Here's a recent purchase...

@Mancub I go to London fairly frequently and friends in Ottawa are coming down to see me in two weeks. Want me to ask them to bring a bottle of the rum? I wouldn't be able to drop it off for you until Thanksgiving in October, but I don't mind hanging on to it if you don't mind waiting until then.

@Mancub, nice haul! You are not alone in your appreciation of Armagnac. There are a few Connosr members who share your fine taste in brandy.

Just bought a bottle of Westland Peated and I am wondering like Serge from Whiskyfun: are months have 250 days in Seattle. Wonderful stuff. Will probably review it soon.

That Del Maguey Chichicapa makes for a nice summer sipper, but it is not a substitute for heavily peated whisky like some people suggest. Totally different.

Yes, mescal and peated whisky are bound to be very different from the get-go, but I've seen too many people put them in the same basket. I don't think it's a fair comparison at all.

Well, I decided to post this next one on this thread, instead of the "what bottle did you just buy and why" thread. Ha, if you follow that, you will have seen a photo of my recent purchase (from Tokyo) of Chichibu's Ichiro's Malt Double Distilleries, and the Mizunara Wood Reserve (MWR).

In this post, I am going to add a photo of two Scotch SMWs I got in Narita Airport's Duty Free shop. Both of them are from the Bruichladdich distillery, which I have a great fondess of the original Laddie Ten. I still haven't tried the second edition Laddie Ten.

Both of these are marketed as Travel Retail exclusive:

1. Bere Barley 2008

2. Laddie Eight

I was lucky because I was able to try The Laddie Eight before buying. At the duty free shop I got the 8 from had a bar which you can have free samples of much of what they sold. If I can, I do like trying before buying; however, I wasn't able to try the Bere Barley 2008. Nevertheless, I thought it was worth the risk in buying before trying.

I guess I could only post one photo with that last post. So, here is the photo of the Bere Barley 2008.

My bi-monthly shipment from my sister. I really look forward to the Glen Garioch's, especially the 1999 Sherry Cask Matured at 56.3%, both $130 cad. The OP21 was a no brainer, being that it is soon to be discontinued and was flying off the shelves in Halifax for $165 Cad. Sadly I just missed the OP 1989 Limited edition as someone walked out with the last 3 bottles.

@Astroke What is that Bowmore peeking out of the back row?

@BlueNote Devil's Cask III. Really like it so I got a backup, $110 and still bottles there.

Noah's Mill incoming @pierre, see you in a couple of hours...

Replacing Electrolytes at the end of a hot day with Beam. New purchase - Beam Double Oak. Two new barrels give this one a lot of flavour, but a few more years in either of those barrels would round it out nicely.

@paddockjudge at first glance I thought that said peanuts and arachnids! (I only realised later it was in French). Could be an interesting combination. Good to see you're taking care of yourself and keeping hydrated.

@Hewie Gotta love Canadian packaging!

Though I hear that insect (and probably arachnid) parts do find their way into our foods... Hopefully not too much into out whisky...but maybe that's part of "provenance..."

Another bottle of the Glenfiddich Experimental Series #01 IPA Cask Finish that has been marked down due to packaging damage and misprint.

This particular bottle is earmarked for consumption in the near future.

@Nozinan Brilliant sense of humour. Spiders in the peanuts!

@Nelom I read your reply when you first posted, I haven't been on here since, my apologies for the late response. Thank you very much for the kind offer, very generous of you. After I posted I actually dug around for some reviews on the rum and was a little disappointing with what I read. Not that I base all of my purchases on reviews, but they have guided me well with many acquisitions. I decided that I wasn't going to work too hard or have someone go out of there way for me on this one, if I happen to come across it or when next I'm in Ottawa I may pick it up, but it's not high on my list anymore. When next you're in London feel free to send me a message, would be happy to share a dram or three.

@paddockjudge Nice looking bottle of Delord! I've seen a few vintages on my travels, but not much lately at the LCBO. Brandy is sometimes a nice change of pace. I recently acquired a bottle of Grand Marnier Cuvee du Centenaire, as I found it 30% off of it's old price (they forgot to update the current price on the tag so had to honor it), about $50 off. It is technically a liqueur, but the spirit itself is a blend of 25 year old cognacs from what I've read.

Some single cask, independent bottlings at cask strength:

• A bottle of the 1991 Ben Nevis 24 Year Old bottled by Signatory Vintage for their Cask Strength Collection series. Wholly matured in cask no. 3834 which is a sherry butt.

• A bottle of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling no. 39.139 dubbed: "A most luscious remedy". A 20 year old single malt distilled in 1996 at the Linkwood distillery. Matured for 19 years in an Oloroso sherry butt, then finished for a year in a Pedro Ximinez sherry butt.

• A couple of bottles of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling no. 46.47 dubbed: "Mexican breakfast". A 14 year old single malt distilled in 2002 at the Glenlossie distillery. Matured for 13 years in an Oloroso sherry butt, then matured for a year in a Pedro Ximinez sherry butt.

My Friends of Laphroaig allocation this year:

• A couple of bottles of the 2017 Edition Laphroaig Cairdeas, this year's edition is a cask strength quarter cask matured Laphroaig.

• A bottle of the Laphroaig 10 Year Old Original Cask Strength Batch no. 009.

@sengjc How's the new Cairdeas?

@sengjc envy...

@sengjc, I've said it before: that is one hell of a whisky collection which you have, and it looks like you will likely be drinking it longer than @Nozinan and I will be drinking ours. Is that an SOP for you @sengjc, "one bottle finished, 10 bottles bought"? Maybe it's closer to a mantra. Hell of a good-looking bunch of products, for sure. I hope that you will be inviting me in when I come visit you for a few drams.

I am hoping to visit Australia sometime in the next 10 years...

@BlueNote I haven't had it yet so I can't say from personal experience. It's matured in ex-bourbon barrels then finished in quarter casks, I would imagine they will be similar to the Quarter Cask, just more intense at cask strength.

@Victor @Nozinan Will be delighted to meet visiting fellow whisky enthusiasts to share a dram with.

@Victor Quote: "one bottle finished, 10 bottles bought"

You got me there - that's quite true at the moment since I am hardly drinking much whisky, it's the wine stock I am currently digging into given that I have quite a stash that is ready for enjoyment.

@Nozinan Let's set a date and all meet at @sengjc's house. It's not that long a flight. ;-)

Had a friend offer to mule the GD 15 back from Alberta, so my output was $100 cad, overpaid for the Tamdhu batch 2, after all it is the LCBO.

"Batch Strength"? What new meaningless industry mumbo-jumbo is this? I saw Wemyss defined it as the strength at which they chose to bottle their whisky. WTF?!!!!??

Apparently "batch strength" has no meaning whatsoever. Those are just extra words put onto the bottle labels.

@Victor Kind of like whiskies which include "special" "rare" or "Old" in their names. They usually aren't any of the aforementioned adjectives. (Mortlach Rare Old, J&B Rare, Whyte & Mackay Special Blend)

@Victor , yes, I have no doubt the name came from Tamdhu marketing, not the blender. I always liked Booker's/THH/WLW and GTS "Uncut/unfiltered", you know exactly what you are getting.

I'm on holiday in the Lake District. Picked this up at the local store.