Where do you buy your scotch single malts?

Blimey, the Laphroaig Quarter Cask gets almost universally excellent reviews on Connosr. Is the peat as in your face as it is in the 10yo?

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Dan Murphy’s currently has a couple of gift packs (among others) that contain a selection of single malts in 200mL bottles. They’re a little more expensive by volume but more convenient for tasting, especially if you find a particular style or malt not to your liking.

Yeah baby! I’m getting some of those!

Ben_Dover said :

Whenever you have a spare ton to throw about, I can heartily recommend this;

http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_916600/laphroaig-quarter-cask-scotch-whisky?CAWELAID=857484676

Wipe the drool off my toga!

Dan Murphy’s currently has a couple of gift packs (among others) that contain a selection of single malts in 200mL bottles. They’re a little more expensive by volume but more convenient for tasting, especially if you find a particular style or malt not to your liking.

+1000 000 for the Laphroaig quarter cask. It will put hairs on your chest.

krats said :

My Wife’s Favorite is Fighting Cock.
We bought some back from Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville-on our last trip.Have not been able to find to much in Canberra.

Not as smooth as Kilt’s Mellow Cock.

Whenever you have a spare ton to throw about, I can heartily recommend this;

http://danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_916600/laphroaig-quarter-cask-scotch-whisky?CAWELAID=857484676

krats said :

My Wife’s Favorite is Fighting Cock.

Sooo much willpower to resist commenting…

My Wife’s Favorite is Fighting Cock.
We bought some back from Heaven Hill Distillery, Louisville-on our last trip.Have not been able to find to much in Canberra.

Thoroughly Smashed said :

While sailing the pirate-infested seas of the internet I happened upon this little online store. Pretty decent selection and the prices on some of them aren’t bad either.

Not bad at all! Thanks!

Auchentoshan for under $70? *Very* impressive.

You don’t see a lot of lowland malt!

While sailing the pirate-infested seas of the internet I happened upon this little online store. Pretty decent selection and the prices on some of them aren’t bad either.

If ever you’re dong the Canberran-at-the-South-Coast thing, there is a little bottle shop down the main street of Berry that has a good range. The owner said he stocks them for the Navy guys at Jervis Bay. They also have little flasks of pusser’s rum.

Glenlivet 12 is a safe choice, Dalwhinnie and Glenfiddich are also favs, my wife will only drink the Glenlivet 15 sherry oak after we did the distillery tour there in June. Also did the Talisker, Dalwhinnie and Glenkinchie, the Glenlivet tour was the best.

The choice at Dan Murphy’s is not what I’d call limited either. I find it is quite good. I was also surprised what you can get at Costco.

If you’ve never tried the peaty/smokey Islay malts, they are a stong taste and I’d advise a try before you buy. Saying that I have a bottle of Laphriogh for every now and then

Laphroig is my tipple of choice when I can afford it. Mmmmmmm.

Great thread. 🙂

I’ve found that Vintage Cellars in Manuka has a good range of interesting whisky including rarities such as Bruichladdich Octomore, Ardbeg Supernova and Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist. They also had some harder to find non-Islay malts but my tastes don’t lead that way so I don’t buy them.

1st Choice (particularly Phillip) tends to be the best of the big box stores and Plonk is good for the Australian malts with a full range of Bakery Hill, Helliers Road and Lark.

I recommend a bottle of Glenn moray 12 year old but if you have a bit of spare cash to splash out with get the 15 year old.

A great drop with nice sweet flavour with a rich oak after taste

johnboy said :

You’re thinking of jim murphy, and he’s dead.

Oh really, well in that case, maybe I’ll be buying more from the Mall in the future then. Thanks for the clarification!

JB is correct regarding Islay malts. There’s nothing else like them. Laphroaig (IMHO) is the best of those. I bought my first bottle when I was 17 (yes yes, I know…). I prefer it neat, but I have enjoyed it with a few drops of cool water. Lagavulin runs a close second.

In my version of heaven, there’s a frosty winters night outside but it’s warm inside because the fire is crackling, my little terrier is snoozing at my feet and I have a glass of Islay malt in my hand.

Postalgeek said :

I’m with Thumper on that one. The art to single malt is as much where you drink it and who you drink it with as the actual drop itself.

I couldn’t agree more. I can’t tell you what we drank whilst sharing flasks and bottles with other trampers we met along the 8 days of Hadrian’s Wall Path.

But I can tell you that they are my finest scotch drinking memories.

You’re thinking of jim murphy, and he’s dead.

Thanks for all the replies, I’ve now got a much better idea of where to look next time. I’ll definitely be checking out First Choice next time I can, and I should have remembered Cox Kelly in Civic. I’d have to agree that I was wrong about the range available at Dan Murphy’s, it’s pretty decent (though Dan Murphy is a huge Liberal benefactor, which makes me less inclined to give him my cash).

For the record, I’m a huge fan of Laphroaig. Talisker is the other bottle I own (poor uni student means saving for booze), but I’m looking to expand my collection. I think my next purchase might be a Dalwhinnie, though I’ll have to find somewhere to try it first.

For those who’d like to more about scotch, you should definitely check out Ralfy’s youtube channel, it’s very informative, and often deviates away from scotch into other related liquid gold. You’ll feel like an expert in no time (and want to spend a hell of a lot of cash on new scotches).

For those Southside, Plonk at the Fyshwick markets now has a few, including a few Australian varieties that I haven’t seen elsewhere in Canberra. Not a huge range, but a few decent ones.

As mentioned above, Vintage Cellars in Manuka has a decent selection, and the Durham in Kingston has a reasonable range behind the bar – nothing too exotic, from memory, but a good selection of the usual suspects.

Anything a bit unusual, however, and I agree you’ll probably have to go online (if anyone manages to find a bottle of Benromach in Canberra, however, I’d love to hear about it).

And do you drink it with Coke or Ginger Ale?

F*ck no. Coke goes with the $20 bottle from the lowest shelf at Woolies 🙂

Absolutely +1

I’m with Thumper on that one. The art to single malt is as much where you drink it and who you drink it with as the actual drop itself.

For example, a poor quality drop will taste far better shared from a flask two days hard slog into Namadgi with good friends than a great scotch will ever fare when shared with a whiskey snob who won’t shut up.

While not comprehensive I wouldn’t call Dan Murphy’s selection limited. Their regular prices are better than I’ve seen anywhere else and they have specials semi-regularly.

As for a contribution to the thread, there’s the Distinct Whiskey Company, which has a few that aren’t available widely in Australia. They do charge a lot though.

To search for what’s available and for how much, everyone should know Boozle.

johnboy said :

I think that was a comment on the blended nature of Chivas.

I think it’s more to do with the fact it’s one of the most maligned 12yo Scotch Whiskies out there. Blended malt whiskies can be very good. That said I haven’t tried Chivas since I could appreciate whisk(e)y so I’ll reserve judgement.

Its almost impossible to find rare or unusual scotches in Canberra. Having lived in Scotland for a while I got used to the idea of every shop having a dusty old section filled with limited editions for 50 quid… The selections at first choice etc are average at best and don’t really reflect the true variety out there, so go online, go overseas, go anywhere because Canberra doesn’t cut it.

PS. Come back filthy’s, only place that used to have a decent selection.

I think that was a comment on the blended nature of Chivas.

I gathered that. But I’m not a scotch snob. I just like drinking it.

Like anything, once you’ve had the good stuff, it’s hard to go back.

Good beer is readily available in Australia, and I make home-brew myself, so the notion of drinking VB is just … anathema.

Scotch is a bit similar. Chivas is better than bottom shelf mixer spirits (and the fact you can buy small hipflask sized bottles is handy for parties and boring social outings), but once you start exploring the really good stuff, you’ll probably never come back.

I think that was a comment on the blended nature of Chivas.

+1 First Choice at Phillip. I’m with everyone who says Islay whiskies (I shall forever be a Laphroaig man) but recommend starting off with some Speysiders if you’re new to the game. Get to know your regions and start exploring.

Inevitably the issue of ice gets raised in these threads, with the usual answer of hell no. A little bit of water is quite acceptable and can help to bring out the flavours.

From memory, Cox Kelly in Civic on University Ave across from Uni Pub had a collection of scotches that you wouldn’t normally find in the bigger shops. Good beers as well!!

I’d recommened giving Tasmanian whiskey a go. Bought a bottle of single malt from Lark Distillery when I was in hobart and I love it. Not sure if you can buy it in Canberra though. Pretty expensive as well…

http://www.singlemaltsdirect.com/

The bottle shop in Campbell has some nice bottles, and the owner is quite passionate about his single malts. Vintage Cellars in Manuka also has a good range of some of your more traditional single malts, as well as a variety of Bruichladdich. If you’re after a bit of a tasting evening, I could also recommend an evening at the Pheonix as their Wall ‘O’ Scotch is fairly impressive.

From a personal perspective, I would recommend not going towards the older Scotches (18yr plus) until your palate has come to terms with the 12 and 15 yrs. As a relative newcomer to single malts I’ve found that I haven’t been able to truly appreciate the older malts yet.

Give Glenfarclas 15yr a go, it’s a fantastic drink

tiliqua said :

Mmm Lagavulin, that salty seaweedy iodine flavour is very distinct, very much a love it or hate it proposition. I’m also very fond of Glenmorangie port and sherry cask aged malts (Quinta Ruban and Lasanta) if you’re after a more mellow and almost sweet whisky.

plus one billion for the Glen Morangie – I reeaaaallly like the Lasanta.

Tallisker still the big fave though, particularly nice with a fat cuban cigar and some classy jazz: Ornette Coleman’s ‘A Shape of Jazz to Come’, or mid-period Miles Davis.

Mmm Lagavulin, that salty seaweedy iodine flavour is very distinct, very much a love it or hate it proposition. I’m also very fond of Glenmorangie port and sherry cask aged malts (Quinta Ruban and Lasanta) if you’re after a more mellow and almost sweet whisky.

Recently I’ve enjoyed some Dalwhinnie and Glenmorangie. (I haven’t developed a taste for the smoky & salty yet.) I’ve got a bottle of Glenkinchie on the go at the moment, but it’s a bit uninspiring.

Glenkinchie – just noticed it on Liquorland Direct online for a decent price.

I’m partial to Chivas Regal.

And do you drink it with Coke or Ginger Ale?

Online, though First Choice and Dan Murphy’s in Phillip are both great.

I’m new to Scotch but enjoying Dimple15 or Glenfiddich18 which seems a little softer. Kingos, Phoenix and a few other places in the city don’t charge too much for some decent nips, head in on a quiet afternoon with some whisky-drinking friends, buy a few different ones and share some opinions.

Jim Jones said :

I’ve had a massive amount of awesome different scotches from Dan Murphy’s – not sure what you mean by ‘limited selection’:

Ardbeg
Aberlour
Glenfarclas
Glenfiddich
Glenlivet
Glenmorangie
Glen Moray
Isle of Jura
Laphroaig
Speyburn
Talisker

…

as much as I can remember right now anyway

Surprised you can remember anything at all after that lot!

I’ve had a massive amount of awesome different scotches from Dan Murphy’s – not sure what you mean by ‘limited selection’:

Ardbeg
Aberlour
Glenfarclas
Glenfiddich
Glenlivet
Glenmorangie
Glen Moray
Isle of Jura
Laphroaig
Speyburn
Talisker

…

as much as I can remember right now anyway

First Choice in Phillip FTW

First Choice in Braddon is my go-to for quality booze.

As for which malt? Islay is the bomb if you want smoke and salt.

Lagavulin for mine the king, but many other solid contenders some of them quite affordable.