[Brussell]

Yeah, Macallan is obscenely expensive older than 12 year, but I wouldn't know if it's worth it seeing as I cannot afford to try it.

I am also quite new to scotch and whisky. I live in The American South so the first whisky I ever had was bourbon and then rye, followed by Canadian whisky. I wasn't that impressed.
Then I had scotch and I've been obsessed since. There's some kind of unique, underlying sweetness I can't quite put my finger on, which is what I love about scotch.

In my 3 months drinking scotch I've had about 25 varieties (a lot considering I've had to buy an entire bottle of every one).

If you didn't like JW Blue then Id skip blends, although that's a good place to start. Next I'd go with the basics, such as glenfiddich 12, glenlivet 12, balvenie 12, macallan 12, highland park 12, dalmore 12, ardbeg or laphroaig 10, talisker 10, lagavulin 16, oban 14, so on.

I wouldn't spend that much on an older or rarer bottle until you know the basics of regional variation and your personal tastes. If you find an old or rare bottle cheap then buy it quick, but save it back - put it out of your sight. I know it's hard to spend money and not see it, but right now your palate won't appreciate it as much as it might in 2-3 months.

Once you get some good 12 years down target your favorites and step up to the 15 year expressions. Then the 18, then 21 and so on. It's good to step it up.

My personal favorite brands are highland park, glenfiddich, balvenie and Yamazaki (Japanese). My least favorites are laphroaig and ardbeg (love the nose, hate the taste), followed by glenlivet and macallan fine oak series (the 10 year is criminally bad and overpriced).

Hope you stick with the clan of Scottish drams!



PS, Id like to know which cheeky devil gave me the buffalo picture. I just noticed.