whisky in your collection, OK?  End of discussion.  If you’re building a collection, with time, you’ll learn to appreciate a well balanced, rich peaty Islay scotch.  Laphroaig is probably the pick here, and it doesn’t taste like someone poured on the peat with a soup ladle (that’s Ardbeg – make that your second Islay whisky).

- Blends – a good blend is a great addition to every collection.  Sometimes, your friends will be adamant that that’s what they want.  You can have it over rocks as well.  Rather than go with a Johnnie Walker product (it takes a few color labels to get to a good one, in my opinion), I recommend going with Famous Grouse.  Very tasty, while being very budget friendly.

- Bourbon – Sometimes, you just want a bourbon.  You want some kind of cocktail, or it’s Kentucky Derby Weekend, or you’re watching Justified - any excuse will do.  Buy yourself Bulleit Bourbon.  It was a surprise hit at my whisky tasting last year and it makes a great Manhattan (by the way, get some sweet vermouth and bitters for you cabinet as well).

Well there you have it, six or seven bottles to get you started on your journey.  If you’re enjoying it, don’t stop there.  Explore other regions (Speyside, Campletown).  Look for some different age statements from distilleries you’ve enjoyed.  Find a cask strength whisky.  And call me to come over and hang out . . . please!

To the Hybrids

Ardmore
Traditional Cask
46% ABV
Speyside, Highlands

A gift from my in-laws, Ardmore is not currently available in Virginia, so it's always a treat when I can get a bottle. The interesting thing about Ardmore, and why it's so distinctive, is that Ardmore is a Peated Highland whisky. The barley is dried using natural, highland peat fires, so you get a whisky that has a hint of peat combined with creaminess and vanilla. This stands in pretty stark contrast to typical Highland whiskies which don't rely upon a ton of peat for drying, as well as island whiskies which have traditionally relied upon peat fires, but tend to have a lot more taste of the sea in them.

Other "hybrids" to take a look at are, Ben Riach, which has expanded with a massive and really interesting range since they were bought by a small group of businessmen from Chivas in 2004, and, of course, Highland Park.

Highland Park 20 year old

Statistics:
Highland Park 20 year old (4.120)
Distilled: December, 1986
Bottled: July, 2007 by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Proof: 101

This is a cask strength whisky bottled by the independent bottler, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (herein referred to as SMWS). The SMWS buys individual barrels, or casks, from specific distilleries and bottles their own whiskies for the membership. Not to become an advertisement, but the SMWS is a great way to learn about rarer, more flavorful whiskies from distilleries which may not otherwise be available in the states (Virginia at least). They also assign their own naming convention to each distillery and bottling, thus the 4 for Highland Park and 120 for the specific SMWS bottling.

I'll end up talking a lot about Highland Park because, along with Ardbeg, my favorite whiskies in the world come from this distillery in the northern Scottish island of Orkney. As Michael Jackson notes in his definitive book on the topic, Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch, "Highland Park is the greatest all-rounder in the world of malt whisky. It is definitely an island style, but combining all the elements of a classic single malt: smokiness (with its own heather-honey accent), maltiness, smoothness, roundness, fullness of flavour, and length of finish". Not bad, huh?

If you can find any bottle of cask strength Highland Park, buy it. That's all I have to say about that.