What was the first whisk(e)y you tasted?

@BlissInABarrel My first whisky was a Canadian whisky: McNaughtons, which I drank on my 21st birthday. It was ok, but didn't do it for me so I moved on to Crown Royal, Makers Mark, Jack Daniels, etc. Mind you at this stage I was drinking all these whiskies with coke.

It wasn't until quite a few years later that I encountered the awesomeness of whisky when my wisdom teeth were coming in. Up to this point whisky just tasted like whisky, nothing else. Beer was beer, vodka was vodka, what is this flavor profile that you speak of?

However when my wisdom teeth started coming in I couldn't come close to affording to a dentist visit to take care of the problem so I turned to whisky to drown the pain for about a month - 6 weeks. Late one night I was drinking Knob Creek Bourbon because I'd heard it tasted good, Tasted just like whisky to me until as the night wore on I moved from whisky and cokes to just plain whisky and oh my god it's vanilla and honey!? This is so good!

That right there started the journey. I still drank whisky and cokes, or just shots of whisky, never really savoring, but in the back of my mind always was this little thought that "it tasted like honey and vanilla, maybe you should try savoring..."

Years went by, I learned more about alcohol, but it wasn't until I moved to Australia 4 years ago that I went "time to get serious, you think of yourself as a whisky man, well whisky men don't drink their whiskies in coke, they drink it straight, and no they don't shoot it and chase it and they don't drink it just to get drunk"

Moved from drinking it to get a buzz or drunk to just learning to savor it, to slowly learn how to pick up flavors, Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix was the one though that made me fall head over heels in love with it and go "I need to know more!" Experienced it on a honeymoon with my wife and we both fell in love with it, to the point that she bought me a $200 bottle of it and imported it, after we drank the last bottle in Melbourne, for my Christmas present. I found Connosr and became a life long whisky geek at that moment. I just needed to know more, experience more, nose more, taste more, more, more!

Now I'm done talking and I believe I will go to bed :D

Ah...Just one more thing, the story can be deep and mind-blowing, too! ^_^ Any store is great! Thanks for sharing, squidgyash

Back in 2005 I was offered a Vivabox, with 4 small bottles of 5 cl and a voucher for a full bottle of the one I selected ...out of Talisker, Dalwhinnie,Glenkinchie and Cragganmore , my initial choice went to the Dalwhinnie...which I still appreciate a lot , but got to learn how to approach Cragganmore ans Talisker of course in the mean time. Didn't know the notion of peat at all back then......times have changed ! I've become some kind of peat addict since then, but the occasional mellow one will keep my palate happy too.....

The Macallan 12yo was the first "wow" moment, but my journey to whisky-loving was pretty long and I assume somewhat typical.

I had drank scotch whisky and had a few in my bar but was never really a fan of it until a few years ago when I found that I was drinking my Canadian rye with less and less mix. It was after a Sunday BBQ dinner with my wife and kids and I was listening to some Jazz (New Orleans). I had a few glasses of wine in already and I figured what the Heck lets try some scotch. I'm pretty sure I poured a glass of Glenfiddich 12 yr and had a sip listening to tunes. Something just clicked, I thought I needed to learn a bit more about this wonderful stuff. I had an old Micheal Jackson Malt whisky companion 4th edition and started digging thru that at first then moved on to the internet. Eventually I found this great site and hit the review section and made a few friends on the way. I'm still learning and enjoying every second of it.

I had always wanted to like whisky. But I didn't. Where I come from you drink to get drunk, very drunk, very fast. Alcohol was a means to an end. Of course, better tasting drinks were preferred over foul ones, but drinking was done in big gulps. I tried whisky many times but it would be with cola or, at best, brimful with ice, and big gulps. Needless to say I didn't learn to like whisky. I guess I thought that as it didn't taste good even heavily diluted and cooled down, how could I possibly enjoy it straight and lukewarm. The turning for me came in a short combo; two small jabs followed by a big right hook.

Jab 1: I was on a business trip to Europe. And it was the night after a long exhausting day of seminars and meetings, but it had gone well and everyone was in a great mood. I was drinking in a bar with my Japanese superiors, and they were drinking whiskies on the rocks. Then I was asked if I had a recommendation for the next (I guess they assumed I would know stuff cause I'm 'pean). I had some recollection of Glenfiddich not being too bad and had the bartender bring a 12yo. I thought I should stand by my recommendation so I had a glass too. It was full if ice, but this was the first dram I had had that was "different". I think it was because I had recommended it to my bosses and that I was concerned about how they would like it, that I was now actually paying attention to the taste. It was the first dram where I actually enjoyed the whisky itself, and was not just a means to an end. Something clicked. Thanks Glenfiddich 12!

Jab 2: Half a year later I was sitting with some mates at a local Irish style bar. I had been drinking Guinness the whole night and just wanted a glass of something else, anything, so I asked a friend who was heading over to the bar to just bring me one of whatever he got. I got a tumbler of Irish whiskey on the rocks. Didn't pay much attention to it, don't even remember what it was, anything standard mainstream I guess. Easy to drink. Then a 3rd friend goes to have a whisky and comes back with a glass if Talisker 10, neat. He looks excited and before taking a sip, he tells me a relatively long story from his youth about how his dad had just come home from an overseas trip and he wouldn't stop talking about the Talisker 10. Ever since then his dad would bring up the topic of Talisker every time whisky was mentioned. And now his son was finally gonna taste the whisky his dad was so fond of. Inspired by the story I soon went and got myself a glass of the same scotch, unfortunately not following my mate's example of drinking it neat, I sat there again with and iceberg in the middle of the tumbler. But still, the Talisker 10 was something else! Still having the taste if that first bland Irish something, pouring the Talisker on my tongue was an eye opener. Even though I had no experience it was clear to me that this whisky was of a different league. My curiosity was awoken. Both from my friend's story and the clear difference in quality between the two whiskie(ey)s. Getting a little excited about it, I was told about this Japanese whisky called Yamazaki, and how it had won international awards, how the Japanese once again had managed to outdo the Europeans in their own game. But I didn't have Yamazaki that evening. Thanks Talisker 10!!

The right hook: So it was a week later, back at the same Irish bar. My mind was already set to try this Yamazaki. I did, me, Yamazaki 12, neat ...............!! ..........!!!!!!!!!. ..............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....so this was what it was all about... I'm not exaggerating when say that it slightly changed the way I think about the world. That was it, I was turned. THANK YOU YAMAZAKI 12!!

I started going through the Japanese whiskies readily available to me, and read what ever I could find on the Internet. Enter connosr.com.

As Japanese whisky is basically scotch made on a different continent the natural next step was starting to explore the scotch single malts, and that's what I'm doing now. I have yet to get serious about Irish and Bourbon whiskey.

Kanpai!

As with most Canadians, the first experience with whisky is Crown Royal or Canadian Club, generally mixed with ginger ale (rye & ginger)...my first "real" experience with whisky was a small bottle of Glenfiddich 15 that a friend brought me back from a trip to England...not sure why, as I wasn't really that fond of whisky at the time. I got hooked in Japan, where you can walk down to the local Seicomart and buy some pretty decent whisky for fairly reasonable prices. Came back from Japan with a bottle of Nikka Taketsuru 12 and have been hooked since.

@YakLord Taketsuru 12, think it has the best taste:yen ratio if them all.

Did you try any of the really cheap "whiskies", you know those that come in 4-liter plastic tubs? They probably spent as much time inside a barrel as the the outside of a barrel has.

@NilsG - no...I didn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole...everything I bought was in a regular sized (66cl or 70cl) bottle...I know some people who, on their first or second week there, accidentally bought one of the 4L bottles of shochu thinking it was bottled water...

1st whisk(e)y related drink Jack and Coke 1st pure whisk(e)y taste Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon

Sorry should have read the beginning of the thread in its entirety anyway... Didn't really like whisk(e)y until relatively recently when I had J.W. Black that restarted my love for whisk(e)y knowing what the aging process makes perfection.

first whisky was Black Douglas when i was about 15. Had it with coke and hated it.

@BlissInABarrel Hey BIAB, so what about your story?! Where were you that moment? It better be mind-blowing and deep, like 19th century diving helmet collapsing down an abyss.

It was a long time ago but I clearly remember tasting my Grans' blended White Horse Xmas Cake Whisky. I asked for a taste, she obliged, had a chuckle when i screwed-up my face and poured forth some wisdom, "It tastes a lot better with cake in it".

'Probaly not a defining moment on my Whisky voyage but a beautiful memory of one of my true Heroes.

Slainte!

@NilsG didn't I tell you my first whisky experience already? >_•

@Donski ah I wished I could've made the subject longer in this title thread. It wouldn't let me expand. I was wondering what was the first whisky you tried that made you really like whisky ....something ha propelled you to geek out to it and collect bottles etc. thanks for responding to he thread

@BlissInABarrel Yeah you did, and it's bloody good one too!! Maybe save it for last, cause it's a hard one to follow.

It was my wifes family that got me enjoying whisky as they seem to have a never ending supply of johnny walker black