Visiting Scotland

In August of this year, I’ll have the great pleasure of visiting Scotland on the tail end of what will be a nearly one month-long vacation in Europe. We’re visiting Scotland because my beautiful wife, knowing that I love scotch and knowing that it’ll be my birthday, thought it would make a fantastic birthday present – which it will!

We’ll be staying a night or two in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, a month of comedians and other performers, and then drive our way up to Inverness. For those familiar with the geography of the region, that takes us in the heart of scotch distilleries in Scotland. We’ll be driving up the A9/A95 towards Craigellachie, home of The Macallan.

World's Most Expensive Whiskies

Macallan 1926 Costs $38000 a BottleIn mid-2006, Forbes listed the world’s most expensive whiskies with the top bottle netting $38,000. That’s right, a single bottle of the stuff at the top of the list costs more than most of the cars on the road today. Which was it? It was The Macallan Fine and Rare Collection, 1926, 60 Years Old… a single malt of the highest order took the top spot and it’s not actually possible to buy it anymore.

Here’s what Forbes had to say:

The oldest and most sought-after of Macallan’s revolutionary Fine & Rare Collection is now sold out. It is still possible to taste this totally unique Scotch whisky at the Old Homestead Steakhouse in the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J. However, it sells for a nosebleed-inducing $3,300 per dram, so you had better have had a good run at the craps table.

To clarify, the list was created to capture the most expensive of each type, so you’ll see clearly “inexpensive” Jack Daniels Single Barrel Whiskey listed because it’s the most expensive Tennessee whiskey. Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old is the most expensive rye whiskey and Suntory Yamazaki 18 is the most expensive Japanese whiskey. Anyway, here’s the rest of the list:

  1. The Macallan Fine & Rare Collection, 1939, 40 Years Old: $10,125
  2. Chivas Regal Royal Salute, 50 Year Old: $10,000
  3. Glen Garioch, 1958, 46 Year Old: $2,600
  4. Bruichladdich 40 Year Old: $2,500
  5. Glenfiddich 40 Year Old: $2,500
  6. Springbank 32 Year Old: $750
  7. Auchentoshan 1973 32 Year Old: $700
  8. Evan Williams 23 Year Old Bourbon: $350
  9. Midleton Very Rare: $139
  10. Suntory Yamazaki 18 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey: $110
  11. Sazerac Rye 18 Year Old: $55
  12. Johnny Walker Green Label: $50
  13. Bernheim Original Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey: $50
  14. Jack Daniels Single Barrel Whiskey: $42

Scotch Night: Jura, Laphroaig, Glenmorangie, Chivas Regal, Macallan, Highland Park

I mentioned last week that having a Scotch Night was a great way to sample a wide variety of scotches without spending a wide variety of dollars. I must admit, the idea to write the article come from the fact that my friends and I would be having one of these Scotch Nights the very next day! (1/16/09)

So, the roster was:

  • Jura 18
  • Laphroiag 10 & a quarter casks version
  • Glenmorangie 10
  • Chivas Regal 18 (our only blend)
  • Macallan 15
  • Highland Park 12

Jura-18yo-bottle-and-cartonThe Jura 18 was a bottle I picked up coming back from England last Thanksgiving and I was eager to try it because it wasn’t available here in the United States. The Isle of Jura 18 Year Old is a 40% abv scotch and the only scotch from that island. My memory of the Jura is that it’s sweet and very soft, no doubt a product of its age, and it definitely captures the mood Jura tries to invoke, which is a celebration of the island life.

The Isle of Jura itself is 16 miles off the coast of Scotland, near Islay, and measures only 30 miles long by 7 miles wide, a population of only 185. The main settlement on Jura is a village known as Craighouse where they distill Isle of Jura. What’s most interesting is that there is no ferry connection to mainland Scotland, travel must be done through Islay, though that connection, or its heavy peat, doesn’t come through in the whiskey!

chivas_regal_18The Chivas Regal 18 was the only blend of the bunch and headquartered in Speyside. My novice palate had trouble with the Chivas Regal 18 because the spiciness tripped up the fruity flavors, having both really threw me for a loop. I could definitely taste both but I couldn’t get past the spiciness to really enjoy the fruit (I love spicy food) and spiciness isn’t something I typically taste in scotch, further confusing me a little.

A little bit of history, Chivas Regal is produced in the oldest working distillery in the Highlands of Scotland, the Strathisla Distillery.

Those were some notes I had from our Scotch Night. With each night, I’m slowly developing a better palate and a better sense of the scotches that I enjoy. In prior scotch nights, I discovered I enjoyed peatiness and smokiness in moderation (Laphroaig and Lagavulin!) but liked the fruitier and more vanilla-y scotches for longer stretches.

Oh, one other thing we did during scotch night, besides eat and drink, was watch The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly… which was a lot longer than we thought it was. 🙂