EPIC TASTINGS!

@YakLord I think those whiskies would make for a great tasting. I also enjoy listening to the Doc, though, like my own lectures, he does tend to be repetitive... What made me balk was the cost. Having owned and opened or tasted all of the spirits on hand, and with the current climate the way it is, I could not do bring myself to do it.

Had an EPIC tasting on Saturday with a friend. I finally opened one of my Arran single casks. The 3 winners for the day were the G&M Linkwood 15yo (G&M must have sacrificed to the whisky gods for that one, outstanding!), an 11yo Edradour Single Sherry Cask (tasted way older than 11 years) and the pictured Tobermory bottling from the Creative Whisky Company (intense, smoky, peaty, very fruity, complex and balanced. Like if Ardbeg and Talisker had a baby and it got all of their best traits). There was not a bad one in the bunch! Plus my wife made some excellent sugary and chocolaty fruits.

Yeet

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@casualtorture I’m with you on the G&M Linkwood 15. Pretty amazing and only 43%.

Nice spread your wife put on. My eyes went directly to those lemon squares.

@casualtorture - I've just shown my toddler the picture of the fruit platter and he is now demanding repeat views whilst going , 'Ooooohhhhh dat one, dat!'. I think he's a fan - and I hope you saved him some, for all our sakes!?!

@RianC haha, well, I also have a toddler here and she took care of any leftovers unfortunately. Although there weren't many leftovers to begin with.

A seven hour event with my son-in-law, his father, and his uncle who was visiting from out of town.

We managed to complete the lineup of eighteen although there was some pressure from designated drivers to adjourn before a successful completion.

Each of these whiskies prompted a discussion, some longer than others. A few created a buzz. After trying 17 very interesting and unique expressions (1 blend, 9 single cask, and 6 batch, 12 cask strength in total) we concluded an extremely enjoyable evening with Old Perth 24 YO Blended Malt. I didn’t see this coming, it was the star of the show. The variety of offerings had set the table for this very well built blended malt … a big chewy sherry-rich Oloroso influence, peat and smoke accents, excellent balance. The finish a bit short, yet everything fit well … and the telltale sign, wanting another immediately!… yeah, especially after seven hours and 17 primo pours…. and anxious DDs.

Creating a loud buzz, in no particular order were:

Samaroli 1995 Speyside Blend 45% abv.

Tomatin 25 YO 43 % abv.

Kavalan Solist Port single cask 57.1% abv.

Amrut Intermediate Sherry 57.1% batch 20

Glengoyne 21 YO 43% abv (not my favourite as sulfur lurks beneath the surface).

Orkney Island 18 YO Sherry refill butt by The Whisky Agency, bottled for Head & Tails Canada. 49.1% abv

Old Perth 21 YO Blended Malt 45.1% abv

Limited Batch Release by Morrison and MacKay of Old Perth 24 YO Blended Malt, the collective favourite of last night’s epic tasting…. proving once again that a blend can be mightier than a single malt ….

@paddockjudge Do you have any idea what it’s make up is? A real rarity now it would seem.

@Timp, I can give you a description of the profile. It is a narrow stream of liquid. I have been up this river before. A very clean first fill Oloroso matured single malt (i.e. Macallan Cask Strength pre-2012, bright bourbon first-fill and/or refill hogshead single malt, and a clean (very low anise character) Islay smokey and fruity mature single malt like Laphroag 18 YO (in this case Laphroaig 25 YO) or possibly Bunnahabhain.

I have made and enjoyed (and shared) a NAS blended malt with very similar characteristics. The ratio can be tweaked. Macallan CS:Laphroag Lore (or 18 YO);Glenlivet Archive 21 YO (or Nadurra CS 16 YO or similar bourbon matured).

RATIOS:

3:2:1

2:3:1

3:1:2

8:1:4

6:1:3

It's gotta be big, chewy, clean oloroso, not the poor excuse sherried malt we see today from most brands.

Hope this helps

@paddockjudge very interesting. Thanks for the info. Should take the plunge and do a bit more blending of my own bottles. Have a few that might fit the bill. Cheers.

I haven't been at an in-person tasting for almost 2 years. Tomorrow I will be hosting a few Connosr friends and Friday night @Cricklewood came into town. We decided to have a few small pours to celebrate the reunion.

• We started off with a little OGD 114

• In order to properly assess it, we moved on to the Booker's 2015 multi-batch blend that I have.

• Then I poured some Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban 14 YO, but before drinking it I offered him some Fred's Spirit, the brandy that I had originally tasted from the cask in Xinjiang China.

• After that we turned to peat, with small pours of Octomore 10.1 followed by 7.3

At just after 3 am we called it a night. I have to get up in time to start the dough for the bread for tomorrow's (Tonights!) tasting...

@Nozinan What was the verdict on the Octomore 7.3? I have an unopened bottle of that one.

@MRick Bloody awful. Not worth it whatsoever. Tell you what.... I will do you a favour and take it off your hands so that you don't have to choke it down...

It was delicious...

For our early December Tasting: Isle of Skye, which is mostly Talisker, but includes Te Bheag, because it's also from Skye (and contains Talisker). This one isn't blind, as people know what we're tasting, but don't what order we'll be tasting it in...

@YakLord You need to add the 57N... is there time for me to get some to you? How many of you are there?

@Nozinan I appreciate the offer, but there's about 25 of us, and some samples have already been delivered. There was supposed to be a 7th whisky, the GoT House Greyjoy, but there were some logistics issues and it vanished in transit somewhere along the way.

@YakLord Oh well, I don't think what is left of my open bottle would have been able to accommodate 25...

@YakLord I think there is quite a lot of "vanishing in transit" going on these days.

Have you seen any sign of the Dark Storm lately? That was a very good Talisker that seems to have disappeared.

@BlueNote I know it isn't much help to you gentlemen up in Canada but I have seen the Dark Storm locally very recently. Has it been discontinued? Or is it just difficult to obtain north of the border?

@YakLord a lovely line up. Love a Talisker.

@TracerBullet Maybe not discontinued, but definitely hard to find, at least here on the west coast. Not sure if the eastern brothers are still seeing it.

@BlueNote It's no longer listed on the Talisker page on malts.com, but does seem to be listed for sale at duty free stores, so travel retail only now?

@YakLord If I ever find myself in an airport again I’ll check it out.

@BlueNote it is interesting to me that you like Talisker Dark Storm. I like it too. When it first came out, though, it seemed to have more Connosr detractors than fans.

FWIW, the only bottle of Dark Storm with which I am familiar is owned by my sister, who bought it at an automobile Duty Free in Ontario about 6 years ago. I've never seen it sold in my local liquor stores.

@Victor I reviewed Dark Storm here and my review was mostly positive. Of all the Taliskers I've tried, the 57 North remains my favourite, but I have a few gems unopened in my stash so that judgment could change in the future.

@Victor @OdysseusUnbound. I’ve only ever had one bottle of Dark Storm and I recall liking much more than the Storm. Your review is just as I remember it @OdysseusUnbound and 85 is right where I would put it.

@YakLord yeah the 57 is a fantastic bottle but nevermind. The Special Release 8 year old was interesting. I had it in a blind line up and I never would have guessed it as Talisker. Looks like agood line up. Torabhaig would have been another fun addition if it was available