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A trick with Scotch Whisky

OK.....it's the Holidays so let's lighten things up a bit.

When I listen to music I often like to garnish the experience with a good glass of Scotch or American single barrel whisky.

One of my favorite Scotch whisky's is Lagavulin 16 year old. It is very good Scotch with a pungent smoky flavor. That's the good part. The bad part is it costs about $65 to $80 a bottle. Recently, on a lark I tried to get the basic flavor of Lagavulin by altering a much cheaper Scotch whisky. The results were suprisingly good. I got about %75 percent of the flavor of Lagavulin for about %30 of the cost.

Furthermore all audiophiles have two things in common; they like to experiment and love to change things. So in the spirit of experimentation I offer the following "ersatz Lagavulin" recipe.

2 - "level" teaspoons of "Colgin Liquid Smoke, natural hickory orginal recipe.

1 - 750ml bottle of Aberlour 10 year old Scotch.

Blend them both together and be careful to only add two level teaspoons of the liquid smoke. Pour into your favorite whisky glass. Enjoy.

That's It! The "ersatz Lagavulin" has a smoky taste with hickory overtones and a smooth sweet finish. My friends and I drink this more than the real thing now.

I welcome any and all similiar experiments (for any liquor) or recipes for a favorite drink.

Cheers and Happy Holidays Audiogoners.

hank
edesilva
768 posts
 
Aie!

And I thought it was bad when some other A'goners talked in another thread about putting ice in your whisky!
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
Ed,

I used to only drink my scotch neat, until my first visit to Cadenhead's in London...

The younger son laughed at me for trying the 62.8% (yes percent, not proof!) single cask neat and told me "aye, you're in a place where we know how to drink our liquor, let me put a little water in that, besides what you just drank is 125 Proof". I did let him, and wasn’t disappointed, though usually drank it neat anyway, if for no other reason than I never had something that high a proof that was pleasantly sippable! Hell, would have gotten to enjoy more of it had I not brought it to a barbecue that a good friend (currently the sommelier @ Bern’s steak house in Tampa, FL (yes Brad! YOU!)) was at and left it in his reach…..

Well, I bought the bottle, and some others, and have been back every trip to London since, and though I will still ONLY drink my best scotches (Mac 25 etc..) Neat with a water back, I often do put a couple cubes in a glass (OK, I am a scotch snob, it’s crystal) and add a touch of H2O...

Ken

As for Ivor’s comment…. I know now why my Linn system sounds so good so often!!!!

I hope the new HT does even better!
edesilva
768 posts
 
Kennyt-

I'll certainly put a bit of spring water in cask strength malt... Otherwise its really too "hot"--I thought most of the cask strength bottles I had were actually more like 90% alcohol. Most "single malts" are actually watered down from cask strength to get to 82 proof.

But, ice is to be avoided because it dulls the taste buds.

Incidentally, the Macallan 15 year old cask strength is actually my present "buy" of choice for that precise reason--it is very price comparable to the 12 year old--but much nicer tasting--when you consider you are getting a bottle that can be cut with good water.

This whole conversation is making me wish I'd bought more than three bottles of an Adephia private label bottling I found about 10 years ago--32 year old Springbank at cask strength for $180 a fifth. Sadly, it is now all a thing of the past.
mimberman
299 posts
 
Edesliva,

I think I had the very springbank you mentioned, and my dear god was it good. I recently was given a bottle of the spring bank bourbon finish, but I'm not much on cask finishes myself. I have to say that I was impressed with the cask strength Arran when I was last drinking it. This is just a personal gripe, but I think Glen Rothes is a bit of nonesense. Sure, it's packaged nicely, but it's mighty thin, IMO.
edesilva
768 posts
 
I've never been a huge fan of the bourbon finishes--think Macallan intro'd some of those as well. The goal seems to be to convert bourbonites into whiskyites. But, like Transnova, I had one of those bad experiences that leaves me unable to appreciate the finer points of bourbon. Or any other points of bourbon, for that matter.

On the other hand, I'm a big fan of aging whisky in old Madeira casks from Spain, the way Macallan does it. Seems to smooth things out very nicely--Springbank is aged in sherry casks as well. If I were to experiment with altering scotch, in fact, it would probably be to add a small dose of sherry to it... (I like lagavulin on occasion as something different, but the islays are too iodine-y for me. Hence adding liquid smoke doesn't do much for me, even if it was a perfect solution.)
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