The best 18 ten years old malt

[Lugarteniente]

Best 18. My favorite: Macallan 18 followed by Highland Park.

[Deactivated Member]

Of that list, Talisker, followed by Highland Park. No, wait, Highland Park, followed by Talisker. No, wait....

[Paul A Jellis]

Caol Ila for me.

Paul

[nicholtl]

Best 18. My favorite: Macallan 18 followed by Highland Park.

My sentiments exactly.

[Eric in ABQ]

Of that list, Talisker, followed by Highland Park. No, wait, Highland Park, followed by Talisker. No, wait....

My thoughts exactly, but I ended up voting for Talisker.

[Frodo]

I have faint memories of the sherry in the Mac 18 being more integrated than younger expressions. I voted Mac 18, but if you take the cost into consideration at LCBO prices, then I think Talisker comes out ahead.

LCBO pricing... Macallan 18 - $180 (?), HP 18 - $130, Talisker 18 - $100.

I just checked the LCBO website for the price of Mac 18, and it came out to C$245. Gotta be a typo...

The Glenlevit 18 is underrated IMHO.

[Deactivated Member]

Of that list, Talisker, followed by Highland Park. No, wait, Highland Park, followed by Talisker. No, wait....

My thoughts exactly, but I ended up voting for Talisker.

Okay--I voted HP. We'll consider that a half vote each for both of us.

[bamber]

HP then Glenlivet then Macallan then Talisker

[Nock]

HP all the way
(even though I haven't had the Talikser yet )

Nock

[bamber]

I like of all of them a lot, save the Caol Ila, which is ok.

[jimidrammer]

I voted for HP18 with Talisker 18 a close 2nd, then Caol Ila 18 3rd. Glenlivet 18 and Glenfiddich 18 didn't really impress me, and as for Macallan 18 my 1985 bottle is still UNOPENED. I'm trying to save it for the Holidays, but...

[Badmonkey]

I voted Highland Park and really need to get my paws on a bottle of Talisker 18 again. Macallan is surely great whisky, but it has never really struck a chord with me.

[Deactivated Member]

Good choice - one of each please - but have to choose HP18.

[Lugarteniente]

Seems there are no rival for Highland Park 18. Personally I prefer the Macallan...

[MacLover]

Tough one.

If it were Pre- 1980s Macallan, then Mac hands down.

But based on most current bottlings HP and Talisker are neck and neck but HP gets the vote, Macallan and then Caol Ila. Not that impressed with the Glenlivet or Glenfiddich.

[nicholtl]

MacLover, I agree with you in regards to Glenlivet and Glenfiddich. Particularly in the case of Glenlivet, where I personally found the 15-year to be superior to the 18-year.

Also, I don't know if it's a maturation in taste, or maybe because I find myself disliking heavily-sherried scotches a little more than before, but I recently poured myself a dram of Macallan 18 (bottled in 1985), which was - and still is - the most expensive whisky in my collection.

It has always my favorite scotch for the past 2 years. But as I was having the dram, I found myself thinking "boy, this isn't as good as I thought..." It was, well, in a word, too "sweet."

I think this stems from the fact that I find myself more and more drawn to heavily peated whiskies now...

However, I do remember tasting Highland Park 18 at a recent tasting event I attended, and while this isn't what I'd call "smoky" or "peaty" either, I enjoyed it immensely.

[MacLover]

Also, I don't know if it's a maturation in taste, or maybe because I find myself disliking heavily-sherried scotches a little more than before

It may be a bit of both. I have always been a big sherry cask fan (not that I do not love a non-sherried kick in the pants heavily peated malt), but I myself have found that I like the Macallan 18YO less recently. It seems to me that in the 80's distillations the sherry is actually competing with the flavor of the whisky versus being "infused" and enhancing the flavor. The 60's and 70's distillations seem to be far more balanced. Again, comments from a novice.

[ScotchBlog]

Who on earth created this poll and didn't allow for Glenmorangie as one of the choices?
Glenmorangie 18 beats them all.

[Lugarteniente]

I forget the "others" option and I can´t edit the poll, sorry.

[Sándor]

I have not yet tasted them all, but as far as I know now I can hardly imagine there would be a better price / quality choice than the 18 year old Highland Park (which, IMHO, is an ABSOLUTE STUNNER).

[Danny]

Highland Park, then Talisker, The Macallan the Glenlivet. Have not had the privilege of the Caol Ila

[cowboyweaver]

I thinks Highland Park overshadows Talisker at this age and maybe Bowmore 17 overshadows Ardbeg 17 during this time period and the rest follow. Back up a year or two and Lagavulin 16 gets 1st and Laphroaig 15 gets 2nd. Clynelish 14, Longmorn 15 and Mortach 16 you are charmers

[comicmutt]

For now, I would have to go with the Highland Park 18. I haven't tried the Talisker 18 yo yet, but I'll be getting my hands on a bottle this weekend.

After absolutley hating the HP 18 on my first try, I had a dram this past weekend and it was equally sweet, smooth and smokey. Great whisky!

I almost think that the HP 18 I had the first time was not HP. It was at a very crowded, trendy nightclub and it tasted more like Jim Beam than anything else. Didn't taste anything like the beautiful full-bodied whisky that I had on Saturday.

On my shopping list this weekend is HP 18, Talisker 18, and a couple others (Laphroaig CS, Clynelish 14, maybe a Lagavulin 12yo if they have it!).

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Have to go with the HP 18 also.

Does this mean more than half of us are sheep or just have good taste

No I think it just means HP18 is a dam good dram

[ikendal]

feel left in the cold - must ghet my hands on some of these 18yrs - although I loved the caol ila 18 but that was a while back - HP 18 is on the list to buy but must wait for the wife's permission

[Jan]

Give her flowers, give her just about anything - the HP18 is worth it!

Cheers
Jan

[Badmonkey]

I had the pleasure of attending an 18-yr-old malt tasting last evening. The HP 18 came out on top -- I confess to being a slave to honey -- followed closely by the superb Talisker 18, a mad, drunken piper of a dram. The Glenmorangie struck me as better than previous editions, but next to the Talisker and HP it seemed a little too soft for its own good. I won't be buying it anytime soon, especially when the excellent 10-yr is available for less than half the price. I felt the same way about the Glenlivet 18, which started out like creamy tapioca and then faded faster than the cat after a shot of Wild Turkey. Not a bad dram by any stretch, but it needs more legs to burn down the stretch.

Cheers