So, what are you drinking now?

I didn't know how many things you can't have before certain blood tests. Looks like Scotch is one of them.

Luckily it's not me holding off for 2 weeks... I WAS dramless for a week because of a cold though. So at my uncle's house, even though he wasn't drinking tonight, I had some of his Balvenie Caribbean Cask (14 YO). It was better than the last time I had it (first opened) a couple of months ago.

A slosh of Hakushu Distillers Reserve.

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

An easy going malt for this cool spring night. While it is delicate and refreshing it does lack depth of flavour unlike the 12 Year Old. Still, not a bad number - I can imagine this will do well in summer as a Japanese style hi-ball with lots of crushed ice.

Some Benriach 16 Year Old Sauternes Cask Finish.

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

Seems to lose some of the honeyed character since the bottle was freshly opened, the wood being more pronounced with a whiff of peat.

Yellow and Mellow. Century Lot 15 to 25 (Highwood Distillers). Near full, but with a long-necked bottle and opened six months ago. Stunning! Sweet, round, creamy. 100% corn whisky at its finest.

Tullamore DEW 10 yo Single Malt. Cooley distillate with madeira, port, and sherry finishes.

In pictures:

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

For a night cap:

images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11/…

@Victor That's a nice whiskey, has some nice pot still elements - impossible to find in Ontario, though!

@talexander, my bottle of Tullamore DEW 10 yo Single Malt was incredibly complex on the nose when the bottle was first opened. It really is an interesting whiskey. If you ever get down here, we have it in Montgomery County, Maryland, now, and it is not expensive.

Right now I am having some Heaven Hill Pikesville Supreme Rye 3 yo 40% abv and some Pikesville Rye 6 yo 55% abv. This really is a distinctive style of rye whiskey. This particular bottle of standard Pikesville is now open for 7 years. At this point it is pure fruitiness with almost no spice...thin in body at 40%, but still flavourful, but just with dark fruit now. The 55% Pikesville seems to be doing an interesting gradual development of fruit flavours. I sort of expected this to happen, based on watching the open bottle aging of standard bottles of Pikesville Rye. The Pikesville Rye 55% remains very spicy and quite sweet, much sweeter than most US Straight Ryes.

post call yesterday, pre call tomorrow.

My MP was sworn in today. True he's a Scotch fan (he says the A'Bunadh 42 I gave him - it's the 42nd Parliament- was excellent), but I thought I'd think of the three parties that opposed our repressive government (Liberals Green and NDP), and noting that they all have different compositions in parliament, and noting that Canadian whisky has three grains in different proportions, I decided to try Forty Creek three grain harmony again after a few weeks hiatus.

unfortunately I'm again coming off a cold so I'm not ready to pass judgement on this expression. But my first sniff tonight got a hint of fresh rubber band. A new one for me in Canadian whisky. This is a tenor/baritone whisky on the palate. Still need to consider it more before I decide...

Last night my lovely wife and I attended the Whisky Society's "Whisky Extravaganza" in Seattle. A great night of whisky tasting with some wonderful friends. imgur.com/oFIvFve

I tasted the following (not in this order);

Balvenie 15 year old Sherry cask - very nice.

Bruichladdich Scottish Barley - OK, but liked the next one better.

Bruichladdich 'Rockside Farm' Islay Barley - liked this one a lot.

Craigellachie 23 year old - Wonderful; had it twice. One of the best of the night.

Glenlivet Founders Reserve - OK

Glenlivet Nadurra Oloroso - Very nice dram

Glenmorangie Tusail - OK

Glenmorangie Signet - one of the few last night that I've tasted previously. It did not disappoint. Beautiful.

Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 15 - Very nice

Gordon & MacPhail Ledaig Cask Strength 2000 - least favorite of the 3 G&M drams

Gordon & MacPhail Caol Ila Cask Strength 2004 - one of my favorite distilleries and a very good dram

Highland Park Dark Origins - wasn't bad, but didn't do anything for me.

Kavalan Single Malt Whisky - have never been disappointed with anything from this distillery. Tonight was no different.

Kavalan King Car Conductor - Both Kavalan's were great, but this one was my favorite of the two.

Koval (Chicago) Rye - No. Tasted like furniture polish, quickly becoming a theme with this distillery.

Koval Oat - Awful.

Koval Millet (grain similar to couscous) - This one wasn't that bad, even though it had that same furniture polish (this one more like wood stain than the others), but I wouldn't recommend it. Finally got smart and didn't try the other 3 expressions from them. Time to move on...

Laphroaig 15 year - first time to try it since the original 15 year old was discontinued. Would love to try the new one head to head with the old one, but this new one was very good.

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 - Excellent!

Macallan Edition No. 1 - OK, but not up to the old Macallan standard.

Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky - good.

Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt - very nice.

SMWS 50.66 (24 year Bladnoch) - Great. Best of the 5 Society whiskies tonight. Had it twice.

SMWS 121.71 (14 year Arran) - Better than 73.69, but not a fan.

SMWS 73.69 (22 year Aultmore) - Did not care for this one.

SMWS 93.64 (13 year Glen Scotia) - It was OK, but didn't do much for me.

SMWS 29.166 (15 year Laphroaig) - 2nd favorite of the 5 Society bottles. It was excellent. May be purchasing a bottle of this one (and maybe the Bladnoch as well).

After the event was over, a friend shared a couple of Society bottles from his personal collection;

SMWS 9.84 (25 year Glen Grant from a refill sherry butt) - Excellent dram!

SMWS 39.98 (23 year Linkwood from a refill hogshead) - Another wonderful whisky, but the Glen Grant was my favorite of these two.

Another great event. Can't wait until next year!

@bwmccoy, One hell of a line up! Thanks for sharing. I'm having a sip of Cairdeas 2015 as I write this post. An excellent dram indeed.

@paddockjudge - Thanks! We had a lot of fun, even though I missed out on some others that I would have liked to try; Octomore 6.3, Macallan Rare Cask to name a couple. With the exception of the 3 Koval's that I tried, I was pleased that I tried the ones that I did. The problem is with over 100 expressions, you just can't try everything you want to. That's why my strategy is to mainly taste expressions that I've not had before.

While you were enjoying your Cairdeas 2015 last night, I was enjoying a Gordon & MacPhail Cask Strength 18 year (1991) Rosebank,

Hope you are having a great weekend! All my best to you and your family!

@bwmccoy , why didn't you get the big one?

@OlJas - the picture is deceptive. The glasses are the same size.

Tonight, Seattle whiskey while watching the Seahawks football game. Westland distillery American single malt cask strength single cask #221 aged 25 months in new American oak.

Followed by Westland single cask #117, Washington state select pale malt aged 40 months in new Oregon oak.

Glenrothes Alba Reserve.

@bwmccoy , obviously my dated Seineld quotes don't translate into a discussion thread. if the following doesn't ring a bell, forget it.

George Costanza walks in wearing a huge Russian-style hat.

Jerry: Why didn't you get the BIG one?

Getting cold outside. Poured myself a Laphroaig 10. Peat on the nose. Sweet entry, then more peat and peppery on the palate. Finish is sweet and peaty and of medium length. The peat is overwhelming for the un-initiated.

Old Fitzgerald Bottled In Bond, followed by W.L. Weller 12 yo. Wheated bourbons, for a light mood. These two bottles are, if anything, better after 3+ years open.

@Victor I am in a "close proximity." I started off sipping something "old" (Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2015) and moved on to a Weller. I decided that it was time to open my bottle of William Larue Weller 2013 bottle. My understanding is that these are now going for over $800 a bottle. Just insane. It is without question a high "A" level bourbon and whiskey no matter how you grade it. Still . . . I have a hard time shelling out $800 for a bottle.

Grateful to have one, and proud to have it open and sipping on it. I look forward to sharing this with grateful whiskey drinking friends. Cheers!

Balvenie 15 yr Single Barrel Sherry Cask.

I'll admit - I've gotten used to the richness of bourbons these past several months so much that most single malt scotch whisky has been a challenge for me to enjoy.

Looks like I'll have to re-learn how to enjoy the nuance of these whisky's.

@FMichael or not...the bottles make great gifts.... coming to Canada are you?

Last night two large drams of A'bunadh batch 49 @60.1% It was Friday after all and the temp outside was -15C here in the hinterlands. The fireplace was burning and the Aberlour was so good!

Enjoying the first snowfall with Benromach Organic. (:

@Jonesz only 2.5 years before I can try the 49....everytime I hear someone enjoy it I am more happy I bought 2 bottles of it.

So I just had the afternoon and evening free to myself (which is very rare). So I did a large tasting comparison (even more rare) between 4 different batches of Ardbeg TEN (one from each of the last four years: 2011-2015) and 4 different batches of Laphroaig 10yo (2011-2015). I cannot over state how much you can learn from putting different batches next to each other in a tasting line up.

The Laphroaig’s were all extremely consistent. My scores were: 88.5, 87, 88, and 84. So most were in the B/B+ range, and all were in the “solid B” range.

The four different Ardbeg TEN’s were all over the map. The scores were: 90, 79.5, 82.5, and 93. I wash shocked by the extreme discrepancy of the Ardbeg’s. My experience was only confirmed by this tasting. A 10 year old Laphroaig will most likely not wow you, but it is a consistently good dram. Meanwhile, a good Ardbeg TEN can be fantastic, or you can get a batch that is a disjointed mess.

In my area both bottles are about the same price. I will keep buying both. However, if pressed to only buy one I would have to pick the Laphroaig. I just feel like it has a higher consistency from batch to batch.

Getting back into all things whisky after a long hiatus. Enjoying a new bottle of Glenfiddich 14 yo Bourbon Barrel Reserve (see my review). I've missed the Connosr gang very much. Nice to be back.

@WhiskyBee, nice to have you back.

@Nozinan I know your thoughts on A'bunadh. I on the other hand have only tasted one batch before, a sample from a friend in Winnipeg and had forgotten how decadent this dram was. Batch 49 is indeed a special treat. Will have to pick up another before they all disappear from the MLCC

@Jonesz

They are long gone in ontario... even though they bought an extra amount instead of the 50.

Back in the 70's when I was young, my father would often come home from work, pour a bit of Canadian Club over a couple of ice cubes, and relax before dinner. Occasionally my brother and I would get to try a sip and invariably that would prevent us from experimenting with alcohol on our own...

A year ago today my father died, and at the end of our mourning period I served some CC form a 200 cc bottle to a few members of my family as a toast to his life. While I was out of the room, my brother ended up providing my kids with their first taste of whisky... I took a couple of sips and put the rest by his picture.

Tonight I poured some from the same bottle over a couple of cubes, and had a quiet moment with his picture, look a couple of sips, and left the rest for him.

It's funny, aside from one time that I convinced him to try a single malt ( A'Bunadh - he liked it), we never actually drank together...