What Would Your Six Classic Malts of Scotland Be?

[William]

The Six Classic Malts of Scotland was selected by United Distillers & Vintners from their range of malts. Each of the six malts they selected is supposed to best represent each of the main whisky producing regions of Scotland. They are supposed to embrace the full diversity of regional tastes and styles.

UDV's Six Classic Malts Are:

Oban 14 Year Old (from the west Highland region)
Glenkinchie (from the Lowlands Region)
Cragganmore 12 Year Old (from the Speyside Region)
Talisker 10 Year Old (from the Islands Region)
Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old (from the Highland Region)
Lagavulin 16 Year Old (from the Islay Region)

Do you agree with their selection?

What would your six classic malts be?

To help you choose your classic malts here is a list of malt whiskies listed by region:

Highlands Speyside Islands Islay Lowlands Campbeltown

Hopefully by the end of this thread we will have a list of six classic malts selected by malt whisky drinkers and not by a whisky company.

William

[John]

I think this could be quite an interesting thread.
Maybe by the end of it we will have Six ScotchMaltWhisky.co.uk Classic Malts

Anyway my Six Classic Malts would be:

Auchentoshan 10 Year Old (Lowland Region)
Balvenie 12 Year Old Double Wood (from the Speyside Region)
Oban 14 Year Old (West Highland region)
Dalmore 12 Year Old (Highland Region)
Highland Park 12 Year Old (Islands Region)
Ardbeg 10 Year Old (Islay Region)

John

[Iain]

Thought i would add my 6 classics, although i must admit i probably havent tasted as many single malts as others on here. You could probably say this is the 6 whiskies that i have enjoyed the most (so far).

My Six Classic Malts Are:

Macallan 18 Year Old
Highland Park 12 Year Old
Ardbeg 10 Year Old
Balvenie 12 Year Old Doublewood
Auchentoshan 10 Year Old
Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old

Iain

[Yong Goh]

Reviving an old post from more than a decade ago.

I am wanting to design a blind tasting for some pals who are of intermediate experience, to showcase a typical whisky to represent the different regions of scotland. I will be writing and showing the tasters typical notes on what to expect from each region (eg Speyside = sweet, fruity, Islay = smokey, peaty, Lowland = mild, grassy, etc Campbeltown = Brine, smoke, drief fruit). It will be my hope that the whisky is so obvious to the description of the region, that the person tasting will identify it to its region easily.

My criteria is that these whisky need not be the best from each region but must be typical of the regions unique characteristics. (and hopefully relatively inexpensive). Distillery characteristics are more important here rather than cask influence I feel, hence my following picks so far are younger in nature.

So far im thinking:

Speyside: Glenallachie 12 (or glen elgin 12? Cragganmore 12?)
Lowland: Glenkinchie 12
Islay: Ardbeg 10
Cambeltown: Springbank 10 (please help me out here, which has more of that cambeltown funk. I also have a Hazelburn 10, Kilkerran 12 and Glen Scotia 15 which I've never tried yet but willing to pop for this exercise)

Highland and Islands cover such a diverse range that its gonna be hard to just typify one whisky.
Maybe demonstrate highland with a more malty character? Is Oban 14 the way to go here? or a highly middle of the road Glenmorangie?

"Island" I am up for recommendations of what a typical island should taste like and a corresponding whisky.

Thanks people

[Quaich1]

Quite an interesting thread here William. I know as we all do of course that palates vary tremendously among folk. I have never been partial to either Oban 14 or Dalwhinnie 15.

My list would include:
Auchentoshan (Lowland) The Bartender's Malt
Mortlach (Speyside) The Wee Witchie (of course I love the 18, 25 and 26 year bottles).
Dalmore (Highlands) The Cigar Malt Reserve
Springbank (Campeltown) Hazelburn 8 year
Caol Ila (Islay) Caol Ila 22 year Feis Ils ( the 7 year cask strength at 60.7 abv is delightful).
Ben Nevis (Western Highlands) Ben Nevis 12 Year De Luxe
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[lincoln imp]