Where should I go? I left my scotch back home in the states, and can't fathom paying the abhorrent prices at bars for the well-brand (rotgut), much less a reasonable call brand. Chivas was what I kept at home for when I wanted a glass, and was reasonable for the price. I've seen prices that range from shocking to encouraging-me-to-be-a-smuggler. Is there some secret hole-in-the-wall liquor store that offers it at a more reasonable price?

How much does it cost back home, and what do you expect to pay here? Switzerland is expensive, sometimes prohibitively so (I refuse to pay 160+ CHF for a pair of dockers) and finding suitable alternatives may be the only reasonable option.

I got a handle (1.75L) for $36 US, last time I bought some. I know I won't get close to that here...

This place in Mulhouse has very low prices for liquor....(it's on the way to KFC )

http://www.prixbas-france.fr/

Denner seems to be one of the cheaper places to buy it....at least that's where Mr.P goes when he needs a bottle of something 'nice'.

(Or, if you can, pop over to Germany...Kaufland at Waldshut have it normally for around 24-25€)

Chivas on the rocks with my drumstick, mashed potatoes, and coleslaw? It actually sounds kinda good.

That's a whole different event right there.
(unfortunately, no mashed po-pos and cloeslaw in France )

Really? Potatoes and slaw were my go-to sides back home... What do they offer instead?

Since when has Chivas been considered whisky? I've seen Ardbeg 10, my general dram, around for about 50 chf/bottle. Surprisingly, booze is one of the few things that aren't 4x the price you'd get elsewhere. I have seen reasonable whisky prices in Denner, too, as unless you're already going to DE for groceries, it's not worth the savings (at least not on a bottle of chivas) to drive all that way.

What? How can it be a KFC without slaw and mashed taters? The Colonel would disapprove methinks.

well, you get your corn on the cob..real french fries and other random shenanigans...like escargots etc. ok..I'm joking about the snails.

Poptart, I swear, we must have met in our previous lives or sumting.

I'm a single malt snob. I can't tell the difference between 5 and 50 chf wine, but I know my malts. There's a whisky bar in Zurich if you're ever in town and feel like trying something new as I never need too much encouragement to go there.

Sounds like a plan.

(...plus I'm a cheap date, we could just get a bottle of Crown Royal and sit on a bench )

Sorry to butt in, here, but to get back to this whisky thing ....

I've never understood why Chivas is held in high regard by some.
For a blended, albeit a bit smooth, it's always seemed to be over priced - the same level as low end malts - which are considerably smoother.

For me the biggest difference between drinking blended vs. single malts, is that I don't wake up with a bad head after a night on the malt.

Back to prices, expect to pay 35-40 chufs for Chivas in somewhere like Coop - for the same you could get a 12yr.old Glenfiddich.
A good quality malt - Glenmorangie or MacCallan is about 55chufs ..... rising to more for specialist distilleries.

As mentioned already, Denner is one of the cheapest mainstream places to buy - they have a basic, acceptable, generic malt (Glen Grant) for about 25 chufs - a nice addition to coffee or with a mixer (sacrilege).

Chivas has been my go-to, as I like it better than Johnny Walker Black, and it's at that point on the price curve right before it shoots steeply up. If I had my druthers, I could name several others I would pick, but they tend to be more than I want to pay for an occasional drink. Haven't tried Ardberg- is it a single malt?

I'm cheap, but not that cheap. I could bring the Ardbeg.

Egads, sounds like you need to come with LiB and me for some good hooch. I regard JW, no matter the color of the label, as jet fuel which is good for cleaning the engine manifold and removing nail polish.

Ardbeg is a single malt of the Islay variety ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islay_whisky ). Very peaty. If you like smooth and less peat, I'd probably recommend Glen Goyne (though a bit harder to find) or the Macallan or even possibly the "ladies dram" Dalwhinnie. The Mac is the easiest to find though. If it's only an occasional thing, buy one good bottle as wine is an easy thing to buy a cheap bottle of plonk and not notice the difference, but the difference between JW and any decent malt is really, really noticeable.

That could be fun. As to the JW, I guess I'll have a soft spot for it- JW Gold was my first scotch, and what got me started on aged liquor in general. I did used to have Glenmorangie 12yr(loved it because it was a little sweeter) and Glenfiddich 12yr (liked the peat flavors), and I've liked any Macallan older than the 12 year (the 12 year tastes too similar to many other 12 years that can be had for much less in the US).

Now I regard grappa as jet fuel...

Is the Glen Grant worth it over a few cubes of ice? That's how I drink my Scotch- I like the way the flavor comes out when it warms in my mouth. I brought my crystal DOF glasses from the states, and sadly, I don't have anything to put in them...