missing whisky recommendation ?

@kyblik, nice collection. I can give you a few recommendations for departures from what you already have:

• A super-heavily sherried scotch, like Aberlour a'bunadh.

• Cask strength peat, like Laphroaig 10 CS. I think the CS intensity with peat is quite distinctive from peat at 40-46%.

• Bourbon? From your current collection, it seems like you might not really be interested in it, but it's certainly the obvious answer to your question.

You might want to give Highland Park a try, just to round out your experience.

I would try practically anything by Amrut, but especially either the cask strength or peated CS expressions. Intermediate Sherry and Portonova are also options. All excellent!

Oh, and Amrut Fusion

@ Kyblik Looks like you're well on your way to a nice collection. Depending on your taste for whisky (Islay, speyside, etc) I would recommend Laphroaig for the smoke and peat and most anything by Balvenie.If your local bar carries Balvenie 21, give it a try, I don't think you will be disappointed.

If by shamelessly you mean shamefully :-) ... then not REALly, you've covered a decent range, at least of scotch. So good work! But here are potential holes, if it helps you:

• More or differently sherried. Sherry has different influences, and the 2 in your list don't represent that breadth. Very generally speaking: try a young Aberlour for more fruit, a Glenfarclas for more nuttiness, Auchentoshan Three Wood for maple and wood.

• Differently peated. The peated scotches you have tried (mostly Islays) carry sea&iodine in the peat. But peat comes in different varieties: e.g. Highland Park's peat is smoky like char (burnt toast), and others (like Ballechin) are just earthy/farmy (not strongly smoky).

• Stronger bourbon influence. The Bushmills is lighter (and of course not scotch, if that matters) and I recall the Cragganmore is very malty but not a bourboned showcase. For bigger vanilla&honey etc. maybe seek the Dalwhinnie 15.

• Cask strength (high ABV), for improved thicker mouthfeel and a different dimension of flavors. For sherried try A'bunadh; for bourboned try Nadurra; for peated you'll be pointed to Uigeadail.

• Port: Yes you have the Quinta Ruban, but personally I dislike it (at least from a fresh bottle) and I've had much better port finishes that I love. Either let the Quinta Ruban oxidize for several months and it will get better, or for educational puposes seek a sample the Balvenie 21 Portwood as already recommended (too pricey for a full bottle).

• non-Scotch: As someone pointed out, try a bourbon; personally I say go straight for Booker's. You've tried an Irish single malt, but not an Irish single pot still, which is unique.

@Kyblik as you are talking about whisky profile, I will suggest whiskies way different then the one you had.

Among the scotch you should try one from Cambeltown, Longrow CV or Springbank 12 CS. Then you should try Glengoyne for is particular malt and Clynelish 14 to get a unique mix of tropical fruit with salt and light peat. For the sherry bomb, go for A'bunadh andI think you would really like Benriach Herodotus fumosus which is a peated sherry bomb without iodine. Btw, the Highland Park does offer a unique eshter profile.

Now, to go out of your comfort zone, you need at least 3 bourbons. One big spicy Booker's, one wheated Maker's 46 or any Weller and one more floral the regular Buffalo Trace may presents too much batch variation so I would go for the Jack Daniel's Single Barrel since I read that quality is rising at JD and I really enjoy my present bottle.

Finally you should try some rye. The Lot 40 is a must for me, then I would suggest two distillers ADL Alberta distillers ( I haven't taste it but the 25 yo is supposed to be excellent) and Forty Creek ( with your profile, I would go for the pot still whit is massive orange flavor).

I can't stop there and have to add a last one. An Irish pot still the Redbreast 12 for is imcredible texture.

All of these whiskies should be available and not too pricey.

Bon voyage!

A few others came to mind after posting:

• Citrusy and white-wine finished: pretty common, but I don't see much in your list (maybe the Oban, and yes the Black Rock but that is peated). Glenmorangie 10 is a standard to try, but I'd also suggest their Nectar D'Or to see the positive effect of a Sauternes finish. Another good budget white wine finish is the Glen Moray 10 Chardonnay.

• Tropical or peachy...: a tough one to generalize, but one of my favorite flavor profiles is when there's a distinct guava or mango note. It always comes as a surprise. My experience is you usually need an age of 18 years or more, though. Hard to think... Highland Park 18, there's a flash of it in Glenlivet 18. Peach notes... maybe Arran 14 or Glenfarclas 21.

• Red wine finishes: somewhat controversial, some people dislike them. I like some of them, such as Glenmorangie's Artein or Companta (might be hard to find now). If you're really exploring, you'll want to at least have an opinion. Try Teeling Single Grain. Glenfiddich has a Madeira finish that might be easier to find, I haven't tried it yet though. They tend to impart berry flavors.

@vanPelt has begun a thread which may be helpful to you, @kyblik. You can search thirteen top ten lists at "Whisky Suggest".

www.whiskysuggest.com/top-10-list/

I'm definitely missing some lowland whisky in there - give Auchentoshan (find a bourbon matured one) a whirl, it's beautiful.

And if you have the money, I'd recommend going to a slightly higher price range. Perhaps an Ardbeg Uigeadail or Corryvreckan (or something completely different, depending on your tastes).

Wow! Thank you all for your suggestions. Seems like I have a lot on my todo list for next months.

• @OlJas, thank you. Aberlour a'bunadh is bit pricey (~70EUR for a bottle) here and I don't know any bar that offers it. Any alternatives?
• @TheConscience, HP12 seems nice, will try
• @Nozinan, what's the main difference between Amrut and classic scotch? And which Amrut to start with?
• @PeterG7, isn't classic Laphroaig a bit similar to, say, Ardbeg?
• @vanPelt, what do you mean by 'young Aberlour'? 12yo or younger? Ad Quinta Ruban - at first I kind of disliked it, but now, as it has been opened for nearly 5 months, it definitely helped it and I find it very enjoyable. Can you recommend any whisky with port finish, 'that you love'? :) I find Balvenie 21 Portwood quite expensive and none of the local bars offers it. And Glen Moray 10 Chardonnay seems very interesting!
• @Robert99, Benriach Herodotus seems to be discontinued, any thoughts? Ad bourbon - seems like I'll have to take courage and try it! :) thanks for suggestions. Btw, I also tried Redbreast 12 and it was really great!

Longrow/Springbank, Kilchoman, Ledaig, Nikka, Amrut, Redbreast, Rye whiskey, old whiskey (21+) and very young whisky or malt spirit

@kyblik Sorry, I don't think of anything quite like the Heredotus, but from Benriach there's the Arumaticus Fumosus that is far in front of the Curiositas and would check the peated and rum finish boxes.

You were comparing Laphroaig to Ardbeg. For me Ardbeg has more citrus, an incredible minerality and is peat has sometime a pork BBQ quality while the Laphroaig has a dirtier peat more meaty. If some people are saying it's a BBQ flavor than it is a beefy one. The notes are heavier with more vanilla.

Finally and unfortunately A'bunadh is unique. Glenfarclas 105 is not even close to it. Revival is as good but more sweet with a very distintive Pedro Ximenez finish. Candid from Michel Couvreur is more expensive. I can't think of an other whisky as bold and spicy woth a sherry finish. But if you let go of the sherry, there is a whiskey as bold and spicy... Yes, it is a Bourbon! Again I will suggest Booker's. Don't be shy, try it! Ther must be a bar in your neck of the wood that carries it!

• GlenDronach (12yo original or 15yo revival), for that old-fashioned sherry love
• Littlemill or Bladnoch, for a delicate Lowlander

@kyblik, about a'bunadh: Like Robert99, I can't think of any good substitute for it, unless the discontinued Macallan Cask Strength is still on shelves near you. You asked about finding it at a bar—do you just want to "try before you buy"? If so, I can pretty confidently predict that you'll like it. Just about everyone does. Even if you decide that heavy sherry isn't really your thing, you're very unlikely to dislike it.

So if it sounds appealing, I say just go ahead and buy it.

And if you haven't already shopped around for prices, you should take a look around. At least here in the US, I find that a'bunadh prices vary a lot from store to store. Maybe it's due to the batch releases. Whatever the reason, I see it everywhere from $53 to $90.

@kyblik

The only Sherry monster that approaches (or in its case, exceeds?) A'Bunadh is Bladnoch, bottled at near CS by Armstrong's group. Sadly, not available since the distillery was closed less than a year ago.

In terms of Amrut, I've never disliked one. My our choice of where to start depends on what style you want. If you want the unadulterated still signature I would go witht the cask strength. If you're looking for peat, Fusion (bottled at 50%) or the peated CS. There are a number of single casks out there. But if you like Sherry there is the Intermediate Sherry ( Intermediate refers tithe process of maturation, not the strength of the profile), and Portonova is always a winner with me.