So, what are you drinking now?

At the moment I've got a Springbank 12 Cask Strength in my glass. It's such a good dram I bought another bottle of it. Then I'm going to be opening my bottle of the Arran 12 year old cask strength batch 4 at 53.2 abv. I have high hopes for this one .I haven't tried an Arran before.

Yesterday, celebrated my wife and I's 10 year wedding anniversary with the final dram of 17 year Caol Ila (SMWS 53.194 - "A Calmac ferry dram") from a refill ex-Sherry butt. That was one of my favorite open bottles. Going to miss that one.

Laphroaig 10 Year Old Cask Strength Batch 6.

When in the mood for something peaty, this one does satisfy.

Polishing off the last of my Talisker 10, a 200 cc I bought a long while ago. I've developed an appreciation for it that I had not had before. Maybe it's the open bottle time and maybe it's my palate.

I don't know if I'll be buying a bottle of this any time soon, more because I have too many others waiting to drink and I'm trying to end the year with no more sealed Bottles than I started, but it's good to know that there's a readily available malt out there that I can accept and enjoy if offered.

Glengoyne Cask #1 @ 58.7: This bottle has been decanted a while and is drinking superbly. It reminds me of the earliest A'bunadhs, in particular a batch that came before #6, that I mistakenly thouught of as #5, and was 'no batch no.' @59.6; in the issues of A'bunadh it may well have been #5 but not marked as such!

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that if you are hankering after the taste of an old school A'bunadh, then look out for a Glengoyne #1 Cask and give it a little time in a decanter with a generous air space and you will be richly rewarded.

Tulgatsgaaya.

With friends last night we finished the Weller 12, placed a major dent in the first bottle of the Amrut Cask Strength (significant change since first opened) and opened the Wiser's Red Letter (very impressive for a first taste, look forward to see how it will be in a couple of weeks).

Ben Riach Curiositas 10 yo. A very nice peaty, smoky dram. However, it's difficult to discern any Speyside characteristics...

Glengoyne Cask Strength Batch 1 - Lovely Oloroso flavors. Needed a while to open up. Figure it will be much better over time.

Benrinnes 15 PX Darkness! - Big fat sherry bomb. I get the feeling the Benrinnes spirit has an affinity to taking on sherry flavors.

BenRiach Solstice 17 Second Edition - Second time I'm trying this. Thought it was decent the first time around. Still thought it was decent the second time around.

BenRiach 25 Authenticus - Super quality whisky. Belies it's 25 years spent cooped up in a barrel (in a good way). Still young but with a graceful elegance. Possibly the best value for money 25 year old out there.

@talexander I was going to make a blend with the 45 and 50 - now I don't want to any more....

@JayRain The Amrut, that's the peated CS right? I haven't seen the equally awesome unpeated CS in Ontario.

@MaltActivist Well, there's no harm in trying!

Tonight I'm going with a first love I'll never turn down. JWB on the rocks.

Last night, finished the last dram in one bottle and had the first dram from another.

Said good-bye to a 9 year Miltonduff (SMWS 72.41 "Girlie holiday breakfast dram") from a first-fill white wine hogshead. I was never able to figure this one out. Some nights, it tasted great and I really enjoyed it, other nights not so much.

After that, opened up a 9 year Bruichladdich Port Charlotte (SMWS 127.34 “Flying saucers and octopus balls”) from a refill ex-bourbon barrell. I've had several drams of this in the past; both at a Society tasting as well as from my brother-in-law's bottle, but it's been a while. It's as good, if not better, than I remember. I need to do a head-to-head comparison of this with the 4 year Kilchoman that I have open. I really like them both, but I'm thinking the Port Charlotte will be my favorite of the two.

Bruichladdich Black Art 2.2, 21 yo, 49.7%. This is a totally chameleon-like dram. Complexity out the ying-yang. Rich, and very very interesting. @Nock and @CognacFan, yes, this Black Art 2.2 benefits mightily from a great deal of air exposure.

Talisker 10 YO. My nose is completely useless at the moment, but at least my palate is somewhat back on track. Still, it's nice drinking whisky and actually being able to taste it.

Smooth Ambler Yearling 92 pf with Parmigiano Reggianno. This young wheater has held up nicely to air after 8 months. The finish is a little short, actually the 30 month aged cheese has a longer finish than the 29 month aged bourbon.

A Blind Tastings can be a humbling experience - tonight I was treated to a blind tasting of three whiskies by my son. The first and second were relatively straight forward. The first was Century lot 15/25 corn whisky . I love this stuff. Long-aged corn whisky (originally 15 - 25 years) with some as old as 30 years. This is a great dessert dram. The second was Lot No. 40 - bitter-sweet, spicy, floral/fragrant; a rye grain tour de force. These were relatively easy to decipher.

The third was well rounded, a multi grain blend, not a single grain as were the first and second offerings. It was elegant, and delicious with exceptional mouth feel - thick and velvety, with rye spice flares and a warm sweet bed of corn, accented by a nuttiness reminiscent of fresh cracked walnuts. It had a fair amount of complexity with the bitterness of rye being the perfect compliment to the sweetness of toffee with a very dry and dusty finish - just the right amount of oak in this well aged gem. Here comes the humbling part. I guessed it to be Danfield's 21 YO. It was not. It was in fact Gibson's 18 YO Venerable.

I'll be acquiring a couple bottles of each tomorrow; with this NAS tsunami sweeping across the ocean, it may soon enough be too late to gain a considerable position in domestic offerings when this devastating wave consumes our own shores.

This has been not only a humbling experience, but a wake up call as well.

Cheers!

Benriach 12 year old Rum Cask finish. My goodness... this is brilliant.

@hunggar Is that a certain 'market only' expression?

All I've seen available for sale here in the USA from online retailers is the Benriach 15 yr Dark Rum (which I'd love to try along with their Sauternes expression).

@FMichael, I should have mentioned it's one of these Latin-themed heavily peated ones. It's called Importanticus Fumosus. Definitely available in Europe, Canada, and Asia.I don't know about the States.

I've got a bottle of the 16 year old Sauternes finish on the go here as well. Also very good!

The end of an extremely stressful week. Health scares and reassurance. Last day of work. And, depending on how busy I am packing, perhaps my last chance at a dram of whisky for 2 weeks. Since I'm leaving Canada, I thought it best to have a Canadian Whisky. So it's one of my favourites, Forty Creek Heart of Gold.

3 Twin Valley Distillers barrel strength whiskeys, two (58% and 60% abv) at 90-5-5 corn/rye/malted barley mashbill and one 60% abv at 90-5-5 corn/wheat/malted barley mashbill. Local Maryland grains and new charred wood aging in 5 gallon barrels for 3 months. Delicious.

@Nozinan, Forty Creek Heart of Gold is a great choice. I'm having one too - hate to see you drink a lone.

@paddockjudge though you be hundreds of kilometres away, it's good to know you're with me in "spirit"

Having dram of Glengoyne 10 year old, hoping it will fulfill my need for a cheaper bottle, jury is still out on this one.

Just got home from a visit to one of our local distilleries (Westland Distillery) here in Seattle, WA to pick up a birthday present for my brother-in-law.

Sampled their Sherry Wood release bottling, their Peated release bottling and a single cask bottling. The single cask offering is made up of 30% of their standard 5-grain mashbill (Washington State Select Pale Malt, Munich Malt, Extra Special Malt, Pale Chocolate Malt and Brown Malt) and 70% peated malt imported from a speyside maltings. The spirit spent 26 months in a New American Oak cask that was made up of 24 month air-dried staves with a heavy toast / light char. This one was very interesting in that there was no peat apparent on the nose, but was huge on the palate. It was favorite of the 3, followed by their Sherry Wood and the Peated bottling, while not bad, was my least favorite.

@paddockjudge

Finished packing early - needed to do some admin stuff and wanted to make it worthwhile. In your honour I'm dipping into my bottle of Mac CS, the one you gave me in our first trade. There is something unique about the nose and palate that I don't find in other sherried malts, and it's a good something.

While cooking dinner, moved on to another local distillery, Woodinville Whiskey Co. Bourbon (Woodinville, WA)

Later, finished off the last dram of Bruichladdich Octomore 4.1 and then opened up an Octomore 4.2 Comus to replace it.

@bwmccoy Comus 4.2 is an 'extreme' and 'fun' whisky . To have Octomores 4.1 and 4.2 must be double the pleasure. I've not experienced the pleasures of Octomore 4.1; however, the whisky 'Pop Rocks (R)' effect I get from 4.2 (EG4?) is unforgettable. The Ability of the Sauternes casks to tame the monstrous levels of peat allows for a rare opportunity to experience an excellent use of wine finish other than port or sherry.

Those who are looking forward to a mighty dose of peat, at 167ppm, and those who expect a sweetened delight from the Château d’Yquem Sauternes casks, will both be shocked by the result of this magical interaction.

@Nozinan Thank you for the Cask Strength tribute. Mac CS is one of my favourites! it is a bit early for me to enjoy such an indulgence, but rest assured I will soon be raising a glass of the delightful Macallan Cask Strength, the exact batch as your bottle, and wishing you a bon voyage.