jason@hpcndm.CND.HP.COM (Jason Zions) (01/18/90)
Ah, Zach, laddie, yer aboot t'embark upon a strange and wonderous journey, full of new experiences and large expenses... :-) There are a few books on single-malt scotches; you might want to pop down to the local public library and check one out. Something I started doing about two years ago was throwing a scotch-tasting party; get together a bunch of single-malt drinkers and others, and have the serious tasters bring a bottle. I coordinated amongst the bringers to make sure we got no overlap. Laphroig (la froig') is considered another classic must-try. Most places carry the 10-year aged; I'm a bit more partial to the 15-year, as some additional complexity comes out and some of the sharpness of some of the flavors smooths out even more. I haven't yet been able to bring myself to pop for the 25-year stuff; they usually put it in a Wedgewood decanter and charge $300 US. Scandalous! Another classic is Glen Morangie (is the G hard or soft?). Quite tasty indeed; I find it less complex than the 'froggy, and subtly different from the 'fiddich. Cardhu, from the folks who bring you Johnny Walker (I think), is one easy way to start someone out on single-malts; the taste is mostly smoke. I guess. It's tough to explain tastes in words; witness the impenetrability of most wine reviews, or even (real) beer reviews. No vocabulary like that has grown up around scotch, which makes it even tougher. I'm partial to something called Sheep Dip (really!), but mostly because of the name. I think it's a bit less finished than most single malts, but the rawness and sense of undeveloped-ness (yech! why can't I speak english!) is nice in the appropriate mood. There's bunches more; as I said, try grabbing a book. Better yet, try finding a local bar which carries a few; spend some time there drinking a (small!) snifter of each, and taling with the barkeep. Any place that serves more than four single malts or so is likely to be the place where the staff knows something about the subject. Best of luck on your adventure! Jazz