Best single-malt Scotch...

I've recently veered off the True Path to sample some small cask bourbons. Lovely drinks, they are. I'm especially taken with Booker's - they claim it's the only cask-strength bourbon being bottled. Deep, rich flavour, albeit without the peat I so love. There are lots of others - Knob Creek is good, as are Baker's, Van Winkle 12 and Woodford Reserve. The nice part is that they're usually only half or 2/3 the price of the Scotches I normally drink. Once all the money has been spent on the stereo, this can be an important consideration.

In my opinion the 44 yr. old Mortlach tops them all. The 21 year old Linkwood gave a promise of what the Mortlach delivered and is a very fine Scotch, also!

Having tasted nearly all of the more popular scotches, from Islay, lowland, Highland and HS Speyside My taste tend to appreciate the Speysides more.

Compared to the Single Malts, American Scotch, with the exception of the Glenlivits, Glenfiddich and Famous Grouse (and I drank them all for years) are garbage!

What's best is what's best for you!

What a great thread! I'm in agreement with people above about the quality of Lagavulin and Laphroaig, the older the better. Basically, if its full of peat and smoke you have me hooked.

Ones that I like which are slightly less potent (and expensive) than those are Oban and Talisker. I went through the Talisker factory tour once and it was very much worth the trip. Speaking of expensive, I just moved to New Zealand and was shocked to see a rack of lovely bottles of single malt, all of which COST OVER 100$... Oh The Pain! (they were 20-35$ for most moderate brands in the US).

On a completely seperate but related tangent, has anyone here ever had the opportunity to sample Samual Adams Triple Bock Beer? http://www.bottledbeer.co.uk/index.html?beerid=366 it has a 17.5% alc/vol and a whopping strong malty flavor. it comes in a pretty blue bottle and has a cork... not your average beer. It is best sampled after storing it like wine for a few years... I once sampled one at a "Stout, Stogie and Single Malt" affair and have been hooked since. Hard to find but worth the efffort if you like malty flavors

I tried SA Triple Bock a couple of times, but wasn't that thrilled - it was just too thick and unbalanced for me. Samiclaus is about as far as I can go in that direction. I do like Celebrator Doppelbock a lot. It's not much of a cool-me-down lawnmower beer though :-)

Even though I'm an Islay guy, in my book the "best" single malt for the money has got to be the 18yr Macallan. It strikes the ideal balance between quality and price. IMO it beats the 25yr Macallan and at a considerable cost advantage. There are some mighty single malts out there but with mighty price tags attached. I always feel confident recommending the 18yr Macallan. Again IMO the Islays are best very old (30 - 40 yr), even the Ardbeg. Unfortunately, banks don't give loans for whiskey.