I'm a big puff when it comes to anything harder than Fosters. The closest I get to 'hard' liquor is Archers or a Teq Sunrise. I'm keen to further my learning from the 'STW pickled liver massif' in booze and require info on a good starter tipple for my shiney new flask.

over to you

Currently sporting Ardbeg 16 YO

this was a replacement sent to me by the Oban distillery after the flask i purchased there leaked Caol Ila 18 all over the Oban YHA floor 🙁

neat tequila is my preferred flask filler

pick two attributes you think you'd like from the following table then choose from that. You can adjust to your taste as your collection grows:

Personally anything in the top 2/3rds will do me

Laphroaig Quarter Cask (with tangfastics on the side).

hmm just finished my quarter cask, do I wait until my birthday (6 weeks)or top up now?

I did get a taste for Ardbeg on a recent trip to Peebles, lovely stuff.

If you want something smooth and mellow, you could do worse than Bushmills malt.

Very nice, but much more approachable than a lot of Scotch single malts IMO.

Top left suits me. But a hipflask seems like desperation to me, can't imagine a time I'd ever need to bring a few sips with me.

are single malts the order of the day then? are there any good blended malts?

:SPLUTTER:

GOOD blended malts?

😉

It of an Oban man myself, nice drop it is too

Meths

🙂

yes there are

the vast majority of the islay malts go into Johnnie Walker blends.

Don't tell anyone on here i said that though

^^^^^^^^^^^

Good blended Malts…………………….Ye Gods Man

Harsh and smoky for taking out riding. When you're sheltering behind a wall in a storm at midnight do you want to drink something that gently massages your throat as it trickles down or takes half your throat lining off before exploding in your stomach?

Talisker.

single versus blended, is this like saying SS versus gears 🙂

samuri – got a bottle of Kilchoman New Spirit downstairs, i suspect i should save that until the snowdrift has covered the wall and all hope is lost

I suspect the average STW punter couldn't tell the difference between a blend and a single malt without the aid of a label on the bottle 🙂

😡 scandalous

mrmichaelwright why is bunnahabhain in the delicate and light section on that map? surely this is a mistake? its definitely towards the smokey end of the table?

Jagermeister is always nice easy sippin' to get started with. Maybe a bit too drinkable though…

not tried bunnahabhain, the miniature we bought on Islay got consumed by mrsmw then promptly exited mrsmw via the same point onto the beach in the morning along with the previous night's oysters 🙂

Gotta be homemade, anyone who puts commercially made spirit in a hipflask for riding clearly has no imagination, therefore mine has homemade sloe gin

Another vote for Ardbeg here, it's smoky and mellow and I love it.

*dusts down hipflask*

My father in law is a massive fan of Glengoyne. It's neither smoky nor rich but quite a nice drop in my humble opinion.

Blended? I've yet to try one that works for me.

I suspect the average STW punter couldn't tell the difference between a blend and a single malt without the aid of a label on the bottle

28 years of highlands hill walking and supping the stuff is enough for me

The chart that MMW posted is very useful but only represents a fraction of the choice available.

Blended whisky is not just a number of different inferior malts, but also includes grain whisky as well, and will typically be bottled for the legal minimum of 6 years as opposed to the normal 10 minimum for single malt

the only blend i have ever really enjoyed is Johnnie Walker Green Label, i was given it as a corporate gift and was actually surprised by it's complexity but then it does contain Caol Ila, Talisker and Craigenmore amongst others and is aged 15 years

Another vote for Sloe Gin, if you don't have any homemade then the Sloe Motion gin is pretty good (avoid Gordon’s unless your mixing it, incidentally it's very nice with ginger beer).

Gotta be homemade, anyone who puts commercially made spirit in a hipflask for riding clearly has no imagination, therefore mine has homemade sloe gin

Did you actually make the sloe gin, or just put some berries and sugar in some gin you bought from the shop? 😉

My hip flask has glenmorangie in it – I like to save the really nice stuff for being drunk out of proper glasses.

morgan spice rum is one of the few spirits i can take neat so that would be my choice

Mine has homemade cider in it.
Ok it hasn't as I don't have one, but for the sake of this argument it does 🙂

single malt for riding (though Johnnie W is acceptable), sloe gin / contreau for snowboarding.

incidentally a couple of the Japanese malts and a Bretagne one I tried were pretty reasonable if you want something different. Welsh and Irish don't work for me. And don't get me started on the colonials.

passed a sign for a distlillery near thetford on the way to Norwich on saturday. Preconception says i shouldn't like it but i'm going to pop in nest time i'm up that way

ok so it seems we'll have to wait until at least 2014 to get a taste of a proper whisky from them, a bit like Kilchoman

Jagermeister, tis what it was originally created for. Taking a nip from a flask on cold days/nights out hunting, not mountain biking.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to get on with Whisky, I blame a youthful experience of Tesco's value whisky. Good Irish Whiskeys are good though, like a nice old Bushmills single malt, mmm.

Remy Martin
Ian

Good Irish Whiskeys are good though, like a nice old Bushmills single malt, mmm.

Irish Whiskey? whisky for vodka drinkers – no flavour

Home made sloe gin is indeed perfect a hipflask, providing it is not too sweet. The Gordons sloe gin is an abomination

Another excellent winter warmer is The Kings Ginger. It's a ginger liqueur but dry rather than sweet – made by Berry Bros.

Two flasks. One filled with Caol Ila. The other filled with Watson's Trawler Rum.

Marvellous. 😛

hhmmmm cider……scrumpy! ofcourse how can someone born'n'bred in the Wez Cu#ttree not think of scrumpy!?! none of this fizzy sh!t I want a warm apple/alcohol based beverage please.

[door slams, followed by footsteps in the direction of Bargin Booze]