Friday Night Flights: The Scottish Arms

For your drinking pleasure this week, we lift up two whisky flights from the Scottish Arms (8 South Sarah Street; 314-535-0551), which took "Best Whiskey Selection in a Restaurant" honors in last year's RFT's "Best of St. Louis" edition. From that comprehensive list, general manager Michael Cline creates constantly changing whisky flights that allow patrons to explore at budget-friendly prices.

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​If wine flights are a great deal -- and they are -- whisky flights are an even better one. There are plenty of good bottles of wine to be had for $10 from a fine wine shop, but you'd be hard pressed to find a bottle of single malt for less than $30, and most distilleries' "entry"-level bottles are pushing $40 a pop.

With whisky prices skyrocketing and supplies tightening, these flights are a real boon.

So let's get this party started!

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This is Skye, near where Talisker is made. But not all single malts are made in Scotland.

​"Johnnie Walker" Tour (4 1/2 oz. pours - $20)
Caol Ila 12 year old from the Isle of Islay
Clynelish 14 year old from the Highlands
Lagavulin 16 year old from the Isle of Islay
Talisker 10 year old from the Isle of Skye

A fan of Johnnie Walker Red or Black? Here's a nice step into the world of single-malt whiskies. These malts are some of the signature whiskies that power the success of the Johnny Walker blends. Taste and see what each brings to the party: Caol Ila's oily richness, Clynelish's unabashed classiness and perfume, Lagavulin's intensely dry peat and Talisker's wild peppery punch.

All are absolutely first-class malts in their own right, and tasting them side by side provides a great overview of what Scottish single malts have to offer. Depending on where you shop, picking up a bottle of each of these at retail would set you back about $225. Getting to compare them all for $20 is educational and a heck of a value.

Next: When is a scotch not a scotch?