I little while ago I was lucky enough to attend a couple of scotch tastings hosted by Glenfiddich & Macallan repectively. Likely the two most popular widely available brands and both certainly have their strong points... Glenfiddich is affordable, quite easy to drink and is perfect to pour in the flask for some sipping to spice up/make bearable an event or a family gathering. Macallan is a much nicer scotch and the price reflects it, putting it out of my usual bargain bin/airmile point buying range for sure. The 12 year old isn't too bad at $90 but the much tastier 18 year old is deathly at $290 (especially when it sells for $100 less in Nova Scotia) and makes it a bit hard to swallow... if I could afford it I'd keep it stocked regularly.
My only issue was with Macallan pushing their ice maker to put ice in the scotch. It would create a ball that would melt slower than a cube but would still dilute the scotch and the cold would trap in the flavour, maybe a good idea for some cheap booze, but not if you've got the good stuff. Glenfiddich was also pushing a mixed drink using their single malt, I guess it's in trying to bring new people to scotch who find it a bit harsh. I say just give everyone a rusty nail (made with a blend, not a single malt) and take them from there. Regardless, it's always good to encourage people to drink the good stuff. Go check out a tasting of some sort if you can (go HERE and maybe you'll get lucky) or just talk to a bartender with a good stock... it's definitely nice to have a bottle at home when you need it though. What do you think?
the line up...
the aforementioned ball of ice maker... and some Balls Of Ice (courtesy of 3 Inches Of Blood)
