So, what are you drinking now?

Manhattan... with the hated bulleit rye (less of half bottle!)

Kids are in bed. Decanted the remainder of my Bladnoch 11 YO sherry bomb into 2 120 cc bottles. Oops, about 10 cc left. Can't let it yo to waste...

'The Dalmore' 12yr...not significantly better than the Whyte & MacKay Special Reserve...and certainly not worth the $10.25 per ounce pour...but it was the only single malt on the menu that I hadn't tried before. Won't be buying a full bottle any time soon.

Aberlour A'bunadh Batch # 26 (fabulous!), Old Pulteney 17 (famously good), and Highland Park 15 yo.

With summer coming on I feel the need to decant a lot of my open bottles while they are still fresh. Happily, these three are.

@Victor

A'Bunadh batch 26!!! What I wouldn't give for some of that (given my birthday is the 26th).

Maybe i should start a quest...

@Nozinan, I will save you a sample of Aberlour A'bunadh Batch # 26.

An Old Fashioned. Sugar, Angostura bitters, orange peel, Wild Turkey 101 and a few ice cubes.

I might get some dislikes for this, but I tried an Uigedail 2009 vs. an Uigedail 2012 tonight, and I found the '12 to be better. The '09 was more sherried and smooth, but a little less bolder and crisper. The '12 was a little bit "Ardbeggier" and had a richer, crisper, bigger finish. They might as well have been different whiskies (even the colour was totally different), but I have to say the more recent one was better. Sorry traditionalists.

@hunggar, I wouldn't have any opinion at all about those two batches of Uigeadail you are drinking, unless I were sitting down with you and tasting from the same bottles. I would want to know, though, how long the two bottles have been open, especially the bottle from 2009.

Your comment about the two batches, that "They might as well have been different whiskies...." is what I have been saying for years. If you are not drinking from the same batch as the next reviewer, you really are drinking a different whisky. Sometimes those two same-named whiskies are quite similar; often they are not.

@Victor

Thank you kindly. You are indeed a gentleman.

Tonight I will toast your good health with a wee dram of FC Heart if Gold.

@Victor: You've been saying it for years, and I've been reading about it for years. I suppose I was just a bit surprised by HOW different they were. I'd never compared two batches side by side and the results were pretty surprising. Both whiskies have been open for less than two weeks.

@hunggar bravo! I agree with both your findings and @Victor's comments: batches are VERY different. That has been why I am a bit of a batch Nazi (as you well know ;) because the different vattings can be SO different. And it isn't just by year! It actually changes by batch. Each batch is different. I personally cannot afford to try every batch of Uigeadail (even though I seem to be trying). Mickey Heads (Ardbeg Manager) has said that they make 4 to 5 different vattings (batches) of Uigeadail a year. In 2013 alone I have managed to find 4 different batch numbers. However only one was very good – in my opinion (the rest were decent to disappointing).

I will say that I haven't seen a super dark (heavily sherry influenced) Uigeadail since a batch from 2011 (L11 147). I miss those batches, but I can’t say they were my favorite. I also like the bite, the big finish, and the “Ardbeginess” of the less sherry influenced versions. I think sherry can tame the beast a little too much. But then the most heavily sherried batch I have tried was Jim Murray’s favorite Uigeadail batch (of 2009 Bible fame).

My hope is that they will create other great batches of Uigeadail while I can still stock up on them at reasonable prices.

And @hunggar . . . if you still have access to both batches . . . I think we would all love an in-depth comparative review - even if it is only for historical purposes.

Was planning on drinking a Glendronach 21, but I retried the Macallan Gold instead. I already had that one on my list, from a tasting in 2012. I was not 100% sure if I actually had tried the Gold or the Amber back then, so I verified it by digging up some old pics. Apparently I got the Gold right, but there was another mistake on my list. I wrote down that I tried the Bruichladdich Classic, while in reality it was the Bruichladdich Laddie Sixteen

Amut Cask Strength 61.8%. Not as smooth as the original 2007 bottling, but still high quality. Opening up nicely with a few drops H2O.

@hunggar, Variance in same expression batches can be a beautiful thing, as can the difference between single barrels. Often I will have two or three bottles of the same expression open concurrently, in order to experience the variations. Recently it was single barrel bourbon - Elmer T. Lee - 3 bottles on the go and each from different barrels. This exercise is a lot of fun. Previously I had done this with Glenlivet Nadurra, Macallan Cask Strength, Caribou Crossing Single Barrel, Ardbegs Oogie and Corry, CR Special Reserve, Masterson's Rye, Alberta Springs, Century Lot 15/25 ....I may have sampled as many as 5 bottles of Wiser's Legacy concurrently...fun and educational.

Thanks, @Nock. Yes you certainly are the go-to resource when it comes to Uigeadail codes and comparisons. I've sampled from several batches, but never was the difference so clear as it was between these two as I had them side by side. I may try and do that comparison you suggested at some point down the line. Sounds like good fun!

@Paddockjudge, I'm no stranger to batch variations, but I don't usually buy bottles concurrently. I usually have to work off of memory, which is much less reliable. I admit that it's crossed my mind to start doing that. As you said; very educational.

Tonight it a wee dram of Kilchoman Machir Bay. (:

@PMessinger Good choice on the Machir Bay, a young whisky full of character!

Tonight I am enjoying a dram of Mortlach 15. A friend brought it back for me from Scotland and it is quickly climbing the ranks in my books. What a well rounded and exquisite scotch! Has anyone else tried it before? I personally give it a 95/100.

After 3 hours I had only made it through a third of my dram of Amrut CS yesterday. I poured it into a little sample bottle. Tonight I'm enjoying half of what's left. Even though it was exposed to air for 24 hours, it's holding up well. Lots of green grapes and green apple in the nose. a little more spicy/hot on tha palate than yesterday but great complexity. I wonder how the last third will be tomorrow...

@ewhiskey Mortlatch 15. A personal favorite. One of the greats. Lucky on you for having it!

Open: Springbank 10, Longmorn 15, Laphroaig 10 CS 005, Hudson Four Grain Bourbon

Back to basics...'Aliens' and Crown Royal...while the movie is just as fun as always, the whisky just doesn't hold up...it's still better than the Dalmore that I had the other night.

Kilchoman Loch Gorm vs Laphroaig PX vs Springbank 12 CS Sherry/Peat competition. Sprinbank wins, but they're all really nice in their own way

@ewhiskey I once had a Mortlach 17 cask strength from AD Rattray at a tasting and it made quite an impression on me too. Really big and beefy but also refined and in balance.

Tonight after the removal of a house threating tree I'm having a wee dram of Dalwhinne D.E. 1990's. really is great at 43% abv. (:

Lagavulin 16 whilst enjoying the Rugby.

Finishing off a little celebratory pour of an old favorite -- the 1976/2009 Karuizawa #6719. It's such a little treat!

Celebrating my daughter's birthday, a few scotch drinking parents. I introduced them to Amrut Cask Strength and Bowmore Laimrig (2013).

Now the party's over and my wife wants to watch a movie once the kids are in bed. And she suggested I keep her company and drink Scotch.....

@Nozinan, she suggested the movie and Scotch? Sounds like a heck of a way to end a pleasant day!

What's the pick for the movie malt?

@numen

Sadly, by the time we had the kids in bed, exhaustion kicked in.... so there was no movie, and no malt...