So what's your favorite bargain basement Scotch? What's the one you don't mind spending a ridiculous amount of money on because it's just that good? For me I think Glenfiddich 12yr is the best bang for the buck. Nothing fancy but smooth and enjoyable. KenyanSandBoa also mentioned Balvenie Double Wood in a recent thread which I think is also an excellent value. I was never a big fan of scotch for many years, probably due to the fact that all I'd had was Dewars or Chivas. Then for Father's day one year I bought my Dad a bottle of Macallan 18yr old. Well, that one reinvented the wheel for me. Earthy, smoky, wonderful. So, what does it for you?
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My favorite is the Glenlivet Nadurra (16 yr), but it is a little pricey.

Best "bang for the buck" for me is the Speyburn 10 yr...

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About $26, and as BarneyBandMan said, "I would drink this!" (Which is a little odd because he WAS drinking it.) :-)
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was doing quick google while thinking about this and noticed that kl wines has Glenlivet 12 for $23.50
that is an incredible price!
might have to buy some myself!

http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sk...TPV-Googlebase
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The Nadurra is an excellent malt - and for the price? Definitely worth getting a bottle.

Also, I'd recommend the Balvenie 12 DoubleWood:
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=31096
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When I first started drinking scotch, I didn't like Glenfiddich at all. Then my sister-in-law gave me a sampler for Christmas with the 12, 15 and 18. I was pleasantly surprised with them all, but epecially the 12. At about 35 bucks a pop around here, that's not too bad. I also have to revisit the Glenlivet 12, because I was never impressed with it either, though the 18 is one of my favorites.

I also like Balvenie, but its just over $50 a bottle here. Not that it is too much, but its less of a bargain than some others being mentioned in here. Though for the money, I actually prefer the Macallan 12 yr sherry cask. Same price and just tastes richer to me with characteristics similar to the balvenie.
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I'm an Islay fan, my favorite low end malt is Bowmore Legend, generally runs about $30.
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If you were pleasantly surprised with the Glenfiddich on the last go-round, I'd recommend finding the Glenfiddich 21 - it is a caribbean rum finished whisky, which pairs well with cigars due to the rum influence. (Springbank and Balvenie also have rum-finished whiskies.)

And Macallan richer than Balvenie? Blasphemy!! :-)
(just kidding - to each their own!)
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Glenlivet 12 is my go-to every day scotch. Not too expensive but good flavor.
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Yeah I said it! I think the Macallan has more body too. But they are both great scotches in my book.

Thanks for the suggestion on the 21. I'll have to give that a try. :-)
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I bought a bottle of Yamazaki 12 last night, lack of choices. I was impressed with it. It is a Single Malt made in Japan. It has a strong butterscotch flavor and went down real smooth. I usually drink Glenlivit 12.
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The 18 is also very well regarded. Also from Japan is Karuizawa - the prices seem to really have gone up, but if you can find a bottle I would highly recommend it. :-)
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tbe glenlivet, mccallan and balvenie are all good choices....for around $ 20/btl i usually get either Lismore or McClellands as an everyday drinking scotch...both good for the price when i dont want to touch the good stuff
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I am having what I would say is the BEST Single Malt I have ever had. Its the Glenfiddich Caoran Reserve. The bottle was a gift from a friend.

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I didn't even know this existed. Gonna have to hunt some down.
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I've been known to ply cigar smokers on my patio with scotch. I don't know anything about bargain basement ones, however.

If you have questions about 25 y.o. and older and specialized bottlings, I may be able to provide some info from my experience.

Haven't bought any scotch since I quit regularly drinking it, maybe in 2000. Still have 20 or so bottles left (nearly all gone!). The 27 y.o. Rosebank private bottling is an exceptional example of the craft. Only a few wee drams left in that bottle. It shall be missed.
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what patio? what scotch? :-)
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I'm with markem, life is too short for cheap scotch but if I had to choose a "bargin" scotch it would be Smokehead for about $60 locally (that's as cheap as malt gets in BC :-) ) or significantly less if I pop over to Alberta or WA. My "cheap" scotch used to be Ardbeg 10 and Laphroaig 10 before demand pushed the former to $100/bottle and discontinued the latter in Canada.

In terms of favourite regardless of price?

Toss up between the Laphroiag 15yr (Prince Charles' favourite whisky, awarded his Royal Warrant to the distillery for it), Bowmore 17yr (now re-released as an 18yr) the Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist, Lagavulin 16 and Longrow 14.

The picture's a little out of date now, but this is my whisky cabinet. I tend to buy in doubles and triples so most of the tubes behind the bottles have an unopened bottle in them as well. My friends refer to them as "shark's teeth" bottles :-)

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There is no such thing as a "bargain basement" Single Malt if you appreciate the fine qualities of Single Malt then the basement is no place for you to shop. Laphroiag is about the lowest level Single Malt that one can appreciate IMHO.
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My first SMS was a Glenfiddich 12yr...couldn't stand it at all. Learned from my mistake of buying a full 750ml and started trying every single small bottle of SMS I could find. Finally settled on Glenmorangie and bought a bottle of their 10yr. I really enjoyed that and tried their Sherry and Port cask matured bottles too. I've tried many others but I always find myself enjoying these as the best bang for my buck. At ~$60 a bottle it's not cheap, but really that's about as cheap as I can get without getting into bottels I don't like. Of course you can find better stuff for more money, but these have been my favorite "every day" drinkers.
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I found a bottle of Bowmore for like 20 bucks in Dayton Ohio last year. Of course that was before I found out I was not a fan of Islay!

(MithrilG60, SWEET Ikea whiskey cabinet! I have a shelf like that, never thought to use it for my booze!)

EDIT! - Brutus2600, Glenmorangie is one of my favs too, if you like that, Aberlour isn't too far off in taste profile, even a little smoother I think, those are my 2 go-to's now!
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