I broke down and bought a bottle of sigh, Japanese, Scotch Whisky, the Yamazaki 12 year old. And quite frankly it was the best of the Scotch Whiskies I've ever had. I think I only have Deanston rated higher. I felt like a race traitor (lots of Scots in my ancestry) but treason tasted really, really good.
eta: always wanted to try rye whiskey so I picked up a bottle for $14 (along with Scapa 16 and Glenrothes Select Reserve and my favorite new bourbon, Bulleit). That's some interesting whiskey there.
fixed
Thanks, I got clarification on this last weekend. It's in the Scotch section, it's in the Scotch app, for all intents and purposes of classification it's a Scotch but they call it just a 'single malt'. I wondered how they got away with calling it Scotch but the answer was simple, they don't. However, colloquially, I will simply refer to it as a Scotch.
Yeah, I hate being that guy, but I had to learn the rules, so once I learned them, I started becoming that guy. Many of these are legally protected terms, some are not. Whisky is distilled alcohol made from a fermented grain mash. Lots of different grains can be used - barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, corn, wheat - and storage in oak is common though not necessary. Whisky=Whiskey technically, though one is the Scotch spelling one is the English. Whiskey is made all over the world; Whisky usually refers to Scotch (or Canadian). If you call Whiskey Whisky, it's unlikely to cause a stink. But if you refer to Whisky as Whiskey...
look out.
All Scotch is whisky, though in order to be legally called Scotch, the whisky must have been produced at a distillery in Scotland from water and malted barley (to which only whole grains of other cereals may be added). There are many other legal requirements that govern where the mashing take place and how it's aged, but to be called Scotch, it must be made wholly in Scotland.
Single Malt Scotch refers to a Scotch Whisky produced from only water and malted barley at a single distillery by batch distillation in pot stills.
If other grains are also used in making the Scotch, it's called a Single Grain Scotch Whisky.
Blended Scotches can be either vatted or blends. Vatted blends are blends of multiple single malts of various ages. Vatted blends are rare, though Johnnie Walker Green is vatted. Most blends are simple blends - a combination of malted and grain whisky.
All Bourbon is whiskey, though in order to be legally called Bourbon, the whiskey must come from the US, be made from at least 51% corn, aged in new charred oak barrels. There are some other requirements, but those are the biggies. Note that it does NOT have to come from Kentucky. You can make Bourbon anywhere in the US you want so long as you follow the rules.
Straight bourbon is bourbon that has been aged for at least 2 years, usually longer.
Tennessee Whiskey is also a legally protected name, though less formally so than Scotch or Bourbon. It's made in essentially identical fashion to Bourbon, only it's put through an additional purification process called the Lincoln County Process. This involves purifying the final product through a series of homemade sugar maple charcoal bricks. There's debate about whether or not it could technically be called a Bourbon even after the Lincoln Co. Process, but since nobody is interested in that labeling, it's merely an esoteric point in an already esoteric discussion.
Personally, I'm at the point in developing my palate where I greatly prefer blended Scotches whiskeys. I appreciate the extremes that can be found in many single malts, but it's currently too much for me. I prefer smoothness of blends or a single malt like Macallan to the peaty bite of a Laphroaig or Lagavulin.
Also, I'm genuinely jealous of you lucky basterds who can buy booze at Costco.
The bourbon thread is similar. Something about good whiskey.
