Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyto
Your observation about Black v. Red is spot on. Lagavulin is the base for Black; Cardhu for Red, so the flavor profiles are totally different, even setting age aside. I really enjoy Gold--it's almost creamy--but I'm not sure it's 66-75% better than Black, as the price would seem to indicate.
As for Green and Blue, save your money. To my palate, they both taste weak and lack complexity, though Blue is very smooth. I'll grant that I'm an Islay drinker who generally likes a lot of smoke and Iodine, but compare Blue even to, say, MacAllan 18 or Balvenie 21, both of which are less expensive, and it fares poorly.
I've tried swing, and found it to be very much like Red. Not bad for the price.
As for Green and Blue, save your money. To my palate, they both taste weak and lack complexity, though Blue is very smooth. I'll grant that I'm an Islay drinker who generally likes a lot of smoke and Iodine, but compare Blue even to, say, MacAllan 18 or Balvenie 21, both of which are less expensive, and it fares poorly.
I've tried swing, and found it to be very much like Red. Not bad for the price.
never heard of swing. i've usually got a bottle of black label in the house (costs no more than 18GBP), but though its an easy drinker, it's just a safe boring blend surely? one of my closest mates has got a bottle of blue label which i've had a few glasses of, but i reckon it's way too smooth, it reminded me of irish whisk(e)y rather than scotch...and again, a blend.
my dear grandma-ma lives in campbeltown(scots west coast) and i always pop into cadenheads when i'm there and pick up a treat ( http://www.wmcadenhead.com/cadenheads/index.html ) - often they have 2 or 3 casks behind the counter that they bottle direct from (sometimes up to nearly 60%abv if memory serves - you gotta water that stuff down, at least a bit). campbeltown's whisky is springbank so i usually pick up an 8 or 10 year old bottle of that (fairly cheap - 20GPB to 30GPB) as well, quite salty and minerally, different from the smoky peatiness of talisker say...anyway, my point is, it's all loads nicer than JW blue.
got me thinking, i'm back up in scotland late summer, can't wait, it's a beautiful country.
