I’d beg to differ, being more a Scotch man myself, but I think the Bushmills 10-year-old malt might give you a good price/quality trade-off.

agreed? dear god, no. you can have my bottle of lagavulin when you pry it from my sweaty, passed-out hands

Yeah, imo, scotch is far better than any other whiskey...but i'll agree with misteraitch about bushmill's, it's fairly tasty. Not as tasty as a bottle of laphroaig, but...

You're wrong. Scotch is king of whiskey. I'd say Jameson, though, is a tasty Irish that will in no way pauperize you priced. (It's no Oban, though.)

I recommend the regular old white-labeled Bushmills. I grew up on it. Black Bush is hoity-toity without any real delivery, and John Power & Sons is better for loosening stuck bolts and degreasing auto parts.

None are as good as a fine scotch, but that's not the question.

To drink whiskey like a pauper:

Take a sip, just enough to fill your mouth but not enough that you need to keep your mouth closed to keep from drooling. Don't swallow. You will feel the burn. Open your mouth slightly and inhale through it, over the liquor sitting in a pool around your tongue. Mind you dont tip your head back and choke on liquor.

The heat from inside your mouth vaporizes alcohol in the whiskey, which is inhaled into the lungs, where it is mixed with fresh, oxygenated blood and goes straight to the brain.

You'll see; a wee dram'll go a long way.

I wonder if you've ever had a good scotch, or if you're basing your opinion on some blended rot-gut. If you like Irish whiskey, you might try a single malt scotch from either Speyside or the Lowlands region. Might do you good.

Don't have much experience with Irish whiskey; I found the good stuff a bit further south and've stuck with it.

Story: One of my college art professors was British, born in the 30s. He went to visit his Irish uncle when he was about 15 and went with him to the pub for the first time. The bartender asked him what he wanted, and, imitating his father, he said "Scotch." Silence fell as everyone turned to look. The uncle said, furiously, "There's no Scotch here! You'll have Jamesons and you'll like it."

This is advice I have always followed. Except when I'm feeling American at which point I drink Makers Mark or Wild Turkey.

For what's already been listed,

Irish: Powers, not too sweet and good body

Scotch/single malts: Glemorangie 10 year (the regular, avoid the specialty bottles such as Portwood to help keep price reasonable) or Lagavulin if you want something with more peat and still balanced (the 16 year is the best bet)

Bourbon: Blanton's is a touch more expensive but well worth it and if you're feeling a little adventurous, you can often get great bourbons from a new distilleries trying to break into the market; Phillips Union comes to mind.

fuck it all and go for the armagnac
the kind with the rooster is a steal for the price
it's for sippin', not drippin'

Firstly: It's called "Bourbon" because, just as the Bourbons ruled France, so does their namesake rule Whisky country.

Secondly: Woodford Reserve is the best value in Bourbon. Yes, it's expensive, but it's all about good times.

I'm in total agreement with mr.marx.

right o, speck, if you go for brown over clear

I'm not a fan of scotch (or anything else that makes my mouth taste like an ashtray). I prefer the Irish, myself. Jameson's, Bushmill's, Power's, in that order.

Thanks folks. I'm afraid you're pissing in the wind with the attempts to get me to convert to the products of Islay, I just don't like the peatiness. I was kind of thinking that Jameson seems like a Johnnie Walker (in terms of price and ubiquity) and that Ireland may have its own Lagavulins or Laphroaigs waiting to take me to the next level of whiskeydom (with an e).

Maybe not though.

Oban.

But isn't Oban, like, scotch?

oh good. whiskey, my favourite.

bourbon: basil hayden does it for me. big time.

as an aside, a good friend of mine participated in a blind bourbon tasting with a couple of dozen of the best barpeople in sydney. these people really know their spirits.

rated out of ten on various criteria: basil hayden 9, woodford 8.5, jack daniels (though not technically bourbon) 7.5, maker's mark a surprising 5, but the darkhorse standout was jim beam white label, which rated 9s and above from the majority of the judges.

scotch: lagavulin i adore unreasonably. i've been fortunate enough to drink some of the older macallans, which are just amazing, but expensive.

irish: i defer to people who know far more about this than me.

Nomis—it used to be that there wasn’t much Irish whiskey available (in the UK at least) in the middle ground between Bushmills, say, and Midleton (which I hear is very good, but which is quite expensive—and I’ve not tried it myself). There are a couple of newer brands, like Connemara, but I don’t know how good they are.