Father's Day Buying Guide 2008

Father's Day is apon us again and what better time to get that special dad a bottle of something special. As a father of four myself, this guide for is a projection of what *I* want since there are no guidelines from a congressionally sponsored Government Institute Managing Mandatory Inferred Expression (GIMMIE?).

My first son was born in October of 1994 so this marks my 13th Father's Day. I thought that the perfect gift would be a bottle of whisk(e)y that is the same age as my fatherhood. The more I thought about this, the better I liked the idea. It has serious flaws for getting something affordable for my dad at 35 years but he doesn't like Scotch so I get off easy.

I immediately had an opportunity to test this idea last night when my friend and co-worker Sarah Allen realized that Father's Day was coming up and asked my advice. I explained my rationale and her reaction was "ooh I get to be the cool wife!"  and then asked if there was a good 10 year old Scotch. Talisker 10 immediately jumped to mind since I found a heavily discounted bottle just this week and it's usually around $50.  Thinking on it more, there's a Springbank 10, and Auchentoshan 10, and Bushmill's 10 any one of which would be great gifts.

For myself though, 13 is a funny number in the world of whiskey, thankfully Diageo has produced the Classic Malt Distiller's Editions which are oddball ages. Talisker Distiller's Edition is one of my current favorite Scotches and the 1992 just happens to be a perfect 13 years old.

There are a ton of great whiskies across the age spectrum and Whisky Magazine has already done the leg work for us and has a page where you can look up a bottle by age. There's also a great Malt gift guide  provided on the Classic Malts page

I hope this helps you find a gift for next Sunday and that your dad enjoys it. To Steve and Chuq, we'll raise a good dram in celebration and rememberance.