UKC

Inspired by another whiskey thread this morning, which four whiskies would you put behind the bar if you had your wedding in a few weeks time.

Budget at around £200, but happy with less.

Here's my starter for 10:

- Cragganmore, distillers edition
- Yamazaki 12
- Springbank 15
- Caol Isla Moch

The floor is open . . . .

In reply to edunn: If you want a very good one at about £45 you have to have Ardbeg. Don't know much else about whiskeys apart from the ones I like.

In reply to edunn:
Jura Superstition
Highland Park
Bells/Grouse/Black Bottle

have a good wedding!

In reply to edunn:

What do you want to achieve by your purchases, do you want old familiar favorites, special editions or something that'll be totally new to most of your guests?
jk

In reply to edunn:

Aberlour A'Bunadh (with spring water as it's cask strength)
Glenfarclas 15
Inchgower 14y Flora and Fauna
Lagavulin 16 or stick with the Springbank on your list.

I did this at our wedding too and I wrote tasting notes which really got people interested. Unless you have a particularly whisky-loving family, I steer away from being heavy on peat as most people aren't too keen.

In reply to edunn:

Aberlour A'bunadh and a very nice Balvenie (think doublewood - matured in sherry casks) were what I got given at my wedding.

Both around £40 a bottle.

I'd also add Bowmore Surf and a Glenmorangie, possibly Cellar 13.

In reply to edunn:

some cheap shit so i can keep the good stuff for me.
Short of that:
Highland Park
one of the Balvenies
Probably a Talisker
Then something like a decent Jamesons or Tullamore dew to mix things up a bit.

In reply to KevinD:



Wot he said.

Keep a good bottle or two as most guests will be blotto.

In reply to edunn:

Amazing value for money sherry monster:
https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/aberlour/aberlour-a-bunadh-batch-55-w...
Fantastic value again. Smokey but not OTT
https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/ardbeg/ardbeg-uigeadail-whisky/
This is delicious as is all Glenfarclas. A good one for the masses as it wont blow your head off
https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/glenfarclas/glenfarclas-15-year-old-w...
Very easy drinking that even non whisky fans love. Yum!
https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/benriach/benriach-16-year-old-whisky/...

Hope you have a great wedding

In reply to edunn:

All the best for your wedding.

Just a small point, something I only learnt a few weeks ago, Apparently Whiskey is Irish and Whisky is Scottish.

In reply to jkarran:

Just nice whiskies really. There are a few proficient whisky drinkers at the wedding, so something there for them to appreciate (something classic + something unexpected) and then one or two other nice ones for the occasional drinkers to try and appreciate.

I'll have bells available over with the coke and lemonade.

In reply to edunn:


A couple of Speysides for general enjoyment such as Aberlour 10yo and Royal Lochnagar 10yo.

Satisfy the connoisseurs with something like Ardbeg Uigeadal (as someone already suggested) and Balblair 99.

Nowt better at a wedding than a good dram. Me, my kilt and my hip flask are off to Oregon for a wedding next week and I eagerly await both my airport purchase and what drams the groom has lined up for us.

In reply to edunn:

Of f*ck me, this has 'ends in tears' written all over it ... ...
Best for the wedding though edunn. Say the vows then get the heck out of there before the rellies start punching on!
PS. Leave plenty of soft drinks too - extra Coke (ahem, sniff) and Lemonade.
Grabs coat again. Sorry.
Hope you both enjoy the big day and live happily ever after.

In reply to edunn:

My personal choices: Laphroaig Quarter Cask; Ardbeg (any Ardbeg); Glenlivet 15 year old; and any old crappy cooking whisky for anyone who is going to put lemonade or coke in it.
That might leave you enough dosh for a bottle of 18 year old Bunnahabhain to hide for later.

Have a great wedding but beware of distillers droop....

In reply to edunn:

You asked for Whiskeys not Whiskies. So presumably you only want Irish or American.

In reply to edunn:


A touch of sawdust and earthiness, sweet treacle sweets and quality street toffee pennies hints of fruits and vanilla essence with caramel shortcake. Toffee pennies and vanilla sauce, tinned fruits hints of dried wood chips with a smidge of spice -


See more at: http://www.tomswhiskyreviews.com/review.php?articleid=1499#sthash.aUUVrZZp....

In reply to edunn:

If you want the best for your guests it has to be Kavalan.

In reply to aln:


I have tasted my way through a few Kavalan now, including the champion Solist Vinho Barrique, and I am baffled as to why this is so highly regarded. Almost all have the solvent-bubblegum of young malt which was so prominent in the SVB that I would consider it a fault. The ageing was clumsy and the overall impression was of trying too hard with a poor base malt.

In reply to Toccata:

I've never tried it, interesting to hear from someone who has.

In reply to aln:

Believe me, I really wanted it to be brilliant. I can see why it stands out in tastings but there are far better whiskies from Asia.

In reply to Toccata:

Only had one Kavalan, tasted like a mediocre Amrut - I am rather fond of their range - the Fusion, Two Continents, single bourbon casks, and the cask strength. Not exactly subtle but tremendous "bang for your buck" - an antidote to the massive escalation in the price of Japanese whiskies (and phasing out of many of the age statemented ones for NAS).

In reply to edunn:

Your choice is excellent, I would add Highland Park.

In reply to edunn:

If we're talking about mix of normal and fancy... I think this will still break the budget... Laphroaig for the Islay heads, Ardbeg for the NHS types (iodine), Talisker for them wot don't know a nice malt, and Macallan 84 for them that do.

In reply to edunn:

Lagavullin 16
Jura Origin 10 (swayed becasue I've just had a lovely wee dram of it)
Oban 14
Bruichladdich (Classic)

Bit of change from £200 to boot

In reply to edunn:









That's a lovely selection. I would love to go to a wedding that offered these as drinks.

In reply to climb41:


Only problem is that Yamazaki 12 has been discontinued - remaining stock is changing hands for around £100 per bottle. It's been replacced with with a NAS version.

In reply to Toccata:


I'm always amazed why people like different things too... Last week I discovered not everyone is a United fan.. Baffled!

The great thing about whiskey and whisky is the range of tastes on offer. The Japanese, Scottish, Irish, American and many others are all different, never mind the difference within each of those countries. Why should that surprise you?

I'd just go for a range, just work from E > W.. I'd pick a speyside and an Islay and then something else but whatever you chose someone wont be happy..

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

I remain wary of the raft of whiskys out these days with no age statement. Smacks of marketing and cutting corners to me. Back in the day a single malt was expected (by me anyway!) to be 12 years old plus and proudly proclaim that fact on the label.

In reply to Siward:

Agreed. Went on the Glenlivet tour last year and they were trying to promote the taste benefits of their new NAS Founders Reserve which has replaced their standard 12yo. The stuff was absolute swill!

In reply to WaterMonkey:



He got the plural right though! BTW, isn't the one without an e scotch?
Full of pitfalls, this subject, especially if you've sampled a few first. ;O))

In reply to Siward:


I have no problem with whiskies under 12 y.o. Many, particularly Islay malts, are very good young (or at least with some young spirit in them) - the various Kilkerran "Work in Progress", various Ardbegs, Kilchoman, Port Charlotte, lots of Bruichladdichs - all have merits of their own that might be lessened by adding older spirit just for a spurious age statement.

But the replacement of classic malts like Glenlivet 12 etc, and pretty much every Japanese whisky of late, makes me sad... and I particularly dislike it when the new variant is sold for the same price with a corny pseudo-Celtic name to make it seem more traditional.

In reply to thebigfriendlymoose:

Likewise I have no problem with younger whiskies, I just wish they'd label them with the age rather than some randomness name. I've had very nice 8 and 9 year olds via Gordon & McPhail bottlings.

In reply to colinakmc:


Agreed, more refined than the 10 year in my opinion, although they're both delicious.

In reply to edunn:

Highland park svein. Any of the limited bottles are amazing