Value whisky

• Laphroaig Quarter Cask • Balvenie 12 Year Doublewood • Cragganmore 12 Year • Highland Park 12 Year • Wild Turkey 101

I would add Glenfarclas 15, Talisker 10, Buffalo Trace, Aberlour 10 and Old Pulteney 12!

In blends I'd suggest Bailie Nicol Jarvie and in single malts Glen Grant 10yo. Both are very good and excellent value for money. Cheers.

Here's my list of what I consider bargains for the money:

Malts: Laphroaig Quarter Cask, Ardbeg 10, Old Pulteney 12, Suntory Yamazaki 12, Highland Park 12, Aberlour 10, Aberlour A'bunadh, Auchentoshan 12, McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt, Glenfiddich 15, 15DE, and 18. Vatted malts: Johnnie Walker Green, Compass Box Spice Tree. Blended Scotch: Compass Box Asyla, The Black Grouse, JW Gold, JW Black (if you like it). Bourbon/Tennessee: George Dickel #12, Jim Beam Black Label, Buffalo Trace, Ancient Ancient Age 10 yo (if you are in Kentucky), Evan Williams Single Barrels, Elmer T. Lee, Fighting Cock, Old Grand-Dad 114, Ezra Brooks 90, Wild Turkey 101, Bulleit Bourbon. Ryes: Wild Turkey 101 Rye. (I am not a 'Baby Saz' Rye fan.)

A little pricier, but well worth it for value: Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX, Ardbeg Uigeadail, Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist, Glenfarclas 15, any Sazarac Antique Collection whiskey for under $ 85 (US prices), any Van Winkle product (US prices) except Pappy Van Winkle 20, PVW 23 or Old Rip Van Winkle 90 proof, Bookers bourbon, Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve bourbon, Baker's Bourbon, Wild Turkey Rare Breed bourbon, Old Potrero 18th Century, Russell's Reserve 6 yo Rye, High West Double Rye, High West Rendezvous Rye, Wiser's Legacy (Canadian), Crown Royal Reserve (aka "Special Reserve"), Alberta Premium 30 yo.

Already posted here I see quite a number of single malt Scotch whiskies I would suggest. Here are a few more toward the lower end of the price scale:

Edradour 10 + Benromach 10 + anCnoc 12 + Strathisla 12

and a few more that are a notch higher priced:

Arran Machrie Moor + Benromach Organic + Jura Prophecy + Longrow CV

and a notch higher still:

Arran Sherry Cask 1996 + Bunnahabhain 18 + Glenmorangie Astar + Glenrothes 1985 (bottled 2005)

Wild Turkey Rye is my go to

In line with the OP's question, I would suggest that the best value for money Whisky is the standard Aberlour 10yo. Malt. The regular price of Au.$48.98 makes this Malt, (for me), perhaps the best value 'drop' ever offered. I would like to see this Whisky at a higher strength; at 57.1% abv. as I'm sure it would benefit in texture and depth of flavour but would leave everything else exactly as is. It's a minor masterpiece, anyway!

For American whiskey, go with Wild Turkey Rye and Dickel 12, both excellent values. Evan Wms Single Barrels also seldom disappoint. HP 12 and Balvenie DW for scotch. I love the way the HP develops after it has been open a few months.

I would go for Highland Park 12 and Glenfarclas 15 as well as Lagavulin 16

With the caveat that pricing/value is very specific to the jurisdiction where you reside (i.e. in Ontario, Ardbeg 10 is horrible 'value' at CAN$100, while Laphroaig QC is very high quality at a very reasonable CAN$64 price), I would repeat Laphroaig QC, Auchentoshan 12 and Evan Williams Single Barrel, while adding Te Bheag (blended) and Bushmills Black Bush.

Based on pricing in England I would say my top VFM whiskies are; Tomintoul 16 (£30), Old Pulteney 12 (£25), Buffalo Trace (£20), and above all Aberlour A'bunadh (£35). If the "AA" cost £70 I would still buy it. I hope no one from Aberlour's marketing department reads this..

I'm going to put forward Black Bottle as my vote for a value whisky.

I agree with 'Mantisking' I don't remember how much I paid for my Black Bottle, but it was silly inexpensive, to get blend of all of the Islay malts, BB can't be beat

Interesting thread. Despite the relatively clear framing of the discussion, I think there is kind of two directions or components to value. The first one is already mentioned and is mainly a qualty to price ratio. For example, there might e a mansion worth $15 million according to 10 real estate appraisers but because the seller needs to sell now, he'll let it go for $10 million. That is an excellent value but it still is not cheap for the overwhelming majority of us, the 99% in the parlance of the day.

I see Darktrader's JW Gold like this as compared with JW Blue.

Now, the second angle is focusing just on cheap which for me I mean in the $20 to $25 range and possibly less. I base this on US$ and availability in the United States. I am sure there is a similar price range for CDN$, Pounds, and Euros and availability in other places and I would be interested to hear about that.

I think there are some really fine if not excellent whiskeys in this range based on the reviews here and other places. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any single malts or Canadians in the US under $25 range that are excellent. As far as blends, I would say Black Bottle and Black Grouse.

Where it gets more attractive in the United States is with domestically made products (definitly similar with finding great Canadians in Canada like Alberta Premium, fine scotch in the UK, etc.). With respect to bourbons, Old Weller 107 was recently ranked very highly in the 2012 WB and Buffalo Trace is usually ranked very well as well. Ancient Ancient Age 10 year old gets rave reviews as well. As to ryes, Rittenhouse Rye and Wild Turkey Rye consistently do very well in the $20 range.

I can only wish for the Scotch seletion in the UK but the American selections in my part of the US are quite exceptional.

You may not see this bottom-shelfer around, and this may seem like comic relief, but absolutely, without doubt, the best most drinkable costs-almost-nothing whisk(e)y I have ever encountered is Kentucky Gentleman Blended Bourbon. Around here it costs about $ 7 including tax for 750ml. This stuff is a nearly vanished breed from the 1970s: "blended bourbon" which is 49% grain neutral spirits and 51% straight bourbon whiskey. I don't actually know off the top of my head of any other "blended bourbons" currently on the market. That straight bourbon component must be pretty damn good, though, because I would rather drink this than a lot of products that cost 6 or 8 times as much. I see that Jim Murray in his 2012 Whisky Bible gave Kentucky Gentleman a rating of 86, which is a higher rating than he gave to Pappy Van Winkle 20 yo and Pappy Van Winkle 23 yo. Very very drinkable, and very very cheap.

Blackbottle.16 pounds in England.fantastic islay blend

Has to be Laphroaig quarter cask all the way.

If you live in Japan, there are a lot of blends that are really good value for money. Top of the list would be 'Pure Malt' series - Red, White and Black. People rave about 'From the barrel' but I think it's a little overrated. Suntory Special Reserve 10yo and Nikka All Malt are also very good. It's a shame that the only commercially available blends available abroad are Hibiki and FTB.

@nikkaman the Nikka All Malt is a lovely whisky for a stunning price, even here in Belgium. Dangerously easy drinkable though. It isn't a complex whisky, but why should it always be complex? Different drams for different moods.

JW Green, Nikka From The Barrel (my experience is different from Nikkaman's; I adore the FTB but find the Red and White Pure Malts to be odd and not satisfying), Ardbeg 10yo, Ardmore Traditional Cask, Yamazaki 12yo, and lest snobbishness blind us, I'd also say that the basic Glenlivet and Glenfiddich are good value,

@Victor...does High West have a 'blended bourbon'? I don't know their price structure, so the value appellation may not apply.

@Pudge72, High West has The 36th Vote, which is a bottled mixed drink. They also have the odd BouRye, which vats straight bourbon and straight rye whiskeys, and which basically still adds up to either a high rye content bourbon or a rye whiskey after all of that name prestidigitation. I don't think that High West would come within 100 miles of an old school 'blended bourbon' using a major portion of neutral spirits. And nothing that High West sells is inexpensive, though some of the products are very good values, starting at middle shelf prices, typically BEST prices in the US of low $ 30s. Average US prices for a product like the High West Double Rye, which is their least expensive rye whiskey, are currently, according to wine-searcher.com $ 37, excluding tax.

@Mantisking Black Bottle always read like a great value to me and I love Islay...but I have never seen it in the States. Not even at Total Wine

@Victor Kentucky Gentleman Blended Bourbon. never would have guessed. Wild Turkey Rye was a surprise to me when I tried it - I don't trust Beam as much as Turkey - and is another bargain.

For such a group, I should have said I was in the United States - even as a libertarian-type it still shocks me the impact of tariffs and taxes...

@darktrader -- Really? I can find Black Bottle in at least two different stores. I can even find the BB10 if I look hard enough.

My eyes popped out my head the other day when I found Aberlour A'Bunadh Batch 37 in Waitrose at £10 off, so a bargain at £24!!. Even without the discount this one gets my vote.

@Mantisking Then I pledge to look harder!

@darktrader -- What area of the U.S. are you from?

In the Bourbon arena I would say Ancient Ancient Age 10 year, Old Weller, Very Old Barton BIB, Evan Williams BIB

Have to agree with drinix's short list and Victor. talisker 10 is the benchmark for single malt in my opinion.