First Whisky You Tried?

30 years ago, riding around in the counntry chasing jack daniels with coke, acting like an idiot. miracle we didn't wind up dead or in jail. it's made 50 miles from where i live, but is confined to my past as i enjoy and appreciate kentucky bourbons and single malt scotch.

Talisker. Jep. It kicked my right in the nuts. Luckily, I persevered and now its one of my favourites :)

Like many Americans, I'm sure, the first whiskey I ever tasted was Jack Daniel's. I didn't really like it (or understand the point of drinking spirits at that age). Later, I started drinking Cognac and Armagnac and built up a little collection and got very into it. At this point, my brandy adventures had matured my thinking about spirits and, one night at a restaurant I asked the bartender to suggest some single malt for me and he poured me some Highland Park 18. It was love at first sip. That was about a year ago and to this day I always have a bottle of Highland Park 18 on hand.

The first whisky I ever tried - not counting the furtive utilitarian teenage swigs from various anonymous bottles for the sole purpose of trying to get blottered - was a Glenlivet 12, which was handed to my by my then highschool student counsellor (and now regular drinking buddy). He said, "No need to rush it", and planted the idea of savouring the flavours.

A few years later my Dad accused me of drinking half (!!) of one of his two 5cl Johnnie Walker Red miniatures (and then topping it up with water so he didn't notice the level had gone down), but as both my parents were not whisky enthusiasts I couldn't make them see that it was illogical for me to have done that when I had a litre of Glenlivet 12 in my room.

Johnnie Walker Black. Liked it then, and like it now. Over 35 years it has always been quite good when I have sampled it.

My first whiskey was Jameson. My family (Irish) only drank the Irish stuff, and so I grew up on that. It wasn't until I got older and started experimenting with other whiskies that I discovered my passion for the water of life. I rarely go back to the standard Jameson expression, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the Irish whiskies.

I can't remember the first time i drank whisky, but i suppose it must have been canadian club or crown royal. later, my dad began collecting single malts which is what introduced me to the world of scotch. i started by picking up a bottle of johnnie walker red.

Jack Daniel's was the one I tried to chug without grimacing in college. As an adult, the first Single Malt I tried and liked was The MacCallan 18 year old about 3 years ago.

My first was JW Black. It really got me started on scotch whisky. My first single malt was The Glenlivet 12.

First whisky I remember having was the McClelland's Highland. I had an idea for a while that I wasn't going to enjoy it as most people did, but I bought the bottle and left it in my room for a week or two until I could make the trip out to my grandparents. Remember quite clearly getting a little set up of some slightly chilled water and ice, 3 snifters, and of course, the bottle itself. Opened it up, instant whiff of a floral kind, and passed it out amongst the three of us. "Cheers!". What an experience that first dram was, and it will most likely stick with me forever. Put me on to one of the few extremely enjoyable past times I currently entertain.

Last June a friend of mine went on the wagon . He sold me 7 bottles of Laphroaig 10 year old for 500 and threw in a small case of 4 15 cl of various types of scotch from highland, lowland , speyside , and islay. At that time laphroaig 10 was no longer available in Canada so felt kinda honored that I had a chance to get something that at the time was considere rare . Got back to my place in the city , opened the bottle and poured 3 ounces in a glass , took a sniff and thought my god what the hell is this ? Hope I like it I have 7 bottles of the stuff. Took a sip , and all reservations went away . palate was immediately filled with smoke , smoke , them more smoke and peat , tar , salt , seaweed , but what caught me off gaurd was the the vanilla, yes vanilla, I was sure , then some medicinal citrus , fading to salty iodine .all this , and smooth as a babies bottom , beyond belief!!!! you could have knocked me over with the cork. went from hope I like this to , yup shore nuff do ... Was using a light pilsner to cleanse the palate between hits , to get that initial experience back again and again . So did I enjoy it , next moring 2/3 bottle gone , along with 4 pilsners ,down the hatch , neat , at room temeperature as my mentor had informed me was tradition . "there is a special place in hell for people who waste , or mixed scotch " I was told . guess I am not going there . Will miss my friends down there , but now I found a new heaven . It's called Single malt scotch.

Glenffidich (no age statement)

A good friend of mine is Greek and his folks used to work in conjunction with their embassy. As a consequence they pretty much had unlimited access to duty free alcohol and had loaded up their loft with every drink know to mankind.

Looking back at it now, it does seem like they were hoping to keep their three teenage children's drinking under their roof (as I can't really see any other explanation for the sheer volume of booze that they had).

My mate's siblings were pretty serious and straight and never 'cracked into' this stash. Me and my mate ( and the rest of our group) had no such reservations and caned the whole lot over a period of about 4 years.

I can honestly say that I have always liked the taste of whisk(e)y. I was very fortunate to be able to drink the pioneer of single malts (Glenffidich - no age) from a very young age, free of charge, courtesy of my friends incredibly generous parents.

Yamas!

A.J. Is that the 40% 10 yr old Laphroig or the 43% version. I just got a bottle of the 43%. Haven't cracked it yet so I would be interested in which one impressed you so much. Isee the 40% version at duty free stores and might pick one up next time I go south if that's the one you like.

@Charlie-Davis You, sir, should be a writer. I like your entry. I could see it all, vividly.

Like others in this thread I´ve had my share of more or less vile experiences with run of the mill bourbons in my teenage years. For lack of better knowledge that was what whisk(e)y meant to me and I didn´t care for it at all for the past ten years. Last December at a company christmas party I decided to have a dram of Suntory Yamazaki after dinner (admittedly inspired by the movie Lost in Translation). Unfortunately I cannot recall which kind it was exactly, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Intrigued, I began to do some research online and discovered the world of single malts. To my great delight I also discovered that a whisky store with a huge selection was located practically around the corner. After some consideration I picked up a bottle of Lagavulin 16y. the next day and have been enjoying it ever since. The first dram i poured I spent at least fifteen minutes just nosing before I even took a first sip. Brilliant, intense stuff. I´m looking forward to trying my next bottle from another distillery soon.

@The-Mudshark Forty five years ago at a local restaurant I sampled my first very good Whisky. It was a 15 yo. Millburn and was so superior to the blended 'muck' that I had previously tried, it was like being struck by lightening. Sadly this Distillery is no more: Dismantled and , I'm told, is a cosy restaurant!

@ BlueNote , the Laphroaig in question was the 43% ABV . All I can tell you is what I was told about the 10 year old , "love it or hate it, you will never forget it " . I have tried many a dram since then, being all of 10 months later .LOL. Last weekend Lillyrose and I took Highland Park, and Glen Garioch - Founders Reserve to task for the first time. Both were very nice and we will both review them soon. We also tied into Glen Morangie Nectar D'or, and a taste or two of Bowmore Tempest, The latter 2 being among our favorites. Tempest being no longer available here in Canada, I was fortunate enough to dig up 3 more bottles from our local Liquor commission. After befriending the manager, she has become more than willing to do a little searching for me. To my pleasant surprise, she managed to find them in Winnipeg, and will have them delivered to my small town.. What a great hobby this is. Hope you enjoy the Laphroaig 10 year old as much as I do. It is always a permanent fixture in my cabinet . Whenever I need a slap in the face, I have a dram of that Brute. Apparently I liked getting slapped frequently. lol

Years ago my first whisky was Dewar's White Label. I remember it because a good friend/drinking buddy was into Scotch and drank it with water on the rocks (I know, possible blasphemy). I didn't care for it! Dabbled with Seven/seven's, Crown and coke, Jack and Ginger but moved away from whiskeys.

Fast forward about 25 years. I'm on a Celebrity cruise in the fall of 2010 and they have a SMSW tasting onboard. I was intrigued and drawn to the event. We were provided tastings of The Macallan 18, Macallan Elegancia and Highland Park 18 (HP18 was my favorite).

They gave us a small history lesson of Scotch, how to nose, taste and enjoy it. Next they came around and put just a few drops of water in each snifter with the remaining tasting sample of each whisky and wow, it was amazing how that little bit of water changed the experience. Even more seasoned Scotch drinkers in attendance were impressed. So I was intrigued and hooked!

Upon returning home from the cruise, I culled the internet for more info on SMSW. Came across various whisky websites, blogs, flavour maps/profiles and bought the book "The World Atlas to Whisky" and developed a list for my first 10 whisky's that I wanted to purchase, with my first purchase and bottle cracked open being Highland Park 12 (thus my affinity to my profile name HP12).

So now I am well on my way with completing my list of ten and a wish list to help guide me towards my next goal of having approx. 24 bottles in personal inventory with a definitive love for Islay style SMSW.

My newly found passion is in high gear as I've come a long way since trying that first sip of Dewar's. Now I'm in search of more knowledge, adding more bottles from various distilleries / expressions while also introducing my brother-in-law to SMSW...he's hooked too and we're looking into starting a local tasting club.

First I can remember in the heyday of my misspent youth was some Seagrams my sister got me while away at college. It was not the kind of whiskey one would savor.

In the intervening 20 years since then I was definitely more of a beer and wine drinker. I would from time to time try some of the things my father had on hand like Glenlivet, Overholt Rye, Bushmills or Makers Mark none of which really left a lasting impression, probably because of glassware and/or it was the last thing I had that night and my taste buds were overwhelmed from other things.

Fast forward to my mid 30s a few years ago and for whatever reason after trying some smaller airplane bottles of things like JW Red, Dewars and J&B on various trips for the hell of it I picked up a smaller bottle of JW Black and thought to myself, "Now, I see why people like scotch." Since then I have been much more experimental trying other bourbons and Irish or Canadians. Buffalo Trace was the first bourbon I tried that I really liked.

The whiskey I tried was Jim Beam...not a good experience. The first scotch I tried was Balvenie 12 Year.

@The-Mudshark What a great choice! A.J. and i had the wonderful experience of doing a "tasting" of the Lagavulin 16yo one weekend. We must have liked it, because after staying up all night watching movies and sipping away at it, the bottle was quite empty by morning. I'd have to say that bottle has been one of my favorites.

@lilyrose Although I´ve never had more than two drams on a single evening so far, the bottle is slowly running low. I´m thinking of getting either a bottle of Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist or Talisker 10y. next. While the Talisker is about half the price and maybe more of a difference in taste from the Lagavulin I´ll probably go with the Ardbeg as it´s been discontinued and will only get more expensive the longer I wait ... on second thought maybe I should get both.

@The-Mudshark. Well, I can tell you that you won't go wrong with the Talisker 10. A.J. and I nipped into that one on a weekend tasting as well. It is certainly different than Lagavulin, and i'm sure MUCH different than anything that Ardbeg could put out! Unfortunately that particular bottling of Ardbeg is not available in these here parts :-) so i'll just have to wait and see how others like it, and then covet the bottle from afar! Happy Shopping! My opinion is always to buy both!!!!

I'm very new to this forum and an absolute beginner as far as drinking whisky is concerned....I got a bottle of the Dalmore 12 as a gift from a friend when I went to visit him in Scotland recently, since it was my first single malt, I figured I'd make an effort to drink it the way it is supposed to be drunk and tht is how I found this forum and others and all the valuable information along with it....Frankly even after doing evth as told, I still found that I couldn't taste or smell about 80% of anythin ppl were talkin bout...but I really liked it and was totally fascinated by the love/passion for whisky shown here and so i decided to buy quite a few bottles this month and continue my journey !!! I will hopefully update my success/failure, but one thing is for sure I'm hooked for life !!!

@ The_Mudshark . I have to agree with Lillyrose, if finances permit, get both. Lillyrose and I will buy 2 bottles for a weekend and tie into them both. At first we imbibe in the bottle of the evening for more than a few sips. Then we switch up so we can compare it to the others we keep around. It is wonderful to be able to sample 3 or 5 different varieties in the same evening. When we can compare the merits of several different whiskys, we find it gives us plenty of perspective . I understand what you said about the Ardbeg being no longer available. We ran into the same problem with Bowmore Tempest. We tried it and loved it. Last night after work I went to the local liquor store and picked up 3 more bottles, which the store manager was kind enough to bring in for me . It was a limited edition bottling, and I loved it so much that I couldn't stand the thought of it just being a memory when I was able to do something about it. Also couldn't resist a bottle of Bowmore 12 (one of my eveyday sippers based on price and quality) It was an expensive evening, but life is so short and SMSW is so satisfying . One of the bottles is for lillyrose”s collection because, she loves it just as much as I do. Don't you hate thinking back: "was it really as good as I remember?” It’s much more fun when you can just pour a couple of ounces and reaffirm the love. If the Ardbeg will no longer be available, then purchase it first. If you can afford to purchase both, (and can justify spending the money) then do so, Then sit back and compare. It is heaven. There are only 5 more bottles of Tempest in the province. I know I can get my hands on at least 2 , while the other 3 are in Brandon (another city approximately 4 hours from my home) This may make it difficult to obtain. What to do , what to do? Decisions, decisions…………

My first time getting drunk when I was.... er, not old enough... I had frangelico and milk on ice, some drambuie, and a shot or two of Jack Daniels. I hated whiskey and everything that smelled like it for about 8 years until my brother in law introduced me to Laphroaig 10. Wow. To this day I'm not big on bourbon, but oh how I love the single-malt Scotch.

@Sippinxtac Even after nearly 5 years of drinking whisky i struggle to pick up some of the aromas and tastes that others identify almost immediately, so dont worry about that!

I've met my first whisky in an Irish coffee which I didn't really like. For that reason I decided that whisky wasn't really my thing.

A few years later my cousin (who already became a whisky enthusiast) got me interested in whisky again and he gave me some cheap american blend, I think it was JW. Actually I still didn't really like it because I had to get used to the taste and the alcohol ratio. However, he succeeded in his attempt to drag me into his enthusiasm because the next time I was in a cafe, I felt brave enough to order a whisky (Jack Daniels). When I recognized the whisky smell, I actually started enjoying it.

After that, I bought my own bottle of Jack and also my first single malt, which was a Glenfiddich 15yo. This is where I was hooked. When I smelled and tasted the sweetness and softness of a single malt, I found out there was a lot of new tastes to discover. Oh and all this happened a few months ago so I'm still a beginner.

First whisky's I had were obviously blended, Jameson / chivas on the rocks. But my first single malt was a HP12 I went out and bought myself. One of the best decisions I made and still one of my favourite go-to malts!

The first scotch I tried on its own with only ice was a gifted dewars 12 yr. It was good enough to pique my interest and make me wonder what else was out there. That was only a year ago. My first single malt is pending and will be either HP 12 or Old Pulteney, can't wait!