How did you get started with whisky?

[bbrownri]

In responding to the spouse / significant other thread (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5648&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a), I realized that it was when my girlfriend left a partially-finished bottle of Oban 14 on top of the fridge that I first got interested in whisky. That and a couple glasses of Bowmore 12 and I couldn't get enough of the stuff!

This realization has made me curious about how others got into whisky. So, how did you get started with this particular hobby?

[johan brugge]

I got interested while I was working in the hotel bar in the city where I live. At that particular time (long ago) we had lots of English guests and a lot of them had a dram of whisky. They drank their drams like I drank a glass of water and I wondered why they liked it so much. So I decided to try a few myself (no, not while I was working). At first I just bought my whisky randomly in the local super market but later I started to read a lot of books about whisky and I learned more and more on the subject. That got me started for good. But here in Belgium people still think it's a bit strange that I prefer a good whisky over a good beer, although whisky is becoming more and more popular the last few years.

[lockejn]

I got started with a whisky tasting at a university reunion. The first taste was Oban 14 and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Caledonia]

It was five years ago when I worked for a hotel, got bored read michael jacksons companion (three times) and never turned back...first dram was the old auchie three wood

[Willie JJ]

We've been through this one a few times before. Here's the last couple:

What made you get into whisky?

How did you get started drinking whisky?

[AspiringGent]

A friend of mine convinced me to join him at a tasting once. I did, and enjoyed it immensely. Haven't stopped since.

[Wub]

I bought Iain Banks' Raw Spirit...not because I was interested in whisky but because I'm a fan and wanted to be complete. At that point I don't think I knew what a single malt was. Before even reading the book I bought a bottle of Glenfiddich 12 and thought that it was OK (and not much more).

One of the first whiskies that Banks talks about in the book is Laphroaig. He makes it sound intriguing, but not exactly appertising. A friend also suggested Laphroaig when I mentioned I was going to try some scotch (That doesn't sound Scottish, I said; more like French, I thought)

So, Laphroaig 10 was the next whisky I bought, and I fell in love with it immediately. I've fallen in love with a few other whiskies since then (and I'm still new at this).

It's a shame that most people's experiences with whisky are of cheap blends. I guess it's analogous to comparing cheap cask wine with Penfolds Grange (not that I've ever tasted the latter). I've seen talk of whisky companies trying to target the youth market, but that's absurd until they realise that they have to reduce the the price (but then I guess it's a Catch 22 situation).

Mark

[borgom]

Like so many others here I tasted Lagavulin 16 and it was all over.

[dramtastic]

I was curious to find out whether any spirit that cost over a hundred bucks really was any better than something for 25 bucks.

Bought a bottle of Springbank 15...........QUESTION ANSWERED!!!!!

[Ardbeg311]

Way back in the mid-70s when sneaking into my parents liquor cabinet...Cutty Sark! Then I stopped for 27 years, had a some drams of Glenfiddich and Glenlivet 12's over the past decade, but then the real magic came when I bought my first bottle of scotch.....Lagavulin 16yo.

[Drammed]

I was a big small batch bourbon drinker, until a bottle of Balvinie Doublewood 12 yr came by my house to play. There was magic in that bottle I swear

[Deactivated Member]

We've been through this one a few times before. Here's the last couple:

What made you get into whisky?

How did you get started drinking whisky?

And here's what I said in the latter thread (brought to you by the Department of Reflexive Repetitious Redundancy Department):

Yeah, it's been covered before, and I've told my story more than once...but you're right, it's always worth a revisit.

I was a beer guy. Actually, I guess I still am. I read several beer magazines--All About Beer, American Brewer. Then there was Malt Advocate. As many of you will know, MA started as a tasting sheet among a group of beer enthusiasts who were confounded by Pennsylvania's peculiar liquor laws. At the time I started reading it, I'd say it was still about 50/50 beer and whisky. It was reading about whisky that got me intrigued, enough to endure about two years of "What the hell is this about....." It was not love at first sip. But it clicked eventually, and it would be gross understatement to say that I'm glad I stuck with it! Thank you, John Hansell.

[Liechtenstein]

I was a young man with too much money and too little imagination. I would go to bars to meet women and would order «Scotch on the rocks, please» because it was what all the cool guys in the movies drank...and I wanted to look cool!


I wish I could hide behind a rock right now.

[Whiskytaster]

A bottle of Balvenie single cask, a friend and a lazy saturday afternoon....

...has much to answer for.

[Alan Gold Label]

I got hooked in by Jameson's advertising and marketing

Found Powers and the 12yr and now I clutch on to a bottle of Red Breast. Bit ashamed of them early years knocking back Jamesons or drinking while making a funny face or watering down with some fizzy liquid. I love the Crested Ten and 12yr though. I'm not quite sure how or why I actually progressed on from the Jammy....

[Pure Pot Head]

When I was a teenager, I robbed some whiskey out of my fathers cabinet as you do. I'll never forget how repulsive I thought it was and didn't go back to it for years. Right through my twenties it was all beer. Lager for the first half, Guinness for the second half. But then the celtic tiger kicked in and bars seemed to stay open for ever and a couple of shorts after a bellyfull of beers became de riguer. Vodka and Coke. Then, an it pains me to say it being an Irishman from the birthplace of whiskey, and being from the loins of a particularly zealous Irish whiskey advocate, I think I had a couple of Jack Daniels and coke. As you do. And then suddenly, without warning or forethought I found myself going for Jameson's on ice, somewhere, in some bar, on some occassion. Or maybe a Powers. And the light broke and a new dawn crept over the treetops.

Pure Pot Head

[AshDLS]

Spent quite a bit of time in my late teens and early 20s getting rather slaughtered on an assortment of drinks including whisky and cola (whatever the cheapest option was, as one tends to lean towards at that age), but never thought much of the drink as something to be enjoyed on its own until my stepfather brought home a bottle of Laphroaig 10, and I realised that whisky wasn't just about the cheap "house" spirit gut rot out at the bars. Around the same time I received a bottle of Hibiki 17 from my brother as a gift. Sort of went from there, and very glad it did.

As yet I'm unable to convince my girlfriend of its wonders... just means more for me!