Speyburn 10 year Single Malt Scotch

Pros: Price, malty but light and fruity taste
Cons: Not as robust as some others

A $20 Single Malt that tastes good? More seasoned gents had told me, “Young man, that is not possible!” But while anyone can find a good cigar for $25, finding a drinkable single malt for $20 takes some doing. Glass In Hand Day is done, ...

Pros: Clean and subtle Speyside classic; a nice stocking stuffer, albeit no Great Revelation
Cons: A bit too moderate for me, and a slightly abbreviated finish

Ah ... Yuletide. Here we are in the last of Advent, with Christmas Day and Boxing Day and Twelve Nights from the Feast of the Nativity until Epiphany's showing-forth of the Good News to all peoples: a time of year to huddle beside the hearth and...

Pros: Value, smoothness, interesting mineral and fruit overtones.
Cons: Thin, lacks complexity found in higher in single-malts.

When it comes to Scotch, I generally look in two directions. Either I buy a bottle of whatever decent blend is on sale for the sake of making Scotch and Coke, or I buy Glenlivet 12 year old for sipping neat. But I saw this single malt on sale, so I ...

Pros: Smooth, nice flavor, not too expensive
Cons: Not in a fancy package, although it does have a real cork.

My Scotch of choice is Pinch. I needed to bring home a good bottle of scotch for my Father-in-law, who normally drinks fairly cheap scotch at his own house. I ask the Liquor Store Manager (adjoining Costco in San Antonio) if he had any good Scotch that ...

Pros: Inexpensive (~20-25). Good flavor. Not too overpowering.
Cons: Finish is short. Very sweet.

I recently began an interest in drinking Scotch whisky. Being a graduate student funds can be limited at times. When looking around the internet it was brought to my attention that it is possible to acquire a decent bottle of scotch for under $30. These ...

Pros: An excellent single malt for the price
Cons: Not for the undiscerning

Single malt Scotch is definitely an acquired taste. This is not a drink for those who dabble, or who drink merely because there is alcohol in the brew. This is a drink for the discerning.
Speyburn is a good introduction to single malt for those...

Pros: Cheap single-malt
Cons: Aroma, flavor, inferior to scotches of same price, whether blended or single-malt

I picked this up because it was a cheaper single-malt, but I regretted every penny of it. The aroma and taste were both disagreeable. But, my taste leans toward Islay malts. I am not a huge fan of Speyside. I am not impressed by Glenfiddich, but I really like Macallan and you can get a 12 year bottle at Trader Joe’s that is similarly priced to the Speyburn. Avoid the Speyburn 10. You can get something much better for your money.

Pros: Price, medium flavor profile.
Cons: A bit young and raw tasting.

A good middle-of-the-road single malt scotch. Much better than blended scotch and a great value at the $20 it cost me. I went back the next week and bought another bottle. It certainly won't measure up to the great single malt whiskies but it is quite good overall. My initial taste reaction was it tasted "young". A little raw and unrefined compared to the upper-end single malts I have enjoyed. For an everyday tipple it is quite good.
Update April 5, 2008:
Having consumed two bottles of this value Scotch I no longer find this a very attractive choice. A decent choice if scotch-based mixed drinks are to your liking. A bit young and raw for straight consumption. It is still cheaper than any other single-malt I have encountered but I would rather spend another ten dollars or so and drink something like Highland Park 10 year as it is much smoother than the Speyburn.

Pros: Very good! Low Peat taste, not smokey, mellow and smooth.
Cons: Hard to find.

I happened upon a bottle and it was on sale. I purchased it because my boyfriend is a lover of whiskeys, scotch and bourbon and has introduced me to many as well. Neither of us had seen this whiskey before. The bottle was in an attractive case and boy was I surprised when I tried it. I do not tend to like heavy peat taste and really do not like smoke. This has a delicate balance of peat to mellow flavors and is very smooth . It has definitely single handedly introduced me to the world of Scotch . I feel privileged to have found it in only 6 months of experience as someone newly interested in the world of whiskey.

Pros: Very good introductory single malt, smooth and light, straight forward malt.
Cons: no real depth of flavor, straight malt and pretty pungent initial taste.

So I'm a scotch snob, ok I admit it. I drink mostly single malts and have a preference for the Islay malts particularly Lagavulin. So when I received a bottle of Speyburn as a gift I was not impressed. Even less so when I saw the price in a local liquor store for around 20 bucks. So it sat on my shelf for a while.

One day I was curious so I popped the cork and poured a sip. Not bad actually. Its light, very flavorful, lots of peat very nice finish. In fact the first sip is not that great, this scotch gets much better after the first sip. Let the ice melt a bit, then it goes down very smooth. Frankly for the price I don't think it can be beat particularly as Lagavulin is selling for 75 bucks these days.

Pros: Great honey overtones . Not over complex, easy drinker with a splash of water.
Cons: Despite having a good balance of primary flavors could be a tad stronger.

I have been a Scotch drinker for about 10 years now, I have tried many varieties including other single malts and agree that the strong, smoky and peat tastes of other high dollar singles turned me off. Speyburn attracted me by the package and I thought for the money I would give it a shot and see what was up. After seven years and more bottles than I can count I am a faithful consumer of Speyburn. If I have a get together with friends who have never tried Scotch I buy Speyburn. I rank it with Pinch which is my favorite, or Dahlwinne but at half the cost. I love this Scotch and would recommend it to anyone.