Simply awesome Scotch

@NVGeo. What your looking for is a quality neutral scotch. Those hard to do right, that's the main reason we multiple maturation.

Great neutral scotches. Oban 14y, Clyenlish 14y, Glengoyen 17y, Spring Bank 12y Cask Strength, Old Pulteny 10y, Glenlivet 18y.

I'm sure there are many more great neutral scotches out there.

@NVGeo, this is an issue which is very near and very dear to my heart. Because I love whisky. I love malt whisky and I love high quality whisk(e)y of any style.

This question of yours gets down to the basic definition of whisk(e)y. Whisky is defined as grain and wood. Grain spirit and wood aging. Personally I really love whisk(e)y, which is to say that I love the flavours which come from the grain, and I love the flavours which come from the wood.

Everything else in whisk(e)y is added to improve the flavours of the grain and the wood, usually because people are NOT satisfied with the flavours of the wood and the grain without dressing them up with something which makes them more palatable. This is especially true with Scotch whisky, both malt whisky and blended Scotch.

Haven't you notised? ...not many people, either in Connosr, or outside of our club, really like the taste of barley whisky unless it has peat/smoke/brine or wine to doctor it up to become something they can actually enjoy. I would go so far as to say that most malt lovers in Connosr do not really like malt whisky. Barley as a whisky grain CAN be tasty and delicious, but to me it is usually mediocre, or even pretty bad. An example, recently I reviewed two new bottles of just the sort of "just the malt and wood" barley-malt whisky of which you are speaking. Both were G & M Bottlings. Dufftown 8 yo (No year given), and Glenallachie 1999 14 yo.

With both what you taste is barley, and just very light hints of wood influence. The Dufftown was drinkable but a little rough. (Jim Murray has commented in the past that it takes G & M to find a Dufftown which you can enjoy.) The Glenallachie was, and is, quite wonderful. These bottles are owned by my sister. If I were to buy one, only the Glenallachie would be under serious consideration as a bottle I'd like to own for my myself.

We have colleagues in Connosr who ONLY like peaty/smokey/briney whiskies. As far as I am concerned these members really do not like whisky. They like peat, smoke, and brine.

Even Old Pulteney, and Springbank, two very nice distilleries, rely heavily on the brine component to give them character.

You have already listed An Cnoc as a favourite. That is a barley forward malt already. Sure there are others. But when you say you want 'awesome', you are generally talking about a different level of intensity than many people mean when they say 'awesome' flavours...because you are talking about deriving these awesome flavours only from the barley and from the wood.

My list of favourite "just the barley, m'am, just the barley" malt favourites:

1) Bunnahabhain 12

2) Clontarf Single Malt (Bushmills); this is the simplest barley-malt whiskey I have ever tasted

3) Bruichladdich The Laddie Ten, "Unpeated", but you still get peat flavours in the water they use

4) Stranahan's Colorado Malt Whiskey. This qualifies for sure, but they use new oak, so a little different

5) G & M 1999 Glenallachie 14 yo, mentioned above

6) Hazelburn 8 or 12; you will also get touch of brine here

7) Auchentoshan Valinch 2011

@NVGeo, I hope that you find some of these enjoyable

If you are looking beyond Scotland, I would recommend Amrut Cask Strength. Not the peated version, which is also awesome, but the plain CS. Like all the other Amruts, it is a high quality product with full flavour. Unlike the Portonova, Fusion, Intermediate Sherry, etc..., it has no finishes.

Benromach Organic is probably the closest you come to pure barley and wood flavour. Because its 100 procent organic even the wood is organic. Since you don't get organic bourbon or sherry casks this is made of new wood (still charred but without any previous content). This makes for a wonderful clean drink with lots of fresh wood flavours.
I can also recommend whiskies in which the barley really comes through clean and undisturbed; Clencadam (the 10 and 21 year old). Glen Grant 10 & 16 is also good clean, barley driven drams. And finally I would recommend that you try lots of bourbon matured whiskies, which (unlike sherry casks) doesn't "destroy" the wonderful taste of barley. Balvenie has made a 12 year old from first fill bourbon casks and also their tripple cask series displays wonderful vanilla and clean barley. The tripple cask series has also been sherry matured, but since the other to forms of maturation stems from first and refill bourbon, the sherry doesn't get to overshadow the barley.

@Victor Delighted to see the Bunnahabhain 12 at the top of your 'just the malt ma'am' list. I tried it tonight for the first time from a new and previously unopened bottle. It certainly needed time and water to really open up but when it did, wow! So much going on and I loved the taste! Going to spend some time with it over the next few weeks before I write a review though.

These are all great comments, and get to the kernel of what I am looking for. I have tested the Clynelish and loved it. It tasted like sunny fields of sweet barley. A friend had the Bun 21, and it was delicious also. And of course the AnCnoc has always impressed me.

I'll keep an eye out for the other recommendations. Any of the below in cask strength would probably be favorites.

Thanks, all of you, for taking time over your comments. @Victor, you hit the nail on the head.

@NVGeo I think the Balvenie 12 yr Single Barrel, or it's recently discontinued older sibling the 15 yr Single Barrel might be something you would like.

To be honest - I didn't care much for the Glenmorangie Astar - I found it to be a 'mouth burner', and when adding water - it then became their standard Glenmorangie 10 yr (which costs alot less than the Astar).

Anywho - the Balvenie's might be something worth looking into.

Would the Dalwhinnie 15 YEar fit on the list?

@NVGeo I think Dalwhinnie is a weak whisky. Great nose, disappointing palate

I think Dalwhinnie fits perfectly on the list. It may be light, but its a beautiful dram. Jim Murray gives it 95 points and Ralfy 90 points. It's got a beautiful malt taste. Ralfy's review: www.youtube.com/watch

Dalwhinnie 15? My guess is that you would like it. It does polarise greatly, as you have seen in no time flat in this comment trail. There may be a little wine infIuence here, but if so, it is quite a light influence. I summarise the polarisation in my review of it:

connosr.com/reviews/dalwhinnie/…

@NVGeo Must agree with the others about Dalwhinnie - it's a decent dram with no surprises.

@Victor

I think my tastes are close to yours in this case

@Victor, well said. As much as I'd love to start a thread myself, might I suggest that you create a thread about "barley-forward" malts. This is a discussion topic that deserves its own thread (if it doesn't exist already), and you're the man to do it. I think a lot of people care about good barley, myself included. But certainly you're the man to initiate it. I have no doubt that others will chime in. I think many of us would agree that this is a terribly underrated subject in whisky discussions.

If I may, I suggest giving something Irish a chance. It's easy to get caught up in the "all I drink is scotch" loop. But I must say those Irish know how to craft up quite the delicious drink. I just wish they had more choices out there.

@cheeserandyburg What do you suggest along these lines?

Redbreast 12, Auchentoshan Valinch (2011), Glengoyne 10, Old Potrero 18th Century (for pure rye awesomeness), and Clynelish 14 all qualify for me. As always, @Victor raises some great points.

Hazelburn 8 as well.

Glenmorangie Original

Couple more:

Glenlivet Nadurra 16 yr Balvenie Single Barrel 12 yr

@teebone673 Agree with your selection - even though I'm not a big Glenlivet fan - the Nadurra is quite good.

@FMichael Nadurra is quite good, my friend. I see you're a fan of Balvenie Single Barrel 12. I think Balvenie has a real winner there. I always loved the SB 15 and the SB 12 is just as good IMO.

I can recommend An Cnoc 12 Year Old, a real lovely mild bodied single malt that is just whisky.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have added them to my wish list. I have had AnCnoc and found it excellent. I like the Glenmorangie Original as well. It is practically a staple in my house. I find the Dalwhinnie 15 quite enjoyable also, always looking to understand its subtleties, but with too obtuse a palate to make any progress - nonetheless I like it.

Many of the other whiskies recommended sound very appealing and I will probably work them in steadily over the years.

Thanks again everyone.

@Victor Would you put Glendronach Virgin Oak among your barley malt favorites? I find it close to the Stranahan's, but with a better barley less spicy, but richer in low tones..

I find interesting that you put Hazelburn 8 or 12 in the same list as Bruichladdich The Laddie Ten as I found that there barley are quite similar to my palate with a pecan butter very interesting: more nutty in the Hazelburn and more salty in the Bruich. To me, The Laddie Ten is more related to Campbeltown than to Islay.

@Robert99, I haven't tasted Glendronach Virgin Oak, so I don't have an opinion on that one.

You want to be looking for Scotches that have only been matured in refill American oak. American oak imparts less of it's characteristics upon the spirit whilst in the cask, so you get more of the orginal flavour in the end product. AnCnoc, Bunna', Glemorangie, Glen Keith, Auchent', Bladnoch will all have these in their line up. But my bet is that you'll find more choice with indie bottlers.

You want to be looking for expressions that are less than 15yrs old, as past this they will start to take on more extraneous flavours.