Help me spend some money

[albo]

Afternoon all,

I have received £40 gift vouchers for my birthday to be spent at the Scottish Whisky Experience, I was thinking it would be best utilised in the Whisky shop.

Now along side these gift vouchers I received £20 cash too, so I was thinking about clubbing it all together and possibly adding some of my own (£20 - £30ish)to get a good bottle of whisky.

So I'm turning to you kind people for your sage advice as to suggestion for what I should get.

You'll obviously need to know what my tastes, I'm quite partial to Islay Whiskys, I have tried and like the following. . .

Ardbeg 10
Laphroig QC
Caol Ila 12 & a signature bottling which wasn't as smokey at all, but very pleasant
Lagavoulin 16
Ileach

Other than the Islay's I've liked the following. . .

Talisker 10
Glenlivet Nadurra
Macallan 10 (the Sherry one)
A Glen Spey 25 yr independent bottling which is excellent.

I also tried the Aberlour a'bunadh but just a glass, I wasn't bowled over by it, but it was pleasant.

One's that I wasn't so keen on

Glenlivet 15 French Oak, sometimes when I had this it was excellent and other times I couldn't get to grips with it
Bruichladdich rocks - Really didn't get on with this one at all.

I have a number of bottles still unopened at home. . .

Old Pultney 12
Oban distillery bottling
Aberlour a'bunadh
An Japanese bottle of Hibiki 17 (it's supposedly a very good dram)
Glenlivet 12

As you can probably see most of these are available in the supermarket's other than a couple, so I'm looking for something a little different, but given the vouchers, I'm have to do my shopping at the Scottish Whisky Experience shop (for those in Edinburgh it's up on the Royal Mile just down from the castle). I'd welcome any suggestions, for something very good (to a point given the money available to spend) but not something I could pick up in the Supermarket.

Thanks in advance.

[Grant M]

Correct me if i am wrong but you are looking to spend approx £90 on a bottle.

Going by what you already like i would suggest Ardbeg Uigeadail or Lagavulin Distillers Edition both of these are excellent but if i was to choose between the 2 i would go for Ardbeg Uigeadail, should be around £50, a little more for the Lagavulin DE.

Talisker 18 and 57 North are both excellent.

Have you tried Highland Park, the HP 18 is very good.

I always find Macallan 18 year old is excellent.

All of these fall well within your budget and all are outstanding whiskies IMO.

[albo]

Yes I have tried the HP 12 and found it an excellent whisky for the price.

Thanks for those suggestions, I hadden't thought about the Macallan 18, or the HP 18, or either of the Talisker's. I had thought about the Ardbeg and the other one that did think about was the Old Pulteney 21, which is within that price range.

As for money, I could stretch to £100 at a push.

Cheers

[Tom W]

hey albo,

firstly i'd do the scottish whisky experience gold tour! ive done it a few times now (lived in edinburgh for most of this year) and you get 5 drams and a visit to the worlds biggest whisky collection! you can also buy and sample more and the amber restaurant is cracking, get the scotch tapas in!

then saunter downstairs with your £90 and you will know what you want i'm sure!

the shop is ok, not overly expensive and it did have a good range. Also I think you get a 5 or 10 pound off voucher as part of the tour.
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In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king

[Keith]

The whiskies Grant mentions are hard to beat no matter how much you spend, if you like a bit of peat smoke & sherry then the Ardbeg Uigeadail is top class.

Have you tried anything from Glendronach? I would highly recommend both Glendronach 18 & 21 year old, both are brilliant sherried drams. In fact you would probably be able to pick up a Glendronach 18 and Ardbeg Uigeadail for £100

The Old Pulteney 21 you mention is very good, so is the 17 year old.

[Alastair]

If you like sherried then Glenfarclas do some great whiskies and at good prices.

[Fergie]

I agree Glenfarclas have some excellent whiskies which are priced to drink. I wish the Glenfarclas 17 was more readily available here in the UK, not sure why it isnt.

[John]

[albo]

Thanks very much for all the replys, it's given me something to think about. Any further suggestions would be welcome.

[albo]

Thanks again for the advice, I went for the Ardbeg Uigeadail and a bottle of Glendronach 15.

I shall open the over the festive period