Second that.. Great Thread...
Eh, and I dont mean to be a snob about it but these last few months the only whisky for me has been Gentleman Jack.
I've had whisky off and on, but never much paid much attention to the stuff. I got curious when I saw a trvel show about Scotland and they talked about the history of Scotch whisky. Next day I found myself at the local liquor store taking a crash course from the owner. It's always been a kind of mystery to me but once I started looking at the shelves it made sense
Other than the quality of the distillery there are two things that drive price.
* * Scotch from a single barrel is more expensive than scotch from a blend of many barrels
* * Scotch aged 12 years or more is more expsnsive than the fresh Scotch.
That makes four levels of scotch to choose from.
I figured a 12 year old aged blend would be a good starter. I thought a single barrel would be risky lol. I picked Dewar's out of brand recognition. Might be interesting to try one of those bottles from obscure Scottish distilleries, but that is for another day. I can't say I cared for the Dewars bottle though. A little bitter and very hot, like drinking medicinal firewater. I would have liked it better had it not been bitter. I imagine it's an aquired taste.
I much prefer Sour Mash, there is definitely something to the charcoal filtering, Gentleman Jack is made the same as the regular stuff, only its filtered twice.
So thats my knowledge so far. Next up in the Study Lab - BOURBON.