So, what are you drinking now?

@thecyclingyogi ooopsie.... "double single"

the general lives up to the hype....

@paddockjudge I've always wanted to read that.....it was a great movie.

@hunggar: There is much to like about Glengoyne #1 Cask but, for me, the immaculately clean palate and 'old school' silky smooth mouth-feel together with an astounding an persistent sherried finish lift this Whisky way above all but a couple of select bottlings. Not many makers can achieve this level of intensity and cleanliness without some splinters! It is spotless.

Slainte!

giving two orphans a home - working my way through pours of barterhouse and old blowhard....

@thecyclingyogi Save some for me!!! :-P

21 year old unchilfiltered Old Pulteny thanks to a sample from @paddockjudge . Thanks again for the sample.

I definitely get first a sour cherry candy then a strawberry nibs on the nose. I also get creaminess and a hint of pineapple.

A little light on the palate, with some alcohol on the finish.

I added about 10 drops of water to a 15-20 cc pour. It gets "dusty" in the nose and definitely more bitter on the palate. That will probably smooth out over the next half hour...I hope. At least the nibs are still there somewhere.

Last night, my neighbor Mr. Feng invited me to dinner and whisky at his home, on the occasion of an old Chinese army buddy of his visiting from Beijing. Mr. Feng's buddy is more the hearty drinker than the aficionado at this point, so I knew he wanted some intensity in his beverages. I had a healthy respect for his buddy's ability to drink me and the other four, Chinese people present under the table, so I attempted to keep portions moderate, while bringing over some high octane beverages. Mr. Feng had purchased a "handle" of 1.75 Litres of Dewar's White Label for his buddy 2 days previously. His buddy was down around half a Litre remaining after 2 days.

After a warm-up round of Dewar's White, we opened up a bottle of Tullamore D.E.W. Phoenix 55% abv. The army buddy showed his bottle of EverClear and mentioned that you can't buy liquor with that high an abv in Beijing. That led me to go back to my house and bring back some Lemon Hart 151 Rum (75.5% abv) and some Abraham Bowman 17.5 yo Bourbon at 73.75% abv. After we tried those, we opened a new bottle of Booker's Bourbon at 64.0% abv. We went back and forth among these various bottles for a few rounds, before closing out on some Ardbeg Uigeadail 54.2% abv L 11 028. It was quite a wonderful time, despite my not knowing enough Chinese to understand the 2 of the 5 people participating who spoke no English. The 2 Chinese ladies did an excellent job of navigating the social demands for more pours and many more toasts. The 12 or so courses of unending food were all quite delicous.

Never have I been so happy and relieved to have that nice mild 40% abv Dewar's White Label to spell us off with some relief from the high test whiskies!

Victor, I got toasted just from reading that.

Just fantastic @Victor! Few can binge drink like the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans! God love 'em!!

1980 lagavulin de(licious)!

@thecyclingyogi Hm I think I got me one of those....

Two cocktails, from the Macallan website: a Macallan Amber Roy Roy, and a Macallan 12 Year Old Sherry Oak 12 Year Old Maple Old Fashioned. Both have a great combination of elegance and spice. The Amber I'm not keen on, but it makes a fine cocktail. The 12 Year Old is great, and makes a great Old Fashioned, or another cocktail. Jus' Sayin'.

Port Charlotte 'The Peat Project' 46% Alc./Vol. This is now quite superb, after being in a large decanter for about 2 weeks or so. It did initially open a little shy but to me seemed to have all the right ingredients in all the right places and seemed an ideal candidate for 'large glass': It has developed into an amazing Whisky of power, fragrance, balance, beautifully integrated zesty lemon, honey, peat smoke with a gentle persistent finish that is truly 'long in the mouth'. It does need time with air-space and , of course, does not need to be brutalized with any swirling; just a gentle rotation at about 45deg. as practiced by Gerry Tosh (Highland Park) and, with a slightly different action but achieving the same 'turning the glass' technique, Ralfy. Personally I use Gerry's method but with a wet glass; one I have rinsed with the same spring / whatever water that may or may not go into the Whisky - The legs will form very differently with a wet glass; there will be tributaries, legs that shoot off at right angles and with a bottle of 'Eagle Rare' that I once had legs that looked like fractured glass. I think the aroma from a wet glass more immediate, more engaging and certainly more accessible!

I've often wondered what style of Whisky I might have made, had I been 'let loose' on the drinking public...The Port Charlotte comes about as close as I can imagine.

Slainte!

@talexander fairly certain you also have a '79.... that one should be awesome, too!

JW Black on the rocks. Maybe my favorite summer drink.

Just opened my bottle of BenRiach Sependecim Peated 17 year old, nice for a peated speyside. Had some Springbank 10, Lagavulin 16, and some Signatory Unchillfiltered Longmorn 17 finished in a sherry butt at The Party Sources tasting bar. A lot cheaper than buying a whole bottle.

Just opened SMWS 41.56. A lovely creamy 24 year old Dailuaine. This distillery is very underrated in my view. Very nice.

Sunday with my sister: Bushmills 21, Defiant Single Malt, Tullamore DEW Phoenix, Don Julio 1942 Tequila, Grappa Nonino, Amaro Nonino, and Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix.

Longmorn 15, courtesy of Lars, and Evan Williams provided by LCBO. Life is good.

Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask. Very underrated.

@teebone673 Yes it is...For those that have a 'sweet tooth' the Balvenie 14 yr Caribbean Cask is a great single malt.

@paddockjudge life is good, brother!

@thecyclingyogi...and it keeps getting better! Four Roses Small Batch Barrel Strength 125th and Jefferson's Reserve Very Old Very Small Batch...I'm liking the Jefferson's more and more each time I taste it. Damn, that Indiana whiskey is fine.

been drinking alot of monkey shoulder recently, its pretty good stuff not to complex for my tired brain to figure out.

Tonight I am relaxing with one of my favorites: Talisker 1998 Distillers Edition

Springbank 10. So good

@Malt-Nuisance Is it me, or does the Springbank 10 yr, Highland Park 12 yr, and Benromach 10 yr all have a very similar flavor profile?

@FMichael

I haven't had the Springbank 10, but I can say I think there are some significant differences in my recollections of the other two.

@FMichael IMHO these three are in some ways similar but in others quite different. I suggest that you do a head to head, trying them at the same sitting. Quite often I try a dram and think "hey that tastes like? but if I do a H2H I can quickly spot the differences. I know your ? did not ask for a tirade on price but the Benromach 10 while not available where I live is one of my favourite bargains. It can be had for $50 taxes incl in Calgary Alberta I do like HP 12 as well but prefer the HP10 which can be had for $43 in Alberta. The HP 12 is over $84 here and $48 in Alberta at Real Canadian Liquor. The Springbank 10 is almost $98 here in Manitoba but I can buy Springbank 15 for the same price at Kensington in Calgary. My bottle of Springbank 10 while quite drinkable was very underwhelming and I expected much more for almost a C note. Will not replace this one ever. Will be buying several Benromach 10's and HP 10's on my next trip west. The Benromach is a taste delight and IMO is actually closer to Balblair 2002 than HP. There you go now you have caused me to go and replace my Balblair as my memory is fuzzy and I will have to do a H2H. As they say "it's a dirty job but someone has to do it"

Monkey Shoulder. An awesome blend by any measure.