So, what are you drinking now?

Having a tiny dram of the newly purchased (and newly released) NAS Oban 'Little Bay'.

If you had blindfolded me, and handed me a glass of this single malt...I'd say it was the Clynelish 14 yr.

Not disappointed per say, but for almost $20 less - I could've purchased the Clynelish 14 yr.

Uncle came over for family dinner tonight. We per used the selection and settled on Springbank 12YO CS. A good bold choice for a nose that hasn't quite recovered from my mega man-cold.

Poker night w the gents - brought forth the Jefferson Reserve Very Old, Very Small Batch (#152) which when cut w water brought forth a nice sipper. As there was a cheese, salami and grape board, decided to complement it w a Ruby Porto - a little too on the sweet side for my tasting but matched to the cheeses well enough

At a Xmas party last night a buddy brought out a partial 1/2 bottle of Haig & Haig Pinch 12 yo blended whisky. Some interesting little observations about the bottle (sorry if the formatting doesn't show this as a list):

• Bottle seemed to be for the Canadian market as the top shoulder label was in English and French
• "1/2 bottle" was 341 mL (nowadays they are 375 mL, vs. 750 mL for full bottle, in Canada). It seems that the full bottle would have been 710 mL.
• bottled at 40% abv (not 86 proof that I see noted on images of other bottles).
• it was stated by our friend that the bottle would likely be at least 30 years old as he remembers it at his grandparents house growing up. The closest image I could find is a 1970's bottle in the link below.
• we were nervous about the potential quality as it was only 1/3 full. It was stated though, that it likely had not been physically opened in at least 20 years.

Upon initial pour, I picked up sweet fruits (papaya or mango, candied citrus) on the nose, with a caramel forward taste. No burn whatsoever, which to my mind indicated that the air already in the bottle did not affect the whisky in a severe manner.

After several minutes, a dramatic change to a spicier, smokier nose, and a generally spicier (baking spices) taste. The finish was combining the spices with the caramel notes very nicely. The nose evolved to include a variation on a baked apple pie filling (no crust) aroma.

Here's a link to a 1970's bottle image that is the most similar label (other than the size, as noted above) to what our friend had:

masterofmalt.com/whiskies/haig/…

A very cool experience, and a pretty nice pour to boot! :)

@Pudge72...oh good, the formatting worked! If anyone can shed further light on the history of the bottle (sorry I don't have some pictures of the actual bottle...maybe in the future...my buddy is definitely holding on to the empty bottle), I would be very interested in further details. Thanks!

@Pudge72 I tasted a very old Pinch once and it was amazing - sounds like that one is too! Very brave of your friend to buy an opened bottle...

@Pudge72

I was offered a bottle of Pinch by the family of a patient just a little while after watching Ralfy's review of it. I was not going to accept it (it was the patient's and it was open for who knows how long.... - they were cleaning out stuff from his house). I did ask to see the bottle though. Unique design. Also leaky and got allover my hand. Smelled really nice (even though my hand is not a glencairn) but good thing it was my last patient of the day...

My first sip of the Big Peat Christmas 2014 tonight, just to my mind can begin processing what it is. I'm really liking what I smell and taste so far!

Had a few friends over and cracked a bottle of Amrut Peated Cask Strength... MAGICAL! As good as when I tried it at SOT.

So I think I won't ask my friend to decrease the number of bottles he's picking up for me.....

Then two of us decided to go back for another dram. He picked Springbank CS 12, and I finished my mini of Glenfarclas 105. Probably won't open the full size for a while, but with a little extra water at the outset and having had a chance to sit after being opened, it's a little less rough...

My brother decided to join us and though he tried my two drams he chose Forty Creek Heart of Gold as his drink of the night.

@Nozinan

So with 27 unopened single malts, 2015 is going to be more about consuming than purchasing. My goal is to only buy outside Ontario.

Want to buy three more bottles prior to Jan 1 - as a nod of the head to you, one is going to be an Amrut. There was 5 different types at the Summerhill LCBO - which do you (or anyone for that matter) recommend as the Amrut to get.

thanks in advance

@JayRain AMRUT PEATED CASK STRENGTH, I won't purchase a bottle because it is too dangerous. I have sampled from more than one batch and I don't trust myself around this stuff...

Too good for the hood

A generous pour of Maker's 46 and what a fine Whisky it is! 'Put the headphones on and listened to that eccentric Canadian Genius Glen Gould do the Bach Goldberg Variations and what a fine pianist he is! They went together superbly; life is good!

www.youtube.com/watch

My sound is better but this will give you an idea, (if you've got this far).

Cheers!

@A'bunadhman

Never had Maker's but I'm a big fan of the Gould.....

Just waiting for people to come over for a low key dram or two....probably of the cask strength variety.

@Nozinan: How could he play the most intricate pieces with such clarity and speed, at times with crossed over hands, for 48min. No music either. Truly a phenomenon! My M/M 46 just keeps getting better!

Glenn Gould 1932 - 1982.

Cheers1

@A'bunadhman I never got to hear him play live ( he actually felt live performances were inferior). He was truly a master. You can hear him humming in some of his audio recordings.

Capping off a stressful day with a Laphroaig Quarter Cask.

2 of my friends from my whisky club were over. Not really quorum for a meeting but we had an informal consumption of food (including 3 different types of lox) and a few drams with palate cleansing food in between. My brother joined in for a bit as well. The order:

1. G&M COOP exclusive 13 YO Mortlach. See my review. I skipped this one as I've had it before. They both really liked this one ( I will have to re-review it).

2. Aberlour A'Bunadn batch 45. One of my friends considers A'Bunadh a favourite.

3. Macallan CS. In a head to head with the previous dram this one lost out. Might have been the other way around if the order had been reversed.

4. Amrut Peated Cask Strength. Third time I've tried it, third time it was magical.

5. Caol Ila CS (58%). I even allowed myself a few ccs to remind myself of how good it is. Very different from the Amrut.

After that one of my friends dozed off and the other went back for another of his favourite... A'bunadh.

A very enjoyable evening. This is what I like...people helping me to enjoy my whisky collection.

Bunnahabhain Toiteach. A delicious peat Bunna. it reminds me somewhat of the Longrow CV. A lovely and memorable scotch.

@JayRain

We can discuss intricacies of Amrut privately if you want.

It took a bit of manual digging on the website to figure out which 5 of the 7 Amrut's are available at Summerhill. Of course, the one I would recommend most is the one that's not there (peated CS) but if you're in Toronto I can arrange for you to taste it.

Of the ones that are there, you can't go wrong with any of them. I've tried them all. I think I liked the Sherry single cask (Angels' share 40%) slightly better than the bourbon single cask. The Portonova is excellent but an entirely different species.

If you can get only one, I would choose one of those 3. The Fusion is good but almost always available unlike the 3 CS ones. And the peated at 46% was good but the CS is better...worth driving to London for...

@Nozinan Aha - I have it. Only searched Toronto and there was one at Bathurst and King and one at Runnymede and Bloor.

I walked to Bathurst and King after work to no avail and called Runnymede and Bloor - nada. If there are some in London, they will ship it to the Queen's Quay location (have done before) so it shall be done.

Picked up five exchange bottles from BYOB today so happy to share anything that piques your interest...

Rock Hill Farms single barrel bourbon... nice stuff. starts a little sweet and ends a little spicy

Just poured an A'bunadh Batch 47. Gotta celebrate the eve of Christmas Eve right?!!

@mscottydunc

I am not an expert on this, but is there a special "eve" before Christmas eve? How is the 47.

Because I had a successful dramming night yesterday, I will drink vicariously through you tonight, the taste of the A'Bunadh batch 45 still fresh in my mind....

@Nozinan It's fantastic. It's not quite as good as the 49, but that's like saying a Porshe is not quite as nice as a Ferrari....

28yr Bowmore single cask club bottling....

Coffee at the moment but will hopefully finish off some of my opened ones like Isle of Skye 12yr, Oban Little Bay, Macgavin's Spetside. (:

@mscottydunc A'bunadh batch #49 pretty good?

I might have to pick up a bottle.

@FMichael It's my absolute favourite. I've only tried a few A'bunadhs, but this one is the best that I have had.

Wild Turkey Rare Breed: The new batch @ 56.4 ABV. in the gold tube. A little darker than its' previous expression here W/T 03 RB and a higher ABV. On special for Au.$13.00 cheaper than its' predecessor and somewhat more refined, it is delicious. We all got to know W/T 03 pretty well as it seemed to have been around for ever - Perhaps the current version contains older material or maybe less of the younger Whiskies, it has such a wonderful mouth-feel and incredible depth & it is a couple of notches better than anything I've had from W/T. I went out for an A'Bunadh and came home with 3 bot. of W/T. :-)

Slainte!