Happy Awesome Birthday Whisky!

HP 30, Glenfarclas 40, Talisker 25, Brora 30.

@SquidgyAsh: The Odd Whisky Coy. (An Aussie on line seller) has a special Society bottling of Springbank 14yo. at proof (57.1% abv.). I have not tried the 14yo. but those society bottlings I have seen have been 'ace'.

What a difficult decision! All those older Glenfarclas, Highland park, Talisker, etc. Whiskies.

Best Of Luck.

I don't have a nice hint for you, because I am not searching in this price regions. But why this rule of one bottle? 2-3 bottles for ~100 bucks would be much nicer in my opinion. If I were in your shoes, I definitely would not want to get a bottle for 500 AUS. Get some nice whisky now and christmas the next very nice bottle ;)

And between your birthday and xmas you should ofc get alot more nice bottles :D:D

@Wills I think it's designed to prevent me from going "Oh I want this and this and this and this and this!" mainly. The other reason I think that is because almost certainly I'll be ordering these bottles from overseas and we don't know if we'll get charged customs or not and customs can hit us for around $50 bucks additional a bottle so I think she's thinking that one REALLY nice bottle will be much simpler.

Can't complain at all mind you because last I heard/thought I figured $150 bucks was going to be the high end on my birthday present (still very nice mind you).

I also suspect that at times my wife thinks I have too many whisky bottles. Guess I should finish some off :D

@Wills I agree! More nice bottles. She said $500 would count for this birthday, xmas and possibly next birthday. I figure one $300 bottle is more then nice enough especially if I can get one or two a year which I will be very insanely thrilled with hahaha :D :D :D

@SquidgyAsh 50 extra bucks for shipping just one single bottle??? Wow thats really tough. My deepest condolences (don't know if these are the right words, sounds like a funeral). Then ofc one bottle is a nice idea. I just won't reach the sky in paying, 200 or 300 bucks is so much money anyway and you can get so nice bottles. Of course the 'standards' like mentioned by BlueNote and A'bunadhman would be interesting. Or how about some speciality, like a nice japanese whisky? Or you go for some nice birthday bottling, like: www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-16375.aspx www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-7312.aspx www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-11000.aspx I liked this idea, so I was buying one bottle from my year of birth last month. But I dont plan to drink it very soon. Gotta wait for a truly special day ;)

@Wills Those 3 bottles are VERY nice and I was debating a 1981 bottle as it is my birth year too, but I'm thinking right now along the lines of something like this

whisky-online.com/port-ellen-1978-30-year-o… whisky-online.com/port-ellen-1979-30-year-o… whisky-online.com/port-ellen-1979-30-year-o…

I've heard nothing but good things about Port Ellen since I got into whisky and since bottles of it are ALWAYS expensive in my experience and I've never got to try it I figured I might as well treat myself and kill a couple of birds with one stone :D

But I figure someone else will also have some good ideas that I havent thought of yet!

@SquidgyAsh You could shoot some more birds with one hit ;) ~330 AUS whisky.dk/shop/port-ellen-1981-371p.html/ ~310 AUS whiskytime.ch/whisky-shop/produkt-detail/… ~400 AUS islay-whisky-shop.de/produkte/whisky/… (scroll down to the 1981) ~520 AUS htfw.com/scotch-malt-whisky/islay/… happy hunting :)

Damn, what a bad formatting...

Price is in front of the link.

@SquidgyAsh i'm in a similar position. i turn 30 in july, and my wife wants to get me a bottle of hp30 to celebrate. i'm now wondering if it might be better to convnce her to spring for multple, less expensive bottles. hp30 runs 500 CAD here in ontario. i know, if we travel for it, i can get it for around 350, but it doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere before the big day. last time i mentioned waiting for the hp30 because of the cost, she shot down the idea since she knows i've been lusting over this one for quite some time and she wants to make me happy.
whatever i end up with, one thing is guaranteed.... i'm going to be having one kick-ass birthday party :)

good luck to you, sir....

Guys, when your wife wants to be extravagant with a present for you, it is probably a very good idea to accept her offer. I've been in this position a few times myself, and those grand and extravagant gestures are the ones you're gonna remember down the road. Just watch. And SHE knows it !!!

I would personally ask for one of the older bottles of Benromach.(the ones made by the previous owners) I really, really, really enjoyed those at a whisky tasting. I can't remember the exact ages, but i think the youngest of these was 26 year old.(and i remember the youngest being already perfect) I have never drunk such complex, well rounded whiskies before. They cost between 120 and 200+ euros.

wise words, @victor....

@thecyclingyogi Agreed!

@Victor Wise words my friend, wise words.

Thank you everyone for those suggestions!! ALOT of good whiskies in there, but I think my heart is set on a Port Ellen 30 yr old. I've just heard so many good things about the distillery and who knows when my wife will buy or even let me buy a $300+ bottle hahaha.

Once more everyone thank you for your advice!!!!

@thecyclingyogi I hope that you're able to get that HP 30 my friend! Especially being in Canada where it's so hard to get really awesome affordable whisky from everything I've ever heard, I REALLY hope you get that bottle!

In my mind there are some bottles that when I see someone has added them to their cabinet I have to be honest I give a little cheer and go "Right on!!"

@SquidgyAsh

Wow I'm just getting a bottle of lousy Ardbeg Corryvreckan for my 30th in July ;) (very much looking forward to it).

Anyway a bottle of Port Ellen sounds like the goer. I hear good things about the 21-22-23-25 yolds. Might fit the budget.

@sepsism HAHAHAHA Awww but the Ardbeg Corryvreckin is such an awesomely lousy birthday present!! :D

I've found a few 30 yr old Port Ellens in my price range so I'm going to go with one of them. The only thing that I wish is that I wish I could see some reviews of them, but it just doesn't look possible so I am sadly going in blind. The thing I take comfort from is that the only bad thing I've ever heard about any bottle was about a bottle produced at 40 ABV and the complaint was that it tasted watered down so the bottle I'm getting is sitting at 50+ABV.

Fingers crossed!!!!

@SquidgyAsh

Haha yeah it's a hard life isn't it?

If you can get a 30 year old definitely go for it, I don't think you can go wrong can you? Such a special whisky. All the "20 something" Port Ellens I've read about have been quite high in the ABV, all 50%+ easy.

@sepsism I dont think I can go too far wrong with a 30 yr old Port Ellen. Mind you after I've finally opened the bottle I may wind up going "I dont think this was worth the money paid" but I doubt it and this is what super awesome birthday presents are for, whiskies that you'd never get a chance to drink.

I agree most of the Port Ellens I've seen sit at around 50-54%ABV. God I'm excited!!! I hope Christmas is this hard on me :D:D:D:D

I don't think you will be disappointed with Port Ellen. A couple of years ago, I got my first bottle of Port Ellen from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. It was a 26 year old, distilled in Nov. 1982. The opening line of the tasting notes was "When this historic distillery closed in 1983, grown men wept!". I wept when the bottle was empty! It was amazing.

A couple of months ago, for our wedding anniversary, my wife surprised me with a 25 year old Port Ellen from The Old Malt Cask bottlers, also distilled in Nov. 1982. I haven't opened it yet. Saving it for a special occasion.

Of the other suggestions, I have only owned the Talisker 25 (A christmas present from my wife several years ago). For me, while the Talisker 25 is great, special and a very nice gift, I prefer the Port Ellen. Besides, eventually, there won't be any Port Ellen left. Fortunately, Talisker should be around for many years to come and you get the Talisker 25 for a future burthday, anniversary or Christmas present. :-)

If you do get the Port Ellen, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed my first bottle!

30 yo Brora, or 30 yo Rose Bank. That's my 2 cents. You will not be disappointed and you will talk about it for the rest of you life.

@bwmccoy AWESOME!!!! I'm SO looking forward to getting the Port Ellen!!

Again so many awesome good bottles that I'd like to try, but I can't think of anything higher on the list! :D

@SquidgyAsh Brora is up there for too, as Wodha says. As for the Port Ellen though, too early to book in a sample? Hahah!

So my awesome wife just purchased my birthday bottle of Port Ellen 30 yr old from 1979. It cost almost $500 AUS before Customs gets it's hands on it. I just cried from both pleasure and horror. I'm not sure how I'll be able to bring myself to open that bottle hahaha. I HAVE A VERY AWESOME AWESOME WIFE!!!!!!

@SquidgyAsh Indeed she sounds like a very special lady! Something tells me you will manage to open that bottle when the time comes ;-) Just pour it carefully when you do and decant a good portion IMMEDIATELY, sealed well for future enjoyment!

Hahaha I was just informed by my best brother in the US that he's going to be purchasing a bottle of whisky for my birthday and the limit sits at $300 US. Now I've got to go out and find myself an awesome bottle. I'm debating an older Rosebank since the distillery is closed. Also on the block are Talisker 30 yr old, Benromack 30 yr old, and a couple others.

Has anyone tried any of those whiskies? If so what did you think?!

@SquidgyAsh Wow 2 great bottles for 1 birthday and it's not even a milestone one :)

Good luck finding the best dram for you!