My wife (of all people) found an ad in the Wall Street Journal about a single malt whiskey that is aged for 24 years in port barrels. Since I enjoy both whiskey and port I am wondering if anyone has tried this whiskey and if it lives up to its expectations?

Scotches aged in sherry or port casks are not a new thing, although -- marketing wise -- they are becoming more and more visible.

This said, Balvenie is a very smooth scotch that can easily appeal to the beginner enthusiast: excellent quality, but not much personnality. I prefer, by far, more expressive whiskys such as Lagavulin, Ardbergh and Talisker.

Flashman, thanks for the bump back. Do any of the ones you suggested take on any of the port characteristics?

Unfortunately not... These are more on the peaty, woody, smoky, salty side.

But a good port cask whisky, IMHO, would be the Glenmorangie 12 yrs Port Cask. Also, a great, very classic, sherry cask scotch (I prefer these) would be The Macallan -- they have a reange from 10 to 50 years old whiskys, and their cask strength is quite flabergasting.

BTW, I misspelled Ardbergh, it is in fact ARDBEG.

quote:

This said, Balvenie is a very smooth scotch that can easily appeal to the beginner enthusiast: excellent quality, but not much personnality. I prefer, by far, more expressive whiskys such as Lagavulin, Ardbergh and Talisker.

All that you mentioned are peat monsters. I don't think it has to be from Islay to have personality. I believe the rest of Scotland would take issue with that

Two examples that are quite expresive, and not just for beginners:

Highland Park 18
Macallan 18

I am not fimilar with a 24 y/o Portwood. There is are two 21 y/o Portwoods from Balvenie. The first is very nice and was even nicer at about 80 bucks and on a bang for the buck basis, it was an interesting race with the 12 y/o doublewood. Then they jacked the price upto about $120 and the race was over. Its not a $120 scotch, even on its best day. Then there was a Rare Vintage 21 y/o that was also Portwood aged. Its a very nice, somewhat difficult to find bottle which I have not tried yet.

http://www.whiskymag.com/whisky/brand/balvenie/

Thanks, I wrote 24 I meant 21. The 21 Port was $128 at the place I normally buy my hard to find liquors at. Too rich for me at this time, maybe after I pay for my kids wedding....

quote:

Originally posted by shortsqueeze:
All that you mentioned are peat monsters. I don't think it has to be from Islay to have personality. I believe the rest of Scotland would take issue with that

Two examples that are quite expresive, and not just for beginners:

Highland Park 18
Macallan 18

Yeah, I know, I'm a peaty kind of guy... But I will give you that the Macallan is a top scotch, absolutely on my top 5 list... Highland Park though, well, so-so...

quote:

Originally posted by ralphn8r:
Thanks, I wrote 24 I meant 21. The 21 Port was $128 at the place I normally buy my hard to find liquors at. Too rich for me at this time, maybe after I pay for my kids wedding....

$128 sounds about right. A couple of years ago it was around $80 and filled the gap left by Macallan 18 when they jacked the price of it through the roof and killed the quality. Unfortuantly someone at Balvenie decided that it would be a good idea to jack up the price of 21 y/o. They have discontinued the 21 y/o Portwood and replaced it in their range with New Wood which I belive is aged for 17 ys. I haven't tried the New Wood yet, but the reviews are mixed. Michael Jackson likes it, but not too many other people like it a lot.

Glenmorangie makes a 12 y/o Portwood aged scotch which is nice, but I think ~$65 for 12 y/o is too much money for something which is only good, not exceptional. It has a similar flavor profile, but the rasiny flavor is not as distinct as in the Balvenie.

You might also look into Portwood finishes from Caol Ila and Tullibardine. I am not fimilar with them nor do I have any knowledge of their availablity.

Good luck.