Let me tell you a story...

[bluepeter]

I was wondering how and when the folk here developed their enthusiasm for whisky. Please tell your stories. Here's mine.

For many years, birthday presents for my father were easy: I'd get him vouchers with which to buy single malt whiskies. He was always trying new ones. Whenever I visited, he'd offer me a dram of his latest, but I'd refuse on the grounds that I had to drive home.

I was much less adventurous. For the better part of forty years, most of my drinking was blended whisky mixed with American Ginger. The occasional single malt was Glenmorangie (to which I was introduced by a Scot I knew at university in the 1970s).

Then Dad died last year. My sisters very kindly decided that I should have his whisky supply: three bottles of Famous Grouse (which has long been my blend of choice); the last couple of inches of a bottle of Yamazaki 12YO; an unopened bottle of Glenlivet; and about 3/4 of a bottle of Glenrothes Vintage Reserve.

I didn't like the Yamazaki: much too smoky for my taste. Worth trying, but not one to buy again.

That Glenrothes, though, was a revelation. It immediately became my new favourite, knocking Glenmorangie off its perch. That's not to say, though, that I've stopped enjoying Glenmorangie. But it did make me more appreciative of Glenmorangie's qualities.

I simply hadn't realised, until I tried Dad's whiskies, just how much variety there was between the output of the different distilleries. The distance between the Yamazaki and the Glenrothes was huge.

Since then, I've started exploring others. No doubt I'm following where most of you went a long time ago, but I've found several more that I like enough to buy again, and I fully expect to find more. I've also found another that I didn't like, and that's made me rather wary of spending money on bottles from Islay and the islands. For the moment, I'm concentrating mainly on Speyside. Maybe I'll get a bit more adventurous through the new sample swapping section.

The next interesting question is one that I haven't begun to address: how does the law of diminishing returns apply to whisky? I'm finding a huge range of flavours in the basic £40/bottle area, so how much more will I gain if/when I decide to spend significantly more? Will I find it worthwhile? Time (and money!) will tell.

[ralfy legend]

For me it was from my dad, he drove all week put food on the table then chilled out with, bells, jw black, glenlivit 12 and drambuie, so on to my story, well I played a lot of darts in my younger days and at end of night I had a couple of jamesons for the walk home , that was when I was in my twenties, I'm 51 now but only started seriously drinking single malts 4 yrs ago and I've enjoyed the journey so far.

[jwbassman]

Great post Peter... haven't got time right now but will post my story tonight

[TheWM]

I visited Scotland a few years ago and I'm very keen to do what the locals do and came back with a passion for whisky and a heroin addiction.*



*just kidding.

[opelfruit]

I've been drinking single malts for about 12 years or so (I'm 33 at the moment) and it all started with Balvenie Doublewood. I stuck the usual fellows with some Glenlivet 12, Lagavulin, Laphroaig and Talisker.

It was all very much supermarket stuff and I didn't really venture outside of what I could pick up with my normal food shop. That all changed one day when I saw some bottles of Balvenie 15yo single barrel (the old bourbon cask ones) on offer in ASDA....of all places. From that point onwards I decided I simply had to explore whisky that was not available in supermarkets, but where would I get these whiskies from?

After a rather scary order of Glenfarclas 15yo from MasterOfMalt (it was my first online booze purchase and I wasn't sure it was all going to be safe to do and the bottle arrive in 1 piece) I realized what I now had access to; a world of whisky merely a click away......never gone back.

My bank balance has not thanked me for this 1st online purchase, as it's been getting hammered ever since.....my soul, however, has thanked me immensely.


....so it really started with Balvenie, twice over. 1st for the Doublewood and then 2nd with the Single Barrel 15.
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[eelbrook]

I've genuinely no idea.

I can't remember ever drinking whisky when I was single though, so I'm guessing that it much to do with marrying a Scot's girl.

Perhaps I sampled a half decent dram or two on a visit to Edinburgh (to see her folks) and got hooked.

[sorren]

I like so many around my age started with Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie, I would do chasers at the age of 16 or so.. I then started to drink just whisky and started to appreciate it more, I started buying more bottles than I drank and the collection started.. now many of those bottles are very hard to buy and still taste great when opening them to see the changes to today's malts.. Today I appreciate many different expressions and notice my palate is adjusting to the many different styles.. These days I still buy so many more bottles than I can drink, hence the collection now enjoying its own room in the house and the reason I started my own blog.. And of course I blame Opel for everything 😂😂👍

[Acksboy]

As an 8 year old I can recall getting a sip of my dad's Famous Grouse and thinking who in their right mind would drink such burning poison? 20 years later I've probably drank more whisky than my dad has in his entire life.

My first real taste as an adult came when my girlfriend from Orkney had bought me a bottle of Highland Park for Christmas. I tried it... I wasn't impressed. However six months later I was visiting the distillery and it all just seemed to click and I left with two bottles!

Then a couple years after this I tried Ardbeg for the first time. Just about vomited! Then a while later I revisited the bottle and loved it! I'm now a big Islay and peat fan and love nothing more than sitting down with a big glass of Ardbeg.

I guess this shows that whisky is a bit of a journey. What you might detest today, you might love tomorrow! You might not think much of it at the start but persevere and whisky can be a hugely rewarding experience.

[jwbassman]

I started drinking whisky about 4 years ago, so I guess that makes me still quite new to all this...

It was my brother who got me into it, he invited me to a tasting held by a local bottle shop, I really didn't have any idea what I was doing but I do remember that the headline whisky that night was a 40yo Old Pulteney (you know the one, retails for about £1500 a bottle, comes in the hand blown bottle with the silver incorporated into the base!), needless to say I had no idea what I was tasting at that time.

Very soon after that, and at a point of massive change in my life, we took a trip up to Scotland and spent a most enjoyable few days visiting many distilleries in the Speyside region and one or two on the way up there as well... and the rest as they say is history.

Fast forward to today - many tastings (local and more recently online tweet tastings), a trip down to London to The Whisky Show last year, some amazing drams and not to mention a good number of bottles later, I still see myself as pretty new to all this

[torcross]

Like many have said mine is through my dad, I'm in my late 40's and my dad used to drink a lot of Islay in the 1980's as you can imagine as a young kid whose only taste of whisky/whiskey was a JD & Coke I thought it was disgusting but in about 88 it clicked and I really began to appreciate it and remember working in London for 2 years at the end of the 80's and whether it be his birthday or Christmas always used to buy him Laphroaig 15(his favourite dram) from Harrods and always asking for the presentation tin, I also remember it cost about £22 a bottle.

So like many people will start with the Glenmorangie, Glenfiddich etc I started in the opposite direction and straight with the Islay and at the time I thought all Scotch whisky was like that.

[bluepeter]

Some interesting stories. Thank you all.

Like torcross, I'd noticed that fathers often seem to play a part in our introductions to whisky. That one didn't surprise me.

What did surprise me a bit was the apparent range of ages. I'm 58, and had guessed that I might be one of the younger members. It pleases me that I was wrong.

I also note the point that Acksboy makes very well, and won't give up on peated whiskies.

Rightly or wrongly, I have the impression that every post I've read on this forum has been written by a man. But there's no theoretical reason why women shouldn't enjoy whisky. Are there any lady members here?

[opelfruit]

[gfspencer]

Many years ago my wife gave me a bottle of The Macallan 25th Anniversary. That was my first Single Malt! (Before that I had tried blends. I didn't like blends.) It was an extravagant gift at around $100 a bottle. I enjoyed it. So much so that I went back several years later and bought another bottle at $200. A year later I found another bottle fort $300. That was the last bottle that I could afford to buy for myself.

Several years ago my son took me to Scotland for our own private Scotch tour. When we went to The Macallan distillery I found several bottles of 25th Anniversary but they were £2,000 to £3,000.

Last year I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Treatments have been good so far. Not perfect yet but good. I'm positive and hopeful. To celebrate some of the positive aspects of my treatment my son bought me a bottle of The Macallan 25th Anniversary. I have no idea where he got it or what he paid for it. I don't care. I'm drinking it!!!

That's my Scotch story.

By the way, I have had to lay off quite a few things during my treatment but I still have a dram of Scotch every night.

[Acksboy]

[5-12-1908]

Im 48 and have always drank whisky since i was old enough to go out. Not every night you understand. I always had a bottle in the house.
The only time i stopped i had kidney cancer and eventually lost one......but the medications kept me off it and oh how i missed having a dram. Just because i couldnt made it worse.
Brought my son up with an appreciation of single malts.....seems only fair.