In another thread, someone said Latakia may be an acquired taste, kind of like Scotch. So I was wondering if the love (or hate) of Latakia coincides with the love (or hate) of Scotch.
Latakia and Scotch
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I chose the first option, although I don't buy bottles any more. If I have it handy, I tend to drink it too fast and sometimes get stupid. I do enjoy going out with the wife and having a drink or two (no more than that- too expensive that way)- I need to find a pipe friendly place.
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Im a #2.
Option 2 for me.
I love latakia.
I largely find scotch quite unpalatable, not merely unenjoyable but rather intolerable. I've managed to enjoy it a few times. Wanting to enjoy it more, I went to a single malt scotch tasting and every one I tried was worse than the last...it started to turn my stomach. I know it's good stuff and I don't blame anyone for liking it, but I may never be ready.
I love latakia.
I largely find scotch quite unpalatable, not merely unenjoyable but rather intolerable. I've managed to enjoy it a few times. Wanting to enjoy it more, I went to a single malt scotch tasting and every one I tried was worse than the last...it started to turn my stomach. I know it's good stuff and I don't blame anyone for liking it, but I may never be ready.
I love both. In the interest of full disclosure latakia was love at first taste, but scotch took me several years to appreciate.
Latakia was love at first light. Scotch (& other whiskey's) took me years to learn to enjoy.
I love both but one was instant and the other a learning process.
I love both but one was instant and the other a learning process.
I just realised I said exactly what cap said. He was so succinct though! Gotta work on my sentence structures. 
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I like the smokiness of both. Thinking of all that smoke, I finally read the 15 pages of the Thin Blue Smoke thread in the Mess Hall. I now am very hungry and have a strong desire to build an ugly drum smoker.
i am of the opinion that they are not related, though finding the RIGHT whisky is not so easy.
if something doesn't share the same body as the other product, they won't pair well and elevate and enhance each other.
That said, IMHO, a great dram with latakia is not gonna be for newcomers. it's going to have to be big smokey peat to stand toe-to-toe with any lat bombs.
if something doesn't share the same body as the other product, they won't pair well and elevate and enhance each other.
That said, IMHO, a great dram with latakia is not gonna be for newcomers. it's going to have to be big smokey peat to stand toe-to-toe with any lat bombs.
simon1
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Funny that you put up this post today...I just bought my first bottle of single malt this morning.
Got some Macallan. I'm not a big hard liquor drinker, but though i would try it.
Poured a couple of sips in a glass and it was a bit harsh, but smooth. If that makes any sense.
I'll try it again later with an ice cube in it. And maybe pair it with some Peterson's Irish Flake or Irish Oak.
If the latakia is what I'm tasting in the Frog Morton original, and the Squadron Leader and Nightcap to a lesser extent, I don't think I care for it yet.
I seem to like the perique in a blend though.
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Yeah, the common thing in FM original, SL, and NC is Latakia. As to the scotch, if I were buying bottles I would go for at least 12 year old- personally, I like The Glenlivet 12 year old. The 18 year old will knock your socks off with how great it is, but it is a bit spendy.
I lime both Latakia and whisky. Scotch and Irish whisky are my personal favorites. With American and Canadian whisky's I have to be in the right mood for. I've also go a reasonable selection of "world" whisky's that are very enjoyable. I've enjoyed my Latakia blends with Islay whisky's, most notably the offerings from Ardbeg.
@Simon1: try a dram of your new bottle with a drop of two of water as well as with your ice cube. Also let it breath a bit before drinking. Try resting if in the glass for about two minutes for every year old it is. That will allow some of the more "rough" volatiles breath off. Straight spirits take a while to adjust to, especially if you aren't a spirits drinker. That "harshness" becomes easier to deal with, for lack of a better term, as you gain more experience with the Water of Life.
Slainte
@Simon1: try a dram of your new bottle with a drop of two of water as well as with your ice cube. Also let it breath a bit before drinking. Try resting if in the glass for about two minutes for every year old it is. That will allow some of the more "rough" volatiles breath off. Straight spirits take a while to adjust to, especially if you aren't a spirits drinker. That "harshness" becomes easier to deal with, for lack of a better term, as you gain more experience with the Water of Life.
Slainte
I likes bofum . Most of the time I prefer a real smoky peaty scotch which might be why I like Latakia so well.
. Most of the time I prefer a real smoky peaty scotch which might be why I like Latakia so well.
I'm option 1. While scotch is not my favorite (bourbon takes that title), I do enjoy it. Funny, too...I really don't care for the real peaty stuff (Macallan 12 is my favorite of my admittedly limited scotch experiences) but I do like latakia. I didn't really care for it at first, though, so maybe I'll find myself miking the really smoky scotches eventually too.
I never tried to smoke Scotch.
I love both, but never together.
I like both. I don't drink clear liquors. Rum and bourbon are my favorites.
I actually prefer Cyprian Latakia to Syrian.
I actually prefer Cyprian Latakia to Syrian.
Both were love at first smell. Lagavulin 12 year old and Dunhill 965 respectively. In fact opening the Dunhill tin brought an Islay whisky to mind.
As it's the depths of winter here, I think a bowl of Pease's Westminster and a dram of Ardbeg Corryvrecken might be in order.
As it's the depths of winter here, I think a bowl of Pease's Westminster and a dram of Ardbeg Corryvrecken might be in order.
If we're looking at whiskeys outside of Scotch then I'm more into it. I tend to like bourbons, a certain popular Tennessee whiskey, and a clear, clean Irish. I recently acquired a cheap Canadian that I like.
Plus, I never shut up about my love of fine sipping tequila, which you could call agave whiskey since it's made similarly and even aged in used bourbon barrels.
Come to think of it, we sometimes smoke bourbon-infused blends or cigars, why not Scotch?
While thinking about your clear liquors statement I realized something funny...I dislike a plain tobacco flavor, rather enjoying latakia and sometimes aromatics but not plain burley or Virginia blends, but I like a more plain alcohol flavor that to me tastes clean in clear liquors.
In my very limited experience it seems that Cyprian latakia is more intense than Syrian, which is more subtle and nuanced. I like the more intense Cyprian but I definitely appreciate Syrian's subtlety at times, which is odd for me, usually subtlety is not my preference.
Hey Cap'n', check out Balcones Bourbon. They have a proprietary method if smoking their product. I had some during a master class with the distillery owner a year or two ago. Smokey scotch is influenced by peated malt whereas this is given a smokey flavour by using Texan scrub oak.
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