Islay King?

[Ossian]

As for which whisky's the king of Islay, I cannot say. But last year my class went on a fieldtrip to Islay (I'm studying geology) where we visited the Laphroaig destillery on the last day! The people who worked there were so friendly, witty and overall extremely nice to us that that has to count for something! The tour ended with free drams of Quarter Cask for everyone!
A funny thing was that our guide also played the accordion at the pub in Port Charlotte, which seriously was THE best pub I've ever visited!

If you have the chance, take a trip to Islay!

 

[Harlock999]

As for which whisky's the king of Islay, I cannot say. But last year my class went on a fieldtrip to Islay (I'm studying geology) where we visited the Laphroaig destillery on the last day! The people who worked there were so friendly, witty and overall extremely nice to us that that has to count for something! The tour ended with free drams of Quarter Cask for everyone!
A funny thing was that our guide also played the accordion at the pub in Port Charlotte, which seriously was THE best pub I've ever visited!

If you have the chance, take a trip to Islay!

That sounds like a wonderful trip!
Now I'm dreaming...

 

[Harlock999]

Had a glass of Caol Isla, and then a glass of Laphroaig. The Isla is drier and a bit more antiseptic, and the Laphroaig is much richer.
Either way, I'm happy! :drunken:

 

[Harlock999]

Hung, over...

 

[Puff Daddy]

I got to try the Lagavulin 16 at pipe club thursday night, a gentleman there brought a bottle and was kind and generous enough to offer a dram. I enjoyed it thoroughly, enough to know that I definitely need to get a bottle and spend some time with it, but the one drink in a smoky room while goofing off with friends didn't leave me feeling I had a handle on it well enough to comment. It's now on my short list.

I have been trying to source a bottle of Bruichladdich The Laddie 10 and am coming up empty. Seems it's out of stock everywhere, but I have a customer service rep at Total Wine trying to order me a bottle through his distributor. This and the Bunnahabhain 12 both interest me a lot as they are Islay whiskies but are either unpeated or extremely lightly peated. They seem rather mandatory in order to assess Islay single malts as a genre, rather than just the peat monster distilleries.

My own recent enjoyment of the bottles of Laphroaig 10 and Ardbeg 10 has Ardbeg leading the race by a good bit. Much more depth, more going on. By summers end I hope to have tried the Lagavulin, Caol Ila, and the two previously mentioned unpeated Islays. The summer of Islay, if you will

As a side note, I have to mention the merits of Springbank 10. It's not an Islay whisky but is in the same general region (southwest seaside of scotland, not in the mainland). This Campbeltown indie makes a damned impressive unchill filtered 46% 100% in house made product that shares a lot of taste similarities with the likes of Laphroaig and Ardbeg. To my it's like what Ardbeg would be if you turned the smoke down a couple of notches. Highly recommended :!:

 

[Harlock999]

Sounds like I need to try the Springbank...

 

[Puff Daddy]

Sounds like I need to try the Springbank...

It's pretty amazing stuff. A little water and some time to open up and it becomes a really amazing thing, with layer upon layer of flavors coming through.

And it comes with my own personal guarantee: If for any reason you don't like it, I'll drive right down there and drink the remainder for you

 

[Harlock999]

Reminds me of an episode from my teen years when me and my friends went to a heavy metal party, and they were charging $5 a head to get in. Between the four of us, we could only scrounge together $10, so the gate guy made some sarcastic remark, took our money and let us in. Then we realized that the Coronas we had liberated from someone's dad's fridge weren't twist offs, and we didn't have an opener. So we asked the smart ass at the gate if he had one. Then, literally, a bright light was shined on us and everyone turned to gawk as the gatekeeper sassed "first you don't have enough money to get in, now you can't open your beers, what do you want us to do next, drink 'em for you?" Ha ha...
That was a fun party.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Laga 16 and Laph 18...a little late to the Scotch party.

I just happened to notice how often Harlock apologizes for being hung over on something... :lol:

8)

 

[Deleted member 2386]

Late to the party, as usual, but since Islays are forever I thought I'd lay my two pence in.

Uh, you're all dead on, basically. Laphroaig is my go-to scotch, period, as the price point is beyond beautiful for the ten year--you can get Bowmore for five or ten bucks less, but in my opinion it's fairly bland, at least for an Islay. Laphroaig's Triple Wood, Quarter Cask, and Full Cask are all amazing in their own ways, but as the price point increases my eye begins to stray to Caol Ila, Lagavulin, and cousins Talisker and (distant cousin!) Oban. I've been lucky enough to try the 18 and 25 year Laphroaigs, and while they are some of the best spirits I've ever tasted, I can't say I'd ever spring for the 25, even if I might one day splurge on a bottle of the 18--the difference in taste between the two is there, but far too subtle to justify the price of the 25 YO.

In re: Caol Ila, if you can find the Distiller's Edition, that is well worth picking up. It's only a year older than their regular stock, as I recall, but transcendentally tastier. I've seen but have yet to splurge on Distiller's Editions of Oban and, I think, Talisker...

Bruchladdich's only recently become available at my local shops, and I've sampled three of their bottles to date--in order of cost, these are the Laddie Ten, the Organic, and the Resurrection Dram. They're all delicious, but at $55 the Organic was far and away my favorite. Pricier than the Laddie, which was forty and change, cheaper than the Resurrection, which was maybe $80, but leagues tastier and smoother than either. If you're interested in Bruchladdich, I'd highly rec springing for the Organic rather than the Laddie Ten...

And looking at this, I really need to give Ardbeg another chance--I tried a bottle years ago, and was underwhelmed to the point that I haven't tried a sip in years. Will have to go back to the well one of these days...

Amazing how thirsty I'm feeling all of a sudden...Oh, and here's a link to the whisky section of the website of author and whisky-sipper Mark Newton who's my man in Havana, if Havana was the Scepter'd Isle.

 

[Puff Daddy]

Bruichladdich is a sore spot for me at the moment. Both big box retailers in the area (Bevmo, Total Wine) don't carry anything but Bruichladdich Rocks and I've been trying to source a bottle of The Laddie 10 from them for some time. I emailed them and Bevmo said they can special order it for $69 :affraid: . Uh, excuse me? It sells all day long on the internet retailers for around $40 ( but shipping is nearly $20). Total Wine first said they can't get Bruichladdich. I reminded them that they were already stocking one of their products, so yes, they can get their products, because they're already on the shelf in their stores. Oh, wait, we'll getback to you..... 2 weeks later, yes we can special order it for $69.

So here are two big retailers with distribution systems already in place to bring in the product, both of these places compete with everyone on price, but if a product isn't already in their queue, they'd rather try to take you to the cleaners for the trouble of asking their distributor to send a few bottles this way, bottles the distributor for Bruichladdich should already have, as they ae providing them for other on line retailers.

Screw em, I'll just not drink Bruichladdich if I have to pay $30 over the going rate just to get a bottle. :evil:

 

[Dreadgerbil]

Joining this a bit late, but...
While I do love a Laphroig I'm ALWAYS going to pick an Ardbeg over it. I love the extra peatiness and if you want any more peatiness it has to be Ardbeg or buying a Whisky that not commercially available.

Also, I love the Ardbeg Tweed and would absolutely get a new Kilt made in it were it still available!!!!! (Maybe I need to get a similar design woven?)
Thanks to Hamish for posting the lovely picture of his Kilt online.

 

[Deleted member 2386]

Bruichladdich is a sore spot for me at the moment...

Screw em, I'll just not drink Bruichladdich if I have to pay $30 over the going rate just to get a bottle. :evil:

Ouch--that's crazy! Honestly, I won't be picking up another bottle of the Laddie 10 at $40, to say nothing of $70! Too many quality scotches at a lower price point. Now, if you do come across the Organic at around $60, that's a whole different story: smooth yet rich, and for my money a unique dram, whereas the Laddie 10's been forgettable--so forgettable I keep forgetting I have half a bottle at the bar! Would that it were as easy to send samples of the golden elixir as it is tobac, I'd spare your curiosity and thus your pocketbook in one fell swoop. Maybe, anyway--one's man's Oban is another's Cutty, to be sure!

Bruichaddich also has a tidy gin called The Botanist which I quite enjoy, but oy, again with the killer price tag...This is probably stating the obvious, but have you tried to find a local, non-chain B&M liquor store in your area? In my experience, the best selections of whiskies--and beers, for that matter--have turned up in the shabbiest-looking, locally owned shops I've popped into on a lark. Happy hunting, in any event!