Episode 15 - A special occasion. Tasting the Balvenie PortWood 21 Year Single Malt Scotch

Hello everyone,

There's one thing that none of us can stop, and that is getting older.  This year, Lance turned 50 - much to his chagrin.  And while he is now officially classified as an "old fart", one great benefit is that he did get some particularly GREAT gifts for his birthday and one of the standouts was a 21 year old single malt from Scotland - the Balvenie Portwood.

To say that tasting this bottle of scotch is a treat is an understatement.  It is incredibly well balanced, almost delicate believe it or not.  The port finishing gives it a slight sweetness, like from a raisin and the finish lingers an amazingly long time.  It's just an amazing bottle of scotch!

Since this was a special gift to Lance for his birthday from Jeff, we could not really discuss pricing in the review but suffice to say, this is a special review for us as this scotch is way outside the lines that we've setup for this blog.  It's not cheap.  At all.  But with that said, it does deliver an exceptional value and from that perspective, it succeeds mightily.  You pay more, but you certainly get more - and as long as that is true, that's just fine with us.

We hope you are lucky enough to be able to get your hands on a dram of Balvenie Portwood 17 or 21 at some point in your life.  Life is short and unpredictable, but we can each count our lucky stars if we get the chance to be able to stop and savor something that took nearly half of our lifetime to create.

We wish you success, happiness and a great dram as you move through each chapter of your life.  Slainte!!

Lance & Jeff

Our video review of the Balvenie PortWood 21 from Jeff's back porch on a warm summer evening  - accompanied by a fine cigar.  Does it get any better?   :)

Episode 12 - Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban

It's spring time in New England - or at least it was when we taped this episode.  And of course, when it is spring, a young man's mind will turn to... well, many things - most of them involving some form of procreation.

Well - neither of us are that young anymore so our minds instead turn to tasting Scotch! (some of the time anyway)  :) And because the weather is finally well above freezing, we had to do our tasting outdoors and bring in the services of a finn cigar.  And that is what you have hear my friends - a couple of guys who have clearly been trapped inside too long and very glad to be out on the porch on a warm spring evening.

What better way to relax after a less-than-thrilling day at the office then with a fine Scotch that also does not cost you everything you just made for the day.  That's what you get with the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban. Perfectly suited for a nightcap after dinner, we found it also does very well by itself before dinner along with a decent cigar.  You may not be into cigars, but we know you will enjoy learning more about the Quinta Ruban.  Grab a glass of whatever you like and join us for the next several minutes.

Salut!
Jeff and Lance

Episode 10 - Glenfarclas 12 Year scotch Whisky

Hey everyone,

Thanks for visiting us again here at the RGGTW blog - yes, we have our own trademarked 5 letter acronym now, and we are so proud!  Perhaps someday we will come up with a cool logo and start selling t-shirts.  Or perhaps not...

This go-around we are checking out the Glenfarclas 12 year old Scotch.  Lance picked this up on sale recently so that we could check it out here on the blog.  We had never heard of it before but hey, we are always willing to check out new stuff so we decided to fire it up. 

Turns out that this is still an independent, family run distillery in Scotland.  Cool!  These days, so many distilleries and wineries are owned by mega-corps that it is refreshing to come across an independent company making a go of it.  We tasted one of their whiskys near the low-end of their offerings, the 12-year single malt,  It is finished in sherry casks, as is the tendency at many distilleries these days. 

On their website, they mention that they 12 year Scotch is "Bottled for export and travel retail markets". This means that they are either saving the best for themselves in the UK or they are sending us their best stuff.

Watch our review video here and you will get a pretty good idea which we think it is. Slainte!

Episode 9 - Balvenie Doublewood 12-year Single Malt Scotch

Hello again everyone!

We are back with an all new episode!  this go-around, we feature the Balvenie Doublewood 12-year single malt scotch.  It's widely available and at a reasonable price point, though slightly more than we usually feature on this blog.  It's one of those consistent, great scotches that represents a solid value and we hope you enjoy our review.

This time, the camera behaved itself, there was no operator-error and lo and behold, we think we have an informative and entertaining review for your viewing pleasure.  To all of our whisky friends out there... Salut!

Jeff and Lance - aka the regular Whiskey Blog Guys

Episode 4 - Grand MacNish 12 Year Old Scotch

Greetings fellow partakers of all things Whiskey!

Once again we are back at the table, this time investigating the value of the Grand Macnish 12 Year Scotch. The Grand Macnish 12 Year Old blended Scotch is aged in Bourbon and Sherry casks. Best of all, it is priced below competitive 12 year Blended Scotches - and that is exactly the sort of thing the two cheapskates here at The Regular Guy's Guide to Whiskey are looking for!

Jeff and I both liked the Grand Macnish, as you will see in the video below. After doing a little internet research on this baby, we discovered we are not the only ones as it was a Silver Medal Winner at the International Review of Spirits in 2013 and a Silver Medal Winner at the International Spirits Challenge in 2013. So all those taste buds can't be wrong!

Salut!

Episode 3 - The Legend of Bowmore

This episode we are back with coverage of the Bowmore Legend, a single malt from the Islay region of Scotland.

We chose this bottle in an effort to explore what bargains might be available from Islay.  There are some great, and typically more expensive, smoky and peaty scotches from this famous region.  But what is available to those drinkers like us that don't always want to empty our wallets for a bottle and want to have some fun exploring what's available at the same time?

Watch this clip to get our unfiltered insights on the Legend.  Keep in mind that this is the absolute low end of what Bowmore makes at their distillery.  To see the rest of their lineup, visit them at http://www.bowmore.com/whiskies/.

One more note, based on feedback from our viewers, we have decided to make these shorter in length. Have we gone too far? Let us know!  and be sure to post your thoughts and ideas for other whiskeys to explore in the Comments section of this blog.

There are more scotches to try, and yes, we are Bourbon fans as well. Lots to explore, we hope you have fun doing so with us.....

Cheers!
Jeff and Lance

Episode 2. Tomatin Scotch, helicopter buzz, and a revamped rating system!

Welcome to Episode 2!  In this episode, production values stay low, but we also move outside because the weather is finally decent here in Boston.  

Lance joins Jeff in this episode to talk about a 12 year old single malt from Tomatin, a helicopter attacks, mosquitoes buzz and the world-famous Regular Guys Whiskey Rating Scale (patent not pending) gets an orgasmic adjustment.  Wicked Awesome! 

As always, our goal is to find the best whiskey at the best price.  To see the current pricing for the featured whiskey in this episode, check out this Amazon link.

Please enjoy our high quality video!

Cheers,

Jeff and Lance -The Regular Whiskey Guys