Greetings Andrew,

You want to get yourself a "Glencairn" glass. Here's a picture one : http://whiskyglass.ca/images/Glencairn_Glass.jpg


I'm a single malt newbie myself, just started this expensive new hobby a few months ago, and have learned a great deal by watching the "Ralfy" video reviews of Scotches at http://www.ralfy.com

Ralfy uses the Glencairn glass for "dramming" and I haven't got one yet myself, but have found an oddball wine glass that has a similar curved-in top that works pretty well for now, but I definitely want to get myself a set of Glencairn whisky glasses soon.

Also, here's a pretty useful "flavor map" http://www.taliskerwhisky.com/resour...lavour_Map.pdf

I used the flavor map to pick my first single malt and chose one near the center of the map, Oban 14, and it was quite good and not too expensive at about US$70. I've also had the Craggenmore and a Balvenie, and made a jump to the upper left corner of the map with a Laphroig (wow, like drinking a campfire!) . For the Christmas holiday, I got two Aberlours -- the 16 yr old and a bottle of Aberlour A'bunadh Batch #27 Cask Strength. My next expedition will be to the upper right corner of the flavor map, I'd love to find a Talisker 18, or one of the older Caol Ilas but they're impossible to find here in northwest Texas. My local liquor store has a bottle of Lagavulin 16 and a Lagavulin Distillers Edition that have been sitting on his shelf for about a year gathering dust, and if they're still there in a a couple months after I get my holiday bills paid off, they will be mine!

--neal