Anyone know anything about Whiskey? Sort of WP

Being from Scotland I'm sorry to say I don't even know much myself, but if you want the names of the good distilleries up here I'll be happy to help in that respect, and sure they'll have something suitably aged and around your budget.

You could lower your budget for the bottle and add on some nice crystal glasses - you don't have to go down the engraved with cheesy message route, but a really good quality glass to drink it out of?

Can you remember any of the other names of whiskys he's liked? I think Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt - would you want to get him a single malt?

H loves the very peaty ones - Lagavulin 16 year being one of his favourites - that's normally about £50.

Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange are both good websites for tasting notes etc - the prices are generally very fair on there too, I find.

We did similar with engraved (on the bottom as I'm not a huge fan of the look of personalised things) tumbler and got some whiskey paraphernalia (whiskey stones, decanter etc) went down a treat..

Thanks ATB. A great suggestion on the glasses too.

Kharv, for years before I discovered the Monkey shoulder we always bought him Glenfiddich which google tells me a single malt scottish so that seems to be his taste. Thanks for the website suggestions.

Glenfiddich has many more options than Monkey shoulder and I'm guessing older is better?!?!

H loves a drop of Single Malt. I bought him an 18 year old bottle of Highland Park which he loves (it was about £75). His Dad is very much into his single malt and he had ticked off loads of different ones in a book he had, but the Holy Grail seemed to be the Johnny Walker Blue Label. He got 2 bottles for his 70th

Another one he liked is called Dalmore.

Is there a whisky shop near you? I went to one at Trentham Gardens and they were great, gave loads of ideas and suggestions (and samples!): http://www.whiskyshop.com/

As far as I know, older is better. OH is drinking Arberlour atm...

As a general rule but not always - read the tasting notes on the website - they often have real people commenting on how they found that particular whisky.

btw - I know nothing about Whisky - I hate the stuff. But H loves it so I buy a fair bit with my limited knowledge! I helped myself out by buying him a '101 whiskys to try before you die' book so I tend to just pick a new one out of that each time! Ha.

Thanks so much for your help everyone!

Panj - there is a shop in York which is not too far so next time we are over there I will def go in and have a chat with them. I'll take OH with me and he is getting into whiskey in his old age! Must be a man thing! I'm not keen on any of them so not a good judge!

Kharv - maybe I should buy him a book and a highlighter for fathers day!!!

I've tried a fair few whiskeys and most of them while blotto on a night out so couldn't tell you what ones were nice and which I almost choked on.

However the only whiskey I can sit and drink quite happily is Glenmorangie, got my Mum a bottle as she has one half at the bells at new year and that's her tradition haha. It's about £30 for a big bottle I think and it's 10 years old, you might want a bit more expensive or older but it goes down nice and smooth and one of the few I thought tasted nice and mild compared to some that almost blew my head off haha!

I remember trying black label too and drinking a fair bit, I think I liked that one!

I'm a bit of a whiskey geek and have visited loads of distilleries. I only like peated single malt such as lagavulin. Speyside whiskies are probably more of the glenmorangie taste. There is a whiskey for every taste, it's just getting through them all to find the one you like. If you need anymore info I'd be happy to help.

I will recommend you one!

I just know this as it's made locally to me and it was a big deal when it won 'Whisky of the year 2013' - it is the Old Pulteney 21 year old. My mum bought my dad a bottle for his christmas, I've seen it sell for over £100 but usually you can find it for about £90.

I'll be fully honest though and say when we went to the distillery for a tasting my dad had to admit he preferred the 17 year old. The 21 makes a special gift though.

This wee flavour map is quite handy to pick a new whisky if you know one which they already like. Monkey Shoulder is a blend of Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kinivie. If he likes Glenfiddich then Glenlivit is probably a good shout if you want something different.

As others have said older is generally better but many people believe that whisky doesn't actually get much better beyond 15 years and after that you are just paying a premium price for a brand reputation.

There are lots of different styles and flavours of whisky/whiskey (to be really pedantic, Scotch is whisky with no e, most others are whiskey) that even if you get something really good you can't guarantee they'll like it. For example I like lightish Highland/Speyside ones like Glenlivet, Glenmorangie, Balmenach (H bought me a bottle of this from the year of my birth for my 25th, it's awesome!) I am really not keen on more heavily peated whiskies like Lagavulin or Laphroaig, so even if I was given a really good quality bottle, I wouldn't enjoy it. Try to work out what your dad likes and then get some advice on what you can get best value for your budget with.

That is a good idea. I know nothing about whiskey though l am afraid

Genuinely thanks so much everyone. I am most worried about spending a lot of money on something that isn't his taste so I think research is key! I will be an expert in no time!

My brother when visiting rural Scotland asked for a whiskey in the village pub. He was asked which one he wanted....not knowing, he asked for one he knew which was Glenfiddich....

"Ah, you'll be wanting the cooking whisky then" drawled the barman..........

One option is something completely different.......have you thought of English Whisky? St Georges brewery in Norfolk is apparently dong a fine single malt. There are a number of local whisky breweries around England. Perhaps a local brew to where you are from might be of interest.(no disrespect meant to the fine Scottish products)

Peter

Oooh something I can genuinely help with for once.

As other posters have said, the Monkey Shoulder is a blended whisky from the "non peaty" side of the whisky spectrum, so you're going to want to stay away from anything described as smoky.

My dad and grandfather love these whiskies, and have shared them all with me, so I can definitely recommend a few:

- Old Poultney - I agree with Tiny Tiggs, this is a fantastic whisky and not mega hugely pricey. My favourite!

- Glenmorangie

- Macallan - gorgeous, but tends to be expensive

- Glenlivet

- Auchentoshan

- Cardhu

- Jura

Best of luck with it!

ATB's glasses idea is brilliant, re recently got a friend some funky ones for her birthday. I was in charge of them and H was in charge of choosing the Whisky!! i got H a bottle of whisky as part of his wedding present but took our friend shopping with me as i had no clue!

Woo hoo!! I can be helpful!!!

Love my whisky!

If he likes monkey shoulder I'd definitely stick to non peaty side of the flavour map.

Balvenie is always a favourite of mine, Tun1401 is AWESOME, but probably out of the price range. You could go for the 15 year old single cask which is about £60.

Another interesting distillery is BenRiach. They have so many different ranges, some quite peaty so watch out if you want to avoid them, but the 15y/o sherry cask is good.

The other option you have is master of the malt do sample kits so you could get him a huge range of different samples which means if he doesn't like one then he has plenty more to try. It also opens up present ideas for ages after so you can buy him big bottles of the ones he does like!!

The final option is creating your own blend. http://www.masterofmalt.com/blend-your-own-whisky/ This might not be the nicest tasting whisky he has ever had but it will be totally individual and personal.

Hope this helps!