So, what are you drinking now?

@paddockjudge Jealous! (or, as my 11 year old daughter would say, "I'm so jelly")

@paddockjudge

Where did you find that? A Canadian blended whisky over 50%? Lucky!

Gentlemen, whilst I was in Toronto a package arrived from Texas. This makes Monarch taste "like, so yesterday". The Key DNA Marker for Crown Royal is....!

Talisker Port Rughie (Port Ree): Freshly opened, this is not exactly as I had expected nor is it as I have seen this Whisky described. Perhaps this bottling is better than the previous expression (?). Anyway quite delicious, definately a Talisker with port influence that enhances and doesn't intrude!...Code,

L 3290CMOOO.

06775063

I'm not sure how to decipher that code but there it is; sometimes a Whisky comes along that is not a style you would choose per se. but has a lot going for it and this is one and I'm enjoying it immensely!

Cheers.

Abraham Bowman 17 yo Bourbon, 73.75% ABV. God I love high-test whiskey!

@Victor

That's a very potent proof.

@sengjc, yes sir, it is potent, and extremely rich in flavour. I am a bit amazed that this particular one-off was ever released at this strength. This is the highest ABV whisk(e)y I own. I usually don't add any water to it either. I almost swoon at the thought of tasting that German bottling of 16 yo bourbon at 82.7% ABV, which Jim Murray reviewed.

With the exception of some of the releases of George T. Stagg, and now, the odd release or two of Elijah Craig 12 YO Barrel Proof, one almost never sees 70% ABV bourbon, or rye. Just 3 or 4 years ago there were still a few barrels of great old, 17-25 yo, Willetts floating around above 70% ABV. Those would be extremely expensive bottles now. Just wonderful delicous stuff, though, these high-ABV whiskeys.

The last dram of my batting of the Amrut single bourbon cask and Booker's 2015-01. I know it does not appeal to all but I'm really enjoying the complexity of the malt with the richness of the bourbon. I may make it again...

At poker last night we sampled the Eagle Rare 10, Beefeater Burrough's Reserve Gin (absolutely citrusely delicious w no need of tonic) and the Herradura Selecion Supreme (a tequila heavyweight in it's own right). Good times indeed

@Victor

The highest proof whisky that I have ever imbibed would be the Elijah Craig Barrelproof Release #5 at a palate dissolving 67.4%.

I am quite amazed with some of these bourbons: how do they get such high proof and age at the same time?

@sengjc, I am sure that the ability to bring spirit put into the barrel by law at no greater than 62.5% ABV to gain a lot of alcohol content has to do with the humidity of the location in which the whiskey is being aged.

My pet favourite bottle is a rye whiskey which is only 10 years old, but is at 69.4% ABV. This single barrel of one-off legacy Abraham Bowman rye whiskey was described as having had "excessive evaporation" to obtain that very high ABV in such a short time. Usually an ABV like that would require more like 15 years of aging, if the aging is done in Kentucky or Virginia. The A. Smith Bowman Distillery is located in Fredericksburg, Virginia about 50 miles from where we live. This rye whiskey stock was leftover from when the Distillery was owned by the Bowman family, who sold it off to the Sazerac Company empire in about 2002. Sazerac Company doesn't plan to make any more rye whiskey there for the forseeable future.

I am impressed that Heaven Hill is getting batches of Elijah Craig 12 Barrel Proof at 70.1% ABV and 69.9% ABV in only 12 years of aging, but then some batches of Booker's may reach 65% in only 6 to 8 years of aging. It seems to be the relatively dry summers during aging that bring up the alcohol content for these US whiskeys.

The alcohol content of whiskies aged in humid Scotland generally goes the other direction, i.e. down. I suppose that this must mean that high relative humidity leads to a preferential evapouration of the alcohol fraction over the water fraction within the whisky. I guess that if the air is almost full of all of the water content which it can hold, that more alcohol will evapourate than water.

@Victor You're absolutely right. Although alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water, if the climate is drier then more water will evaporate, increasing the ABV of the remaining distillate.

@Victor @talexander

of course in places like India, the ABV may go up but the overall volume goes way down. Some single cask bottlings we've tasted have between 40-50% angel's share...

@Victor

Thank you sir, I have learnt something new today. I was always of the impression that alcohol % goes down with age - didn't realise that the reverse is possible in drier climates.

Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon, this is fast becoming a new favourite.

@sengjc, expensive, but worth it. Barrel Selection is everything. Since this is NAS, I don't think it will be deleted from the BT repetoire. Very likely that the price will continue to rise. Eagle rare is 'technically' no longer a Single Barrel bourbon. Interesting how the demise of Old Charter 10 YO coincides with the removal of Single Barrel from Eagle Rare 10 YO. My greatest fear for RHF is that it will become a small batch expression too, due to the technicalities involved with the new bottling line. Almost Single Barrel is the next step to small batch.

Laprhroaig 10 Cask Strength, Batch # 3. This is delightful, despite being in a sample bottle I've had on hand for 2 1/2 years. Batch # 3 is a big favourite of mine. Plenty of Big Flavours still left in this one, 3 years after the bottle was first opened.

@sengjc, Rock Hill Farms is one of my go to Bourbons. Great stuff. Seems people know about it as it's in and out of stock at a number of shops. But I always keep a spare in the bunker!

@paddockjudge, I had ER10 a few times a couple years ago. Never got around to picking up a bottle but I remember liking it very much. However, I've read a number of recent online reviews stating it is nowhere the same quality as it used to be. Any truth to that?

Smith and Cross Rum. I needed something VERY powerful to cleanse my palate after doing my review of Lambertus 10YO single grain whisky.

My poor sink had to drink most of the Lambertus...

Karuizawa 1970 Vintage imgur.com/2P4Ouso

@richardofthesah , welcome aboard! If you're a Japanese whisky guy, I think you'll find some other folks here who'll share your enthusiasm for the liquid and (presumed? inevitable?) frustration over prices & availability.

@broadwayblue @paddockjudge

Funny you mentioned this as I was looking to get another bottle of the Rock Hill Farms for the future from the same Australian webshop but it's now listed as sold out and the price has crept up too!

Nice backyard patio yesterday with cigars and: Adelphi Glenturret 25yo 1988, Longrow 10yo 2001, Kilkerran Sherry Wood 2014 Release, SMWS 33.114 (11yo Ardbeg) and an Armagnac whose name escapes me...

@broadwayblue, variation is an issue with single barrel releases. I have found this to be true of Eagle Rare 10 YO SB. I have not yet sampled any of the Eagle Rare 10YO (not single barrel) due to the fact that I have a few of the single barrel bottles on the shelf. Without doing a h2h (and I will certainly do that in the near future, and will include Old Charter 10 YO) it is difficult to say.

It is my opinion that the power of suggestion may be responsible for these recent reviews which claim ER10 is not at par with ER10SB. I have done frequent h2h with ER10SB & Old Charter 10 (which is a batch, and in my opinion, they are the same juice, with ER10SB being cherry picked for single barrel purposes). The results have been mixed. I sometimes prefer OC10 and often cannot tell them apart in a blind taste.; however, when a top tier ER10SB comes along, it is memorable.

The new automated bottling line (as per Sazerac CEO Marc Brown - interview on WhiskyCast with Mark Gillespie) does not permit for single barrel bottling. Liquid from the previous barrel remains in the line and will be mixed with the contents of the next barrel. Therefore, the SIngle Barrel title has been dropped from Eagle Rare 10YO....

....I believe it is no coincidence that Old Charter 10YO was eliminated from the Sazerac/Buffalo Trace stable of products. Shortly after OC10 was dropped, the Single Barrel title was dropped from Eagle Rare 10YO. ER10 has also recently undergone a face-lift of sorts. This is common when change is afoot. That change is now in place.

I wonder how long before ER10 is just Eagle Rare Straight Kentucky Bourbon?

Rock Hill Farms is NAS, but Single Barrel. This expression can be used to exact a hefty premium from consumers. It is not readily available at the best of times and the fact that it is a regular stock-out will only put upwards pressure on the price. I predict we'll see this one as BIB - it will remain at 100 proof, but will lose the Single Barrel title.

I'll get back to you when I do the h2h2h.

Cheers!

Temperature in the 90's today. 32C at 7 pm = 90 F.

I'm not a beer a drinker, and now I remember why not. Whisky drinkers understand the phenomenon of angel's share. I work underground where the environment is cooled with surface air...do the math - surface temp was in the 90's today. There's no substitute for a cold pint when you are Jonesin' for a thirst quencher. I picked up some Sleeman's Cream Ale and a 5 liter can of Heineken on the way home. Upon arriving at home a bottle of Sleeman's Ale went straight into the freezer and the rest into the fridge. After 20 Minutes I snapped the top on that frosty ale, but much to my surprise the bottle was empty in a matter of seconds. Evaporation? Angel's Share? Spillage? I repeated this process and now I'm staring at two empty bottles. This damned hot weather can reek havoc. The rest are going back for a refund. Perhaps some Kentucky iced-tea might evade this rapid evaporation....like I said, I don't drink much beer.

@paddockjudge funny, I've had similar issues drinking beer, I like beer a lot. You might have a hole in your lip and its spilling.

ER10 and OC10 have the same mash bill, I suspect your right, they are the same juice. Makes me think I'll pull out one of my bottles of OC10, thx.

@OlJas Thanks. Yea I really like Japanese whisky. I just started my whisky journey. But I think my favorite is. imgur.com/1G7539Y

Springbank CV for me tonight.

@richardofthesah , that looks like a pretty rockin' bottle of Longmorn!