Scotch Tasting

So, for Christmas, I received a nice gift certificate to Sam's Wine. Yippee! Right?

Right.

Well, I went last night with my very special scotch guide (The Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch) to find myself a nice (and interesting) bottle. Back in Colorado, I'm almost out of Auchentoshan as well as my Glenmorangie so I was about due for a new bottle.

This liquor store is so cool... in fact, the gentleman who helped me even tasted the scotches with me. That's right. I got to sit around a liquor store tasting whatever scotch I could come up with. (I know some of you are just gagging right now. To each his own. Go get yourself a wine cooler).

I tasted a Glenrothes Select Reserve which I thought had a semi sharp scent, no taste at ALL and a beautiful butter cookieey finish. I then tasted a Compass Box Hedonism which is supposed to be very popular. I bet it is popular due to its name. Compass Box is actually pretty interesting. It is a vatted malt, meaning it uses malt whiskeys from different distilleries. It had little scent, a very sharp and smoky taste, and quiet finish. Almost the exact opposite of the Glenrothes! I then tasted an Aberlour 10 which was simply tasty. It really opened up at the end with a very doughy flavor.

I am typically very fond of Glenmorangie. They started a trend in identifying the varying types of wood finishes used. I am fond of the sherry or the madeira. I didn't get one though because they are easy to come by. I recently tasted the Glenfiddich Solera Reserve which I thought was fabulous. But, I was inclined to use my gift certificate to get something different. I got a bottle of the Glenrothes which I drank last night with my dad (the only one around who actually appreciates scotch)!

Although I'm nervous now..... my step-mom and my husband both expressed interest in several sips. Must be the sweetness. I should learn how to drink the nasty Islay stuff in order to keep it all to myself!