[Sandy Hancock]

I was a beer drinker until I moved to South Australia in 1969. Then I found South Aussies couldn't make beer but they did know how to make very good wine. I switched and have never switched back,

Now you are really picking a fight

Have you never tried Coopers Sparkling Ale? It is the pinnacle of Australian beers, and made until quite recently in Leabrook in south-eastern suburban Adelaide. Coopers is now the biggest Australian-owned brewer, and still able to compete with the micro-brewers for quality.

Yes, we make great wine (and it is now much better than we made in the 70's), but basing your opinions of South Australian brewing on your experience with Southwark Bitter is akin to suggesting all whisky is no better than methylated spirits.

Come at me, fiend! <very big wink>

[Docrwm]

What is this Whine you all talk about, are Aussies that likely to complain?

As for heavenly spirits, I like certain Longmorn and Aberlour Whiskys best but have been known to try any of the water of life from a single still.

[Parallax]

Ardbeg 10, or Lagavulin 16. Peat, salt, iodine and seaweed. What's not to like?

Which one I prefer on any given day depends on my mood. Their flavor is quite similar, but if they were sandpaper, Lagavulin would be 400 grit and Ardbeg would be 120.

[stepmac]

I'm lik'n Glenmorangie and can afford it if purchased in Calif. In Oregon all single malts are way over priced for we who do not drive to the liquor store a Rolls. Still, however; when I crawl up to my evening blast it's good ol'Johnny Walker Red and a splash of soda on the rocks.

[Lloydy]

A lot of very nice malts mentioned here so far, I've got a few on the shelf. But my choice is Penderyn, a Welsh single malt. Try it, you'll like it.

[Docrwm]

A lot of very nice malts mentioned here so far, I've got a few on the shelf. But my choice is Penderyn, a Welsh single malt. Try it, you'll like it.

Interesting. I had heard of Penderyn, but not had the opportunity to try any of their product. Given their history they are still selling mostly younger versions of their whisky.

Penderyn became the first whisky to be manufactured in Wales for over a century when sales started in 2004. It remains the only whisky currently produced in the country

[wombat2go]

I would be interested to know if there is any traditional style whiskey made in USA?
I dislike the bourbon style.
One time I got a bottle of whiskey made in Japan while in Tokyo. It was quite good but i forgot the brand.

For olive oil consumers, there is now a USA provider, the brand is "Olivista" ; seems fairly good, available from Simpson and Vail in NY. ( I have no connection, just a customer)

[Sandy Hancock]

I only know of one company producing single malt whisky in Australia: Sullivan's Cove in Hobart, Tasmania. It's not bad at all.
As for olive oil, we are rather spoilt for choice in South Australia; our climate is very "Mediterranean" and we had a huge migration wave from Greece and Italy after World War II.

[Docrwm]

I would be interested to know if there is any traditional style whiskey made in USA?
I dislike the bourbon style.
One time I got a bottle of whiskey made in Japan while in Tokyo. It was quite good but i forgot the brand.

For olive oil consumers, there is now a USA provider, the brand is "Olivista" ; seems fairly good, available from Simpson and Vail in NY. ( I have no connection, just a customer)

Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey
St George Single Malt, Alameda CA
Peregrine Rock California Pure Single Malt Whisky, St. James Spirits, Irwindale, California
McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt
Nashoba winery in Massachusetts that just produced their first 5 year whisky. It's aged in the old wine casks so it has a distinctly fruity characteristic.
Wasmund's from Virginia's Copper Fox distillery. They malt their own barley and instead of using peat, they use apple and cherry wood smoke (as well as apple and cherry wood chips in the oak barrel).
Golden Distillery’s Samish Bay Single Malt Whiskey and Samish Bay Single Malt Reserv

There is also a single-malt rye from Anchor Distillery called Old Potrero.

You can try this article, recently in the NYTimes http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/dining/american-malted-whiskeys-win-acclaim.html
McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is of the Islay tradition of Scotch whisky. Of well-known single malts from Scotland, it resembles the Lagavulin whisky. It is very peat-y. Made from peat-malted barley brought in from Scotland, our whiskey would be a single malt Scotch if Oregon were Scotland. Widmer Brothers ferments the peat-malted barley into a “wash” or unhopped beer. Using the unfinished wash allows us to get all the flavor and character of the malt when we distill. We distill in our Holstein pot stills using one pass distillation, but make a small “heads” cut and a fairly large “tails” cut and put about 4 liters of tails into the next still run. The proof at time of distillation is about 150 (75%). Then we reduce in proof and barrel-age the rough distillate in old sherry casks. All the Oregon Single Malt now spends some time in barrels made from air-dried Oregon Oak. The present bottling is only 3 years old but we think it is remarkably smooth for such a young whiskey. The result is a smooth, peat-y whiskey with a surprisingly clean finish. Production is very limited because what we put in the barrel doesn’t come out for years.
McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey received attention from its early days in the 1990′s because American Single Malt was a novelty. In 2000, Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Ragen noted in the Malt Advocate (March, 2000, p. 24) that in the world of American whiskey, “the times they are a-changing.” Their article described how single malts have started to gain in popularity over the past decade and “full flavored American whiskey has made a comeback.” At that time (2000) three artisanal distillers were making American Single Malts, but only McCarthy’s had been released.
McCarthy’s started to receive significant acclaim in 2004, when Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s its Best Small Batch Whiskey in the world award and a score of 94. That same year Michael Jackson put McCarthy’s in his list of The Ten Best American Whiskeys, published in both the Men’s Journal (December 2004) and The Malt Advocate ( First Quarter 2005). Consistently rave reviews have continued. In his 2006 edition of The Whiskey Bible, Jim Murray wrote, “McCarthy’s has earned a place among the world’s elite whiskeys.” His 2008 edition of The Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s a phenomenal score of 96.
750 ml bottle $54.95*

[wombat2go]

+1 Docrim, I will certainly give some of those a try.
I like to consume from whatever country I am in and it works, except for coffee in Chile and , curiously, tea in India where they put milk in it.
Tomorrow is St Pat's so I will have a Sam Adams.

Now...........my C41 bath is at 38.7 C +/- 0.8C for the Fuji. ............According to my memory from back street in Fukuoka the correct Sake temperature is 36.88 C
Is there a reasonable Sake made in USA ??

[Docrwm]

+1 Docrim, I will certainly give some of those a try.
I like to consume from whatever country I am in and it works, except for coffee in Chile and , curiously, tea in India where they put milk in it.
Tomorrow is St Pat's so I will have a Sam Adams.

Now...........my C41 bath is at 38.7 C +/- 0.8C for the Fuji. ............According to my memory from back street in Fukuoka the correct Sake temperature is 36.88 C
Is there a reasonable Sake made in USA ??

Takara Sake USA Inc. - Experienced makers of Shochu, Mirin and Sake
Takara has been a leading producer of Sake in Japan for more than 150 years. Takara Sake USA, established in Berkeley in 1982, uses pure snow melt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and superior rice from the fertile Sacramento Valley to make a Sake worthy of the Takara mark.

[wombat2go]

Yikes Doc, You are a indeed a worthy reference.
I was about to ask about Korea Sorju but you answered it too.
How about a Peruvian Pisco?

[Docrwm]

Yikes Doc, You are a indeed a worthy reference.
I was about to ask about Korea Sorju but you answered it too.
How about a Peruvian Pisco?

Don't know of any US made Pisco, but it's not all Peruvian - Chile makes some fine Pisco too.

[gokenin]

I have to say I am a Speyside region drinker myself. Aberlour , Cardhu, Macallan or Glenlivet . The oddball out is the Oban from the highlands.

[Digitalis]

I have been enjoying a bottle of 12 year old Strathisla, tricky to find here in Australia...but it is SO worth it. One of the least matured single malts I have ever found enjoyable, the Talisker 10 year old would be the youngest. My brother drinks that Jhonnie walker crap - no matter what label is on it, it remains an abomination. I have been doing my best to persuade him to try Glenlivet, or Glenmoray - But I suspect the fact that he mixes it with pepsi wouldn't make a difference(I know, sacrelige).