12-yr.
1.75 liter? That’s the equivalent of $42.50 for a 750 ml, which you can fairly easily find for $55.
It’s a single malt in case that matters to you.
Is this a friendly heads-up or are you thinking of this for yourself?
how do you make it into pastrami?
Sort of both… I’d be purchasing this for people in the fam that like scotch whiskey.
Probably? If 2L is a huge soda bottle, this was only slightly less than that.
I think family would be okay w/ that (?).
Sounds like it’s maybe not an amazing deal. Anyone try the Kirkland-branded one?
Pastrami is basically corned beef that has been smoked. There are a bunch of recipes online but basically, if you buy the corned beef packer, rinse in water to get rid of the saltiness. Make a rub with ground coriander and black pepper, smoke it in your smoker like a regular brisket (internal temp to around 200-215 degrees). You can stop now or you can add one more step and steam it if you want. Now you have pastrami.
I saw that today and also pondered the economics. Its a “Double Cask” bottling which doesn’t mean much. A quick perusal of reddit reviews gives a general consensus it’s a bit worse than the standard 12. 12 retails about $60 but is so common it can be found for often quite less. So not an absolute steal.
I did snag a bottle of Red Breast 12 for $35 a couple weeks back and was quite pleased. Tough to find under $50. The occasional solid buy at MDR is usually to be had in their “top shelf” aisle.
I’m no fan of Macallan but it’s an easy drinker and generally well-liked. Seems like this bottle would be fun to bust out for a big group but wouldn’t necessarily be a great gift for someone who was really into single malt.
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I’m not a scotch drinker (anymore) but have enjoyed (long ago) 25 y.o. Macallan. Would a blended liker necessarily like a single malt?
It’s a solid single malt at what I consider a great price. You’re saving about $30.
I find Macallan a bit on the boring side, but I’ve had a lot of scotch and I have a preference for character over smoothness. I think Macallan leans more toward smooth, though I haven’t tried the double cask it looks like you’re talking about.
Most casual scotch drinkers will like it a lot. Most casual scotch drinkers also prefer to see the words “single malt” on their bottles.
I’ll just say 1.75L is a big commitment for a household bottle. But it’s a very safe buy both in terms of being a deal and in terms of having people enjoy it.
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Yeah, I think that might be the rate-limiting step here in terms of a purchase.
Why is that (I know very little about scotch, aside from doing the very kitschy and fun scotch-whiskey experience in Edinburgh last yr)? Is that casual drinkers have a sense of what they want scotch to taste like, and a single malt gives them that experience?
Well, it’s complicated. So at the risk of being glib I’ll say it comes down to three things: cheap hooch, marketing, and, maybe, that the finest examples of scotch are single malts.
First, if you’re dealing with crappy scotch then you are highly likely to be looking at a blend. All the worst examples of scotch are blends. There aren’t many truly awful single malts.
Second, at some point, single malt scotch started to be marketing as the generally superior product. This took hold because advertising can be powerful as well as the fact that many blends are junk.
Third, at the very highest end, single malts dominate. Few of us are buying stuff at that end and if we are then we already better know a lot about scotch to appreciate it properly. Otherwise, it’s just conspicuous consumption.
Truth is, a good blend is probably better than most single malts. For instance, I like a ton of what Compass Box puts out and I think their blends beat a lot of single malts for the money.
Anyways, back to The Macallan, it’s hard to regret the purchase. It’s solid enough stuff.
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Personally I love Love Bowmore accross the board i feel like they deliver above there prove point.
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I used to make my own blend of Lagavulin and Bowmore. FTW
that’s interesting! almost like making your own blended whisky
That’s exactly what I was doing.
I love them also. They were sampling the other day!
Got these again. Had last night with some of TJs Harvest Grains and TJs haricots vert. Great dinner with almost no effort. I cut them in half and poked little holes all over. Sauteed in butter over medium low heat.
