Help me pick a peaty whisky for Christmas!

[Bip104]

Hey everyone,

I'm after a bit of advice. Basically, my Dad is a whisky lover, but being from Ireland he has a bit of a tendency (no doubt due to the availability to him) to Irish whisky. I do know that there are certain single malt scotch' that he is a big fan of, one being Laphroaig quarter cask. I gather from this that he likes peaty whisky but not knowing a hell of a-lot about whisky, I hoped someone wiser than I in the art of whisky could chime in and help out.

I'm sure over the years he's had a wide variety of different whisky from Ireland/Scotland, and he knows what he likes. For these reasons, I'd like to try and get him something relatively similar to the Laphroaig, but not necessarily Scottish or Irish (I don't know enough to know if whisky from other regions will be significantly different). Ideally something a bit unheard of (to him) that might give him a nice surprise when he tries it.

As I said, I don't know too much about whisky, but luckily my girlfriend works in a well-known whisky bar here in Edinburgh and has drank and talked to my Dad a few times about what whisky he enjoys, so fingers crossed she can advise me further on any suggestions you guys may have.

Thanks in advance!

[Ganga]

What do you have available to you? My suggestion is get a peated Japanese whisky. The person to ask on that is dramtastic - he posts reviews at nonjotta as well as here. Happy hunting.

[dramtastic]

This

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-12867.aspx

[Bip104]

Ah excellent! Thanks for that guys.

That looks very intersting Dramtastic, and I can get it on the Royal Mile! Definitely one I'll be looking into; It'd be nice to get him something Japanese as no doubt he hasn't tried many (if any) Japanese whisky before.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out and try get my girlfriend in for a taste. She knows much more about whisky than I do.

[bredman]

Dram's Hakushu recommendation is a good one (high praise to the guy that recommended it to him ). From outside Scotland there is no better.

The Irish do make a heavily peated single malt http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-13659.aspx and it is nice, limited, and cask strength but the Hakushu has better balance on flavour and is the better buy. This is a worthy alternative however.

[dramtastic]

Yeh was recommended to me by someone who goes by Pete Smoke but that was on a different forum.
Glad you enjoyed it as well bredman.