A Great Philosophical Question.

[Pyrrho]

I hate to say it because it is so mainstream, but Johnny Walker Black Label is a very decent blend for the price, dare I say excellent. Red Label is swill.

...

I have never tried the Red Label.  Johnny Walker Black Label I have tried, and, to me, its taste seems roughly proportional to its price.  That is, it is as good as some cheaper single malts I have tried, but it costs as much or more than them.  Johnny Walker Black Label is probably the best blended scotch I have tried, but it is also the most expensive blended scotch I have tried, so it ought to be the best blended scotch I have tried.  I could live with Johnny Walker Black Label, but I presently only have single malt scotches.  If I were not going to have wine with dinner (that is presently only a guess, as I am unsure what dinner will be), I would probably get out all of my scotches and do a taste test, that I have not done yet.  I am only familiar with 2 of my 5 scotches; the local liquor store had a sale and I decided to try three that I have not had previously, though I still have not gotten around to it.  What I have found thus far is that if I want to go cheap with scotch, Bowmore single malt from Islay has been my scotch of choice, and if I want something good, Highland Park from Kirkwall has been my scotch of choice.  In between in price, I have felt like I am better off either saving money or spending more, as the price in between seems to me to go up faster than the quality.  That, of course, is a very subjective opinion, based on only a few options, and the pricing is local for me, so other people may have different experiences.  Maybe I should try a more expensive Bowmore scotch to see what they can do with more money.

I find that I like following beer with whisky, and I like following wine with cognac.  As I more commonly drink wine than beer, maybe I should be stocking up on cognac, though I presently have several bottles of it, so it should last a while.

[MTL]

I was going to say it was because it is grape-based, but Alex K beat me to it.

I know they've had some devastating floods in the vineyards of France in recent years.

Grain-based liquor is probably cheaper or less risky to produce?

[MTL]

I hate to say it because it is so mainstream, but Johnny Walker Black Label is a very decent blend for the price, dare I say excellent. Red Label is swill.

...

I have never tried the Red Label.  Johnny Walker Black Label I have tried, and, to me, its taste seems roughly proportional to its price.  That is, it is as good as some cheaper single malts I have tried, but it costs as much or more than them.  Johnny Walker Black Label is probably the best blended scotch I have tried, but it is also the most expensive blended scotch I have tried, so it ought to be the best blended scotch I have tried.  I could live with Johnny Walker Black Label, but I presently only have single malt scotches.  If I were not going to have wine with dinner (that is presently only a guess, as I am unsure what dinner will be), I would probably get out all of my scotches and do a taste test, that I have not done yet.  I am only familiar with 2 of my 5 scotches; the local liquor store had a sale and I decided to try three that I have not had previously, though I still have not gotten around to it.  What I have found thus far is that if I want to go cheap with scotch, Bowmore single malt from Islay has been my scotch of choice, and if I want something good, Highland Park from Kirkwall has been my scotch of choice.  In between in price, I have felt like I am better off either saving money or spending more, as the price in between seems to me to go up faster than the quality.  That, of course, is a very subjective opinion, based on only a few options, and the pricing is local for me, so other people may have different experiences.  Maybe I should try a more expensive Bowmore scotch to see what they can do with more money.

I find that I like following beer with whisky, and I like following wine with cognac.  As I more commonly drink wine than beer, maybe I should be stocking up on cognac, though I presently have several bottles of it, so it should last a while.

There was a green label once upon a time, but it seems to have vanished without a trace.

[Pyrrho]

In case anyone is curious, I have preliminary thoughts on the 5 scotches I have.  Unfortunately, I like them mostly in order of price, but not exactly.  In order of price, they are (from least expensive to most expensive):

Bowmore Islay Single Malt Legend

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Glenfiddich Single Malt 12 Year

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The Glenlivet Single Malt 12 Year

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The Macallan Single Malt 10 Year

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Highland Park Single Malt 12 Year

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Now, this is only a preliminary judgment, and also is not even close to scientific, as it is not a blind tasting.  And being preliminary, I need to do more drinking to check my results.  Fortunately, I have plenty more to do more testing.

The preliminary order, from best to worst:

Highland Park

The Macallan

The Glenlivet

Bowmore Islay

Glenfiddich


Comments:  

The Highland Park is clearly the best.  It is clearly the smoothest.  And given that it costs the most, it ought to be the best.  But it is the best, and enough better than second best to be a better value than most.

The Bowmore Islay is a great value.  It will not impress your friends with its label, as they do not tell you how old it is.  And although my preliminary ranking is with it below The Glenlivet, I am not entirely certain that that is correct.  The Glenlivet seems a bit smoother, but I like the flavor of the Bowmore Islay perhaps a bit more.  More drinking will be in order to verify this.  It is entirely possible that I will change my mind and prefer Bowmore Islay over The Glenlivet.

Given the local prices (which I have not bothered to present, as they are likely to cost different amounts in your area, even assuming you can get them all), the ones I am most likely to buy in the future are the Bowmore Islay and the Highland Park.  With The Macallan, it costs too much for what it is.  I would rather either pay a bit more and get Highland Park, or save money and go with the Bowmore Islay.  In fact, given the prices, I think I would save money on two bottles of scotch if I went with one Highland Park and one Bowmore Islay instead of two of The Macallan.  And that seems like a better idea to me.

If you are poor and want a reasonably good scotch, I highly recommend Bowmore Islay.  I paid about $25 for a bottle.  If you have a bit more money, the Highland Park is very good at $45 or so.  The others seem like they are not a good value at their intermediate prices (particularly Glenfiddich).  So my advice, if you can afford only something halfway in between those prices, is to go with Bowmore Islay half the time and Highland Park half the time.  If you can afford $45-50 a bottle, go with the Highland Park.  If you can afford it, it is worth it.

Again, this is just a preliminary tasting, and further research will be done.  If any of my opinions change, I will likely post an update.  But I am reasonably confident that the two that are the best values are the Bowmore Islay and the Highland Park.

In the past, with other scotches that I have tried, I rejected them at their price points (or in the case of really cheap swill, rejected it based on it being really cheap swill).  I really like Bowmore Islay and Highland Park for their respective prices, and would likely not drink scotch at all if I could not afford the Bowmore Islay.  I would go with some rye that I can get for less that is quite acceptable as a whisky.  I can easily get an acceptable rye for under $20.



Maybe I should have started a new thread on comparisons of various brands of alcohol, to get a variety of opinions.  Though on second thought, it would likely end up more heated and acrimonious than the threads on religion.

Still, feel free to tell me that you disagree with my ranking of these scotches.  I am not afraid of you being wrong.

[Pyrrho]

More preliminary drinking thoughts on the scotch.

I suspect that the order of trying them affects how I feel about them, judging from my reaction to additional taste testing.  This is not unlike how some wines do not follow certain other wines well (i.e., when one has been drinking one wine, and one switches to a different wine that one knows from previous experience that one normally likes, but does not like it after the first wine).  And tasting five at once seems problematic.

All of the scotches mentioned above are quite drinkable; I would not refuse any of them as a guest in someone's home.

For a couple of more specific comments, I am thinking I was a little harsh on The Glenlivet, and am confident that it is better than the Bowmore Islay.  I also was a bit harsh in my description of Glenfiddich.  And the overall differences are less dramatic than my previous post seems to imply.

If I have any further thoughts that I wish to share from further testing, I will post updates.

[Alex K]

I couldn't comment on your order because I haven't tried all of them. Of those I know in the list, I would also have ranked Glenfiddich the lowest and Bowmore relatively high. I'm not objective though, because I am forever in love with the salty oilyness that is Laphroaig 10yo...
I haven't tried Irish whiskey for a while, but among the affordable ones, Bushmills single malt was always a favorite of mine.

Your comment concerning wine vs. beer raises an interesting point. I rarely go from beer to liquor directly, but it makes sense taste wise to combine related drinks.

[Pyrrho]

I couldn't comment on your order because I haven't tried all of them. Of those I know in the list, I would also have ranked Glenfiddich the lowest and Bowmore relatively high. I'm not objective though, because I am forever in love with the salty oilyness that is Laphroaig 10yo...
I haven't tried Irish whiskey for a while, but among the affordable ones, Bushmills single malt was always a favorite of mine.

Your comment concerning wine vs. beer raises an interesting point. I rarely go from beer to liquor directly, but it makes sense taste wise to combine related drinks.

Alex, you can try them all if you want.  Just stop by and I will pour you a glass of each of the five scotches for you to try.  I will also pour you the three Irish whiskies, the three ryes, the three cognacs, two rums, and a few other assorted liquors, and you can see what you like best.  Of course, by the time you have tried enough of everything to be able to come to a proper judgement about them, you will be too drunk to make a proper choice, but we need not worry about such trivialities.


An inexpensive Irish whisky that I like well enough is The Tyrconnell  single malt.  If one mixes it with a lemon-lime soda or ginger ale (which my wife does), one may as well go with Jameson blended whisky, though the price difference is slight enough that I plan on never going cheaper than The Tyrconnell in the future, so that I will have something I will be willing to drink straight.  But until my wife drinks all of the Jameson, I will have it for her for her mixed drinks.  I recently acquired a slightly more expensive Irish whisky, Tullamore Dew single malt 10 year, which I have not yet tried (I am busy with the scotch and other things, like wine and cognac).  And I presently have three ryes, two of which I have not yet tried.

I should probably pick up a bottle of Bushmills single malt at your suggestion, though I might wait a bit, either until it is on sale, or I drink a bit more of the whisky I have on hand.  Do you mean the 10 year or some other Bushmills single malt?


Well, all this talk of whisky made it necessary to take a break from writing this and pour myself something.  I am trying the Tullamore Dew single malt 10 year Irish whisky, though I am not comparing it with anything else at the moment.  So far, I am enjoying it.

Come on by, Alex, and I will pour you some.  Bring your wife, if you wish; there is enough whisky for her as well (and there is a liquor store close at hand in case we need more than a couple of liters of whisky each).  I will put some Mozart on the stereo, or if you are nice and bring a bottle, some Bach if you prefer.  So, when should I expect you?


Whisky in the morning is a good thing.  I still disagree with Christopher Hitchens about a proper breakfast, but whisky is a fine thing for later in the morning.