Recommend on: Looking for a whisk(e)y or to commemorate birth{Now with extra D'aw}

mts

So we are expecting our first child soon and I thought I would pick up a decent bottle of something to commemorate the day and turn it into an heirloom of sorts, and either break it out only on his birthday and other major events with the expectation of passing it on to him at later date or just turn it into a wedding or first child present of his own.

I know I like Glendfidditch, the few bourbons I have had, I wasn't a fan of but would not rule it out

Also not looking to spend bank on this, just want something to age well.

was also thinking, maybe a whiskey to share and a bottle of wine to gift

Whacktose

My parents bought nice bottles of tawny port, which ages extremely well. It works well because you can then break it out on your child's 21st, when it will be in great condition.

mts

yea i thought that too, since i love me some port/madeira

kuhlmeye

Can you get your hands on some of The Good Stuff?

EggyToast

I don't believe port ages so well once opened, though. I believe it should be consumed within about 6 months after being opened. It also doesn't improve with age once opened, whereas a whiskey will at least taste the same once opened.

My favorite whiskey at bars is Oban 10yr. At home it's Auchentoshan. Many nicer whiskeys will also come with an attractive metal or paper case/sleeve, so they'll look nice sitting out for years, too.

Cincitucky

Johnny Walker Green Label is good if you like Glennfiddich.

There are plenty of options: Knob Creek, Glenlivet, Blanton's.

Sounds like you're a single barrel drinker.

mts

i didn't particullarly like Knob creek, was a bit too harsh for me, though haven't tried many other bourbons

i think what I want to do is maybe spend approx. 50 for a good bottle of scotch to drink with him, and spend about the same on a good bottle of port to gift for wedding/first born

firewaterword

Here are a few good approachable single malts to start with - most are around 12yo, and near the $50 level, give or take.

Cragganmore
Ardbeg
Aberlour
Macallan
Balvenie Doublewood

You can probably get some other recommendations based on those. For my money, my favorite is the first one.

mts

So Step 1. Marry awesome lady
Step 2. Knock her up
Step 3 profit?

I had mentioned my idea to my wife a while ago, and today she surprises me with a present. open it up and see this.



score

etdragon

Your wife is pretty awesome. I like Macallan. Maybe I'll get my husband to procure a bottle of something awesome when I give birth in February...

oldsak

Be sure to store it some place dark if you take it out of the box.

MentalExercise

Be aware that liquor stops aging as soon as it's moved from the barrel to the bottle, so a twelve year scotch you buy today will still be a twelve year scotch twenty-one years from now. That being said, a great many distilleries do make limited runs of specific years, and an unopened bottle of that will go up in price over time as they are consumed and become more and more rare. Also most blended whiskeys such as Johnny Walker add caramel coloring which isn't precisely bad, it doesn't alter the flavor, but does feel a bit disappointing.

Midshipman

Whacktose wrote:

My parents bought nice bottles of tawny port, which ages extremely well. It works well because you can then break it out on your child's 21st, when it will be in great condition.

Tawny Ports stop aging once they are bottled. The last a very long time if unopened, but they won't ever be any better than when you first buy them. If you like Porto though, Vintage Portos do continue to age and develop after being in the bottle (not to be confused with Late Bottled Vintages, which also don't really age).

MichaelLC

Midshipman wrote:

Whacktose wrote:

My parents bought nice bottles of tawny port, which ages extremely well. It works well because you can then break it out on your child's 21st, when it will be in great condition.

Tawny Ports stop aging once they are bottled. The last a very long time if unopened, but they won't ever be any better than when you first buy them. If you like Porto though, Vintage Portos do continue to age and develop after being in the bottle (not to be confused with Late Bottled Vintages, which also don't really age).

Another vote for port. And what Eggy said earlier is true too, which is the downside of port; really need to enjoy it quickly once opened.

Otherwise St. George has a single malt.

Mojo_Jojo

Once whisky is in the bottle it's stopped aging. So, it's a bit a pointless to buy a bottle with the intention of hanging on to it.

What you want to do is this. It's amazingly expensive, but if you buy one on your kid's birthday then you'll get a little bottle each year until you finally choose to have it bottled (say on his 18th).

The LandoStander

Being from Kentucky I suppose I should suggest a product native to my home state in the form of Bourbon. I'd maybe suggest Woodford Reserve, I actually went to the distillery and the place is really dedicated to relatively speaking small batches of bourbon. If their tour is to be believed there's is the only bourbon that's still made in copper stills.

http://www.woodfordreserve.com/

There are other bourbons available but Woodford is the one my out of state brother-in-law has noted an admiration for.

another option might be Four Roses http://www.fourroses.us/

Tastyfish

Mojo_Jojo wrote:

Once whisky is in the bottle it's stopped aging. So, it's a bit a pointless to buy a bottle with the intention of hanging on to it.

What you want to do is this. It's amazingly expensive, but if you buy one on your kid's birthday then you'll get a little bottle each year until you finally choose to have it bottled (say on his 18th).

Here's another alternative, a much smaller barrel that is probably a lot closer to your price range ($50-200) that you can age your own spirits in. This place also does barrels that look like they are a bit cheaper and bigger still, but there's fewer instructions. They seem to assume if you're order a barrel you know what to do with it.

However it does age quicker than the really large casks, but then also the taste improves with use as well - so you might have it going for a couple of years, and then celebrate the birth of his younger sister/borther with the equivalent of a 12 year old whisky, then set it aging again for the next milestone. You'd probably want one of the bigger ones, 10L or more if you can get it.

Course since you can bottle them to stop the aging, you'd actually also get the option to save some of this - so on his 18th birthday you've got a range of whiskeys of different ages and from different milestones, all from the cask you got when he was born.

Tastyfish

Mojo_Jojo wrote:

Once whisky is in the bottle it's stopped aging. So, it's a bit a pointless to buy a bottle with the intention of hanging on to it.

What you want to do is this. It's amazingly expensive, but if you buy one on your kid's birthday then you'll get a little bottle each year until you finally choose to have it bottled (say on his 18th).

Here's another alternative, a much smaller barrel that is probably a lot closer to your price range ($50-200) that you can age your own spirits in. This place also does barrels that look like they are a bit cheaper and bigger still, but there's fewer instructions. They seem to assume if you're order a barrel you know what to do with it.

However it does age quicker than the really large casks, but then also the taste improves with use as well - so you might have it going for a couple of years, and then celebrate the birth of his younger sister/borther with the equivalent of a 12 year old whisky, then set it aging again for the next milestone. You'd probably want one of the bigger ones, 10L or more if you can get it.

Course since you can bottle them to stop the aging, you'd actually also get the option to save some of this - so on his 18th birthday you've got a range of whiskeys of different ages and from different milestones, all from the cask you got when he was born.

mts

Little man decided that since I had my scotch that he was going to get things going and decided to show up 3 weeks early.

nefyave

Congrats!

MichaelLC

That's a lot of hair!

etdragon

Oh man I love how chunky his cheeks are! Many congrats to you sir. Babies are fantastic. Enjoy it and god speed with the sleep deprivation.

TheBigEasy

Congrats!

As for the Whiskey ... I'll second the Balvenie Doublewood that was mentioned earlier and I'd also recommend a 16 year old Lagavulin. Nice stuff. Also ... Connemara, it is an Irish Whiskey.