Scotch 4 Dummies on YouTube does reviews of them. There is one they love. Don't remember which it was though.

Kilkerran 8 year cask strength in the recharged sherry casks is a terrific pour.

Their packaging is confusing be sure to look at the ABV to ensure you are getting the correct bottle. 57.1 is you key ABV for the sherry casked version.

What are some affordable peated Scotches? I am finding that that is where my tastes lean, but don't want to break the bank anytime I'd like some. I am not much on sipping, I guess, and a bottle goes way to fast to be making a buy every week or two. Any help for a noob?

Define affordable.

$50-60 bucks, or less?

Laphroaig 10 will meet what you're looking for I think. I don't go through scotch fast so I don't get to try as much as I'd like to, but I've definitely been happy with this one.

I think a few pages back I asked for a followup recommendation actually to Laphroaig 10, based off of liking it, and people said Ardberg would be a good place to go to.

Highland Park line is lightly peated and on the affordable side. Not going to have nearly the peat levels of things like Lagavulen though.

Of strong peat offerings, young Laphroaigs are probably going to be among the cheapest.

If you're just looking for a basic everyday type of scorch with some peat, I normally keep a 1.75 of Famous Grouse Smoky Black in the cabinet. Not great stuff, but good enough to be enjoyable when I don't feel like getting into my nice bottles. Runs about $40-50 for the 1.75.

If you are looking for peat I would give Ardbeg a try.
10 year is their standard offering and is a nice pleated scotch. Ex bourbon filled casks. I found the peat pleasant as opposed to the laphroaig. The first peated scotch I tried was laphroaig and it was like sticking my face in a campfire.

The wee beastie is also terrific, this one has some sherry flavors imparted in it.

Pricing for each is
49.99 for the 10 year
37-42 for the wee beastie

The bruichladdich port Charlotte 10 is another good Islay scotch. but you will be paying more for that.

Many thanks, y'al, much appreciated.
I've tried the Ardbeg Wee Beastie, and didn't knock my socks off.
Will certainly try some of the others mentioned.
Dumb questions: Are all peated scotches single malt? Are all single malts peated?
I thought early on that any from Spey River or Islay would be peated, but apparently not?
Can anyone set me straight on this? Also, I had found a Single Malt called Spey RIver that smelled like gasoline and I LOVED it, but later bought another bottle of the same thing and just didn't seem the same..is this common?

Peat and single malt have nothing to do with one another.

Single malt in general means one whisky from one distillery. For example, when you buy a bottle of Laphroaig it comes from the Laphroaig distillery, which makes Laphroaig.

The alternative to a single malt is a blended whiskey, which is where they buy barrels of whisky from multiple different distilleries, like Laphroaig, and mix them together to make a new product. So the blend may have some Laphroaig in it, but mixed with whiskey from multiple other distilleries to create a new mix of flavors.

Peating is a process of roasting the grains over a peat-smoke fire before making whisky out of it. It is generally done on Islay and other islands around Scotland. While mainland distilleries are usually not peated, or lightly peated. But there are always exceptions to this rule.

In general Speysides are very rarely peated. That region is known for lighter, sweeter, richer flavors.

Well damn, I'm so far off track I'm gonna need to start all over! Made some assumptions on too small a sample size and not enough duckduckgo.
I'm old enough to know better ('83) but they say there's no fool like an old fool.

For a good peated scotch that is ~60-80 bucks depending on where you find it try the Talisker 10. It is awesome. They have another that falls into your price range called Dark Storm. I have not had it but have heard good things about it.

John Francis Donaghy said:

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Peat and single malt have nothing to do with one another.

Single malt in general means one whisky from one distillery. For example, when you buy a bottle of Laphroaig it comes from the Laphroaig distillery, which makes Laphroaig.

The alternative to a single malt is a blended whiskey, which is where they buy barrels of whisky from multiple different distilleries, like Laphroaig, and mix them together to make a new product. So the blend may have some Laphroaig in it, but mixed with whiskey from multiple other distilleries to create a new mix of flavors.

Peating is a process of roasting the grains over a peat-smoke fire before making whisky out of it. It is generally done on Islay and other islands around Scotland. While mainland distilleries are usually not peated, or lightly peated. But there are always exceptions to this rule.

In general Speysides are very rarely peated. That region is known for lighter, sweeter, richer flavors.

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One final whiskey from one distillery. A single malt can be a blend of whiskeys of varying ages from the same distillery. I know you know that.. just wanted to clarify so there's no confusion for people who might not have known.

Found a Dalmore Cigar Malt. Going to crack it open this weekend.

Compass Box Peat Monster is a great blended scotch for around 60 dollars

You can get Longrow for $69.99 at Total Wine. It's a peated Campbeltown distilled at Springbank. I've never had the base whiskey as is, but they do some wine finishes that are awesome.

Yep. Just as good as I remember. Delicious

Chipotlemonger said:

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I hate this thread. When it gets a lot of run I feel the urge to splurge on multiple bottles.

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I found myself at Specs an hour after reading this thread and didn't see what I was looking for, and for the first time passed on picking up something anyway.

#Discipline
#Ikindofregretitbecauseilovetryingnewstuff

Slocum on a mobile said:

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They were out of quarter cask Laphroaig at my Spec's... so I bought a Russel's Reserve Bourbon.

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One of the most underrated. Anything in the Turkey tree is a liquid gold to me.

I recently got a bottle of Talisker 18. I'm excited to try this one out tonight for the first time - I'm a fan of 10 already

Alright crew..

Give me the most flavorful peated scotch under $40.

That price range means nothing to me, but there's a decent amount of product on the shelves under that, just wondering if there are any steals or hidden gems out there.

Good peated scotch under $40 is tough. Closest standard releases would probably be Laphroaig 10 or Bowmore 12. Both are probably low $50's range.

I have had luck on occasion with independent bottling lines like Grangestone, Shildaig (sp?), and Battlehill putting out decent peated bottles at lower price points sometimes, but you never really know what you're getting with those lines, no consistency. Might be great, might be a mixer.

Hoping the new trade agreement with the UK brings scotch prices back down soon, but that would require stores to willingly lower existing prices, so I won't hold my breath.

Need a recommendation for a scotch to celebrate the 10 year anniversary with the wife coming up. Looking in the $200-300 range unless a case could be made to go outside of that. The previous bottle we had for an anniversary was the Balvenie 21 Portwood which was fantastic.

We are both big fans of sherry cask finished scotches and do not mind the smokey stuff either. Some of our other favorite distilleries include Springbank, Oban, Ardbeg, Talisker, Longmore, Glenrothes, Bruichladdich just to pick a few.

If you can find it (good luck), I've heard the Bruichladdich Black Art series of releases is amazing.

Gut reaction from me in that range is GlenDronach Parliament 21 Year. One of the very richest sweetest sherry scotches I've ever had. Would be great for a special occasion for sherried scotch lovers. Runs low $200s last I bought one, but that's been a couple years ago now, might be a little more expensive today.

John Francis Donaghy said:

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Gut reaction from me in that range is GlenDronach Parliament 21 Year. One of the very richest sweetest sherry scotches I've ever had. Would be great for a special occasion for sherried scotch lovers. Runs low $200s last I bought one, but that's been a couple years ago now, might be a little more expensive today.

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Have had younger Glendronachs but not this one. I do know Glenfarclas 21 is also outstanding.

mazag08 said:

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If you can find it (good luck), I've heard the Bruichladdich Black Art series of releases is amazing.

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I have heard this as well and have only ever seen one bottle in person before about a year ago. I scoffed at the near $400 price on it back then too at that time but might reconsider it now.

Cromagnum said:

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John Francis Donaghy said:

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Gut reaction from me in that range is GlenDronach Parliament 21 Year. One of the very richest sweetest sherry scotches I've ever had. Would be great for a special occasion for sherried scotch lovers. Runs low $200s last I bought one, but that's been a couple years ago now, might be a little more expensive today.

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Have had younger Glendronachs but not this one. I do know Glenfarclas 21 is also outstanding.

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If you love rich sweet sherried scotch, the 21 is about as good as it gets. It really is the color you see in the picture, and GlenDronach does not use any artificial coloring in their products. So every bit of the deep reddish brown color you see in the picture comes from sherry casks. And it tastes exactly how you'd expect it to taste based on that color.

John Francis Donaghy said:

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Gut reaction from me in that range is GlenDronach Parliament 21 Year. One of the very richest sweetest sherry scotches I've ever had. Would be great for a special occasion for sherried scotch lovers. Runs low $200s last I bought one, but that's been a couple years ago now, might be a little more expensive today.

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If you ever see this again, buy it for me. I'll pay you a premium for it.