30 year old scotch?

Personally, I'm dying to grab a bottle of Ballantine's 30 yo one day. I almost picked one up just recently but then decided to go for the Karuizawa Multi-vintage. I'm sure it's just a matter of time until I open up my wallet for the Ballantine's though!

@nickdemaster Well my friend if budget isn't an issue and Islay is your favorite region I personally think that I'd have to go with a 3o+ yr old bottle of Port Ellen or Ardbeg. I've just picked up a 30 yr old Caol Ila, but I havent tried it yet so I cant offer any thoughts on that distillery with the older bottles. However the Ardbeg and Port Ellen are both beloved by whisky geeks and the older Ardbegs and all Port Ellen tends to be heavily sought after.

Do let us know what you pick though!!! Should be alot of fun for you!!!

I would look toward the independant bottles, especially the SMWS if it's available to you...

Yes, do let us know what you choose.

My vote too goes to an Ardbeg from 1983? Were they in business then? Cursory research says no. But yeah. Ardbeg from before 1983.

I hear ya, I was born in '81 and I'd like to get an Islay bottle from '81. So we're looking for basically the same thing but different bottling times. Talisker does some pretty delicious looking 30 year bottlings.

@nickdemaster Hi Nick:

I recently was lucky enough to try a Benromach 30. It was a delicious, fresh fruit salad. Matured in 1st and refill sherry casks.

On the peaty side, if there are any still available, Laphroaig 30 from about three years ago was very nice too.

@nickdemaster Ha, your question really got me to thinking so I peered into my archive and dug up some not-so-mainstream 30 year olds amongst the well-knowns that I thought were stunning. In order of goodness (best first):

Tomatin 30 (absolutely bloody stunning!) Laphroaig 30 (mentioned before) Old Pulteney 30 Talisker 30 Benromach 30 (mentioned before) Balvenie 30 Port Ellen 30 (9th release) Highland Park 30

It's obvious you want to have some fun with this. Do exactly that....

Awesome suggestions all around. I have been doing a little research - I saw the Highland Park 30 at a store near me and thought it was more than quite interesting.

Also went onto Master of Malt to look at a couple ones and saw a few more. I'm not really looking for a fruit salad, but love hearing scotches compared to them.

Tomatin, I don't have a ton of experiences in the ranges yet but I figure I'll get there eventurally. The Old pulteney 30 looked interesting as I actually do really like their range - 12/17/21..

Ardbeg does have a 30 "guaranteed", but I haven't seen any available anywhere. heck, I'm having a hard enough time finding a random bottle of alligator around.

I might have to tap into a collectors network to get one of these rare bottles. :)

@nickdemaster just a warning to say that if you try Tomatin 12, 15, 18 they won't prepare you for the 30. The younger ones seem to be loved or hated, not much middle ground. I can't figure out how the 30 got to be what it is, doesn't seem to have the same pedigree as the young ones. For what it's worth.

@nickdemaster The HP 30 will blow your mind!!!

@nickdemaster I went through the same process on this forum some time back: connosr.com/wall/discussion/… Lots of people seem to like HP30

@two-bit-cowboy a heck of a list...OP may want to take out a small loan to cover all those bottles. Half of them lay in the $500+ range

@jnaks I didn't mean for anyone to think I bought any of those. Had the opportunities to taste them at festivals and Master Classes. They're all far beyond my budget.

I had the same "problem'". After lots of research I settled on the Black Bull 40 Year Old (for my future 30th this year!) ... why don't you try a Duncan and Taylor bottling of a 30 or 40 year old? It all depends on how much you want to spend. @nickdemaster