18 year-old Macallan - the standard by which any speyside malt is measured, delightfully complex. The 12 year old is an interesting change if you want to see where some of the influences come from, as the aromatic components are more pronounced. Compare these with another definitive speyside, the 15 year old Knockando, to really appreciate the light touch and lingering nutlike aftertaste of these most refined malts. There is of course The Glenlivet, a much more well known speyside malt. As my grandmother said, if you can't say something nice... This last claims to be number one not only in speyside malts but malts in general. IMHO it is number one only in marketing prowess.
But I am really a little more partial to the Isley malts, and also Taliskar, which is similar but comes from Skye, not Isley. I went to the Taliskar distillery on Skye - driving over a road which would pass for a golf cart trail in the US, dodging sheep, I could smell the whiskey miles from the actual distillery. I prefer the 10 year old Taliskar, which makes up for a somewhat rowdy character with a taste which is impossible to describe, let alone replicate.
Laphroig is a classic of the Isleys, and the most definitive of the peaty western malts. There are a few others which are easily identified even blindfolded. Lagavulan and the hard-to-find Caol Ila (which I have not seen outside of Scotland), the reliable and hearty Bowmore, and for the adventurous, Isle of Jura, from out in the western mists beyond even Isley and Skye.
No tour of malts would be complete without the Highlands, some of which pre-date the legalization of Scotch in the early 1820's. Oban and Glendronach are classics of this type, as is the West Highland Cardhu. Inverness is home to Dalwhinney, one of the touchstone malts for the Highland strain.
This subject should not be off topic for any Dell bulls, since the best way to understand single malts is to go to Scotland and see the people and culture which produces them, all of which is made possible by the wonderful performance of Dell stock... |
