The other day I went to my brother in law's for a Scotch tasting evening. He has about 7 kinds of Scotch and a few nice bourbons. I brought a couple Scotches too.
He lined up 7 blind samples for me and I tasted and took notes on each one. I knew what the 7 were I just didn't know what order he placed the samples in, so part of my tasting was to try to guess which was which, then rate them favorite to least favorite.
I thought for sure I could nail my two favorites- Glenmorangie and Auchentoshan.
As you can see from the photo, there were some of the more famous names in the lineup. After all was said and done, this is the order I ended up ranking them 1st-7th; left being most favorite, right being least favorite.
I picked my favorite Glenmorangie Lasanta as #1 (yay me!) and oddly enough Johnny Walker Blue dead last:
So here's how I blindly ranked them:
1. Glenmorangie Lasanta 12
2. Hibiki
3. Highland Park 15
4. Auchentoshan Three Wood
5. Glenfiddich 15
6. Dalwhinnie 15
7. JWB
What's funny about this is he and 3 other guys had just a few days earlier done a blind Scotch taste test, and they each picked Johnny Walker Blue last. It's good stuff, but there's far better out there, and if you factor in its ridiculous price, it's not that great. I'm not knocking JWB fans, but I will never buy anything over Green Label again, it's great and actually affordable.
Hibiki is awesome too, if you've never had the chance to try it I recommend it.
Here are two others that we tried separate from the first tasting. I did these two blind against only each other.
In the blind test here the clear winner (to me) was Royal Brackla 12. I was surprised at that!
I hate to say it, but the ONLY (and I mean it) the only Scotch here I was turned off by was the Johnny Walker Blue. By comparison to the others it was too peaty, too smoky. I've had it a few times by itself and loved it. Blind taste tests are very eye opening, it removes bias and levels the playing field. But it can also taint things too- having these smooth and some sweet Scotches made me dislike the peaty JWB.
Some bourbons I tried (not blind) were:
Jefferson's Ocean- did not like.
Blanton's- Holy cow, incredible!
And an Irish Whisky, Redbreast- It's ok, not my favorite but not bad.
He lined up 7 blind samples for me and I tasted and took notes on each one. I knew what the 7 were I just didn't know what order he placed the samples in, so part of my tasting was to try to guess which was which, then rate them favorite to least favorite.
I thought for sure I could nail my two favorites- Glenmorangie and Auchentoshan.
As you can see from the photo, there were some of the more famous names in the lineup. After all was said and done, this is the order I ended up ranking them 1st-7th; left being most favorite, right being least favorite.
I picked my favorite Glenmorangie Lasanta as #1 (yay me!) and oddly enough Johnny Walker Blue dead last:
So here's how I blindly ranked them:
1. Glenmorangie Lasanta 12
2. Hibiki
3. Highland Park 15
4. Auchentoshan Three Wood
5. Glenfiddich 15
6. Dalwhinnie 15
7. JWB
What's funny about this is he and 3 other guys had just a few days earlier done a blind Scotch taste test, and they each picked Johnny Walker Blue last. It's good stuff, but there's far better out there, and if you factor in its ridiculous price, it's not that great. I'm not knocking JWB fans, but I will never buy anything over Green Label again, it's great and actually affordable.
Hibiki is awesome too, if you've never had the chance to try it I recommend it.
Here are two others that we tried separate from the first tasting. I did these two blind against only each other.
In the blind test here the clear winner (to me) was Royal Brackla 12. I was surprised at that!
I hate to say it, but the ONLY (and I mean it) the only Scotch here I was turned off by was the Johnny Walker Blue. By comparison to the others it was too peaty, too smoky. I've had it a few times by itself and loved it. Blind taste tests are very eye opening, it removes bias and levels the playing field. But it can also taint things too- having these smooth and some sweet Scotches made me dislike the peaty JWB.
Some bourbons I tried (not blind) were:
Jefferson's Ocean- did not like.
Blanton's- Holy cow, incredible!
And an Irish Whisky, Redbreast- It's ok, not my favorite but not bad.
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