Sweetest Whiskey

[mkhan]

Hi,

I haven't tried a lot of different types of whiskeys and have recently bought a bottle of Macallan 10 that I found very nice. I tried one of my dad's bottles of whiskey, i think it was the Highland Park 12, which I found disgusting as all I could taste was smoke. As you can tell I'm a newbie and thus will probably be asking a silly question, but I would just like to know what are/is the sweetest whiskey you guys have tasted?

Thanks,
M Khan

P.S. I really want to get a bottle of Talisker 18, but as i like sweeter whiskeys do you think this will be a good investment?

[borgom]

The Tali 18 isn't the sweetest whisky so I wouldn't go out of your way to buy it. You're unlikely to like it if the HP12 was too smokey as Tali is also a peated whisky.
Some of the sweetest scotch i've tried are Glenlivet's - 15yo (french oak), Nadurra and the 18yo in that order. Tamdhu's are also reasonably sweet.
Otherwise you could try Redbreast 12yo (Irish) or Elijah Craig (bourbon).

[Wave]

Probably one of the sweetest single malts I've ever tasted is a Benrinnes Cask Strength from Scott's Selection, extraordinarily sweet for just a bourbon oak cask.

Port aged whiskies are also very sweet IMHO, a Port finished Caol Ila Signatory combines sweet with peat, a little overwhelming at first but after leaving it for a spell it mellowed quite nicely.

Cheers!

[Hereward]

Bowmore Dusk is sweet and very, very good.

[Ganga]

Based on your comment on smoke, I would avoid Talisker, Ardmore, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Caol Ila, Lagavulin as these are for the most part peated. Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich feature some peated and unpeated whiskies so you need to research each one.

As for sweet whiskies, try some Glenmorangie Lasanta (sherry) or Nectar D'Or (sauternes). Balvenie 12 Doublewood is pretty sweet too. Bruichladdich 15 second edition is rather sweet and I don't recall a smoke influence.

[Reggaeblues]

Based on your comment on smoke, I would avoid Talisker, Ardmore, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Caol Ila, Lagavulin as these are for the most part peated. Bunnahabhain and Bruichladdich feature some peated and unpeated whiskies so you need to research each one.

As for sweet whiskies, try some Glenmorangie Lasanta (sherry) or Nectar D'Or (sauternes). Balvenie 12 Doublewood is pretty sweet too. Bruichladdich 15 second edition is rather sweet and I don't recall a smoke influence.

I second those emotions!!

...and i too would recommend Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or...one of the sweetest. the Sauternes wine casks it is finished in is a "dessert" wine I'm told, and there's plenty of that on the palate.

I love it!

[clicker7]

If you like them sweet:

Balvenie Founders 10 yr.

Aberlour 16 yr. Double Cask

Highland Park 18 (I think you have to re-taste HP as generally they are not very smoky)

Talisker Distillers Edition (if you can find one)



Joseph

[mkhan]

Thanks alot guys, i think i'll probably go with the nectar d'or as i have located a bottle at a local supermarket.

[The whisky guy]

MkHan,

Hope you enjoy the nectar d'or. If you like The Macallan look at sherry cask finishes, but the west coast and Islands tend to have a peaty flavour,but not always, which I guess your not a fan of.
When I started out buying bottles the local Fenwick's wine store had a good miniature range so would buy 3-4 to find my preferred whisky. Now I work for SMWS (we specialise in single cask whisky) and have a different range of stock to sample from the norm. There's some great sweet stock, if you know anyone who is a member ask them about it.

My personal recommendations would be:

- Auchentoshan triple wood,
- Dalmore,
- Edradour (do a free tour if your near Pitlochry)
- Morlach (bourbon finish can be beautiful and sweet)
- or the Glenfarlcas 15 year old.

If you want to Experiment with a little peat look at Springbank or Bunnahabhain and work up from there.
Started out loving Ardbeg, but to be scientific about tasting malt began reading up on peating in the malting process. Peat level are measured in Parts Per million (ppm). So then found the least peaty and worked back up. Was fun and a couple of friends joined in too (good way of splitting the cost and a lot of international groups do this for expensive bottlings).

Thanks

Darren

[mkhan]

Just finished a dram of the Nectar d'or. I have to say that was a lot sweeter than i was expecting and i did enjoy it. But i do prefer the macallan over it as it feels as though it has more body to it and the morangie feels a little thin like other morangies i've tried (it did start to feel more oily as it warmed up). I think i might go for the macallan 12 and/or 18 next as i did really quite like the 10.

I still would like to try the talisker 18 but can't find a mini or any bar that sells it anywhere, therefore will have to buy the bottle.

thanks again guys.

[The whisky guy]

mkhan,

Agree with you on the nectar d'or find it slightly thin too, not a huge sulphar fan and find the whole range has that element which puts me off. But I think the original has it's time and place as do the other drams.

They work amazingly with certain desserts. The nectar and white chocolate is beautiful.

Goodluck!

Darren

[Swedish Chef]

Haven't tried the nectar d'or but will second the Glenmorangie 15yo. It's Mrs. Chef's favourite because it's really sweet with lots of honey on the palate.

[Reggaeblues]

Funny...the Nectar reminded me of the 15, but sweeter and...thicker!!

[mkhan]

Just tried a dram of the nectar d'or with ice. Its a revelation. It tastes so good. Nice thick body and u can literally smell thick creamy vanilla custard and feels like double cream in the mouth. Beautiful

[MacAttack80]

I havent tried a whole lot of different whisky, but IMHO any of The Macallan with the Sherry Oak finishes are pretty sweet. Some can be a bit pricey though.

[psr-740]

Glenlivet Nadura. very sweet. powerful also.

[Novice Scotch Fan]

Hi,

I haven't tried a lot of different types of whiskeys and have recently bought a bottle of Macallan 10 that I found very nice. I tried one of my dad's bottles of whiskey, i think it was the Highland Park 12, which I found disgusting as all I could taste was smoke. As you can tell I'm a newbie and thus will probably be asking a silly question, but I would just like to know what are/is the sweetest whiskey you guys have tasted?

Thanks,
M Khan

P.S. I really want to get a bottle of Talisker 18, but as i like sweeter whiskeys do you think this will be a good investment?

Its been a while but I have always recalled Dalwhinnie as a sweet single malt. At a fraction of the cost and where you are new to whiskey, you may want to try some Irish like Bushmills standard bottling (no age specified). Its sweet (at least that is my recollection), no peat, and totally inoffensive.

[Bulkington]

Glenfarclas 17 tastes smells and tastes like poundcake. That's pretty sweet.

[Reggaeblues]

The GF 15 is pretty sweet too. A bit one dimensional though.

Seems a lot of folk agree that the Nectar D'or is a fine "dessert" whiskey!

Serge on Maltmaniacs calls it a "designer" whisky. What???

Just tastes bloody good! Anyway he still gives it 89/100 as I recall, and his favourite of the "new" Glenmos.

BTW warning for all Lasanta fans(also pretty sweet, but not AS overtly so ad the N d'Or)Les Taylor tells me yesterday that his latest bottle made him realise what JM has been banging on about re: sherried malts. Seems the current batch of a dram we've both previously enjoyed has slithered down the sulphury slope.

[Muskrat Portage]

The "sweetest" whisky I can recall is a bottle of Glenfiddich 15 yo CS that I owned back in Feb 1999. It was our Millenium New Years dram and was finally drained July 8, 2006.

It was thick with heather notes and a honeyed palate that extended into the finish if I recall correctly. I remember it fondly.

I know of one more bottle in existence in town, but he ain't selling.

The second sweetest is a bottle of Edradour 1989 CS (Cask 354 Decanter 224) in the burgundy coloured split tube.

Muskrat Portage

[mkhan]

Conducted a mini taste test with the three bottles I have (HP12, Mac10, Nectar D'or)
I was surprised that I quite like the HP12 now, it is in fact quite sweet, sweeter than the Mac10! But out of the three I do prefer the Mac 10 by a country mile, it just tastes like a superior dram imho.

Located a bottle of Talisker 18 and Macallan 18 for around £100 at Berry bros in London and as i might be there on Boxing day I'll be picking them up (and who knows they may have a sale on!).

[mkhan]

- Test

[pkt77242]

The sweetest whiskys for me are Aberlour Abunadh, Glenfiddich 15, and Cragganmore DE. I like sweet whiskies though I prefer sweet and smokey whiskies (Lagavulin DE and Talisker DE). I find HP 12 to be well balanced.

Sean

[Novice Scotch Fan]

Hi,

I haven't tried a lot of different types of whiskeys and have recently bought a bottle of Macallan 10 that I found very nice. I tried one of my dad's bottles of whiskey, i think it was the Highland Park 12, which I found disgusting as all I could taste was smoke. As you can tell I'm a newbie and thus will probably be asking a silly question, but I would just like to know what are/is the sweetest whiskey you guys have tasted?

Thanks,
M Khan

P.S. I really want to get a bottle of Talisker 18, but as i like sweeter whiskeys do you think this will be a good investment?

If you are looking for a cheap priced blend that is probably the sweetest scotch I have ever had, I would suggest Ballantines Finest (no age specified). A lot of people new to scotch enjoy it because it is not offensive in any way, very sweet and little or no peat flavour. Serious scotch drinkers dont like it because the flavour profile is very bland in their opinion when compared to robusts single malts.

[bacchus]

Old Pulteney 12 is a sweet whisky, just a drop of water and it opens up really nice. And for the price, it is quite good. And I second the Dalwinnie.

There is Glen Elgin 12, which I plan to buy tomorrow, a delicious whisky.

[The Third Dram]

Auchentoshan Three Wood gives off an initial and quite intense impression of great sweetness owing to the Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez cask influence, yet manages to balance out very nicely toward the finish.

And any Mortlach matured in Sherry wood will doubtless also please anyone with a sweet tooth.

But for something that will almost remind you of walking into a confectionery shop, Balvenie 21 Year Old Port Wood is hard to beat.

Too bad it has become so outrageously expensive of late.

[oldrip57]

Unless I missed it, I haven't seen a mention of a bourbon yet, which are "sweet" almost by definition.
Bourbon MUST be aged in new, charred barrels, which means the caramelized layer of sugars between the char and intact barrel wood -- the so-called 'red layer' -- influences the whiskey. Thus, virtually every bourbon is some definition of "sweet" because of the influence of those sugar-laced layers. The longer the aging, the greater the wood/wood-sugars' influence. (A 15yo bourbon's taste, I've been told by no less than Elmer T. Lee, Master Distiller Emeritus from Buffalo Trace, is about 80% from the barrel.)
The bourbon I have long called 'bourbon syrup' because of its extreme sweetness is Fighting Cock, by Heaven Hill. The sweetness is also probably why it's bottled at 103 proof (used to be 106) -- in order to keep it from being cloying.
The 'wheaters' -- Old Fitzgerald, the Wellers, Van Winkles, and Maker's Mark -- are uniformly sweet. Longer-aged Wild Turkey is sweet, though it is balanced by the spiciness of its relatively high rye content.
It's quite a challenge, in fact, to find a 'dry' bourbon.
So, if the OP likes sweet, maybe he ought to be a bourbon drinker.

[UncleDaddy]

Iffin you like Macallan, try Scapa from Orkney. Older Macallans are good/sweet but pricey. Abelour sweet too, but a little different taste. The Abunadh is sweet and hot.

Things like Bruichladdich, not so much sweet/fruity as grassy. It's a mild taste anyway. Looks like pee though.

Old Springbank 21 was like candy.

Some people drank sweet scotch don't like bourbon. Certainly worth tryin' some of the better ones if you ain't never had any though. I'm partial to Bookers myself—nekkid with a glass of water off to the side.

Corn sweet to start with. Sweetest corn I ever had come out of a jar

[Megawatt]

I'd recommend The Robert Burns Single Malt. The nose is almost like bubble gum, with all kinds of wonderful fruit on the palate: apples, lemon, sweet pineapple.

[triguy42]

I'd second the votes for Scapa 14yr and Glenlivet Nadurra (though it's cask strength and you'd need to dilute it to get the sweetness). Both are among the sweeter profiles. If you like the standard Macallan 12yr (not a fine oak version) then I'd highly recommend Aberlour 12yr or Abunadh (sp?) as more along the Macallan type of character. Honestly I'd put HP12 and Scapa14 in the same kind of category as Oban 14yr. Oban is a bit more seaside-y and has changed a bit in recent years.

The Talisker 18yr is an outstanding malt and a regular in my rotation, but isn't in the same category as the others you seem to like. If you buy it, get it to expand your tastes...but don't necessarily expect to like it immediately. It's sort of like my introduction to Islay with a Lagavulin 16yr...I thought it was disgusting at first taste but now it's one of my all time favorites!

[scotchdrinker]

mkhan,

You should definitely try the Macallan 12yo if you liked the 10yo. If you liked the Glenmorangie Nectar D'or , you should try to find the Glenmorangie Port Wood finish or any of the wood finishes (Burgundy, Sherry, Madeira) from them for that matter. The only issue is those have all been discontinued. But if you can find any of them get them.

I agree that Oban 14yo is good but it s different. It isn't as sweet but it isn't over the top with peatyness but I would definitely recommend that too.

[shulaw05]

if you like the sweet stuff you should really try an irish whisky or 2 - jameson is very smooth and sweet, and redbreast is incredibly sweet in my opinion. tastes like candy.

[irishwhiskeychaser]

If you are looking for sweet get a bottle of Old Smuggler and cheap as chips.

[normal5]

I suprized that no one has mentioned the glenrothes select reserve or 91. nice and sweet with a long spicy finish

[Reggaeblues]

\Just had a dram of Nectar D'Or.

Sweetness! Cinnamon, Sandalwood, Vanilla, honey...

...and did anyone mention glengoyne?