Question for whiskey lovers. What’s better, Glenfiddich, Macallan, or Laphroaig? I’m looking in the 15-18 year range.
It’s for a gift for someone fancy. I gave some really nice Scotch to the doctors who helped me with my second pregnancy. I remember the doctor’s brows shot all the way up when he saw it but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was called.
“What’s better, Glenfiddich, Macallan, or Laphroaig?”
These brands are all way overpriced! Just buy him a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
LikeLike
Well it depends on the type of scotch they like. I am personally very partial to Laphroaig. But that has a big smoky flavor that’s not to everyone’s taste. But it’s a very very nice scotch. Glenfiddich is good but a bit typical. I never had Macallan but know many people love it and it is considered a “luxuty” scotch (much like Laphroaig)…….Another very nice scotch that many people love and that’s not as “:in your face” as Laphroaig is Highland Park. It’ has some smoky notes but also some honey-ish type of notes too. It’s very nice, a bit boutique-y, and another luxury type scotch.
Jack Daniels is gross. Doesn’t even hold a candle up to these scotch’s. Not sure what Dreidel is talking about.
Yeah, I need a serious present. I can’t do Jack Daniels. Even I know it’s the Manishewitz of Scotch.
Thank you, this is a really good, clear explanation.
LikeLike
“Not sure what Dreidel is talking about.”
I’m talking about fine-tasting whiskey, not overpriced “luxury” Scotch for people who don’t think something is good unless it’s expensive.
LikeLike
“Jack Daniels [is] the Manishewitz of Scotch.”
Are your sure that Jack Daniel’s is kosher??
LikeLike
Kosher, schmosher. Just keep pouring, my friend.
In Russia, all vodka was declared kosher because the life of a Russian Jew is hard enough to be deprived of vodka.
LikeLike
” all vodka was declared kosher ”
For a brief time in the early 90s kosher vodka became very prized. There was so much bootleg stuff going around (bad quality occasionally dangerous) that the main brands lost a lot of their cachet. so some thought that kosher was more likely to be legit (and not just another label that the bootleggers could slap on a bottle). The logicescaped me at the time….
Laphroaig is my choice too! It is special!
LikeLike
The gift is for a lady, though. So if it really has a smoky flavor, then I’m not sure. I’d definitely go with Laphroaig for a gentleman.
LikeLike
What? Do men and women have such different taste buds? Or do you mean it’s not ladylike to enjoy smoky flavors? I generally go for Irish whisky rather than Scotch precisely for the smokiness. Get the Laphroaig. It’s also the choice of some interesting female characters in one of the Kate Fansler mysteries (academic settings, written by Carolyn Heilbrun as Amanda Cross; highly literate fluff reading when you need brain candy).
LikeLike
When I was a drinking person, I always chose very sweet, cloying stuff, so I’m guessing this is a projection on my part. By the way, this is a sign that one is drinking as a coping mechanism if you have to mask the taste of alcohol with sugar. People who drink for psychologically healthy reasons actually enjoy the taste.
So now I’m conflicted.
LikeLike
This is the eternal dilemma of gift giving. If one knows the person well then the gift can be tailored to their tastes. If one doesn’t, however, then one has to stick to the stereotypes and the stereotype indeed is that women like sugary drinks.
When I was in graduate school it was interesting to observe how gendered US drinking cultures were. At bars and clubs women got way drunker than men, the men being relegated to the role to escorting them out by the end of the evening. Sugary cocktails and mixed drinks were very popular among women. Then were were women who considered themselves sophisticated – these women drank wine, and looked down upon women drinking long island iced teas. Drinking hard liquor was considered to be a man’s thing. Men drank mostly beer and cheap spirits when they wanted to get drunk.
I inherited a love for scotch by growing up in India where drinking culture largely revolves around imported spirits, and now, beer, due to a paucity of domestic production.
And yes, of course women don’t have different taste buds. 🙂 In reality women like all sorts of alcohol. As do men. I actually like sweeter whiskey’s myself. When I was little, we still had coal-fired steam railway engines in India. When we travelled, the train would occasionally let out this dark, peaty exhaust – I hated that smell as a child. It’s the same kind of peat that’s used to roast grain for whiskey. When I drink smokey whiskey, all I can think of is that nasty train exhaust. To this day, I stick to the sweeter blends.
And Clarissa, Glenfiddich isn’t sweet in the sense of sugary. The difference is akin to the difference between a coal oven pizza vs a wood oven pizza vs a gas oven pizza. More ‘flavor’ than ‘taste’.
LikeLike
Unfortunately, I understand pizza even less than I understand Scotch. 🙂 A better analogy for me would be flavored, unsweetened fizzy drinks. 🙂
LikeLike
We tried a bunch of scotches for our wedding this past fall and the ones my wife liked were Glenfarclas 17, Highland Park 15, and Balvinie 15 in the sherry cask.
LikeLike
More Americans seem to prefer Irish to Scotch, especially since Irish is nearly always not peated.
While Midleton Very Rare is nice Irish, you may find the price not so nice, and so I’d suggest something like Powers John’s Lane, Kilbeggan, or Tyrconnell.
You may be able to find the sherry cask Tyrconnell in some nicer liquor shops, and it typically comes in a presentation canister like what you can find for Scotch.
If you want something different and memorable, see if you can find Penderyn from Wales, it’s nice and would be a stand-out in an American collection.
LikeLike
I can see a true connoisseur here. This is great information, thank you!
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment