I've been doing this a lot...making my own blends. If I have two single malts on hand, I'll make my own blend, which I call GlenGary. My current blend is Ardbeg Wee Beastie with a good bit of Glenallachie. I tried this because, even though I love both of these whiskies on their own, I found the Beastie a bit lacking in depth, and the GlenAllachie a bit too sweet. Together they are a marriage made in heaven. Slainte! Gary Carper P.S. I'm your biggest fan and promoter in Nashville, Tennessee...keep those reviews coming!
Curious, I just got the Wee Beastie and like it but I like the Laphroaig Select more. But also have some Glenmorangie Sherry Cask and think the Beastie and Sherry would go well. To what percentage of each of yours did you find is best?
Ha, yes, this is my trick as well. It never fails to amaze me how a few drops of Laphroaig 10 will totally transform and improve to my tastes a whole host of 'average' malts.
This is such a fantastic video! Great example, here in Serbia, where the average salary is no more than 500£, even 25£ budget malt is a bit of a stretch, if you know what I mean. I'm more than grateful that as a medical doctor, a pediatrician, I can afford myself a good malt moment from time to time, but even for me, this is fantastic video, as the general principle, a mindset of a malt passion.
@@Orielparadise We have only one official distillery in Serbia, it's called Two Dover. It maked traditional single malt whisky, but unfortunately Serbia is not really that much into whisky, there are far more distileries producing traditional fruit destilates, predominantly made out of plumes.
I just love how blenders talk about their craft as of it's some impossible task that takes blood/sweat/tears, that they've slaved over and that the end result is life or death. I'm by no means a blend snob, by no means; but there was that Johnnie Walker "Ultimate 18" advert (check it out on TH-cam) where Jimmy Bevvy is talking about how it took bravery and all that to come up with the perfect formulation for that blend. It's a good one, but come the heck on!! Sometimes the fluff in this hobby is just slapped on so ridiculously and UNNECESSARILY thick!
Great comment! It's firmly in the realm of "secret recipes" of culinary world (most trained chefs or even just level-headed hobby cooks like myself can figure out a "secret recipe" just by tasting it. If you can't exactly duplicate it, you can easily do better). Or think of a rock guitar player: if your guitar solo is difficult then you need to make it look easy and effortless. But if your part is too simple, then you need to stand and look like you're saving the world :) Same with all the "carefully selected", "patiently aged", "slowly matured", etc. And the gall of them describing artificially colored whiskies with various epithets is just ridiculous. The best malts look unassuming with only the important information, while the overbranded blends wax melodic about all of the cliche buzzwords of whisky - "old", "rare", "exclusive", etc.
Yes, being retired I have planned for whisky on a budget. The plan is always to have an Ardbeg 10 handy, but so far the companion bottles have not needed assistance. Here's hoping...
Ledaig is such a good choice for bolstering one of these supermarket speysiders. It has a richness to the malt behind the peat that really shores up a cheaper malt, vs. just adding a very phenolic Islay style to it. Perhaps Ballechin too, Springbank at its older price-point, or Benromach might be another, although not as much as it used to be :(
Awesome advice.....I had heard you say this once before and forgot about it. the lads at the whisk(e)y vault had mentioned the same thing about experimenting to find what you like. Definitely on my to do list down the road! Thanks for the....not only money saving advice,...but the chance you may find something you like even better than the real thing!
Ralfy: "how to improve a budget malt". Industry, somewhere in "whisky blending 101" course: same technique but called "how to pimp our millions of liters of mediocre spirit using a few of our decent malts to pad our bottom line by selling it to philistines" LOL. Thank you, Ralfy, keep bringing attention to "the man behind the curtain".
@@Watchman999 he-he, that would work too, but oddly enough in English "philistine" can also mean "a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them." So yes, there are whisky philistines out there :) I hope you noted my Wizard of Oz reference.
Ah the Johnny Walker Guide to Blending and Marketing utter dross for a huge mark up. Occasionally JW get it right and produce a stella blend *ahem* Green Label *ahem* but more often than not it's just to milk people, ignorant of whisky, of their money.
@@samuel_excels yep, they are resting on dried up shriveled laurels :) Personally I'd be ok if they were priced like 40% lower (80% lower for Blue), that would correspond to contents. Or if they brought back the former famed quality, offered at least 43% abv, didn't mess with E150a, etc. Other than that - meh. I did like Green Label, but I've been buying Talisker 10 locally for same price, Caol Ila 12 is not far off, either. Again, it should be priced at least 20% lower. I love the stylish timeless design of their bottle. But I'm not fooled by it :)
Just went to the website for Ledaig and ordered a bottle. Even with the P&P, it's still vastly cheaper than most supermarket whiskeys! Looking forward to this. :) Thanks, Ralfy!
On a budget I would suggest Speyburn 10 (23 euro) , Glen Grant 10 (27 euro). Also Old Pulteney 12 (27,50 euro). And maybe the best value for money might be AnCnoc 12 (only 27,50 euro, now on sale for 24,95!) Prices online in Holland.
Years ago I purchased a cheap blended Scotch my father-in-law drank. After he passed, I added some cask strength Scotch to the bottle. It improved this tremendously. Also purchased cheap blended Scotch and added some liquid smoke and tawny port to the bottle. When served from a carafe to my friends, nobody asked for their money back!
Thanks Ralphy for sharing your experience for people like me who do not always get to buy fancy bottles. I took your advice quite litterally. I was intrigued by that Lidl "Ben Bracken" 18Y/O Islay whisky which is i believe from caol ila. I wasn't impressed at all, the nose was actually promising but the taste just feels stiff and harsh at first and has very problematic and lasting sour aftertaste. I added drops of ledaig sherry cask. I'm extremely impressed by the result. The Ledaig just gives it some kind of balance it irons out the harshness and sour notes and opens the taste.
Yes i do this .while im not working you gotta spend less but make sure u have quality 2 add into the budget bottle ..even with bourbon i got a standard bottle of buffalo trace for 56 and just added a more stronger component which if you havnt tryed a wild turkey rare breed ..barrel proof quality.i do recommend it if you wanted 2 have a malternative kinda moment lol.yep Since we cant afford to drink just the rare breed at 89 all the time we gotta make cheaper bottles taste better as you may aswell make your less impressive bottle a more enjoyable experience .yep i think we get the worst pricing on everything here in australia..cheers ralfy i appreciate your words and guidance .i wish u a good night .godbless
I've been doing in regularly for a while, a bottle of aldi's highland black 8 with a few measures of an integrity single malt, gives you a very nice every day malt, keep the good stuff for the weekend
Thank you very much Ralfy for another outstanding Extras video, those tips are especially valuable for those of us who don't have access to a wide variety of expressions and labels and must struggle to get our hands on decent whiskies. I'm going to try it with some slightly disappointing bottles, Cheers!!!!
Hi Ralfy, thank you very much for another whisky lesson. Just started to blend whiskys down in my bothy. I will take your advice seriously. Cheers from Germany, Oliver
Now that I have a decent size collection of malt, I've enjoyed experimenting with my own blends. Usually a 2/3 or 3/4 unpeated malt with the rest being something peated.
Honestly.. An inexpensive bottle of Johnnie Walker Black is a must.. It will rejig the most horror stories of uisces I.e.Jameson Stout Cask.. Any Hinch n cetera. Talisker 10 another option to do the job. Anyway JWB is yer go to guy.. 12 Yr Scotch is as far as I can cut my cloth these days.. I've 5 already to go for Christmas n I'll be topping up with a Bunna toiteach n a Spingbank 10 or 15. Appreciate what you are doing with this vlog Ralfy.. You are instructive n doling out a helping hand. That's a care n kindness methinks.
Ralfy. You are the alchemist of malt whiskeys!!!! I have blended Spanish decent run with a touch of Tovess islay single malt and..... Great liquor infusion. Tropical peat!!!!
Spot-on Ralfy! I did this wjth bourbon a while back & had excellent results. My everyday sipper was Buffalo Trace, & while I enjoyed it I thought it could be improved upon, so I did the same as you, literally added a splash of Stagg Jr.....what a difference! Most of the Stagg was used-up this way :)
Hallo, I was two years ago on the whisky festival of Gent (Belgium) and it's very tough to not become drink. That festival I only zip a dram and put the rest in a midium small bottle, the result was very good, I was not dronk and had aftherwoods a beautiful blended malt. Thank you, for nice rivue s. Sorry for my bad English. Bye Ferdi De Keersmaeker
I love creating blends to get that chocalate note i enjoy .even a blended scotch works with bourbon.yep it is allways a suprise and fun activity to do.allthou once i was tryin a blanton's sftb and thought i didnt like this barrel so i added cognac and yep even bourbon and cognac can blend .scotch i have 2 be careful cause as u learn u know that smokey camp fire isla can overpower a nice blend .you allready got goin .so be mindful all .but get into blending your own unique creations guys its just another fun side to do while we are learning and on the whiskey journey.cheers all godbless have a awsome night or day where ever you may be in the world
Dear Ralfy, following your suggestions I just blended 2/3 of Glen Grant 5yo and 1/3 of Caol Ila and I got an excellent everyday whisky: rounded, fruity and smoky at the right point. I Hope whisky connoisseurs won't blame me for such an heresy...
I live in the US and I love adding Adberg 10 or Laphroaig 10 to my budget bourbons. The smoky sweet combination is heavenly to me. Great advice, especially in these dire times, Sir Ralfy.
A friend of mine shared his experiment - E.H. Taylor small batch + Ardbeg Uideadail. What was counter-intuitive was that the bourbon just about totally swallowed up the peat. So Ralfy is right, even peated malts are "delicate". Whisky aged in brand new charred oak is assertive and robust, it tends to take over.
@@alexk3088 Tell him to try it with Laphroaig 10 or Ardbeg Wee Beastie. The peatiness is more assertive in those. Edit: McClelland's Islay also works well. Rumor (and my personal opinion) is that it's a young 🏹 more.
@@onggia850 well, wee beastie is rather mild on the peat. I could grant you Laphroaig and ardbeg 10. But uigeadail is actually not mild on peat, it just has additional complexity.
Add a drop of Ardbeg and few drops of Scallywag into a glass of Tullamore Dew. And this blend will beat at least a half of 10yo malts you've ever tasted. 😂
Another recipe is to fortify the cheap whisky with pure ethyl alcohol to 55-60 percent and put the mixture into a small cask fo two or three years. But you must be patient.
This got to be one of your best videos so far. This is really helpful for everybody on a budget. Furthermore it helps in holding prices for whisky lower. A stroke of genius Ralfy, ty very much. Or in short you tell the industry everything you can do we can do better, to more sensible prices. I have a very stupid question, where i live i cant buy a 10 year old ledaig, will the 18 year old do the trick ?
You're in *meme* territory, Ralf. "Yo, dog! I heard you like whisky...so put some whisky in your whisky so you can have a whisky while having a whisky."
I put a small amount of my Tobermory 12 into my Lidl Ben Bracken islay. Yes it was an improvement a bit smoother a little fruitier. I do drink A cheaper malt in the week not every night and save a nicer whisky for the weekend. Also if friends are round and it’s a session then the super market will be out as it almost makes me cry when they put coke or loads of ice in a more expensive malt. Perhaps I’m mean. But when I’m sipping a nice malt watching my fish in my aquarium well I’m in a happy place.
@@colinharper3714 My strangest experience went like this. Brought a bottle of cask strength Scotch to my cigar store. One of the guys asked if he could have some. He filled a glass with ice, added the Scotch then topped it off with Diet Coke. The horror of it all!
I can tolerate pretty much anything if it's peated, so I stash Ardbeg 10 and Laphroaig 10 as an improvement mixers. In some cases I throw in some toasted and oloroso oak chips and let it sit for a few months. But if my purchase is hopeless, I either use it for cooking meat or donate to my friends. They drink anything that burns 😆
I have a bottle of Ben Bracken NAS (Lidl) in the cupboard that i need to do something with. Reminded me of a Kraft cheese slice with the plastic on when i first tried it. Ill try the Ledaig with it.
A mate of mine use to have a bottle of the classic laddie and would add 2 shots of it to any cheap peated scotch he bought, and said it massively improved them, without having to buy that price scotch every time. Personally I'm not so convinced but he said he enjoyed it
Few drops of Glenmorangie Lassanta into Glenmorangie Orginal 10 makes it so much better, particularly if you find the sherry influence too much in the Lassanta alone.
I find that you can never have enough Clynleish in your Clynleish, let alone in your blends. The GoT is a favourite of mine, but the 16 or the high Clynleish content Compass Boxes are just too light.
The co-op were knocking Gen Moray classic out at £19.00, would have been rude not to buy it at that price. I pimped it with a drop or two of some Deanston 12 ( nearly empty ) and it worked a treat :-)
For example Port Askaig 8yr is a really good friend to make a relationship with a cheap whisky. I have I tried it many times and the result was excellent. For sure, Laphroaig 10yr is more characteristic to be on own way, you need to find something younger and rougher to do that.
Spot on about price inflation. What it will mean is that a lot of new smaller distilleries will disappear. I honestly think the 'bubble' is about to pop. The money is not out there anymore to purchase over priced malt.
The "name" single malts would be cheaper if they quit spending so much in advertising it, just making it great. A lot of good to great malts out there we don't hear about if it wasn't for word of mouth and Ralfy's sage advice. Singles are very limited in what casks they can marry for "that perfect result".
Ralfy, I am new to your excellent TH-cam videos. I was thinking of taking a ‘store’ brand of scotch and aging it in a 1 liter wooden cask. Would you recommend a charred or uncharred barrel ? I was thinking of putting Sherry in the barrel for a short time, draining, and rinsing. Add scotch for a period of time, then see how it tastes. Have you made any videos about doing this ? What is your opinion of doing this ? Thank you for input !!! Dave Wentworth, California
Thanks for the heads up Ralfy about the price rising that you are expecting, I've been searching for some stuff from my list to buy them immediately. Could you give us some good malts in the price range about the 100£ that are specially worth buying before the prices go up?
Ralfy, I’m going through a patch of the malt malaise. For some reason whisky (and rum) just haven’t tasted the same to me lately. Have you any advice for how to regather our pallets once we’ve suffered fatigue on liquors in general?
It's more a case of knowing which supermarket malts are worth bothering with and which are not. I've been doing home blending of whisky for a few years now and it's good advice, mind you there are some idiots that look down on blends no matter how good they are.
Thanks Ralfy. Excellent advice to an ignoramus like me. Have you tried Aldi and Lidl Islay malt, about £18? If so do you think they are decent, if a bit thin, like the Co-op one you have here, or not as good?
Mr. Ralfy, good time, Please try to find Glen Grant 12yo travel exclusive version, 48% non chill filtered, natural colour and only £42 for 1 litre bottle in the free shops (less than £30 for 70cl bottle). Will be very pleased to know your opinion. Thanks.
I've done something similar by mixing 3 parts of Lismore with one part 10 Yr Laphroaig. Becomes problematic when I remind myself that I am simply emulating "blended whiskeys", albeit on a minimum scale...
Yap, the price hike is already happening and it's not going to stop anytime soon. And that will affect the quality too... Hopefully no Fomo induced, but that is the reality. Cheers!
I do wonder whether the price hike and drop in quality as a result will end up creating another whisky boom and bust scenario or whether it'll just be another banking f**k-up causing a worldwide financial crash that'll tank prices.
Great video Ralfy👍. I asked this in a previous video of yours, could you make a video about preserving our whiskies? What gases and what brands are best. Up vote if anyone else would like this also. Thanks.
He's done a video on that and mentioned it a few times. There's a few products out there , i.e. "Private Preserve" wine preserver. There's not much to talk about - get a spray can, spray some into the bottle when there's too much space in it (i.e. below half or below 2/3) and replace cork. Done. It's just inert gas to displace air - nitrogen and maybe carbon dioxide.
Have been doing this for awhile with Bourbon. Mixing spicy and hot with sweet and flat some good things happen. Will now try with Scotch maybe Glenfiddich with some Monkey Shoulder ..who knows .Chocks Away !
I have had 5 litres of Lagavulan 16 and 5 litres of The Balvenie 12 year Double Wood old blending in a custom made barrell made from an ex bourban cast for the past 8 years. I will be bottling in 2 years time
I've got 57 open whiskey bottles and 183 full bottles so I should be able to withstand the upcoming Ralfy predicted whiskey apocalypse. I blame Ralfy for inducing me to buy them faster than I can consume them.
I've been doing variations on this for a long time. I live in Japan. We have a cheap Nikka blended whisky that's available at every corner drug store and supermarket. It's very inoffensive, as well as being 45% abv. By itself, it's nothing to write home about. But it's a great canvas. I buy a bottle, empty about 100ml from it, and replace it with a decent malt, such as Arran 10 year or Tobermory 12 (even Monkey Shoulder). It's nothing less than alchemy. It doesn't make it the best whisky ever, but it makes it far better than it has any right to be. Until I'm rich, it works for me.
@@brian6x also wouldn't be bad to stash a case or three of basic decent bourbn/blend/vodka. There have been times and places where stuff like that was the real liquid currency, some might even argue it was money.
I've been following Ralphy's advice on blending for a while and he's talking sense. Always blend in the glass before adding whisky to the bottle. I would ask Ralphy for pointers on sympathetic malts to blend with and also an extras on these invisible distilleries that supply the supermarkets that he mentioned in the main episode please.
I've been doing this a lot...making my own blends. If I have two single malts on hand, I'll make my own blend, which I call GlenGary. My current blend is Ardbeg Wee Beastie with a good bit of Glenallachie. I tried this because, even though I love both of these whiskies on their own, I found the Beastie a bit lacking in depth, and the GlenAllachie a bit too sweet. Together they are a marriage made in heaven. Slainte! Gary Carper P.S. I'm your biggest fan and promoter in Nashville, Tennessee...keep those reviews coming!
Curious, I just got the Wee Beastie and like it but I like the Laphroaig Select more. But also have some Glenmorangie Sherry Cask and think the Beastie and Sherry would go well. To what percentage of each of yours did you find is best?
I've been doing this trick for a while... Mix my Te Bheag glass with a splash of Laphroaig 10. Works like a charm!
Ha, yes, this is my trick as well. It never fails to amaze me how a few drops of Laphroaig 10 will totally transform and improve to my tastes a whole host of 'average' malts.
I like Te Bheag on its own. Never thought about hitting it with a splash of Laphroaig. I will try this very soon. Thank you for the tip!
Ralfy, been blending like this for the past 5 years since you first suggested to do so! Thank you!
This is such a fantastic video! Great example, here in Serbia, where the average salary is no more than 500£, even 25£ budget malt is a bit of a stretch, if you know what I mean. I'm more than grateful that as a medical doctor, a pediatrician, I can afford myself a good malt moment from time to time, but even for me, this is fantastic video, as the general principle, a mindset of a malt passion.
Is there any Serbian whiskeys? I remember when I was Czechia I was surprised to find out they had their own and it was good.
@@Orielparadise We have only one official distillery in Serbia, it's called Two Dover. It maked traditional single malt whisky, but unfortunately Serbia is not really that much into whisky, there are far more distileries producing traditional fruit destilates, predominantly made out of plumes.
I was convinced after watching the video about this malt that the "improvement" was going to involve a SodaStream coming out again...
Watching this in 2023, you were spot on about the inflation. I enjoy your channel Ralfy!
I just love how blenders talk about their craft as of it's some impossible task that takes blood/sweat/tears, that they've slaved over and that the end result is life or death. I'm by no means a blend snob, by no means; but there was that Johnnie Walker "Ultimate 18" advert (check it out on TH-cam) where Jimmy Bevvy is talking about how it took bravery and all that to come up with the perfect formulation for that blend. It's a good one, but come the heck on!! Sometimes the fluff in this hobby is just slapped on so ridiculously and UNNECESSARILY thick!
Great comment! It's firmly in the realm of "secret recipes" of culinary world (most trained chefs or even just level-headed hobby cooks like myself can figure out a "secret recipe" just by tasting it. If you can't exactly duplicate it, you can easily do better). Or think of a rock guitar player: if your guitar solo is difficult then you need to make it look easy and effortless. But if your part is too simple, then you need to stand and look like you're saving the world :) Same with all the "carefully selected", "patiently aged", "slowly matured", etc. And the gall of them describing artificially colored whiskies with various epithets is just ridiculous. The best malts look unassuming with only the important information, while the overbranded blends wax melodic about all of the cliche buzzwords of whisky - "old", "rare", "exclusive", etc.
. . . yes.
Great tip Ralfy - I have been doing this for years and had some excellent results. Caol Ila being one dram used very often.
Thanks for the hint, Ralfy! To be honest, I've never thought of doing this before! It DOES make a difference to budget whisky!
Spot on !!! The budget is the barrier ! Well done Ralfy!! I’m on that boat 🚤 !! Thx
Yes, being retired I have planned for whisky on a budget. The plan is always to have an Ardbeg 10 handy, but so far the companion bottles have not needed assistance. Here's hoping...
Ledaig is such a good choice for bolstering one of these supermarket speysiders. It has a richness to the malt behind the peat that really shores up a cheaper malt, vs. just adding a very phenolic Islay style to it. Perhaps Ballechin too, Springbank at its older price-point, or Benromach might be another, although not as much as it used to be :(
Awesome advice.....I had heard you say this once before and forgot about it. the lads at the whisk(e)y vault had mentioned the same thing about experimenting to find what you like. Definitely on my to do list down the road! Thanks for the....not only money saving advice,...but the chance you may find something you like even better than the real thing!
Ralfy: "how to improve a budget malt".
Industry, somewhere in "whisky blending 101" course: same technique but called "how to pimp our millions of liters of mediocre spirit using a few of our decent malts to pad our bottom line by selling it to philistines" LOL. Thank you, Ralfy, keep bringing attention to "the man behind the curtain".
Great David and Goliath analogy. Who needs a sling shot when you have Ralfy.
@@Watchman999 he-he, that would work too, but oddly enough in English "philistine" can also mean "a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them." So yes, there are whisky philistines out there :) I hope you noted my Wizard of Oz reference.
Ah the Johnny Walker Guide to Blending and Marketing utter dross for a huge mark up. Occasionally JW get it right and produce a stella blend *ahem* Green Label *ahem* but more often than not it's just to milk people, ignorant of whisky, of their money.
@@samuel_excels yep, they are resting on dried up shriveled laurels :) Personally I'd be ok if they were priced like 40% lower (80% lower for Blue), that would correspond to contents. Or if they brought back the former famed quality, offered at least 43% abv, didn't mess with E150a, etc. Other than that - meh. I did like Green Label, but I've been buying Talisker 10 locally for same price, Caol Ila 12 is not far off, either. Again, it should be priced at least 20% lower. I love the stylish timeless design of their bottle. But I'm not fooled by it :)
Thanks Ralfy, I've tried the home blending with great success. A good way of using up those almost empty bottles to create something unique.
Cannot wait until a Ralfy episode on the peculiar habits of the American Infinity Bottle.
Just went to the website for Ledaig and ordered a bottle. Even with the P&P, it's still vastly cheaper than most supermarket whiskeys! Looking forward to this. :) Thanks, Ralfy!
On a budget I would suggest Speyburn 10 (23 euro) , Glen Grant 10 (27 euro). Also Old Pulteney 12 (27,50 euro).
And maybe the best value for money might be AnCnoc 12 (only 27,50 euro, now on sale for 24,95!) Prices online in Holland.
Oh how I wish Speyburn 10 was $23 here in NY. I paid $37 for it last time. Inflation has already happened and then some...
Ralfy: the Magnificent Malt Mixologist.
. . . Now on the M-mention List !
Years ago I purchased a cheap blended Scotch my father-in-law drank. After he passed, I added some cask strength Scotch to the bottle. It improved this tremendously. Also purchased cheap blended Scotch and added some liquid smoke and tawny port to the bottle. When served from a carafe to my friends, nobody asked for their money back!
Thanks Ralphy for sharing your experience for people like me who do not always get to buy fancy bottles.
I took your advice quite litterally. I was intrigued by that Lidl "Ben Bracken" 18Y/O Islay whisky which is i believe from caol ila.
I wasn't impressed at all, the nose was actually promising but the taste just feels stiff and harsh at first and has very problematic and lasting sour aftertaste.
I added drops of ledaig sherry cask. I'm extremely impressed by the result.
The Ledaig just gives it some kind of balance it irons out the harshness and sour notes and opens the taste.
I like to add a wee bit of fancy highland park to the naked grouse and bam! Solid dram on a budget!
Yes i do this .while im not working you gotta spend less but make sure u have quality 2 add into the budget bottle ..even with bourbon i got a standard bottle of buffalo trace for 56 and just added a more stronger component which if you havnt tryed a wild turkey rare breed ..barrel proof quality.i do recommend it if you wanted 2 have a malternative kinda moment lol.yep Since we cant afford to drink just the rare breed at 89 all the time we gotta make cheaper bottles taste better as you may aswell make your less impressive bottle a more enjoyable experience .yep i think we get the worst pricing on everything here in australia..cheers ralfy i appreciate your words and guidance .i wish u a good night .godbless
Mixing whisky is one of my favorite things! I like lifting blends, blending malts and peating up soft sweat malts. Never got into Rumsky though.
I've been doing in regularly for a while, a bottle of aldi's highland black 8 with a few measures of an integrity single malt, gives you a very nice every day malt, keep the good stuff for the weekend
Exactly the same with me!
Great information.
Great Presentation.
What more could you ask for.
Cheers.
Thank you very much Ralfy for another outstanding Extras video, those tips are especially valuable for those of us who don't have access to a wide variety of expressions and labels and must struggle to get our hands on decent whiskies. I'm going to try it with some slightly disappointing bottles, Cheers!!!!
Hi Ralfy, thank you very much for another whisky lesson. Just started to blend whiskys down in my bothy. I will take your advice seriously. Cheers from Germany,
Oliver
Thanks for letting us know about the inflation Ralfy
Now that I have a decent size collection of malt, I've enjoyed experimenting with my own blends. Usually a 2/3 or 3/4 unpeated malt with the rest being something peated.
Have done similar stuff, and keep doing this.
👍🏻
Honestly.. An inexpensive bottle of Johnnie Walker Black is a must.. It will rejig the most horror stories of uisces I.e.Jameson Stout Cask.. Any Hinch n cetera. Talisker 10 another option to do the job. Anyway JWB is yer go to guy.. 12 Yr Scotch is as far as I can cut my cloth these days.. I've 5 already to go for Christmas n I'll be topping up with a Bunna toiteach n a Spingbank 10 or 15. Appreciate what you are doing with this vlog Ralfy.. You are instructive n doling out a helping hand. That's a care n kindness methinks.
Ralfy. You are the alchemist of malt whiskeys!!!! I have blended Spanish decent run with a touch of Tovess islay single malt and..... Great liquor infusion. Tropical peat!!!!
Spot-on Ralfy! I did this wjth bourbon a while back & had excellent results. My everyday sipper was Buffalo Trace, & while I enjoyed it I thought it could be improved upon, so I did the same as you, literally added a splash of Stagg Jr.....what a difference! Most of the Stagg was used-up this way :)
Hallo,
I was two years ago on the whisky festival of Gent (Belgium) and it's very tough to not become drink.
That festival I only zip a dram and put the rest in a midium small bottle, the result was very good, I was not dronk and had aftherwoods a beautiful blended malt.
Thank you, for nice rivue s.
Sorry for my bad English.
Bye
Ferdi De Keersmaeker
. . .happy to share.
I love creating blends to get that chocalate note i enjoy .even a blended scotch works with bourbon.yep it is allways a suprise and fun activity to do.allthou once i was tryin a blanton's sftb and thought i didnt like this barrel so i added cognac and yep even bourbon and cognac can blend .scotch i have 2 be careful cause as u learn u know that smokey camp fire isla can overpower a nice blend .you allready got goin .so be mindful all .but get into blending your own unique creations guys its just another fun side to do while we are learning and on the whiskey journey.cheers all godbless have a awsome night or day where ever you may be in the world
Words to live by. Make the most of it and you'll get the most out of it.
Done this with a bottle of the infamous Glenlivet Founder's Reserve but it eventually just turned in to an infinity bottle.
Dear Ralfy, following your suggestions I just blended 2/3 of Glen Grant 5yo and 1/3 of Caol Ila and I got an excellent everyday whisky: rounded, fruity and smoky at the right point. I Hope whisky connoisseurs won't blame me for such an heresy...
I live in the US and I love adding Adberg 10 or Laphroaig 10 to my budget bourbons. The smoky sweet combination is heavenly to me. Great advice, especially in these dire times, Sir Ralfy.
A friend of mine shared his experiment - E.H. Taylor small batch + Ardbeg Uideadail. What was counter-intuitive was that the bourbon just about totally swallowed up the peat. So Ralfy is right, even peated malts are "delicate". Whisky aged in brand new charred oak is assertive and robust, it tends to take over.
@@alexk3088
Tell him to try it with Laphroaig 10 or Ardbeg Wee Beastie. The peatiness is more assertive in those.
Edit: McClelland's Islay also works well. Rumor (and my personal opinion) is that it's a young 🏹 more.
@@onggia850 well, wee beastie is rather mild on the peat. I could grant you Laphroaig and ardbeg 10. But uigeadail is actually not mild on peat, it just has additional complexity.
Thanks Ralfy!
You blew my mind, kudos!
Add a drop of Ardbeg and few drops of Scallywag into a glass of Tullamore Dew.
And this blend will beat at least a half of 10yo malts you've ever tasted. 😂
I've done that a couple of years ago with Ardbeg 10 and the basic Tullamore Dew, its perfect indeed!
Great tip Ralfy, I use ALDI Highland Black 8yo as my blank canvas, works really well.
Thanks Ralfy, i'm looking forward to try this on few Bottles of budget whisky.
Thanks for the hints at the end re prices ⬆️
Another recipe is to fortify the cheap whisky with pure ethyl alcohol to 55-60 percent and put the mixture into a small cask fo two or three years. But you must be patient.
This got to be one of your best videos so far. This is really helpful for everybody on a budget. Furthermore it helps in holding prices for whisky lower. A stroke of genius Ralfy, ty very much. Or in short you tell the industry everything you can do we can do better, to more sensible prices. I have a very stupid question, where i live i cant buy a 10 year old ledaig, will the 18 year old do the trick ?
The Malt Mention actually made me laugh. Well done.
You're in *meme* territory, Ralf. "Yo, dog! I heard you like whisky...so put some whisky in your whisky so you can have a whisky while having a whisky."
Great idea I’ll give it a go over the Christmas break
How did it work out for you?
I put a small amount of my Tobermory 12 into my Lidl Ben Bracken islay. Yes it was an improvement a bit smoother a little fruitier. I do drink A cheaper malt in the week not every night and save a nicer whisky for the weekend. Also if friends are round and it’s a session then the super market will be out as it almost makes me cry when they put coke or loads of ice in a more expensive malt. Perhaps I’m mean. But when I’m sipping a nice malt watching my fish in my aquarium well I’m in a happy place.
@@colinharper3714 My strangest experience went like this. Brought a bottle of cask strength Scotch to my cigar store. One of the guys asked if he could have some. He filled a glass with ice, added the Scotch then topped it off with Diet Coke. The horror of it all!
@@richardchaitt774 I know as Ralfy said you don’t like whisky if you put other stuff in it
This is why people do infinity bottles (mixing small amounts from every bottle you get into one bottle) and make amazing whiskies from it!
I can tolerate pretty much anything if it's peated, so I stash Ardbeg 10 and Laphroaig 10 as an improvement mixers. In some cases I throw in some toasted and oloroso oak chips and let it sit for a few months. But if my purchase is hopeless, I either use it for cooking meat or donate to my friends. They drink anything that burns 😆
I have a bottle of Ben Bracken NAS (Lidl) in the cupboard that i need to do something with. Reminded me of a Kraft cheese slice with the plastic on when i first tried it. Ill try the Ledaig with it.
Town branch rye single barrel reserve. A fabulous whiskey btw im going to try to pimp out one of my favorites. Redemption rye.
You can add a bit of mezcal, also.
A mate of mine use to have a bottle of the classic laddie and would add 2 shots of it to any cheap peated scotch he bought, and said it massively improved them, without having to buy that price scotch every time. Personally I'm not so convinced but he said he enjoyed it
Haha! I just watched the last one while enjoying an Ardbeg 10. Cheers Ralfy!
you can bring rum up by adding Hampden Estates - Rum Fire or Hamilton - Demerara 151
I blend my "bred and butter" blend - Grahams BLACK BOTTLE - with the fresh and peated Ardbeg Wee Beastie
Few drops of Glenmorangie Lassanta into Glenmorangie Orginal 10 makes it so much better, particularly if you find the sherry influence too much in the Lassanta alone.
If the price inflation happens I'm glad I've got a stash to blend with cheaper products :) Grab some Clynelish GoT as well for cheap Bourbons :)
Very interesting mixing Clynelish with cheap bourbon. I'll have to try that
I find that you can never have enough Clynleish in your Clynleish, let alone in your blends. The GoT is a favourite of mine, but the 16 or the high Clynleish content Compass Boxes are just too light.
The co-op were knocking Gen Moray classic out at £19.00, would have been rude not to buy it at that price. I pimped it with a drop or two of some Deanston 12 ( nearly empty ) and it worked a treat :-)
For example Port Askaig 8yr is a really good friend to make a relationship with a cheap whisky. I have I tried it many times and the result was excellent. For sure, Laphroaig 10yr is more characteristic to be on own way, you need to find something younger and rougher to do that.
4 Parts Te Bheag, 4 parts Wild Turkey 101 and 1 - 2 parts Ledaig 10. I had a Eureka moment a Month ago when I tried this.
Took a dram of Jameson Black Barrel and added a splash of Ardbeg Wee Beastie...not bad.
Spot on about price inflation. What it will mean is that a lot of new smaller distilleries will disappear. I honestly think the 'bubble' is about to pop. The money is not out there anymore to purchase over priced malt.
The "name" single malts would be cheaper if they quit spending so much in advertising it, just making it great. A lot of good to great malts out there we don't hear about if it wasn't for word of mouth and Ralfy's sage advice. Singles are very limited in what casks they can marry for "that perfect result".
Ralfy, I am new to your excellent TH-cam videos. I was thinking of taking a ‘store’ brand of scotch and aging it in a 1 liter wooden cask. Would you recommend a charred or uncharred barrel ? I was thinking of putting Sherry in the barrel for a short time, draining, and rinsing. Add scotch for a period of time, then see how it tastes. Have you made any videos about doing this ? What is your opinion of doing this ? Thank you for input !!! Dave Wentworth, California
Thanks for the heads up Ralfy about the price rising that you are expecting, I've been searching for some stuff from my list to buy them immediately. Could you give us some good malts in the price range about the 100£ that are specially worth buying before the prices go up?
The Ledaig 10 is in the Netherlands almost as cheap as your supermarketbottle! A difference of 7 pounds!
You nailed on the Global inflation. Insitefull as usual.
Ralfy, I’m going through a patch of the malt malaise. For some reason whisky (and rum) just haven’t tasted the same to me lately. Have you any advice for how to regather our pallets once we’ve suffered fatigue on liquors in general?
. . . take a break for three months with no alcohol. It will help re-boot your palate.
@@thewhiskybothy that’s a good idea. If you’re not enjoying it, no point in wasting it. Thanks Ralfy!
In this video: Ralfy tricks anoraks into tasting things rather than looking down their noses at the b word
It's more a case of knowing which supermarket malts are worth bothering with and which are not. I've been doing home blending of whisky for a few years now and it's good advice, mind you there are some idiots that look down on blends no matter how good they are.
I blend all the the time my cheep whiskys with a Glenfarclas 105 or better one and a drop of water.
You don't find it ends up with a terribly short finish?
"Le-Choke" Malt Whisky - coming soon from Whyte & Mackay.
Thanks Ralfy. Excellent advice to an ignoramus like me. Have you tried Aldi and Lidl Islay malt, about £18? If so do you think they are decent, if a bit thin, like the Co-op one you have here, or not as good?
Juts tried this with my Talisker 10yo. Not a fan of it, feels way too harsh. A splash of Lagavulin 16 and its completely new
Mr. Ralfy, good time,
Please try to find Glen Grant 12yo travel exclusive version, 48% non chill filtered, natural colour and only £42 for 1 litre bottle in the free shops (less than £30 for 70cl bottle). Will be very pleased to know your opinion. Thanks.
Heavy Scottish mist without any drop of water. Just Breathe.
Honest filtration, dramatically delicious.
Hi there ralfy, any chance you’ll review the glenmorangie signet anytime soon?
. . . no plans.
@@Bringadingus haha calm down man.
Mix 50:50 Johnnie Walker Blue Label with Red Label then you get Johnnie Walker Purple Label.
I've done something similar by mixing 3 parts of Lismore with one part 10 Yr Laphroaig. Becomes problematic when I remind myself that I am simply emulating "blended whiskeys", albeit on a minimum scale...
Yap, the price hike is already happening and it's not going to stop anytime soon. And that will affect the quality too... Hopefully no Fomo induced, but that is the reality. Cheers!
I do wonder whether the price hike and drop in quality as a result will end up creating another whisky boom and bust scenario or whether it'll just be another banking f**k-up causing a worldwide financial crash that'll tank prices.
Ralfy, when is the last day to vote? I just got 6 more of the bottles nominated and wanna make sure I don’t rush the vote before having a clear winner
Great video Ralfy👍. I asked this in a previous video of yours, could you make a video about preserving our whiskies? What gases and what brands are best. Up vote if anyone else would like this also.
Thanks.
He's done a video on that and mentioned it a few times. There's a few products out there , i.e. "Private Preserve" wine preserver. There's not much to talk about - get a spray can, spray some into the bottle when there's too much space in it (i.e. below half or below 2/3) and replace cork. Done. It's just inert gas to displace air - nitrogen and maybe carbon dioxide.
Cheers.
Have been doing this for awhile with Bourbon. Mixing spicy and hot with sweet and flat some good things happen. Will now try with Scotch maybe Glenfiddich with some Monkey Shoulder ..who knows .Chocks Away !
I voted 👍
the subtitles say 'pour a weed ram'
And "mock mates" instead of malt mates. Subtitles are a joke.
I have had 5 litres of Lagavulan 16 and 5 litres of The Balvenie 12 year Double Wood old blending in a custom made barrell made from an ex bourban cast for the past 8 years. I will be bottling in 2 years time
. . . a good combo, I did the same with Bowmore and Aberlour, creating 'Abermore'
I've got 57 open whiskey bottles and 183 full bottles so I should be able to withstand the upcoming Ralfy predicted whiskey apocalypse. I blame Ralfy for inducing me to buy them faster than I can consume them.
Hey Ralfy I'd like to get ahold of but I don't know how
Ralfy respect !
Man I’m so lucky I can get any Diageo malt whisky for free - or managers drams for like £18. I can even still get Port Ellen.
I've been doing variations on this for a long time. I live in Japan. We have a cheap Nikka blended whisky that's available at every corner drug store and supermarket. It's very inoffensive, as well as being 45% abv. By itself, it's nothing to write home about. But it's a great canvas. I buy a bottle, empty about 100ml from it, and replace it with a decent malt, such as Arran 10 year or Tobermory 12 (even Monkey Shoulder). It's nothing less than alchemy. It doesn't make it the best whisky ever, but it makes it far better than it has any right to be. Until I'm rich, it works for me.
Ralfy.... " In 2022 the price of whisky is going to skyrocket, so buy your whisky now!"
Me.... " Yes sir!"
buy gold also
The time was years ago :)
@@brian6x also wouldn't be bad to stash a case or three of basic decent bourbn/blend/vodka. There have been times and places where stuff like that was the real liquid currency, some might even argue it was money.
@@alexk3088 Liquid gold
Hey, Ralfy, you added the water to the wrong glass!
I've been following Ralphy's advice on blending for a while and he's talking sense. Always blend in the glass before adding whisky to the bottle.
I would ask Ralphy for pointers on sympathetic malts to blend with and also an extras on these invisible distilleries that supply the supermarkets that he mentioned in the main episode please.
subtitles spell Whiskey wrang!
I'm very afraid Ralfy is right.
A dram of Glenmorangie 10 Original with 10 drops of Ardbeg Uigeadail. You can thank me later.