Suggestions for a Well Rounded Cabinet

What really helped me was reading the website www.maltmadness.com/index.html and in particular the "Beginner's Guide" and the "Best Bang for Your Buck" list. It's a starting point. I also reviewed the flavour map www.lfw.co.uk/diageo/flavourmap.html which provided additional direction in helping me build a list of various representation from each of the flavour camps.

I also bought "The World Atlas of Whisky" by Dave Broom which has been another useful tool in helping guide my journey.

@HP12, love that maltmadness website. Thanks for the reference!

@HP12 A public 'thank you' for your feedback! I have started doing some research (going region by region) on the Campbellville offerings that are available in Ontario have added the Longrow CV to my wishlist as a result.

Ooops...major typo...I meant 'Campbeltown'...the other is a village a couple of hours from where I live...sorry.

Here's an article I found that might help provide some direction in building a well rounded cabinet.

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/…

@Pudge72, as for Ontario availability, Longrow CV is very good stuff, as is Springbank 10 year-old (from the same distillery in Campbeltown). You can also get the Springbank 12 year-old cask strength and the madeira wood finish here...

The Laphroaig Quarter Cask is a very good deal, and is certainly representative of the "Islay" style, but don't get too caught up in regionality. There will always be some variation—often considerable—within a region.

@dbk @HP12 Thank you for the continued feedback...in the interest of (hopefully) adding some more members to this forum, I will try to contact the writer of the Times of India article and (if he doesn't already) let him know about connosr.

As for regional variations, I am looking for as many 'complex' malts as possible, regardless of region (i.e. I would like to find a Bunnahabhain for my Islay's since it does not use peat). Now...back to work...

There's no such thing as a well rounded cabinet without an Auchentoshan in there somewhere :) Having said that, check out Connosr Distilled, they have some great tips for a beginner's cabinet as well.

@markjedi1 ...I continue to notice Auchentoshan as part of some of the discussions. If you were to choose one reasonably priced expression as a cabinet member, which one (or two) would it be? Thanks in advance MarkJ!

Good point @markjedi1 :) well worth checking out these articles bit.ly/bHYRDL and here bit.ly/biZuNK from our magazine.

@markjedi1 @HP12 @Jean-Luc - Well the "cabinet construction" officially began today. My wonderful wife suprised me today with the Talisker 3 bottle gift pack. For those that may not have seen this offering, it contains three 200 mL bottles of Talisker - the 10 yo, Distillers' Edition, and 57 degrees North. This product had shot to the top of my wishlist when I noticed that the LCBO (the government agency whose stores sell liquor/wine in the province of Ontario) had marked this product as discontinued. This is particularly significant as the remaining gift pack stock represents the only way to get the DE and 57 North in Ontario. I will savour a dram from each bottle at some point soon, then on the 2nd go around, I will provide reviews.

I have previously been busy researching, including the excellent Distilled articles that you referred to, and I have added several bottles from those beginners' articles to my ever-growing wishlist. Thank you Jean-Luc and the rest of the Connosr staff for a truly wonderful forum and magazine for SMSW fans.

Don't worry Mark, the Tosh 12 yo and 3 Wood are both on the list. :) FYI, HP 12 - not only do the Toshes seem to be excellent value (especially the 12 yo) for quality from what I have read and been advised, but my suspicions are that markjedi1 has a part-time (full time?) position with Auchentoshan's marketing department. :)