Worst whisky ever!

Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch No. 3

A joke, it's a jooooooke! I would kill a small but ruthless badger or perhaps a feral boar for a glass of that one.

Worst ever? The well whisky at Pal's Shanty in NE Portland. I have no idea what it is, but it made me throw up on the sidewalk after only two whisky sours.

In all fairness, that might have been caused by the $1 oyster shooters. This said, I still go to Pal's occasionally. It's quite a landmark in NE Portland. Over a century old, and that's old by anyone's standards in any part of Portland.

@rigmorole, you had me there with the Balvenie Tun ; )

I just purchased 3 Liberian made Whiskies (Night Club Whisky, God Father Whisky and Uncle Sam Father Whisky) from distilleries in Monrovia. I will review over the weekend but imagine I have 3 viable contenders on my hand. Distillery Tour Postings will be forthcoming ;>

@NAV26 Looking forward to reading about your Liberian whisky adventure and tasting notes (if you survive them, that is)!

I would have to say Jimmy Beam's Red Stag, anything Canadian Club (especially their Sherry Cask)....just nasty! Virginia Gentleman, Kentucky Tavern......God, the list could go on and on.

Oh, I forgot to add the Black Grouse.....worst pleated whisky I've tried.

Amber Distilleries Desert Queen Reserve (Indian Blended Whisky), Locke's 8yr Irish Single Malt, and/or White Owl Whisky (Canadian)...

Johnny walker red.... Recent edition. I did a taste test between a batch bottled sometime in the late 70s or early 80s and a sample bottle from around 2010-11.

I could tell the difference between the two in blind tasting. Essentially, while not really that great, the older version was drinkable (though I would probably go without rather than drink it). The new version was bitter and spirits and lacked any redeeming flavour.

But it wasn't the worst experience, because I actively decided to do this tasting with my brother-in-law, and the process was interesting, educational, and fun.

Has anyone ever tried the Loch Dhu 10 Year Old (from Mannochmore distilleries) that was available about two decades ago? Dreadful!

the worst? Well probably the cheapest available Sainsbury & Tesco white label blends. But as single malts go, I think I'll have to go with Loch Lomond

My first impulse is to go with a truly brutal Chinese whisky I once tasted. In (mainland) China, a product with any level of success or prestige won’t go for more than 5 minutes without having a cheap, fake, substandard knockoff follow suit. Such is the case with whisky. But, what I tasted barely had any semblance of whisky, so I can only assume it was an amalgamation of chemicals, radioactive waste, and badger urine. If you love terrible taste, long hangovers, and painful headaches, this stuff is for you. But since I doubt that there was any adherence to standards during its production, I won’t count it. I suppose, then, that the above rant was an ‘honourable mention.’

My second impulse is to go with Canada. As a Canuck, I've had a few terrible bottom shelf Canadians myself, but I can't in good conscience post them here as ‘the worst.’ Why? They're not meant to be sipped! As much as those cheap mixers might tarnish our country's reputation in the world of spirits, they’re also a multi-million dollar industry that contributes to our economy. And those of us who do the research will immediately be able to uncover which Canadian stuff is good and which isn’t. But before I go off on a tangent about that let me return to my original point; Cheap Canadians - mixing yes, sipping no.

As for the maple flavoured stuff… I see that as more of a whisky-based liqueur than a proper whisky.

I have, however, tried a whisky recently that blew my mind in the worst kind of way. It’s called Cu Dhub, and it’s a Scottish single malt designed for sipping, so it counts. Its producers have taken the law allowing caramel colouring to an extreme. Apparently it’s not the first ‘black whisky’ to be marketed as a collectible (@markjedi just mentioned Loch Dhu), but it was the first time I’d tried anything of the kind. Just… wow. Horrible stuff. I was going to write a review on it, but after one sip I realized anything I wrote about it would just come off as mean, because I could find no redeeming qualities for this stuff (then again I suppose I’m being mean now). Weird, bitter, and, just… weird. The only person I can imagine enjoying this stuff is @rigmorole, since I know he’s such a fan of E150. ;)

As @JeffC mentioned, most whiskies have some redeeming features, and it’s not hard to find something to like in even the most basic of whiskies. But not the above 3. Apologies for the long write-up, folks, but the world needs to be warned!

Bowmore Legend: A truly disgusting Whisky which was undrinkable and returned. In fairness to Morrison, it was replaced.

I second Pandemonium's vote for Loch Lomond. A pukey, flowery, mess.

Sam Houston American Whiskey.

Took a sip and just wept.

Johnnie walker red. Man alive that is some awful stuff. It smells of rotten apples with vomit in there too. The taste isn't quite as disgusting but it still has that rotten apple thing going. Cheap, irredeemable slop.

@mrgargus Johnnie Red is actually pretty good compared to some lesser blends. I've had far worse.

@A'bunadhman I'm still scarred by my first (and only) bottle of the stuff back in about 2005. I have not touched Bowmore anything since then, although the Tempest has caught my eye..

Seagrams 5 star Canadian whisky , I can remember old fellas drinking this swill growing up and sticking the plastic star from the bottle to their refridgerator. I dont think my wife would let me stick plastic stars on appliances. Home decor was much different in small town Newfoundland in the 70's. Maybe thats why i hate it so much.

This thread has mentioned Egyptian, Liberian and Chinese whiskies! Wow - I had no idea these countries had even heard of whisky, (and by the sounds of it I'm quite glad about that).

One of the worst ones I ever tried was an English whisky about 2 years ago. It was an early batch from the English Whisky Co, (I forget exactly which batch) but it tasted like someone had taken a bottle of cheap vodka and swirled in a teaspoon of compost! More mature releases may be better but I've not been back to it since.

Another two bad bottlings I tried earlier this year were a cheap G&M Glenburgie. connosr.com/reviews/glenburgie/…

and also Inchmurrin 15yo - the closest I've ever come to tipping a bottle down the sink but managed to get through it by only drinking it when rather tipsy. connosr.com/reviews/inchmurrin/…

I quite agree about Bowmore Legend. As much as I love Bowmore in general, the Legend is about as unlegendary as it is possible to be.

hmmm interesting discussion. The worst whisky ive ever encountered was in Costa Rica, it was called Black Cock, this wasnt a local whisky and in truth i cant actually remember where it was from (maybe Thailand?) But that was god-awful toilet cleaner.

As far as scotch goes this might be a little bold of me but I thought the Scapa 16 was utterly sub-standard, really didnt like that one. Interestingly it seems to be reviewed quite well here but yeh, i wasnt a fan (being polite)

For the longest time I claimed that, while some were better than others, I had never tasted a whisk(e)y I didn't like. I can find SOMETHING in any whiskey that is good, or at least the right time, place, or mood.

The stores and bars I have had access to have not carried many of the Canadian whiskies, but from my limited experiences, I just haven't liked the flavor profile of Candian whiskies thus far, with the exception of Whistle Pig. I am not done searching though… I know the whiskey to convert me is out there… ;)

My alltime worst Whisky (the only one I ever poured down the drain) is the Isawa Belnded Whisky from Japan (on sale at www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-21519.aspx). Tastes like a bicycle's inner tube. Tried to oxidize it for over a year, and still smells like rubbers.

NAS Pendelton Blended Canadian Whisky. Quite literally caramel colored rubbing alcohol. I was told the 1912 was better.

@systemdown - Can you name the offenders so I can steer clear then? Given the Trauma from the Red, I'd rather not go down a road like that again if it can be avoided. Thanks.

@mrgargus Well personally, I find Chivas 12 worse than JW Red, also (going back a bit) McCallums, Clan MacGregor (or was it Clan Campbell? One of the clans anyhow) and VAT 69 (of pre-Ralphy reviewed vintage) I always found hard to drink. I haven't tried VAT 69 recently although I feel I should revisit it.

Black Douglas is still used in these parts as the "house" scotch and I find that less palatable than JW Red also.

As a complete noob trying to educate myself, I asked for a Southern Comfort neat. The girl at the bar asked if I was sure I didn't want anything else in it. I should've known better by the look on her face after I said yes.

@mrgargus "Given the trauma from the Red."

LOL.

@markjedi1 Is it "Egyptian whisky" ? I had some of that and it really toxicated my Cola :p

Ballantine's finest for myself ! The only whiskey I've never been able to finish a glass...

Try Bagpiper if you're in India. It's not whisky as we know it, but it says whisky on the bottle - and it's one of the biggest selling brands in the world.