How did your collection get started?

by **WestVanDave** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:19 am

Inspired by Pascal on the "Show us your inventory thread" ~ How about sharing what bottles started your collection...

For me it was the opportunity to sample a few at the Duty Free store in London - Gatwick (I think) - in 1994. 'Bought a litre each of Lagavulin 16 and Dalwhinnie 15... and cherished them for quite a while when I arrived back home in Vancouver - until I discovered the land of opportunity right next door in Alberta!!!

Amazing how quickly a collection can grow when the prices are right! :wink:

Cheers, Dave.

by **lexkraai** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:38 am

Curious, Dave .... I got into whisky in 1994, the first bottle I bought was a Lagavulin 16 and the second bottle a Dalwhinnie 15 .... And from then onwards it got completely out of control :wink:

Cheers, Lex

by **chrisig** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:44 am

For me it all started in 1988 when I saw a Dimple 80's bottle my father brought home. Since then I started picking up whisky bottles from everywhere (even empty ones from the garbage!!!!!)But I was only a kid 16 years olds then.

Later on I discovered the malts from a bottle of Glenmorangie he brought from Duty Free shop. I also tasted it and thus started my love for malt whisky. Unfortunately (or not?) my sealed bottles are very few since I always had the quriosity to taste every single bottle got in my hands.

Cheers!!

by **lexkraai** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:47 am

Of course, my collection is a drinking collection and every bottle will be opened sooner or later. Whisky is made to be enjoyed for its taste and not for just sitting in a bottle which gathers dust on a shelf .....

Cheers, Lex

by **Pascal** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:29 pm

Well my beginnings are fairly recent still, so I've got a good recollection if them.

I was having cheap blends quite regularly (albeit on the rocks), not thinking it was worth my money to buy "premium", and one birthday my wife gave me a bottle of Glenmorangie 10.

In hindsight, she probably regrets ever doing so, and she sure wishes I hadn't found this site. :lol:

A short time thereafter her father bought me my first Dalwhinnie 15, and that just sealed the deal for me. I gave up the ice and started buying different malts in that pice range, and I'm now looking at taking another step up as I learn to appreciate them more.

by **bernstein** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 6:15 pm

It was a Glenlivet 12yo back in the mid80’s. First dram I had was after a long and exhausting, but fabulous hike through the Cairngorm Mountains.
Returning home – still a student on (very) low budget - I always tried to keep a bottle as a treasure, holding all the memories for me. Around 1990 I ‘fell’ over a bottle of Lagavulin 16yo (bingo!) – and for years to come those two expressions were sufficient for me. Never really thought about alternatives, not even blends. In fact due to so called ‘professional progress’ I completly forgot about the passion of my youth.
Until just recently. Last year finally I did a little research (can’t even remember why) on the internet and – woom! - there it was: the land of plenty! I think it went uphill since then, my wife tends to differ here slightly...

by **Deactivated Member** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 1:18 pm

My first bottle of single malt was the Glenfiddich non age statement when I was a teenager. I then had the odd dram of Laphroaig in pubs, but the collection really started with the Classic Malts range. That was what persuaded me to have more than one bottle on the go at once and introduced me to the concept of regional variations. I know the concept is now much derided, but you have to start somewhere. I can think of many worse ways to start.

by **Deactivated Member** » Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:15 pm

It's easy for us sophisticates :roll:

to deride the Classic Malts line as mere marketing puffery, but I think Nick's experience is not unusual--I'd bet millions of malt lovers got started on their journey with that range. We look at Diageo with suspicion often enough, and we might even resent the Classic Malts for taking up most of the shelf space reserved for malts in bars around the world. But they made that space for themselves, and they deserve credit for creating interest as well--perhaps, with the creation of that line, more than any other single act by any drinks company.

And anyway, those are six pretty good whiskies!

by **Jeroen Kloppenburg** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:35 am

A bottle of Glenfiddich a Scottish friend brought me when visitting me. We downed it togheter in one night :oops:

When visitting him back a few months later we visitted Glenturret distillery which got it all really starting :lol:

by **Lawrence** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 4:01 pm

My first malt was Laphroaig 10 and I loved it from the start, then one day about 10 years later I stumbled across MJ's book in a book store and started thumbing through it, that was it, I was off. I'm glad I didn't stick to one type of malt for all these years but in those days I drank wine too

by **jimidrammer** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 5:41 pm

After alot of years off alcohol for no good reason I was interested in something diifferent to take my mind off of a food glutany. I tried the old standbys: Rum, Gin, Bourbon, Beer, even Tequila which I really don't care for. I happened upon a J&B blend because of advertisements, I guess and I noticed I could down it without the requisite "whiskey face". Curiosity up, I started researching and discovered single malts. First was Glenlivit12 because of price and availability and now a mere 6 months later I've reached a pinnacle of 50 different expressions(11 still unopened) and a vast knowledge to go with my new-found hobby. A Glencairn glass, a great selection to choose from and maybe, just maybe the tinyest drop of water and it's a good day. And who said obsessive behavior was a bad thing.