Desert Island Whisks

[mawhinney]

You are about to be marooned on a desert island, but fortunately have the choice of taking 8 whiskeys with you. You don't how long it will be before you will be rescued (if you want to be rescued that is)but the supply of any of your choices is not limited and will be sufficient to meet your needs - if not your desires! What are your 8 whiskeys?
Take your time and ponder, as indeed I am doing.
Slainte
PS This is a great cure for insomnia.

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

Ahh your spoiling us .... 8 bottles of unending whiskies

Can we get steak and chips on this Island too ????

But yes an interesting and actually a harder question than it seems ... so many whiskies to choose from but I suppose you would need to have a nice balanced choice, not sure if I can do that though as I always seem to be dragged back to a sherry influence.

This is definately return to whiskies that one does not get bored of ... and I'm only going to base it on ones I've actually drank.

Going to put these in alphabetical order ...


Bushmills Sherry Cask (Blackbush was my first regular whiskey and will always have a place in my cabinette but once I tried a cask strength Bush I was lost to the cask strength version)
Jameson RVR (This has to be the best new Irish Whiskey I've tasted since the Redbreast 15yo and as this is a magical island cost is not an issue)
Highland Park Single Cask, cask strength (Just like Blackbush HP12 was one of my first Scotch loves but once I started dabbling in cask strengths I find them hard to pass up. I find the 14-16yo ages are cracking)
Laphroaig 30yo (A trip to Islay and to the home of Laphroaig (My favourite Islay distilery) where I purchased and was able to taste this magical 30yo)
Midleton PPS 19yo Cask Strength Bourbon Cask (I am not usually a bourbon head but after a taste of a 19yo bourbon cask I was just blown away and the difference between this and a 15yo version seems like chalk and cheese... If it ever was available though ... ahh but this is fantasy anyway )
Redbreast 15yo (A superstar whiskey on the world stage never mind in Irish Whiskey circles)
Talisker 10yo (Just for a splash of pepper every so often to go with my steak and chips .... uuummmhhh. Possibly my second most re-purchased scotch after Laphroaig QC)
Yamakazi 1971 (This was only my third Japanese whiskey and it blew me away, as they say in the US Awesome)

Post editied to give a brief reasons why.

[mawhinney]

Thanks Adrian.
I have now done my pondering.
In the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs the rationale for choosing eight discs can be music associated with memories or incidents
in a person's life, or it can be eight favourite/loved pieces of music. With my whiskeys I have largely taken the first approach.
1. Bushmills Black Label. As an Ulsterman I am genetically predisposed to choose Black Bush. It was the whiskey I observed my elders drink when I was but a lad.
2. Greenspot. For me an island whiskey in that I discovered it (or rather it discovered me) nearly 30 years ago on Lambay Island when I was on a mision to cull seagulls!
3. Ardbeg 1978 20 Y.O. In memory of an old friend.
4. Bowmore 30 Y.O. Sitting in the visitor's lounge at Bowmore Distillery at sunset, looking out at the distant coast of Ireland and drinking Bowmore 30 Y.O.(Thanks to Ally.)
5. Port Ellen 1972 30 Y.O. Sublime. Used up all my spending money on the very first stop of last years whisky trip to Scotland.
6. Springbank 15 Y.O. As a post-hurricane or tsunami wave restorative.
7. Redbreast 15 Y.O. No explanation needed.
8. Locke's Grand Crew. To remind me of my friends in the Irish Whiskey Society as I wonder how they are faring on their respective desert islands. Of course if this country's financial situation continues to worsen, Ireland could well be one of these desert islands.
Slainte
Ken

[JohnM]

1 Powers - always been a favourite of mine
2 Bushmills Millennium - my favourite Bushmills
3 Redbreast 15 - the essence of Irish whiskey
4 Jameson 15 - also the essence of Irish whiskey
5 Lagavulin 16 - always lovely
6 Bowmore 30 - similar reason to Ken, and it tastes very nice
7 Connemara 17 single cask - for me, the best Cooley yet
8 Midleton 25 - super stuff, with a box to keep my shell collection

[DavidH]

I think I'll need a light bourbon-matured malt so I can experiment with desert island finishes. I'd fill it into coconuts and steep the wood of the breadfruit tree in it. Perhaps Knappogue Castle.

Locke's Grand Crew too because it's a reminder of the society and a beautiful day on the Grand Canal.

The Bowmores Black, White and Gold. If I have to be stuck on an island at least I can try three of the best whiskeys that only a handful of people on the planet have sampled. I wouldn't feel so unlucky then.

Writers Tears, because it's just so smooth and relaxing, and it'll remind me to write my diary.

A port-finished Tyrconnell 10yo for stormy nights (port in a storm, y'know). One of the first whiskeys that knocked my socks off.

And I'll take my favourite from Peat Night, whatever that turns out to be. I already know I really like a few of them and I figure Michael and Luke will be able to tempt me with the rest of their choices. I'll end up with a great peaty number for Christmas on the island.

[TheWhiskeyBro]

A Desert Island whiskey is a whiskey that evokes strong memories or makes you go wow when it first hits your taste buds...

(1) Black Bush... the one that got me started
(2) Redbreast 15 (1st bottling)... I didn't think Irish whiskey could be this good
(3) Tyrconnell Anima Negra... my favourite Cooley (so far)
(4) White Bowmore... a thimbleful on the lips but a lifetime of memories
(5) Caol Ila Distillers Edition.. my novice Islay trip, looking out from the still-house across the bay at the paps of Jura
(6) Greenspot... the legend goes on
(7) Powers... always will remind me of my grand-dad and the sweet smell of his pipe tobacco
(8) The special whiskey I'm yet to discover....

So many whiskies, so little time

[IrishWhiskeyChaser]

I had forgotten about the Bowmore we had tasted on Islay in the Bowmore Distillery Lounge in 2007... yes that was on increadible whiskey and evokes happy memories. That was one you could pour on your Ice Cream

[varizoltan]

I had forgotten about the Bowmore we had tasted on Islay in the Bowmore Distillery Lounge in 2007... yes that was on increadible whiskey and evokes happy memories. That was one you could pour on your Ice Cream

but that was a 34 years old, not 30

[IainB]

(1) Greenspot - The one that got me into Irish whiskey.
(2) Redbreast 15 - Because if I could only pick one that would be it.
(3) Bushmills 16 - The first whiskey I bought that was over 12 and made me realise how complex these things could be
(4) Tyrconnell Madeira - When I got this first I realised just how great a distillery Cooley would be
(5) Lagavulin 21yo - Like many other the Islay trip of 2007 was one of my best holidays - I first bought this at the distillery and it remain my favourite Islay
(6) "That" Bowmore from the same trip - happy warm buzz looking out over Loch Indaal
(7) Sazerac 18yo Rye - 'cos it's a desert island which means it hot and I could drink this one with some ice
(8) Midleton 2004 - It's the year the first of my children was born - to remind me I've a family waiting for me and it's time to stop sitting around drinking and get on with building the bloody raft.

[JohnM]

Midleton 20th Anniversary - there's your ready-made raft.

[IainB]

I suppose I could have selected a sherry butt and used it.

[IainB]

You are about to be marooned on a desert island, but fortunately have the choice of taking 8 whiskeys with you. You don't how long it will be before you will be rescued (if you want to be rescued that is)but the supply of any of your choices is not limited and will be sufficient to meet your needs - if not your desires! What are your 8 whiskeys?
Take your time and ponder, as indeed I am doing.
Slainte
PS This is a great cure for insomnia.

Good to hear from you, by the way. Hope you're well.

[Malt-Teaser]

I ran a variant of this on my Dram-atics blog-esque page back in May and it was good fun as well as making good reading.
Basically I asked various 'whisky people' for their choices of whisky items ........

One whisky book
One type of whisky glass
Two bottles of whisky which don't have to be the same
One case of 6 bottles which do have to be the same
One further whisky-related item which may not be whisky.

http://www.whisky-emporium.com/Blogs/2010-05-May/Blog.htm

[John]

My wish list would be:

1. Greenspot 12yo - a cask strength PPS from IDL - NICE!
2. Jameson RVR
3. Redbreast PPS 15yo
4. Tyrconnell Single Malt 17yo
5. Bushmills Millenium - I hope I'm not on the same ship as JohnM because there could be a struggle for this!
6. Powers 12yo
7. Blackbush - certainly one of the best 'entry level' whiskeys I've ever tasted.
8. Highland Park Earl Magnus - very nice, lightly-peated whisky, yummy!
9. Midleton - any year, though preferably post 1996. The pedigree speaks for itself
10. A giant bottle of Solpadeine

Yes I know I've exceeded the 'magic 8' but I don't know how anyone could expect me to count properly under these pressure-filled, stressing circumstances; I'm about to be marooned you know

[shanel23]

I would bring

1. Tyrconnell port cask finish
2. Blackbush
3. Jameson 12
4. Midleton vr 2000
5. Singleton of dufftown 12yr
6. Glenfiddich 15yr
7. Greenspot 10yr
8. Something I've never tried before but would love to - Greenspot 12yr.

Have tried and love all teh above except no. 8

[jcskinner]

Going strictly by what I've tried already, from my notes in no particular order, it would have to be: -

1. Bushmills single sherry cask - the quintessence of Bush
2. Green Spot - best value whiskey in the world
3. Dungourney 1964 - simply stunning finish
4. White Bowmore - don't think anyone will ever forget that one
5. Old Comber single malt - tremendous
6. Redbreast 15 yo (1st release) - a new high point for IDL
7. Locke's Grand Crew 696 cask - am hugely fond of this quirky Cooley (do we have any left, by the way?)
8. Laphroaig 30 yo SMWS single cask - sampled at Sydney Opera House, watching the lights on the harbour bridge, after coming fourth (by sheer luck!) in the Aussie SMWS annual tasting.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Just seen this from Ken. There's another with only two. This one could be fun.

I don't get the chance to taste much others than Irish, but that's not a bad thing either.
Mine would be.
Jameson 15 PPS
Redbreast 15 (2005)
Old Powers PPS
Bushmills 21
(Screwcap)Green Spot.
Booker Noes Bourbon.
Laphroaig quarter cask.
Powers John's Lane.

A couple of these didn't exist when the tread started. The Green Spot has been changed.

It would be interesting to see if the others have changed their selections.

[IainB]

Looking back on this topic I think we all missed one really important question...

What is the story behind Ken's mission to Lambay to cull seagulls 30 years ago? And how did it result in him discovering Greenspot?

[zenmonk]

Infinitely better thread than the one I started.
Here's my 8.

Redbreast 12 YO Cask Strength
Powers John's Lane
Tyrconnell Madeira Finish
Writers Tears
Talisker 10 YO
Glen Dronach 18 Alardice
Highland Park 12
Ardbeg 10


the Springbank 15 in my original thread has dropped out altogether. Was really taken by it at first but there's something weird about it that I only noticed on the 3rd or 4th Dram.

[Good Whiskey Hunting]

Infinitely better thread than the one I started.

Your one was good. One Irish and one other. A hard choice. Someone else had a top 5 Irish. Those may change but would your favorite Irish and non Irish change? And your has already!

[mawhinney]

Iain
Sometime, in the company of a glass of Greenspot, I'll tell you a tale of derring-do that involves Dublin Airport, engine failure at sea, a lord, and poison.
Cheers!