Best Places for Scotch

When curating our list, I like to of course have all the big name players involved, it's comfortable for people. The fun part for me is finding the lesser known single malts out there. I love when someone who drinks a lot of different scotches comes in and I can show them something new and exciting. It's like the first time all over again. I'm also a big fan of private bottlings, it's a great way to experience different age statements and expressions of great single malts at a very fair price.

Right now the most interesting is the smallest 375ml bottle tucked away on the shelf in between all the other towering bottles. Kininvie 23yr! It's a beautiful single malt with a bit of interesting information behind it. Monkey Shoulder is a blended scotch familiar to many. Most know the first two scotches that make the blend, Balvenie and Glenfiddich, but the third comes from Kininvie and their 23 year is great on its own.

It’s a hard thing to answer in a brief way. Mainly, we look at the general reaction of the staff when we taste a new product. If it draws a positive response, then we look at carrying it. Quality of product, availability and of course, cost is always a consideration.

Probably an independent bottling of an Ardbeg 19yr. It’s soooooo good. 25 yr Springbank, and 40 yr Glenfarclas would be worth mentioning as well.

Here at the Bull & Bush Brewery it's all about the uniqueness and quality of the single malts. Plus having collected single malts for so long it's fun to add older bottlings to our list on occasion.

Our most unique bottling is our private barrel of 13 year old Highland Park Cask #1673 that we split with Delilah's in Chicago for our 36th anniversary back in 2007.

I try to curate our single malts by using the info from our bar team on their favorite styles or areas or distilleries. We try to keep a range of selections from each area based on flavor and price point, then listen to as much feedback about what the bar team likes and what our guests are looking for. I want our guests to be able to come in and suggest a distillery that they would like to try or a bottle they love. I will do my best to bring it in or at the very least find out as much as possible about it. Being in Hawaii there are still a lot of brands that haven't made their way over to the islands yet.

Most interesting bottle is a loaded question, but here goes. I have two as far as back story and juice. I love the story behind Macallan Edition #3. The collaboration between master distiller Bob Dalagarano and master perfumer Roja Dove is just so intriguing. The technique used in creating perfume of scent and counter scent to balance, then being used to bring together 6 barrels is amazing. The fact that Roja Dove doesn't drink at all makes it even better. Is it my favorite dram? No, but it sure is an interesting story and method for blending single malts. As far as the juice is concerned I would probably have to go with the Aultmore 12 Foggie Moss since I have crushed a few of these recently. Just so much brine, that makes me very contemplative. We didn't get much to Hawaii, I feel blessed to have drank more than my fair share and I'm glad to be able to have one on the back bar.

For us the most importanting when curating our whisky list is to never forget who we are buying it for. The guests. Thinking about the palates of our guests and how to guide them through different whiskies and providing a quality driven experience. Showcasing old favorites and new experiences for them to try.

Currently I would say our most interesting Scotch on the shelf is 1992 29yr Bruichladdich Black Art.

We try to keep a good variety of malts on hand which give a good representation of the entire country including the different styles within. Our malt list should allow the customers to take meandering journey through the malts with many different destinations.

That is a tough one, what is most interesting to me is not a particular malt but the variety and regional differences between the whisky. To taste a peated malt and then follow it with something vastly different is fascinating on so many levels.

Typically we pick the core expressions from all the major distilleries and regions, then we look for one off/more unique bottlings.

1986 Bruichladdich 30yr. One of the oldest bottles we have. We also have Glenfiddich 30yr.

I focus on flavor profiles, so cask type is important. From Virgin Oak, Sauternes and Amarone to quarter cask, Madeira and even Monbazillac barrique. There is a Scotch for everyone! Independent bottlers are also featured to a large degree.

It would have to be a The Haven Private Collection from Bruichladdich. A 19yr old Sherry cask beast.

Being the curator, I have tried to get an expression from every distillery, Signatory and Gordon & MacPhail expressions have been instrumental in that goal, and because some are not as well represented as others we tend now to have a larger selection of some distilleries than others

Wow that’s a tough one with 360 single malt scotches as you can imagine we have a few for different reasons, my personal choice would be between the Signatory Ballechin 11 year old Manzanilla sherry cask or Signatory Glenrothes 20yr single sherry cask, Kilchoman impel [sic] single sherry cask, Benromach Château Cissac

Our goal is to obtain as wide of a selection as possible, so we can always find something for every palate. We carry diverse selections including ryes, bourbons, local whiskies, Irish and Asian [whiskies] but our first priority is single malts. Lots of places carry a number of bourbons which are vastly easier to procure, and because of that our focus is on being a Scotch bar.

I like to use the Glenmorangies to show people the influence of secondary aging. Glenmorangie does a standard 10 year single malt, which is not very good, but then they do a number of secondary aging in port, sherry, and sauternes cask. Same juice goes in all the bottles but the extra 2 years in the secondary barrels takes a poor whisky into something enjoyable.

Quality, consistency, variety, history, and innovation.

Two from Highland Park: Nor'Easter 15 year coming in a 113.8 proof and Draken 13 year at 128.6.

Nicholson’s focuses on providing a comprehensive selection of single malts that are not only unique but recognizable and affordable with a large variety from all regions of Scotland.

We like to think that all scotch is interesting but we have several extra aged scotches such as Macallan 25yr, Linkwood 30yr, and Glen Ord 30yr. We also have an interesting selection of Glenfiddich called Winter Storm which is a 21yr aged single malt that spends time in Canadian (Niagra) Ice wine casks where the grapes are specifically and intentionally picked by moonlight only at -10 degrees (C). This highlights an intense combination of sweetness and oakiness from these particular casks.

The focus is to represent a broad range of different products that are interesting, unique, staples, and hidden gems. While we might not carry every single name brand or mass marketed product, what we do offer is variety and adventure.

The most interesting single malt Scotch is a subjective judgment for the drinker to decide. I'm a huge fan of peated scotches and I lean towards Ardbeg mostly, but I do enjoy a pour of some unpeated scotches as well. That being said, the Bruichladdich Black Art 5 1992 is an exceptional sipping experience. If that's a bit too rich for your blood, I'm a sucker for anything from Glenmorangie and their Signet is one of the most complex and enjoyable whiskies I've had the pleasure of trying.

Our goal at The Highland Stillhouse is to have as many possible single malts available for customers to try at reasonable prices. I travel far and wide throughout the state searching for new whisky, and single malts in general to add to our shelves. We proudly boast over 700 different bottles of whisky with many of those being single malt scotches. That doesn't include my whisky vault which will soon be open that includes thousands of other bottles. Overall, finding something new that we can showcase and intrigue customers about is a goal we always have - as customer service is our number one priority. We are always trying to find a dram that will make the customer glisten with excitement and yearn to come back to learn more!

We have so many, it's hard to choose just one! Some that I think are most interesting are the Glenmorangie Tale of Winter, the Aberfeldy 18, the Highland Park 25, the Ardbeg Arrrdbeg, the Ardbeg Provenance 1974 Limited ed., and the Glen Garioch Founders Reserve - to name a few. Otherwise, you'll have to check out the menu on our website for yourself to see all the different selections we have!

With hundreds of whiskies on our shelves, we have an opportunity to span a wide range of both comfortable and adventurous bottles. Guests are often looking for anything from traditional to experimental in every price range, so our collection grants us the opportunity to explore that.

Very difficult to choose. I'd certainly say that the Bruichladdich Octomore 09.1 Dialogos Edition is definitely up there. Octomore is Bruichladdich's heavily peated line and this one is no slouch at 156 ppm. Aged entirely in ex-Beam, Jack, Grand Dad, and Clermont casks. For a bottle that is aged for 5 years and bottled at 59.1%, it's an incredibly complex scotch. It's a limited edition, and I believe they are on Edition 13 now, so the 9 can be very hard to come by. It's frequently a topic of conversation at the Tippling bar.

We work off the classic lists and try and incorporate new releases that pique our interest.

I am rather fond of the Stranahans Sherry Cask right now it is a single malt but not a Scotch. I also like Highland Park Magnus a lot when I’m not traipsing around off on my favorite Islays!

As we are limited to what Virginia offers (we are required to buy through the Virginia ABC), so we buy everything we can. Beyond that, we want a wide variety of tastes and styles, as well as price points.

We currently have the Talisker Xpedition Oak 43 year which is amazing.

Whiskies from multiple ages from the same region so not all Speyside are 12yr. Each producer represented with an offering and if available make it Cask Strength before having additional expressions. Unique point of differentiation of the whiskey - barrel finishing, grains are locally sourced, backstory.

Spios Glenmorangie