Beginner, advice on next bottle

I would suggest the following based on a variety of flavor profiles: Glenlivet 16 Nadurra Cask Strength (cask strength bourbon cask from Speyside), Kilchoman (Islay) Loch Gorm or Machir Bay for an essay in controlled peaty elegance (peat is much less than the Ardbeg or Lagavulin you have), a good bourbon from Heaven Hill like The Fighting Cock 6 years, Springbank 10 or a Longrow to experience treasures from Campbeltown.

Good luck!

Welcome aboard. My advice is to try Highland Park 12yo. It's a nice single malt with a variety of flavour profiles. It is still one of my favorites. I get honey, heather, smoke, brine and sherry. Wonderfull and quite complex in my opinion. Good luck on finding your next malt.

@Malt-Nuisance...I would agree with your HP 12 recommendation as it is a nice and interesting profile, which changes nicely over time. It provides a nice intro to briny notes that can be present in some whiskies. Along those lines, I would also recommend Talisker 10.

I recommend something from Amrut. I particularly like their CS and peated CS. The fusion is also a good option.

A Springbank would be a good introduction to campbeltown. I like the 12 year old cask strength.

And for bourbon, available and excellent would lead me to recommend Booker's.

For canadian whisky I recommend a Forty Creek, copper pot or a special release if you can find it.

Rovaben, first all the advices on this thread are very good.

Here is my comment For the scotch, you obviously need a Cambeltown. Springbank 12 CS should be your first choice but if you are not found of the vegetal note of this malt, you would need to give a chance to Hazelburn CV for its buttery pecan flavor. I would also add a bottle of Clynelish 14 for its nicely weighted brine and the tropical notes. But please go for the A'bunadh first! As for the Glenfarclas 15, this year I would go for the 17 yo but if you can get the 15 from 2012 go for it.

For the Bourbon, Booker's is a must but Fighting Cock is a good alternative and much less expensive (with less fruit than Booker's). But you should get a wheated Bourbon either Mark's 46 or a Weller product. Finally, I really like the last Jack Daniel's single barrel.

As for the Canadian rye, I like Nozinan's suggestion of Forty Creek pot still, you will get a typical maple note and a bigger than typical orange note. For a rye with tropical notes, I would suggest Lot 40. And for its balance and its mature taste, Gibson's Finest and Rare 18..

And BTW, the Gibson and the Fighting Cock make an incredible vatting at 50/50.

By the way, get things you want to try at whatever rate you like, but you don't need to taste all at once. Take your time. Learn what you like. It's not a race.

I'm finishing up my fourth year of "serious" exploration, but it's still more academic than practical. I Have a long lineup of things waiting. Some I was lucky enough to taste and some I bought after serious consideration.

The only possible downside to buying too far ahead is you may find your tastes change and you may lose interest in some of the stuff on your waiting list.

For instance, my wife bought me a litre of glenlivet 18 I'm 2011 less than a year into my journey. It's a fine malt, no question, but I now know I prefer cask strength drams. I may never get to opening it.

Similarly in my excitement over A'Bunadh, I bought the whole range from Aberlour,10,12,16,18. Two of the 18 in fact. I opened one of them and found it was not as fulfilling... Now what will I do with those bottles? Maybe I could do a masterclass for beginners.

So choose carefully, and slowly. Only buy ahead if you are confident you'll still want those drams and you don't feel you'll be able to find them when you're ready.

Things to look out for:

Respected expressions being changed, or discontinued (like Mac CS)

One off expressions that are unlikely to be repeated (springbank claret wood)

But remember, there will always be enough special releases and good products in the future, so don't dwell on what you miss out on.

Wow! Thanks on the great replies all! I guess after the abundh my best options are: Springbank 10 or 12 Highland park 12 Glenlivet nadurra And maybe clynelish 14

About flavour profiles, can someone give me a quick idea of the different types? Are the flavour maps a good thing to look at? Like if you tasted some bottles from al quadrants, can you get a good idea of the flavours without mising something?

So springbank is a good example for cambeltown. I guess ardbeg and lagavulin are good examples of islay? And is the dalwhinnie 15 a good example for a highland malt? The abunadh is a good example of speyside right? Anything missing to get to know the areas is scotland a bit?

I'm still really new and there is just so much! Thanks all!!

And Nozinan, thanks for the advice! There is just so much to taste, and even more to discover! I might need to slow down a little, I am enjoying it a lot though!

@Rovaben I agree with NozinanB flavor maps are not really helpful. A'bunadh is not a good example of Speyside but it s a great example of Sherry Monster. I want to get to your attention the importance of a finish. For example the Glendronach 15 yo Revival has a great Pedro Ximenez finish wich gave flavors of chocolate, coffee and dates while the Glendronach Virgin Oak has, like almost all Virgin oak, some tropical flavors (mango, melon, etc.), a big banana and some acetone (nail polish). With time and experience, I learned to identify what is coming from the Glendronach malt but I still have a lot to learn.

BTW among Islay, I find Bruichladdich to be quite different with a unique vegetal note closer to Cambeltown than to Islay for my palate.

One last advise, learn what are the flavors your palate is sensible to. Those you like and those you don't and when you read about a whisky read the good reviews and the bad ones because those not sensible to the flavors you dislike will not talk about them. And no matter how good the whisky seems to be if the good points are on flavors you don't usually detect you are on for a big deception. I myself am very sensible to banana but I am not to coconut. I am not ashamed of it. That's the way it is!

So trust yourself because nobody taste what you are tasting!

Welcome aboard @Rovaben.

• You have peaty whisky covered with Ardbeg 10 & Lagavulin 16. A user suggested Talisker 10, this will give you an idea about a non-Islay peat to compare to these two.
• You have flavoured casks aged/finished in Sherry with your future plans to buy Aberlour A'bunadh Glenfarclas 15.

The Highland Park 10 suggested above is also a good compliment to your line up, you will note it is complicated by covering a range of taste profiles.

I want to suggest some malt whisky without peat or without complete aging in flavoured casks such as Old Pulteney10, Glenmorangie 10 and Auchentoshan 12.

Also please don't ignore Glenfiddich 12 & Glenlivet 12. They are surely available near you and will be able to suit your budget options of 70,-Euro & under. They will give you the opportunity to try even more whisk(e)y and are good points of reference when you are developing your palate.

Thanks for even more replies!

I have been looking at glendronach 15 revival, but my impression was that it was a bit similar to abunadh and glenfarclas 15? The way you describe it sounds wonderful though! It is, by the way still quite hard to taste any of the things you guys discribe though! But I CAN say if I like it or not ;)

I will definitely keep talisker 10 in mind, but from your responses it seems highland park is one of the first to try! And indeed I came across old pulteney 12 earlier, so this is a very good example of a whisky that is not peaty and not aged in a flavoured cask? So just bourbon cask matured?

I am a bit hesitant about glenfiddich and glenlivet 12, I know they are well known and loved by many, but the reviews seem mediocre at best at whatever site I look..

Again thanks all! Lots of help make me feel welcome!

@Rovaben the Old Pulteney10 is aged in ex-bourbon casks. The Auchentoshan 12 in Oloroso and ex-bourbon. BTW I note you are checking off whisky regions, the Auchentoshan will check off the Lowlands for you.

Also while exploring Glendronach 15 revival, Aberlour a'bunadh and Glenfarclas 15 (all very nice choices), why not look at Glengoyne 12 yr afterwards.

Glendronach 15 revival is easily one the more interesting sherried options, but if this is your 1st foray into sherried drams then you may find everything (at a similar price) you taste in that style afterwards rather... well, dull.

Glenfarclas 15 is excellent yes, but not imo a typical example of the sherried style as it is smokier than most.

If you want a 1st time introduction to sherried scotch i'd go with the Glendronach 12yo original.

For other style's that you haven't got covered so far in your list try Old Pulteney (saltier/savory, some smoke) & Highland Park (sweeter & smoky)

@Frost well, I am sort of trying to find out what the things are that I need to check off!:

Islay (have arbeg 10 and lagavulin 16(love it!), maybe add kilchoman machir bay), Speyside (dont know yet.. glenlivet nadurra?), Cambeltown (springbank 10 or 12 cs), Sherried (abunadh, glendronach revival, glenfarclas 15 all seem good) ex-Bourbon cask (old pulteney 12 and highland park 12) Other style peat (talisker 10)

What am I still missing here after all this advice?

@jules you really make me want to try the glendronach revival!

@Rovaben Glenfarclas 15 has big batch variation going from fairly good to fantastic. A'bunadh is spicier with red fruits while Revival is sweeter with dark fruits (dattes, plum, etc.).

If you are really looking for a different peat, have a try at the peated line of Benriach.

@Rovaben this is the great thing about whisk(e)y - there are so many variations for you to explore.

There is also malt whisky that is aged or finished in casks that are not Sherry or ex-bourbon. For example your Balvenie Caribbean Cask that previously held Caribbean rum. As well Virgin casks are currently getting some attention.

@Rovaben - the GD'15 Revivial is in my humble opinion the most characterful & satisfying sherried whisky you will find for under 100$ / 75€. A'bunadh is very tasty and you'll find many here who sing it's praises, but it is not really typical of the style (also it is high AVB, i'd advise to wait a while before trying cask strength...) so I would not recommend it to someone who is still getting to know Scotch.

@Frost Personally I'd go with Bladnoch or a good Littlemill instead of Auchent. for introducing Lowlands, a little more interesting, if you can find them.