Guide us kind sir...

Now how long will it take Hoppity to find this thread.

Yes, about this time of year the urge for it hits and lasts until February.  Sadly, I have none in stock.  

Snobs can turn their nose up at me but I kind of lump the dark liquors together...I enjoy them all and honestly don't differentiate much.  The highest I go regularly is Glenlivet, Maker's Mark is a standard, some Johnny Walker and an occasional odd bottle of something else finds its way home.

In a past life, I had the hepatic misfortune of bartending in Scotland. Spaniel, my nose is turned so far up that I'll drown in the rain.

While I do enjoy Jack Daniels, Maker's Mark, and JW Green, I was actually thinking of the Scottish single malt whiskys (ok, I like a couple of the Japanese ones too) -- Macallan, Glenmorangie, Talisker, Lagavulin, etc.

I'm definitely not the best person to guide y'all on a tasting tour, as my education was pretty short. But I started out with a half bottle of Macallan 12-year because it was described as a middle-of-the-road in terms of taste profile, but good quality whisky... So I'd have an oz or 2 of that each night, and cough afterwards because I wasn't used to the alcohol content, and it basically burned on the way down, and I wondered why the hell I continued drinking the stuff night after night. Haha. Probably did that for 2 weeks. Eventually I got used to the burning and started noticing other parts of the flavor. So once I had that as a baseline I would go out to bars and order a single malt whenever I saw one.

(The reason why I started this was because on some other message boards people talked about the variety of flavors from different distilleries, and the effect of age on whisky. Most of the single malts are available in a 10 or 12 year, a 16 or 18 year, and a 21 or 25 year... Among others, but those are the more common. I had tried to get into wine but somehow never made it, but figured I'd try out whiskys and see if they were any better for me)

I quickly discovered that there really is a huge range of flavors for whiskeys. So I started drinking the 10 or 12 year (cheapest) versions of the main distilleries. In addition to the 4 I listed, Laphroaig, Cragganmore, Oban, Balvenie

I think of Macallan, Glenmorangie, and Glenlivet as the baselines, as their flavors are all pretty similar to me. Whereas Talisker is basically like drinking fire - very cool. Lagavulin tastes like smoke. Laphroiag is similar but different, and unfortunately it's been so long since I've had it that I can't really describe it well. Balvenie really has the wood taste of the barrel infused into it, and Cragganmore reminds me most of fruit, though I read that's supposed to be a secondary flavor, it's the most prominent for me. Oban for some reason I've never liked, and I've tried it off and on several times.

And then there's the effect of the different ages. The flavors get a little toned down, the texture a little smoother. The contrast between a Macallan 12 year and 25 year is amazing - 25 is waaaay too expensive to drink on anything like a regular basis, but I'll try it once every few years. As smooth as butter going down, and the flavor is rich without the typical whisky bite... And something about Laphroiag 18 works much better for me than 12, because there's less bite to it.

Anyway, I'm sure a real whisky drinker will be able to describe this stuff better and know more about the obscure ones I haven't tried... please jump in

 I had tried to get into wine but somehow never made it, 

Ha.  You're talking to someone with 60 vines, aka Spaniel Cellars.  23 gallons this year.  Putting in 30 more vines for red wine next spring.  

With production that low, I hoard it a bit for age.  So I'm drinking Black Box Malbec right now.

Well then tell me what to drink, you snobby bitch.  I need to go to the store.

Drink what you enjoy. To find that, we should have a sit down at a place where there is a good selection. The Irish Lion in Bloomington has a spectacular selection. The process of making Scotch makes it taste like where it was produced. I think the best way to do it is to go on a geographical tour of tasting. Once we've identified the region that makes whisky you're drawn to, explore that one in more depth for a while. Then you'll appreciate the subsequent regions in a more profound way when you branch out from there. I drink mostly from the Islay and islands region, especially if I'm only having one or two. As to how you drink them, again, go with what you like. That said, with a little room temperature water will allow you to discover the taste the most thoroughly. I often attempted to pair whisky with ale the way one would with food and wine. I really like double fisting a good ale with a glass of whisky - intake is moderated by having the heavy beer, but you also don't have to get laden with large quantities of ale to get where you're going. They do tastings sometimes at the Crown across from my office, I'll try to pay attention to their emails. 

Nice! Always love a bottle of good stuff.

I haven't actually had any whisky for a long while. This is a problem that must be remedied. But must decide which one to have.

I tried making a 50/50 blend once, it turned out pretty well. I'm not entirely sure which ones I combined, though. Probably a baseline and something more distinct, maybe Lagavulin and Glenmorangie... I told myself I could taste elements of each, though I wonder how much of that is just because I wanted to tell myself I could