This here. Got a bottle as a gift a while back and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

Conversely, I got to try a friend’s Blue Label and wasn’t particularly impressed.

However I’ll freely admit that I’m not a connoisseur, or even a heavy drinker.

I will raise a glass of the Caribbean cask to you good sir.

No. There are so many better choices for scotch at that price range or less.

Mostly people that buy it are douchebags trying to be pretentious.

The Gold is every bit as good for way less scratch.

A toast to the fallen!

Buy some weller and be happy with the money you saved. If you want to spend money, buy Belvenie, or Dalmor scotch, but 200+ for a bottle of blended booze is over paying.

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The JW Green is a really good scotch. The JW Blue is marketing hype, not a bad scotch just not worth the $$$

Luckily for me scotch has always tasted foul but cheap whiskey is delicious

It really depends on you.

Can you differentiate between tequilas or rums in blind taste tests? Do you drink wines? What sort of associations do you make drinking other alcohol?

Only a few people in a dozen can taste subtle differences and fewer still will get the taste of "elderberry, black currant...etc." Perception of taste is dominated by expectations, so people taste what the bottle says and rate more expensive or higher rated wines and alcohol better. There are several studies that go into greater depth, but who needs science.

Balivine 14  year Caribbean Cask is a great starter scotch. Getting to know the difference between styles of scotch will help you nail down a decent one for a lot less than J. W. Blue

Just got a set of 4 Glencairn glasses from Amazon.

Want to try a Macallan 18 year.

Your recommendations: Sherry Oak or Triple cask????

I wasn't expecting this, here.

Never mind.

Lol, no.

Sherry cask is the standard.

I'm not opposed to their triple cask stuff, I've got a bottle, but for 18yr I'd stick to sherry cask.

It's good stuff and definitely a step up from 12yr.  Different texture, mouth feel, and the flavors are more pronounced.

Around here it's $300+/bottle so I only get mine out for special occasions.

You'll have more people congratulating you on your sophistication.

As I noted in an earlier post I am not a Scotch drinker but my late father was and always loved trying different brands. Back in the late 1980's, the New York Times had done an article on MacAllan 18 year old and he was very interested in it. But it was quite expensive. I bought him a bottle for his 65th birthday and he enjoyed every drop of it. And he kept the empty bottle!

The scatter chart someone posted earlier is a pretty good place to start.

If you want to get into scotch, find a few references using a similar source, try the ends of the spectrum, and see if you can identify the characteristics. Then broaden your scope and try a few more, with a mind toward comparing them to what you already tried.  Can you taste the difference?  Is this one more or less peaty? Smoky? Sweet?  How does it taste in the mouth? How does it finish?

Finally (and most important), find out the points on that continuum that you like, drink, and enjoy.

I have never tried blue label, but I have consumed a lot of whiskey over the years, both to savor in small quantities, and on firemissions against my liver (I can’t remember why I was so pissed off at that particular organ for so many years, but it must have been something important).  Cheap, expensive, single malt, blend... find stuff you like and enjoy it. We’re only here for a short time.

I bought my old man a bottle of Macallan 21 when he got his PhD (a fairly pricey bottle of hooch). We drank the hell out of it and it was excellent. I will always remember that, but in all truth I’ve had cheaper scotch that I liked more.

I have consumed a lot of Famous Grouse over the years, but not Naked Grouse. Might have to try it.

Hell, I like Glenkinchie, and it’s so sweet and smooth I don’t know if it even qualifies as “scotch” (even though it’s made in Scotland... albeit lowland).  It’d probably earn me a black eye, but I think Glenkinchie is more like Irish whiskey (which I also like).

I do have a bottle of Hibiki (?) that a friend brought back from Japan that I’ve never opened.  It’s sad in the back of my pantry for years. I should fix that problem...

Yeah I think for $30 it's definitely worth a try. I had a buddy with some Hibiki that I got to try and it was pretty good IIRC, though I'm not sure which bottling it was. You should definitely crack it open!

Only you can determine where your taste and means intersect.

Mine intersect at Glenlivet 12 or Glenmorangie 10 year old.

YMMV.

No blended is worth more than $20.

My mother was an occasional drinker and won a bottle of blue label years ago. She was excited to get a bottle of expensive alcohol that she never would have bought herself. She finally opened it at a dinner party to impress friends and found it to be not noticeably amy better than the regular stuff.

Once you get over $200 i find you are paying more for intangibles then taste.  I have a bottle of jw platinum up here 180 a bottle..it was a gift.

Like somebody said before ok for a gift but not what you would buy yourself.

Lagavulin is good enough that and Macallan.