Welcome to new members

@Nickh, a 10 bottle purchase is quite righteous, and most demonstrative of zeal for the hobby. I used to do that a lot...pretty soon, you've got 300 bottles lying around! It is a good problem to have, but after a couple of hundred bottles it often does become a bit of problem. How many to have open at one time is the greatest concern, along with where to put the bloody bottles....After you've got 200+ lying around you realise that there are probably quite a few of them that you will not finish off (or even get to) for years to come. The ones you like most you really need extras of when you find them, because some of them will not be obtainable again in the future. Welcome to Connosr!

@Nozinan Sounds like sound advice! Thanks. We did go a little crazy although my bottles weren't from just one distillery... we got a little carried away with the distillery tours too! We did tours of Aberlour, The Macallan, Glenlivet, GlenDronach, Glenfiddich, Glen Grant and Strathisla too. I got 3 Balvennie bottles in total. It was the Balvennie tour that most inspired though (Could be something to do with getting to taste a 47 year old!). A couple of the bottles were bought with friends tastes in mind too (Glenlivet and Glen Grant). I'm not buying to collect at this point so all will get opened! I think as a beginner i do focus on age but i did taste (and like) some great non age statement whiskies (Glenlivet Nadurra and Aberlour A'bunadh).

@Victor 300! Blimey.. i'd need an extension on the house. I can see how it might happen though. I do want to taste as many as i can. I've just ordered a small tasting set of more peaty whiskies to sample. Hoping that approach will cut down on wasted bottles if i recoil in horror!

@Nickh, when the bottles start to pile up in a big way, and even before that time, the best and most economical way to taste a lot of whiskies is to swap samples with your whisky mates. Though this is an online club I do everything I can to encourage whisky lovers to socialise and taste together face to face. You will find that while you might want to taste everything out there, you won't necessarily want to own a bottle of everything out there.

@Victor True. I think i'm forming my own tastes already but I'm sure it will change with time.I know a couple of people who are into their Whiskey. I think one is even a member of a Whiskey club in London. So will have to arrange a tasting/swapping session.

@Nickh welcome! you'll love all the great information and discussion.

@Nickh,

Welcome to Connosr. Get yourself a book case, sans books...then another, and another...

@paddockjudge Ha. Was just thinking how do people store their huge collections! Ikea Whisky cabinet? ;-)

@Nickh There are a number of ways that they are stored. My patron had industrial shelves in an apartment, @paddockjudge has beautiful shelving for part of his collection and some people have something called a "bunker" which sounds hard core to me...

Dear Maltheads,

I'm a pure malt enthusiast from Munich, Bavaria and I'm interested in general concerning information about good Single Malts. My hobbies are riding my motorbike across the Alpes, travelling and swimming. I'll start here to get more experianced with this forum during the next few weeks.

Kindest Regards Martin

@Celtic Welcome to the family!

@Celtic , welcome!

You ever drink any of that Slyrs they make near you? I hear it tastes like wellies!

@Celtic Welcome! what bike do you have. I ride a ninja back in the states.

New to the group, really starting to ramp up my whiskey base, and trying to adsorb and learn as much as possible. My first true scotch was Oban a few years back. Myself and my wife gravitate towards the Islay whiskies, particularly Lagavulin.

We are headed to Scotland for the first time this june. we plan to spend a day or 2 on Islay. Any recommendations or advice would be great! We will only be able to do 2 tours. Which ones should do, or tastings? Bruichladdich will be closed for maintenance so no tours june through part of july. Just their tasting room will be open.

any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Cheers Robert

Welcome to Connosr @rmunson32!

Here's the Whisky Advocate Islay Travel guide contained in the Fall 2016 issue. The article starts on page 65. You can zoom in on the text.

issuu.com/pato.7/docs/…

I also have a hard copy of the issue if you want/need to refer to it. I am right across the river from you in Montgomery County, Md.

"Follow" me and we can private message.

Cheers!

Correction: page 65 in the hard copy is page 69 in the electronic version above.

That's a handy link @Victor

@jeanluc, yes, it's a really excellent collection of information.

@Ol_Jas Hello, Slyrs isn't my favorite taste. I prefer the German distillery Hammerschmiede and the Glen Els and Alriks.

Cheers Martin

@casualtorture

Hi,

it's a Harley-Davidson Road King Classic 2009 with an TwinCam 96 cubic inch engine ...

Cheers Martin

@rmunson32 , welcome!

There have been many discussions about visiting Islay across the various sites of the WorldWideWhiskyWeb. Search this site, but also whiskywhiskywhisky and Reddit ("Scotchit").

Short answer: One or two days on Islay is hardly worth the effort & time it'll take to get there and back from the mainland. But if you go, the best distilleries to visit are Bruichladdich (super fun, maybe even if the actual distilling area is closed) and Laphroaig (for their "water to whisky" tour or whatever they call their top-line tour that takes you out to the bogs to cut peat).

@Ol_Jas Thanks so much, pushing for a full 2 days but the wifey is the boss. Considering Springbank as well. We will only be staying on the west coast of Scotland.

@rmunson32 , are those two days counting travel days? The downside to visiting Islay is that taking the ferry there and back consumes a lot of your precious vacation time. And as you know, you obviously have to stay on the island too (it's not a day trip), so you also have all the bother of packing up, getting into your new accommodation, and doing the reverse on the way out. It's not like going to Skye where you just drive over the bridge whenever you feel like it.

All that said, if I were visiting Scotland again, I'd return to Islay. And I'd take the ferry (instead of the plane from Glasgow) just so I could tour Springbank on the way west.

@Ol_Jas we are flying into Dublin for a day or two, and then renting a car and taking the ferry over from Belfast. We will do 2 full days on Islay, staying on the island. I hear lagavulin warehouse tour is great. However many people have also said to do other ones on the island. I hear doing a laphroaig tour or their high end tasting is a must.

@Victor thanks so much, perusing through it now

@rmunson32 welcome!

Hello everyone :)

@thatfatgamer welcome!

Hello from New Zealand. I've been spending a bit of time recently "researching" whisky on the web and thought it's about time I joined up with a community to chat with some like minded folk. I'm no whisky expert, but I'm loving the process of learning what I like. Looking forward to learning from you all. Cheers, Hewie

@Hewie Welcome! What do you like so far?