How Did You Fall in Love . . . With Whisk(e)y?

When I was younger, I was almost exclusively a beer drinker. I'd have a rye and ginger (we call all of our Canadian whisky "rye" regardless of whether it contains any rye grain) every now and then, but it was mostly beer. In my mid-twenties, if memory serves correctly, I started sipping Jack Daniel's and/or Jim Beam White Label on the rocks every now and then. I think I saw a movie or tv show wherein someone was drinking scotch and soda (maybe Christopher Hitchens), and that intrigued me so I tried JW Red (or Black) and Club Soda....and I liked it. One day, a bottle of Glenfiddich 12 called out to me. Single Malt Scotch had this aura of mystique and classiness so I went for it. Marketing at its finest? Most likely. But I spent the next ten years exploring different scotches, and even discovered bourbons other than Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's (yes, I know they don't call it bourbon). But it wasn't until I came here that I discovered some of the finest whiskies from my home country. Thanks to folks like @paddockjudge @Nozinan and @talexander I discovered some fantastic Canadian sipping whiskies.

@OdysseusUnbound - Excellent, thanks! Your experience(s) seem similar to mine although I was probably drinking more wine rather than beer when I got the bug.

I heard someone a while back say that drinks, like all fads, are cyclical and whilst our parents (60s ish) generation generally didn't dig whisky their parents did and now our generation has picked up the baton again. Maybe something in that?

I really didn't drink any alcohol until I got married. She literally drove me to drink.

In 2006 our honeymoon was delayed by a death in the family, so my wife and I drove to Niagara on the lake. Over the course of 3 days my wife, who had been on a wine trail before, drove us to 21 wineries. The first one included a tour and a tutored tasting. After that I started paying attention to wine, drifting toward the high-powered reds (Syrah, Shiraz, amarone).

In 2008 I met the gentleman who would light the way forward. He gave me bottles of whisky, Armagnac and Cognac and this prompted me to open some XO Cognacs my in-laws had given to us. I mentioned I liked them and he said he had predicted I would prefer Cognac over whisky. But that didn't last long and some of those bottles remain partly full 10 years later.

I had mentioned that I had a bottle of Macallan 25 to some friends but I didn't understand why they were so excited. That was in 2008 or 2009. It took until 2011 for us to have our first group tasting.

In 2009 I had read an article about the Battle of the Glens and bought some Glen Breton, thinking the value would go up if they were made to change the name. It didn't happen.

In 2010, I read about FC Confederation Oak, the first whisky to use Canadian Oak barrels. I ordered some numbered bottles as a collectors item. In the fall, I went to the distillery shop to collect them and tasted it there and really liked it, so I bought an extra couple of bottles for drinking (wish I had bought more of that original edition).

I finally decided to find out what the fuss was about Scotch and taste a Glen Breton (yes I know it isn't Scotch but it WAS a single malt). I googled tasting notes and Ralfy's first posted video review of a whisky (he had some others about technical aspects of whisky up before) came up and I watched it. I don't think I tasted anything he talked about.

After that I watched all of his videos (took a while to catch up) and organized my Scotch-loving group of friends for our first tasting in 2011. Including what was left of the Macallan 25 (which I could not appreciate).

And the rest is history.

Thanks for that @Nozinan! It's a bit surprising that you weren't really a drinker before you got into whisky but I guess it shows how much of a lure it has! And I suppose the same could be said of women?

Being of a medical persuasion I'd be interested to see if you think whisky might be something our taste buds 'grow into' as it were? By that I mean the more we taste and experience in life (food, drink, smells etc) the more we will find in the whisky?

@RianC

"same could be said of women?" - not anymore

"Being of a medical persuasion I'd be interested to see if you think whisky might be something our taste buds 'grow into' as it were?" - I don't think my medical background is of any use here. I've found as my appreciation for the complexities of whisky has grown, my enjoyment of less complex foods has decreased. It takes more flavour and better quality to really impress me.

For instance, my favourite Korean BBQ meat used to be 삼겹살, which is unseasoned and unmarinated pork belly. Now I prefer either seasoned or marinated meats, plus I eat it with more variety of sauces and sides.

And don't get me started on 소주...

@RianC I don’t know about cyclical stuff...my maternal grandfather, with whom I was very close, was a lifelong beer drinker. He’d have a glass of red wine now and then (hey, we’re French Canadian) but other than that it was beer.

I didn’t really mention red wine because I’ve been drinking it (with meals) since I was about 15. It’s a cultural thing. Much like my whisky preferences, I don’t have much of a palate for subtle wines. I’m sure there are some great ones, but I like big bold flavours. Ditto for food. Funny story about that.

I was with some friends at an Indian restaurant in Toronto (Biryani House maybe?) and I ordered a lamb dish of some kind (vindaloo? Rogan Josh? I can’t remember). The waitress said “That dish is very spicy”. I replied that I like spicy food. She smiled and riposted without missing a beat:

Not white person “spicy”, it is for us spicy. I laughed and ordered it anyway. She was right, and it was fantastic!

@OdysseusUnbound - Great story, being a lover of curry and spice and spending a lot of time in India I'm hearing you loud and clear! I also like the big bold reds from Argentina, Chile and claret. Maybe a little crisp N Italian white or Riesling with sea food.

My ex was half French, half Irish Canadian (from Montreal) and the amount of red wine and Molson X that was consumed on trips over there were head ache inducing to say the least

@RianC nice choice of topic, I happen to love origin stories.

In my mid 20's I really got into food and cooking, I loved everything about it, discovering new ingredients, learning history through customs and culture, the repeated movements and rituals, the communal aspects of it. By extension I became very interested in wine and beer, which I studied extensively I didn't drink a lot of spirits, a bit of rhum and gin & tonics.

I had subscribed to get the LCBO vintages magazine around that time, since I was doing a lot of cross-border shopping and I liked getting the advance notice of what would become available. I would read the whisky descriptions, leather, vanilla, smoke, heather etc...and be transported my imagination going to all those movies/ads/photos where elegant men and women, drink whisky, it was very romantic but my reality would be different. I purchased Laphroaig 10, Glenfiddich 12 and some blends to get me started with Scotch. I had so much trouble, each brand was so different, some harsh, some honeyed, I was un-educated and unprepared, I was sorely disappointed.

I did eventually try and settle on Bourbons of all kinds (Maker's Mark & Knob Creek being my preference) the oak forward, sweeter and round palate a easier gateway for my palate. A few years later I started diving into Canadian whisky, largely thanks to Davin DK 's website, it was approachable and there was a boom led by Forty Creek and the slow rise of Corby's fame with the return of Lot 40 and the new Wiser's releases (Legacy, red letter, small batch). I started taking whisky seriously, seeking out specific bottles, drinking it neat but still staying within the safety of the category I knew.

Then one day about my brother shattered my world by bringing a bottle of Aberlour 10 to supper (I think he was just tired of only having bourbon to drink at my house), somehow the flavors finally connected, my palate was more receptive and with his help I eventually graduated to Glenfiddich 15, Johnny Walker black/green and onward. It pushed me from casual drinker to obsessive, I found many of the things I loved about food to be true of whisky/spirits also.

About 23 years ago, a friend had a group of us over for an afternoon BBQ. During which he introduced me to my first speyside single malt. That was followed the following Christmas with my first sherried single malt. I was smitten. I had always been a whiskey and coke drinker. But I found both of those single malts to be both enjoyable and smooth. And so the journey began. Add to that an eventual trip to Ireland, and a budding romance with quality Irish whiskies, and the rest is now history. Unfortunately, I buried that friend nearly two years ago. He was only 54 years old. Not many sips go by that I do not think of him. Not only because he introduced me to fine whisky, and ignited my passion for such, but because our friendship had begun when we both were young kids. A friendship of nearly 50 years. So the love of whiskies and that long friendship are closely intertwined. And always will be.

@cherylnifer, thank you very much for your beautiful story. The friendships made and shared are indeed the very best thing about the whisky hobby.

As for my own whisk(e)y story, whisky of all sorts was out of fashion, way, way out of fashion, for the first 40+ years of my life. Now I've never cared much for popular taste or popular fashion myself, but that 'out of fashion' meant that I had little access to people who knew anything about whisky and little background from which to understand how to buy something I would like.

I remember buying my first bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label in about 1973 and liking it. With much experience I developed the ability to appreciate those bottles from that golden age far more in recent years than I did then. Other than that I bought just a couple of bottles of bourbon over the years until the late 90s. I didn't even like alcohol in those days, and was about 41 years old before I ever had the wonderful experience of becoming seriously commode-hugging drunk. I was in my 40s when I was 'carded' for the first time. I laughed for weeks (I'm still laughing) about that one.

At the end of 1996 a friend introduced me to Booker's Bourbon. That alerted me for the first time to a higher echelon of quality available in whisk(e)y spirits. For the next 10 years we would have some Booker's and Baker's available on a frequent basis. It was still not until about 2007 that I decided that whisk(e)y was a topic about which I knew little and wanted to get to know much more. From 2007 to 2009 I just went out and bought American whiskeys. Those were golden days of excellent quality available in US whiskey for really, almost nothing. $ 100 then would buy me 5 or 6 quality bottles. I marvelled at how ridiculously underpriced very very good whiskey was, at least domestically in the US. I could explore for almost no money. I became interested at that time in branching out and learning about other spirits. I discovered that I prefered straight rye to bourbon, and generally preferred more rye flavour than less in the bourbons which I did like. Then I discovered Pappy Van Winkle 15 yo and was shocked that my favourite bourbon was wheated. I started buying and drinking Irish whiskey. Then Scotch, gins, rums, even vodkas.

I got serious with Scotch whisky starting in about 2010, at the end of which I joined Connosr. From 2010 to 2012 we purchased 100s of bottles of all sorts of whisk(e)y, more of US products because they were much much better value for the money spent. It was also in 2010 when I/we discovered Pappy Van Winkle and the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection whiskeys. Both I and my sister, @Maddie, who came along into the hobby largely with my encouragement ("It's all your fault") hustled after the Pappy and BTAC whiskies, starting in 2010. We were very successful at getting them in 2010-2012, with success trickling off in succeeding years, as allocations shriveled to the dealers. Now it is an accomplishment to obtain a single bottle of any one of those.

With much experience in Scottish malts I discovered that my own taste is extremely eclectic, and that what I like best will depend entirely upon my mood and state of mind at the moment. There is a whisky for every mood, I find. In general my top favourite whiskies are the very best US ryes whiskeys and the very best Scottish and Indian malt whiskies. I love the Big Flavours, and would prefer all of my whisky to be bottled at 68% ABV or higher. I love Connosr because it is low-key, universal, and usually very friendly and accepting. Connosr is worldwide and Pan-Whisk(e)y. I'd be bored shitless by an all malts club. I'd be bored shitless by an all bourbon club.

I have little interest in blogs because the give and take is usually less there than it is on a place like Connosr and available participants are fewer in number. The only blogs I care much for are Chuck Cowdery's Blog, because he knows so damned much about his subject, American whiskey, and blogs where I can get a lot of useful non-subjective information, such as whisk(e)y production details and distribution information. What a reviewer thinks about a whisk(e)y is only useful to me if I know that reviewer's taste well. I like Connosr, and I especially like the Connosr Top 100 Rated Whisky List because a list like reflects the products which virtually no one dislikes.

Nowadays I still want to taste for myself almost everything, but, with 300+ bottles in the house at least 100 of which I know I adore, the need to buy new bottles is low.

Many thanks @cherylnifer for sharing that. It's both heartfelt and interesting and I'll raise my current dram in your friend's honour also!

@cricklewood - Thanks, and yes I find this kind of thing very interesting as well.

I didn't mention above but thinking back I remember buying a bottle of Bulleit bourbon before getting the Ardbeg and finding that I really liked the sweetness and overt wood spice it offered. I also got into food in my mid twenties, give or take, and combined with a passion for travelling have been lucky to taste and learn how to make food (I'll eat it, anyways ) from lots of different cultures. I asked @Nozinan the question about taste developing as I also think that learning to appreciate many different flavours and smells in food does go some way to helping one's appreciation of whisky. The night I refer to above was so memorable as it was like my taste buds suddenly 'got' whisky. Without wishing to drag anyone into a rabbit hole on the topic, I do wonder if building up a 'database' of sorts means we're simply able to get more out of it as we have more references to draw on?

Lastly, may thanks also @Victor for sharing that - I'm a little surprised that you really got into whisky a decade or so ago. You've clearly picked up lots of useful and interesting stuff along the way and it is the frequenters of this site that ultimately benefit as well!

Interesting stories a bout peoples journeys in the land of whisky appreciation. I think I've a;ways been intrigued by whisky - it appeals to so many aspects of my personality. I think the first bottle of 'whisky' I owned myself was Wilsons Blended Whisky (from a now defunct NZ distillery). From my early years of marriage (20 years ago) I tried to have a bottle of something tasty for an occasional dram. I think my gateway bottle to the world of single malts was Laphroaig 10. At the time I was equally stunned and infatuated by it. More often than not I got a bottle of something interesting as a birthday or Fathers Day gift (due to a lack of money to spend on luxuries). It wasn't until I started attending a monthly local whisky tasting event about 3 years ago that my interest really started to ramp up. Compared to most of you, I'm a small fry. @Victor spoke of his need for variety and that he would become bored if limited to one sector of the world of whisky, and indeed spirits. In my case, I'm intentionally limiting myself to Scottish whisky as I have limited experience and there are so many (even in OB's) still to try. My "collection" a.k.a. handful of open bottles rotates regularly with little to no repeats - but interestingly currently seems to disproportionately feature Campbeltown malts. So, in many ways, there are still many miles of road ahead of me on this journey. It certainly makes it more fun having a community like this to learn from and share with. Cheers!

I lost a bet. I was in the air force and a friend and I were in the officer's mess one Friday. I don't remember what the bet was, however, the loser had to drink what the winner selected. Beer and wine were not an option. It had to be something that neither of us had tried. He selected scotch. I was 22! At that time, no sane 22 year old drank scotch. I forget to mention that it was 4 oz and the the bet was to down it. 4 oz in a beer glass doesn't look like much. Back then I had no clue about the proper etiquette with whisky (nosing, taste, proper glass, etc). I just wanted to get it over with. Down it went and truth be told it was like drinking gasoline. It was freaking awful. I have no idea what brand it was, but knowing the mess it was probably something that cost $5.00 and came in a 100 gallon drum. For the next 10 years I avoided whisky. My love affair with whisky started with me trying to impress a woman. She offered me a lagavulin and I fell in love with whisky.

@PeterG7 Was she impressed?

@Nozinan I don't think she was. I still hadn't mastered the art of savouring the whisky. I do remember thinking that it was far better than the swill I had had 10 years ago. Perhaps, she wasn't impressed that it was gone in about 10 seconds. For the record though, I did drink it out of a whisky glass.

@PeterG7 Kindof like my guest who dowed 50 cc of my Talisker 57 North on one shot...

@Nozinan, you will never forget her, will you? ...and you will probably never invite her again either.

I will probably never forget THAT, just as I will never let @talexander forget the AP30 and gingerale.

I will probably include her in future group tastings as she is part of the now mostly dormant group that we started with and also another non-whisky organization that I am part of, and so are most members of the whisky tasting group. But my choices of what to offer may be different.

@Nozinan well best you never mention Connosr to her or she may join up, search her favourite dram that her friend kindly gave her so much of, and find multiple mentions of herself ha ha

The love started as a wildfire when someone poured me a dram of Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist ......

@PeterG7 - Years ago, before I ever really drank any whisky, I was travelling in Thailand and ended up in a very romantic setting with a stunningly beautiful blonde Dutch woman. In the evening she brought a bottle of whisky out (can't remember the brand but sure it was a malt) - I seem to remember trying to impress her by saying I really liked whisky and then she poured me a large one . . . It's no easy feat pretending to like a drink that is making you want to gag after every sip ha ha!

It's such a treat to read these stories, thank you for sharing! I always enjoy knowing how/why people get into their hobbies, it just fills the bigger picture of who that person is.

My story is I had my first taste of whiskey at the tender age of five. We were at a Chinese wedding banquet and I specify Chinese because at every Chinese wedding banquet I have ever attended (40+ years), each table has always been laid out with three bottles on the lazy susan: one bottle of Martinelli's Apple Cider, one bottle of 7-Up, and one bottle of Seagram's 7. If you wanted wine or other liquor, you'd head to the bar (if there was one). I was and probably still am Daddy's little girl that it was not enough for me to simply have 7-up. I insisted, pleaded, begged, whined to Dad to have a sip from his glass (which had Seagram's 7 over ice). To be honest, I think I was also enamored with the number "7" on the bottle, and that was enough for me to want what was inside the bottle. Dad finally relented after I basically almost had a meltdown (I laugh as I type this) and poured me just a teeny few drops into a glass and there I had my first taste. It knocked my senses out of order and it burned my lips, my tongue, but there was something very attractive about the sensations afterward - there was a vanilla buttery sweetness that came through, and it was (for me) so much tastier than my 7-Up. I was hooked. My Dad laughed and said that was enough for me, but if I fancied that then he said he looked forward to when I was of age so he would have a drinking buddy. Over the years we have not seen eye to eye on things, and in some cases, we have had some very tough moments - but I can honestly say that whisky/whiskey is something that has been a bridge for our relationship, and we are still very good drinking buddies, for that I will always cherish.

Now that I'm on Connosr, I've been blessed with enjoying the exchange of stories, reviews, and learning more from all of you, and I'm quite thankful for that - but my whisky cabinet is definitely much more full than before I found out about this website - so thank you for all these suggestions too!

@archivist - Thanks for sharing that! I like how drink can bring folk together. Yes, it can harm (I've seen it first hand) but we/society seldom reflects on the bonding and communal aspect of spirits and alcohol.

I think the first time I ever drank whisky was about age 8. I was off school sick and my Mum had to work in the afternoon so I had an hour or so alone before my Grandma came over. I'd been watching lots of Clint Eastwood films and was obsessed with Westerns, noticed the whisky (probably Bells or Grants if I was lucky ;) and grabbed a shot glass . . .

I remember the searing heat but also the sweetness, which was quite nice. I must have knocked back a few as when my Nan came over I was hiding in a wardrobe in my parent's bedroom much to her surprise. She must have guessed but ,bless her, she never let on to my folks.