In what order should I try my whiskies?

Hey @SquidgyAsh, the general "rule of thumb" I've seen bandied around a lot is that one should start with lower ABV unpeated whiskies and work your way up to high ABV, peated and finish with your cask strength "peat monster" (if you have one).

The mid-range is where it can get fuzzy. E.g. what order would you have a 40% ABV peated whisky vs. a 55% cask strength speysider? I don't think there's a "wrong" way, just less or more optimal ways to arrange your whisky flight.

If I had to think in terms of regions though, I'd go Lowland (arguably most delicate flavour profile), Speyside or Highland (unpeated), Speyside or Highland (peated, sherry bombs etc and other extremes), Campbeltown, Islands & Islay. There are of course exceptions to the rule, e.g. where would a low peat, fruity Bruichladdich sit? It is Islay, but not the smoky Ardbeg or Caol Ila Islay style so you might put it nearer the start rather than at the end.

You'll just have to do the best you can when you have a situation where you have high ABV competing with high peat levels.

Look forward to your reviews and the name of the bar (if not here then in PM would be fine - I'm curious)! Cheers.

@systemdown Thanks Systemdown!!

I've yet to try a Lowland Malt yet so I wasn't quite sure where in the scheme of things they fit. I knew about the unpeated/peated and ABVs and a general idea of where it goes, but wanted to get a better feel for in what order I should be trying.

As things stand I'm planning on trying Balvenie 21 yr old Portwood, Maybe Macallan 18 yr old Fine Oak (considering how awesome the 12 yr old was) Aberlour A'bnadh, Glenmorangie Sonnalta, Glenmorangie Signet, Ardbeg Corryvreckan, Yamazaki 12 yr old, and on the recommendation of Victor Old Potrero 18th Century style straight rye. I figured Aberlour would be right before the Ardbeg.

The name of the bar my friend is Helvetica.

@SquidgyAsh Some nice whiskies there! Nice lineup. With your current lineup I'd put the Yamazaki first, then everything else, A'bunadh and Corryvreckan last as you've already got. Too easy. Enjoy! I will see what I can find out about Helvetica, will have to visit it next time I'm in your neck of the woods, cheers.

P.S. Not sure about the Old Potrero - I'm sure you'll find a comfortable place for it in the lineup though.

@systemdown Thanks for the tip about the Yamazaki! I really wasn't sure about where in the order it belonged. I think the Old Potrero will have to be before the Aberlour and Ardbeg but maybe after the others.

Do look it up my friend! A nice little selection of some good whiskies. If you're ever over this way we'll meet up for some drinks. And vice versa if I'm ever out your way.

I'm still crossing my fingers my wife and I will get to go to Helvetica tomorrow. Something ALWAYS comes up that prevents my wife from going. It looked like me being sick would do it this time, but I'm feeling much better, but now my wife is feeling sick. Oh well we'll see.

@SquidgyAsh, Sonnalta PX before A'bunadh, and Old Potrero 18th Century just before Corryvreckan at the end. Find something to cleanse the palate, though, between what precedes and follows the Old Potrero. Those are extremely different flavours you will be tasting in sequence, there.

@Victor Thanks for the heads up my friend!!! I'll be sure to do it in that order. I'm REALLY looking forward to tasting the Old Potrero. I haven't seen it ANYWHERE else over here and after hearing you talk about it I'm very eager to try it!

So I should be going Yamazaki 12, Balvenie 21 yr Portwood, Glenmorangie Signet, Glenmorangie Sonnalta, Aberlour A'bunadh, Old Potrero and Corryvakin last?? This sound right everyone??

Try the Macallan FO early...if its like the 15, it's really light. Personally, the sherried range is twice the whisky that the FO range is. I really liked the sherried 18.

Black coffee helps with cleansing the palate...and don't plan on anything other than more Ardbeg after the Corry...:-)

@cpstecroix yah I'm not sure if I'll try the FO or not. Depends on how my pocket book is feeling afterwards. I own the 12 yr old and I personally LOVE it. Not great for depth, but a BEAUTIFUL light whisky. After the Corry I think I'll be done one way or another haha. I either will be feeling very poor or I'll not be feeling as sober as I might desire.

What Victor said!!...as a proud owner of a bottle of the OP 18th Century (thank you Victor for facilitating the bottle trade last year!) all I can add is that it really is a unique tasting experience in the world of whisk(e)y...utilize a good quantity of palate cleansers before (especially) and after tasting this one (and imagine being on the eastern seaboard of the US in an establishment in George Washington's time while you're at it!) :)

Sounds like a great tasting all the way around...I am envious of you and your wife!

@Pudge72 I'm REALLY looking forward to the Old Potrero, but it doesn't look like the tasting is to be today :(

My wife really isn't feeling very good and considering every whisky I've tried in the last 9 months I also tried with her trying it with me at the time, for me to go and try all those awesome whiskies without her just wouldn't be right. Oh well another day I hope.

Well my wife and I didn't get to go to the whisky bar last night which sadly was no big surprise considering how she felt. But very cool was that my brother in law said "If you can't go to the whisky, then the whisky will come to you" and brought over Macallan 10 yr old, Sazerac Rye, Johnny Drum bourbon, Lagavulin 16 yr old and Ardbeg Uigeadail! Was a very nice thing for him to do and helped make my day!

Reviews to follow today.

@SquidgyAsh

You have one hell of a brother in law :) That's legendary right there.

@sepsism Agreed my friend!! Mind you he comes over every so often and I always have a bottle of SOMETHING new for him to try and my wife and I'd been meaning to go visit them for weeks now, but it was absolutely brilliant to just get an text message after I'd texted everyone that we couldn't go the the whisky bar of "If you can't go to the whisky, then the whisky shall come to you!"

Epic!! Just EPIC! And to have him show up with some really awesome goodies!! I still have two drams left covered right now which I'll be using to finish up my reviews. First one up is Macallan 10 yr old Sherry casks!

@SquidgyAsh

Epic indeed and yes you'll have to up the ante next time around :) Great to have someone to share the love of single malts with and boy are you lucky you can share this with your wife also. I hope to convert my missus to Whisky at some stage but it's been kind of hard as she's been pregnant for two straight years running ;) Need to start her off on something light and sweet first and go from there.

Does this Whisky bar you frequent ever suffer from bottles that have been open too long? I ask because I ordered what turned out to be a thoroughly horrible Talisker 10 at a regular bar last weekend followed by a highly oxidized but drinkable Laphroaig 10. I advised them that their bottles were long expired and they'd be best to replace them but I imagine it fell on deaf ears.

@sepsism I've got some bottles coming that I imagine will up the ante quite nicely starting with a Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX and Balvenie 21 yr old Port Wood and hopefully a George T Stagg 2011 which should do quite nicely :D It is VERY awesome to have a spouse who can share your love for whisky. Something really nice I've just got my hands on is the Macallan 12 yr old Fine Oak which is almost like a tropical fruity night in your mouth. Nothing smokey or scary for the novice whisky drinker here so a VERY good introduction whisky. If your wife likes a nice red wine I'm a fan of the Abelour 10 yr old which has some nice wine flavors coming through and it's not too expensive at around $50 AUS. The worry about the Macallan oxidizes EXTREMELY quickly so be sure you have some decanters on hand to keep those lovely flavors.

I'm not sure how badly the bottles they have are oxidized as I have yet to visit them sadly. Something ALWAYS comes up whenever we make plans to go. I would hope they wouldn't, but no idea. A good thing for a whisky bar to stock would be the Argon wine spray which is supposed to keep the whiskies from oxidizing. I've had some problems with my can, but I've heard some very good things about it.

@SquidgyAsh

Some excellent recommendations there! Thank you. I was actually planning on starting the girl off with something like the Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX or Nector D'or. She is a big red wine fan so I'll investigate the Abelour 10 (the A'bunadh however is sitting around #6 on the wishlist currently) and possibly the Macallan fine oak. I'm traditionally a smoke head so branching out into some of the lighter stuff will do me some good. My next purchase though (next week) will be a bottle of Octomore 4.0.

Ahhhh sorry to hear you haven't quite made it to the bar yet, you will soon I'm sure (and I'll be extremely jealous, we have nothing like that here). Interesting re: anit-ox spray, although some single malts no doubt benefit from it (hopefully my HP12) it would certainly be something bars should look into. I cannot stress enough how nasty this old Talisker was, it was just sludge.

I was almost tempted to bring my own bottles of Talisker 10 and Laphroaig 10 in the next day so the bar staff could compare for their own reference, as the bottles had been there longer than they had worked at the bar.

@sepsism That is REALLY sad that they treat their whiskies so poorly. It shows a lack of respect for both the whiskies and for the patrons. I think I myself would have brought my bottles in, but it might have done no good if they weren't whisky drinkers. To people who don't drink whisky I've been told that it all tastes the same !?!?! Mind boggling to me.

Some really good choices on the whiskies for the wife!! I managed to get my wife hooked through Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix. Yet to find anything that she's enjoyed as much as that first one. I found with my wife that sitting down with her and it just being the two of us and drinking 6 or 7 different whiskies was the way to go to introduce her to the whisky kingdom. Some she liked. Some she didn't care for at all.

My friends I'd like to thank you for all your support and just to let you know as if you needed to know what these whiskies tasted like haha I've got reviews posted on all of them!!!

OK this Friday it's a go!!! We're going to Helvetica!!!! But now the whiskies have changed a little bit since I've ordered a bottle of Balvenie 21 yr old Portwood and Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX! The whiskies are going to be Yamazaki 12 yr old, Hakushu 12 yr old, Glenmorangie Nectar D'or, Glenmorangie Astar, Amrut Fusion, Aberlour Abunadh, Old Potrero 18th Century Rye, and Ardbeg Corryvreckan.

I figure this is a good order to try the whiskies in. Anyone think otherwise? If you do please let me know so I can get the order right!!

Just had an awesome date night last night!! We FINALLY got to Helvetica!!!!

Got to drink Glenfarclas 12 yr old, Yamazaki 12 yr old, Hakushu 12 yr old, Glenmorangie Nectar D'or, Amrut Fusion, Glenmorangie Astar, Aberlour A'bunadh batch 35, Old Potrero 18th Century Rye, Ardbeg 1998 Renaissance, Ardbeg Corryvreckin, and the ultimate out of an awesome batch of the night Ardbeg Lord of the Isles!! Reviews to be coming over the next week.

@SquidgyAsh Awesome indeed! Sounds like a fantastic night and some great whiskies. Look forward to the reviews!

@systemdown Thanks brother and I do believe I might be able to find some Port Ellen for you :D