Supposedly great whiskies that didn't impress you

[Knolly]

So, I'm sure we've all had this happen to us:

A friend says: "Wow - you just HAVE to try XXXX whisky! It is the best I've ever had!"

So, now you're excited because you get to try something new and supposedly it's fantastic. Then you go buy it and - BLEH!!!!!! Or perhaps it's more "Hhmmmmm - come ci come ca..." except that you spent good money on what should be a nice bottle.

To me, the following - no matter how many great reviews I read or how many friends tell me how fanatastic these are - are unfortunately let downs. I've tried and I've tried and I just don't appreciate them as much as i probably should.

Highland Park: Ok, I'm sure to get a lot of flack for this, but I have a bottle of 18 yr that I give away to friends because it's just taking up space in my cabinet. Some say it's the great al-rounder: to me it's the jack of all trades, master of none.

GlenFarclas: Ok - I'm sure to get even more flack for this. Yet, I've tried and I've tried to like Glenfaclas and it just doesn't work for me. I've tried a bunch of them and just can't get into them. My GF loving friends keep saying: "well, you need to try THIS GF", so I do and errrrrrrrrr - I'm still not a fan. I"ll take Glenlivet 12 any day over any GlenFarclas.

Dalmore: never has done anything for me.

Bowmore: Maybe I'm too new (3 years) to SMSW, but Bowmore has been a major disappointment - consistently. In fact, the Darkest which everyone raved about is by far the least liked bottle that I own. I'm thinking about using it to disinfect my toilet.

[Aidan]

Highland Park 12, but the rest of their stuff is superb.

Glenfarclas - sticky sherry.

Some Bowmores, but some are superb. The 17 is one of my favourites of any malt.

A few Ardbegs. I think people decide some of these are great without even trying them. Of course, some of them are great.

Clynelish 14 - Ho hum.

Macallan - never liked it.

Glenmorangie - never liked it (apart from Artisan Cask)

And many more.

[Reggaeblues]

Macallan Fine Oak 15. Maybe I'm a victim of expectation and hype, but it just struck me as bland. Blame it on Jim Murray!!(Don't worry Jim, i've got your Bibles, 2005, 2006,2007 and king James...)

Knolly, if i give you my address would you send me the rest of your HP18??
I was also rather fond of Bowmore Darkest. Tellyou what, I'll send you some toilet disinfectant in exchange!

[Iain]

Ardbeg 17. Jim Murray raves about it (hmmm... wonder why?), but it achieves what I thought was impossible for an Ardbeg - blandness!

Imho of course.

[Deactivated Member]

Serendipity

[bamber]

Port Ellen, generally (5th release OB, and a couple of DL bottlings spring to mind). Not bad, but give me Ardbeg or Lagavulin any day. I did like the Bladnoch forum bottling a lot though.

Aberour A'bunadh !! I've got through 2 bottles, though. Sends shivers down my spine, the thought of drinking any more.

Glenfarclas 12yo and the new 15yo. Do not like that full on bitter sherry note. Do like other Glenfarclas offerings though. There was also an ~40yo SMWS Glenfarclas that a lot of people loved, that I thought was way too woody, with a note of rotten eggs.

Jim Beam Black Label.


There are others but I'm too scared to say.

[les taylor]

[quote="bamber

There are others but I'm too scared to say.[/quote]



Bamber it will be alright. As Michael Howard ( Rory Bremner ) would say " I won't hurt you. "

[Scotchio]

[

Surely it's just a matter of taste. Don't be afraid to admit you have bad taste Bamber

[Dubois]

The first ones to come to my mind are:

Glenmorangie 10 Yrs
Longmorn 15 Yrs
Clynelish 14 Yrs

[Deactivated Member]

Lagavulin
I really don't like the stuff, no matter how much I try.
MT

[Drrich1965]

[quote="bamber"

Aberour A'bunadh !! I've got through 2 bottles, though. Sends shivers down my spine, the thought of drinking any more.

[/quote]

I think you and I are the only ones in the form underwhelmed by this one. I find it a decent whisky, but way to heavily sherried for me. I think in general I need to find some malt in my single malt.

[Feldrin]

I haven't got any I'm really disappointed by. Although...now that I start thinking about it...

Glenfiddich 12y Old Reserve. I know I know, its the standard bottling blabla. But it just feels like the taste is too weak to bottle at 40%. I've had a few drams of (sort-of) Glenfiddich 11y cask strength and that was just great stuff.

And perhaps the...no...or, well, I'm uncertain about this one. I really really like Lagavulin 16y. But the way reviews made me understand how impressed I should be, it came out a bit lower. I just expected the peat to be even stronger. If someone reviews it with 'a bear-hug of peat' then I don't quite know what to imagine but it was probably above anything that is actually possible.

Fun to see stuff fly by that I quite like actually, like the Longmorn 15 and some Bowmores.

[Iain]

[/quote]

I think you and I are the only ones in the form underwhelmed by this one. I find it a decent whisky, but way to heavily sherried for me. I think in general I need to find some malt in my single malt.[/quote]

Make that 3 of us.

[parvus]

Lagavulin
I really don't like the stuff, no matter how much I try.
MT

Agreed. The standard 16 is nice, and I wouldn't turn down a dram of it, but it's just fairly ordinary by my palate, certainly not worthy of the mountainous praise that is lumped upon it. Talisker 10 falls into this category for me.

Adelphi's Breath of Speyside (Glenfarclas) got a medal and praise galore from the MM's, but it just seems to have this highly annoying swamped turkish delight thing going on that is impossible to get beyond.

Most Bruichladdich expressions are really just terribly boring to me, i've had quite a few from the range and its all just a bit samey for my tastes.

[lambda]

For me also the lagavulin 16. It was one of the first whisky's I bought a couple of years ago. At the time, I thought I just didn't like whisky.. Recently, I opened a bottle, but I just cannot really get into this sherriedness and peat. I do like the lagavulin 12 (or other young lagavulins).

Also, various longmorns (such as the now discontinued 15yo). They have a sugary note that I do not like.

[Scotchio]

My 1st Macallan 18 was hot,dry and no fun at all.
Wasnt totally convinced by OB Ardbeg 75,yes I know it's really peaty! Highland Park 12 sometimes seems a bit murky and the 18 can be a bit too hot for it's own good, though other times I think it's great.
When I had Ardbeg 77 I didnt think it was that much better than the OB 10 at that time, although the 10 was my favourite whisky around 2000. The 77 had more complexity especially on the nose and was a little richer and sweeter but I wasnt convinced it was worth the price hike from the 10.

Like a couple of others earlier I've tried Abunah(the supposedly best batch) and it just seemed thick and heavily sherried,prefered 105 which is far more balanced and probably if I wanted an Aberlour I'd pick up the standard 10 because the last one I had was great, sweet, complex but with nice balanced autumnal flavours

[Reggaeblues]

Nick Brown wrote : "Seredipity"

Yes, that one too. Another one where I was led by the nose of Mr Murray.
Just...underwhelming. Nice, gentle Islay "accident", but not something to sell your grandmother for...

...i swapped my second bottle straight up at Oddbins for an Ardbeg " Still Young."

Glad I did!

[Reggaeblues]

Apologies Nick! you did not leave out the 'n' - I did!

[bamber]

There are others but I'm too scared to say.

Bamber it will be alright. As Michael Howard ( Rory Bremner ) would say " I won't hurt you. "

Surely it's just a matter of taste. Don't be afraid to admit you have bad taste Bamber

Ok it's:

Ardbeg 1977

I'll see myself out.

(I did like it, just did not really excite me. Preferred the Beastie in fact).

[irishwhiskeychaser]

I've been under whelmed by any Macallan I've had so far ... for the self proclaimed Elite of Whisky I don't find it very awe inspiring.

Ardbeg Very Young and Still Young both just do nothing for me and nearly turned me off the distillery as that is where I started. I'm glad that Mr Richard Joynson of LFW concurs with me (or do I concur with him )

Anyway his description is great ..... Very Silly and Still Silly


Others of high regard by people on my list include

Balvenie Double Wood
Black bottle nas
Bushmills Carribean Rum
Clynelish 14yo OB
Jameson nas
Mackmyra No 1
Rosebank 12yo Flora & Faune
Tamnavulin 12yo OB
Woodford Reserve


and yes I do keep a list of these

[bond]

Auchentoshan.

For all the talk about it being the best Lowland malt, I would never pay for this whisky.

Cheers

[lambda]

Others of high regard by people on my list include

Tamnavulin 12yo OB

[irishwhiskeychaser]

Others of high regard by people on my list include

Tamnavulin 12yo OB

Actually I must confess I don't think I've heard much about this. But it was so vile I had to include it. I expected it to at least taste like whisky

[Deactivated Member]

Tamnavulin 12 is, from memory, very new-makey. This suggests very tired casks. But the actual whisky was really not that bad - very malty and a bit grassy.

[Mr Fjeld]

I think you and I are the only ones in the form underwhelmed by this one. I find it a decent whisky, but way to heavily sherried for me. I think in general I need to find some malt in my single malt.

Make that 3 of us.

Make that four of us.

Another one that failed to impress me is the Ardbeg 17 and Glengoyne 12 CS which is outright nasty.

[Deactivated Member]

Any of teh Macallan Fine Oak expressions. They just do nothing for me at all

[Mike Ralston]

I've always found Springbank 10yo a disappointment - the 10yo 100proof is much tastier!

[Scotchio]

I've always found Springbank 10yo a disappointment - the 10yo 100proof is much tastier!

Proof can be a big factor,The Tamnavulin 10 I have at present is very good at 50% but pretty awful at 40%, infact if becomes quite similar to the Tamna 12 OB I have tried.

[Ganga]

I'd have to say the Macallan Fine Oak 21, especially at the price, just doesn't get it done. It seems to me that I'm bothered by the vatting of sherry and bourbon casks as I like the Macallan in either of these casks.

None of the Fine Oaks to date have done anything for me; it's just that the 21 is so much more than the others.

And the Bowmore 17. Everyone raves about it. I'd rather drink the Legend.

[Mustardhead]

Glenfarclas 105 - Spirity, treacly nonsense. Everything else from Glenfarclas is wonderful though.

Port Ellen - No specific bottlings, just the hype in general.

One or two Bruichladdichs - but the recently deceased 10 impressed me.

[killerwhale]

hmmmm I wonder if 'didn't impress' and not very good mean the same thing here.... there are some very good malts listed and some get a bit of a rough ride....

though on second thought, everyone has their own opinion and that is what makes single malts great..... so, cheers to the world of whiskies and taste buds!

[Reggaeblues]

Last night the landlord whose establishment my band had just rocked, graced me with with a large Bowmore 12 "for the road." I first tried this 6 or 7 years ago on the recommendation of my father who loved it. I remember the immediate hit I got - that distinctive bowmore note never forgotten - dry smoke and heather, and more to follow...so different from the Laphroaig and Lagavulin i had recently discovered and fallen for, but memo9rable and moreish

but last night...the smoke was buried under a sort of pillow of sweetness. Rich, but little complexity or finish... the colour may be a giveaway - considerably darker than I remember( I was given a bottle 2/3 years ago that was undoubtedly lighter in colour...and WAY thinner flavourwise. Underwhelming to say the least)

Methinks someone's been tarting up tired whisky with additives and colouring. Caramel, perhaps?? that seems to be everyone's favourite scapegoat!

RIP Bowmore 12.

[Ganga]

I read it as "those whiskies that garner very good reviews from MJ/JM and others, win awards or generally receive rave reviews from their following." In other words, the higher end Macallans, Ardbegs, Port Ellens, etc. and the lower scale versions such as the Glenfarclas 10, Glenlivet 12, etc.

Reviews have generally been pretty high for the Bowmore 17. Just doesn't work for me...and I really like Bowmore products, especially the 21 and 22. Now I don't think that the 12 is an exceptional beverage and I don't think I've seen too many people review it high or rave about it. However, I prefer to drink the 12 to the 17.

[Bulkington]

[quote="Mike Ralston"]I've always found Springbank 10yo a disappointment - the 10yo 100proof is much tastier![/quote]

Agreed!

And add me to the list of those unimpressed by A'bunadh.

[Ann-Helen]

When we bought the Highland park 30 yo I expected so much because I had heard so many times that it was fantastic ,so when I tasted it it wasn`t all that.