Whisky Selection

honestly mate, whisky is a hard thing as even with a whisky lover he might hate some brands. A malt whisky is usually a goer
and if you look in your local supermarkets they usually have some deals going, check here as an example, not a lot more in price but can be a hell of a lot more in taste. best to ask him what he likes, then you'll kind of know the region and go from there.

 

It's a very generous thought RT good on yer!
Ask him to give you a list of his preferred whiskies, and get them one by one each month.

 

Don't forget he will be doing this every month on a limited budget!!

 

If his list looks greedy, give him Clan Dew!

 

The answer is to educate him! I would vary quality and style each month so you do not create too expensive an expectation but also home in on his preference.
Very broadly whisky is blended or pure malts. Blended whiskies have a malt base but have grain whisky added. Doh? Malting is a process of damping barley so it just starts to sprout and changes chemically - not least increasing its sugar content. Grain whiskies are plain barley based. (Remember stage 1 of making whisky is brewing beer!). Blends like Johnny Walker, Famous Grouse etc., are acceptable but a tad cheap. Malts have a cachet that says you are not being cheap! Finally, the priciest malts are normally 'cask strength' whereas the 'normal' ones (and blends) all have water added at the bottling stage.
So, keeping it very, very simple, there are peaty malts mostly from Islay (Lagavulin etc,,) then smooth Speyside malts and 'the rest'. I would kick off with something like a Glenfarclas 105 cask strength at about £44 them slum to it to a regular Laphroaig at £25 from Tesco and go back up to an Aberlour A'bunadh . Follow up with a Glenlivet or Singleton at about £25 and you should have enough feedback to feed his habit!

By this time you will probably have tried a few too and educated yourself. No right or wrong - it is all personal preference.