Venturing into the world of single malt scotch

So, I'm not a big alcoholic or anything, but one visit to my apartment and you will see a decent sized "bar". Ever since going from "eww, alcohol" to "ooh, alcohol", I've collected/stocked my fair share of alcohol. Now, I don't drink everything I have, but I like knowing that I have the essentials to entertain and make drinks. Personally, I'm a beer drinker (I've been into the stouts and porters lately) and enjoy the occasional wine. I'm not that big with cocktails, though I like making them. There's just something slightly amiss about hiding the smell and taste of alcohol (hence, beers and wines).

Anyway, I've been trying to get into scotch lately. If you know me, you will occasionally see me having a blended scotch over rocks, usually Johnny Walker Gold Label. But I've been doing some research and scotch lovers seem to rave about single malts. So I stopped by the liquor store over the weekend and had a 20 minute conversation with the liquor manager. We discussed the blends and what a nice single malt would be. After determining that I like the Gold Label, he pointed out the Balvenie Single Barrel and told me that would be at the level of a Gold Label. After some consideration and almost buying a bottle of Blue Label, I left with the Balvenie. It was a bit hefty at $66.99, but the Gold Label retails for $99.99, so relatively it's a bargain.

Now, I'm determined to really see what I like in scotch, so I had a friend pour about an ounce or so each of my Black Label, Gold Label, and the Balvenie into separate but identical rocks glasses. After the prep, I nosed, tasted, and took some notes on each. I then tried guessing the scotches. As the first two were pretty similar with the third having a floral scent, I guessed that the third was the Balvenie. I was wrong. Surprisingly, the Black Label was the one with the floral scent. In the end, I liked the Gold Label best with its smooth finish. The Balvenie had a honey sweetness to it upfront and ended with a slight burn. Otherwise it was pretty similar to the Gold Label, so the liquor manager was correct about his pick.

This also marks the first time I am taking my scotch neat, as recommended by the liquor manager and nearly every scotch lover. Therefore, I had to adjust to the stronger taste. I must say I still have some adjusting to do, but my appreciation of scotch has grown from the first time I ever had it. So far, I can't tell the big difference between the single malts and the blends, but I hope to develop a grasp on the nuances of the scotches. I have read that single malts can provide a lot of variety as every cask can yield a slightly different result; blends tend to stay a bit more consistent.

What's exciting now is that as I continue to explore the vast world of beers, I can also add to it my emerging venture into scotch, especially the single malts.

As a side note, my Gold Label is running low and I've heard that the some of the whiskys that the Gold Label uses in the blend is increasingly rare. This explains the slight bump in price as time goes on. I'm just wondering when would be the good time to buy a case instead of by the bottle. Haha...