So, what are you drinking now?

@A'bunadhman, your experience with Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban is near exact to my own, except that mine took more like 11 months than 6 months to get there. Written in the review "For better AND for worse" I did of it a year ago.

Enjoying some Yoichi 10 at the moment. Going to switch gears completely and have a dram of Johnny Drum Private Stock soon!

@paddockjudge

Is that YES:

• I'm wrong about the distillation dates

• I'm not more valuable

• I'm not less valuable

• something about "OBE"

It's Friday so you know my admiral / wife and I will be grilling, this week it's burgers and Aberlour 12yr Double Cask Matured, and a nice patio with two loveable dogs frolicking in the yard. :)

Baker's bourbon, George T. Stagg 2010, George T. Stagg 2011. Still haven't opened up a bottle of the 2012 Stagg...and here comes the 2013 release in a couple of months. It's the circle of life.

@Victor, very much looking forward to the 2013 releases! This year I've sworn to myself that I'm not going to miss out on the chance to pick up a Stagg and a Thomas H. Handy ; )

@CanadianNinja

How come these are released only once a year. Aren't they distilling and maturing year round?

Currently sipping Ancient Ancient Age 10 Star over a big glass of ice . . . I actually like this a whole lot better when it is nice and diluted. I've been drinking a lot of bourbon lately (odd for me). it must be all this hot weather of late.

@Victor I can't believe you haven't opened the 2012 Stagg! We need you to do a direct comparison with the 2010, 2011, and 2012 (for those of us who don't have a bottle of each). I have heard the 2012 is less impressive . . . but would love your thoughts . . . whenever you're ready . . . we will be waiting . . .

@Nock, I did review the 2012 release George T. Stagg last year, but it was from a sample provided to me from @cpstecroix, who got a bottle in Toronto 5 months ahead of the US release,...and five months ahead of my acquisition of my own bottle(s) of it. Of 2010, 2011, and 2012 I like the 2010 best, followed by the 2012. I rated them 98, 95, and 97 points respectively.

@Nozinan, George T. Stagg and Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye are of course part of Buffalo Trace's 'Antique Collection'. There are other reasons I'm sure for their seasonal release, but not the least important from the distiller's stand point would be marketing! Nothing can guarantee sales among whisky enthusiasts like a scheduled release date to salivate the mouths of those of us who are waiting for the new bottles ; )

I do believe there was a release of the George T. Stagg in the Spring of... 2004, 2005? @Victor would certainly be able to answer your questions better than I would though.

@Victor, my mistake. I remember now your little "early review" to last year's Stagg release. I was just shocked by your comment about not having opened one of "your bottles!"

I haven't had the 2012 Stagg. And I finished off my first bottle of 2010 before I picked up my only bottle of 2011. That is now nearing its end. I went back through my old notes. I only scored the 2010 on one occasion (a 95) and it was alone (now I always score whisky in groups of 3-5).

I ended up scoring the 2011 Stagg four times now (those translate in order: 93, 93, 97, and 96. So you might say i enjoyed it the longer it was open. What doesn't show up is that i always scored it along with 4 other bourbons (Stagg always last). The night I scored it a 97 it was up against Wild Turkey 101, Old Grand Dad 114 and Larceny. I think in that company it really shouted out "I am superior . . . by a long shot."

i have officially done all I can in the State of Virginia to try and get a bottle of this years Stagg (and Handy, and Weller). Stupid liquor control state . . . commonwealth . . . whatever . . .

All this talk about Stagg . . . I just finished a glass or Elijah Craig Barrel Proof as i typed this . . . time for a glass of Stagg Jr.

Cheers to all of you hunting down this year's Antique Collection!

Enjoying a great Friday night.

Bruichladdich Links "The Old Course, St. Andrews - 17th Hole", Macallan 12, 29 year Glenrothes - SMWS 30.61 “A Sensitive, intimate experience”, 40 year Longmorn - SMWS 7.55 "Liquid Heaven", Finishing with a 25 year Port Ellen (Old Malt Cask bottling)

once again ive been busy, getting through a Jura sample pack which contained the: 10y/o superstition 16 Y/o

also ive had two masterclasses at my marvellous local where we tried some Islay numbers:

Provenance Coal Ila 1997 11 Year Old Provenance Laphroaig 1998 10 year old Old Malt Cask Ardbeg 1991 18 Year Old Kilchoman 2006 Vintage Port Charlotte An Turas Mor Octomore 5.1 5 Year Old

PLUS i had an australian masterclass (as i live in australia) where we had some most interesting local produce

Small Concern 7 Year Great Outback Single Malt Smith Angaston 12 Year Old Southern Coast Distillery Batch 001 Heartwood Velvet Hammer Heartwood Convict Release

AND from my own collection ive had a go at the Bakery Hill Peated Cask Strength also from Australia.

cheers mates

Venturing into the territory of our good neighbors to the north, I'm enjoying (for the most part) some Collingwood Canadian Whiskey. A little too tame, a little too floral, but some nice things going on nevertheless. Review posted.

I had a rather superb night, celebrating the shipping of the first US Karuizawa release with drams of 1990/2012 Karuizawa cask #679 and then the Koi label 1984/2012 cask #4021. With a bit more oxygen, the 679 just edged out the 4021.

@CanadianNinja, The first release of George T. Stagg was in 2002. 2005 was the only year in which there was a spring release of George T. Stagg in addition to the annual fall release...and spring 2005 was also the last release of George T. Stagg below 70% abv.

@Nozinan - YES, your interpretation of the distillation dates is inaccurate. The excise tax stamp on bottles of Canadian whisky, a practice abandoned a few decades ago, simply indicates the distillation date of the whisky. In the case of non-age statement whisky it is the distillation date of the youngest whisky in the bottle.

None other than Davin de Kergommeaux, without a doubt, the foremost authority on Canadian whisky and author of the highly acclaimed and award winning book, Canadian Whisky: The Portable Expert, Publisher: McClelland & Stewart (May 8 2012), has often addressed this misinterpretation of the excise stamp date.

The excerpt cited below is from de Kergommeaux's website. In this passage he clearly defines the age of the distillate relative to the excise stamp.

“Incidentally, sellers often date their old tax-stamped whisky incorrectly, so be careful. The date on the tax stamp … is the date that the youngest whisky in the bottle was distilled, NOT the date it was bottled. So if the whisky has an age statement, don’t count backwards from the date on the tax stamp to figure out what year it is from. It is from the year stated on the tax stamp. As well, whisky is not considered to age in the bottle, so a 15-year-old whisky from 1952 is still 15 years old.”

canadianwhisky.org/reviews/…

@paddockjudge

Thanks for clarifying. Though I would have preferred had you indicated I was more valuable than the distillate....

Laddie Octomore Comus 4.2. Whisky poprocks with honey-slathered toasted barley on a smoldering oak shingle...surprising amount of wood influence for one so young. Long and extremely dry finish. Another serving is required as 167 ppm won't allow for any other expressions to be tasted tonight. 12/017

09:46 03 FEB 2012

Enjoyed a few drinks last night: Rittenhouse Rye 100, Glenlivet Nadurra, and Dalmore 12

@paddockjudge... 'whisky poprocks'! Fantastic!

@paddockjudge

I wonder how the 4.2 tastes in relation to the 4.1 . I have a bottle of the 4.1 that I bought after tasting a sample. Most "expensive" sample I ever tried. I really liked it, but no pop rocks that I can recall. But that was a year and a half ago...

Tonight I'm hoping to introduce a friend to A'Bunadh. Batch 44 is what I have open. 2 nights ago it was a peat bomb, and this time a Sherry bomb.

3, 2, 1 ......Boom!

Yup...drinking the A'Bunadh. And the friend liked it too. Awesome dram...

Poured a dram of Ardbeg Ardbog tonight for the first time since I bought the bottle a couple of months ago. Definite changes have taken place, and they're not for the better, I'm afraid. The Manzanilla sherry is no longer as strong, and I'm getting a bit of soap and bitterness I don't recall from before. Still fairly decent, but not one that benefits from bottle time. I gave it a couple of squirts of Private Preserve to forestall further breakdown.

@WhiskyBee got any smaller bottles? i rekon decanting into a smaller vessel is the best way to prevent (or at least seriously slow down) changes in the bottle

Finished a dram of Old Overholt, and now having a glass of Old Taylor 6 yo.

The old Taylor isn't half bad actually. From what I've read, Jim Beam sold 6 years of stock to Buffalo Trace in 2009 when Old Taylor changed ownership, they are set to run out sometime around 2015. At that time the new Old Taylor will be produced by Buffalo Trace. The current stuff is supposedly somewhere between JB White and JB Black. Wouldn't buy it again but it's going down well enough at the moment!

@Volks - Private Preserve is supposed to achieve the same thing, although maybe decanting would be the better option here. I usually use P.P. to prevent peat from dissipating, but the Ardbog is the only whisky I've encountered in which the sherry seems to be breaking down before the peat.

Ardbeg Ardbog. @WhiskyBee, you are scaring me with that talk of soap in my Ardbog. Soap is the end of the line for me...the Kiss of Death for a whisky. Don't notice any in my nearly 12 months open bottle, but, then, I gassed from Day 1. I will also be happy to see a big shipment of bottles for decanting arrive this week.

That's funny that you notice soap develop in the Ardbog LATER, after the bottle was opened. Usually from what I have seen soap is a production error in the whisky, and often the soapiness will diminish, and even vanish, if you wait long enough after you open the bottle.