So, what are you drinking now?

Having some Old Potrero 18th century style, batch J while having a great conversation with @Victor. While a couple of drops of water is needed to tame sharpness that has developed from a long open bottle (reluctant to have it disappear) , it is still awesome stuff! Going to have another pour while watching the 8th inning of Ken Burns' Baseball series.

Today is my birthday! Started off with a Gooderham & Worts Four Grain... mmm caramel! Next was a Nikka Taketsura Pure Malt 17 YO - chocolate orange and ginger spice. Finishing up a Compass BoxGrat King Street Glasgow Blend... peat smoke and fruity.

Taking a break for dinner... then back at the whisky cabinet!

@tfahey1298, have a Happy Birthday and a great year! I hope to meet you in person later this year.

I toast you with some Wiser's 18 yo.

@tfahey1298 Happy birthday! Enjoy your whiskies. That CB bottle may be my next purchase.

Amrut peated CS, working on a review. Its quite a demanding spirit, it needs attention for you to really appreciate i.

@Alexsweden

Don't forget the Ashok manoeuvre, covering the glass with one had and warming the spirit with the other for 5-10 minutes (patience.....) - it is WELL worth the wait both for nose and taste.

@maltymatt How's the Canadian Shield?

@maltymatt Yeah that's cold and practically infeasible in Vancouver. Booker's 2015-5 yesterday now that's strong bourbon . Today at the bar Bunnahbhain 18. For the Bunn 18: nose Good, taste Good and it definitely lingers for a few.

Cheers!

Having some Aberlour 12 Year Old Non-Chill Filtered from a fresh bottle.

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A very lovely and clean sherried malt that's very good value too.

Macallan 12 . My sherry standard. I probably should buy a couple more of these.

Some Laphroaig Cairdeas 200th Anniversary Edition.

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on call tomorrow so I treated myself to a little dram of Booker's 2015-01

Michter's toasted barrel... Quite nearly empty, unfortunately...

Yesterday I had the bowmore 15 darkest. Found it quite nice, good sherry influence

Laphroaig Cairdeas 200th Anniversary Edition paired with a full bodied cigar known for having an earthy profile.

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Lovely pairing - peat and earth battling for supremacy yet strangely complementary.

Friday, from 2 pm to 11 pm we had eight persons, four women, four men, on hand for tastings and supper. We like to do a mystery spirit or two if we have something interesting and odd on hand. Plus my sister was among the group, so we adjusted for her proclivities and added in several of her plum brandy/Slivovitz:

Mystery Spirit # 1: from Taiwan, Kinmen kaoliang 58%, unaged spirit made from sorghum. Grassy and black peppery

Mystery Spirit # 2: Old Barrel Vodka, cognac cask aged vodka. No one thought this was vodka. It tastes more like Cognac

Sulphur-ruined Scottish Malt: Glen Moray Port Cask Finish, 40%. People liked this at first...then it grew bitter and awful in their mouths

Clean sherry counterexample malt # 1: Amrut Intermediate Sherry Matured, 57.1%

Clean sherry counterexample malt # 2: Aberlour A'bunadh Batch # 45, 60.2%

Clean sherry counterexample malt # 3: Macallan 12 yo sherry oak 43%

Mary Anne indulgence # 1: 8 yo Serbian Slivovitz Stara Sokolova

Victor choice of Mary Anne indulgence # 2: 10 yo Czech Jelinek Slivovitz (what a grass-fire finish!)

Mary Anne indulgence # 3: a 7 yo Croatian Slivovitz whose name escapes me

Mary Anne indulgence # 4: Nonino Ue unaged brandy...really very good

Del Maguey Chichicapa Mezcal, 46%

Bourbon # 1: Virginia Gentleman 4 yo 40%

Bourbon # 2: Jefferson's Reserve, 45.1%

Bourbon # 3: James E. Pepper 1776 6 yo, 50%, MGPI sourced

Bourbon # 4: Eagle Rare 17 yo, Spring 2015 release, 45%, newly opened bottle

Bourbon # 5: George T. Stagg, 2012 release, 71.4%, newly opened bottle

Bourbon # 6: Abraham Bowman 17 yo, 73.75%

Bourbon # 7: Elijah Craig Barrel Proof 12 yo, Batch # 3, 66.6%

Bourbon # 8: William Larue Weller, 2012 release, 61.7%

Rye # 1: Willett 2 yo, 55%

Rye # 2: Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye, 2010 release, 63.45%

Glenfiddich 14 yo Bourbon Barrel Reserve, 43%, newly opened bottle

Islay # 1: Bruichladdich Port Charlotte 50%, newly opened bottle

Islay # 2: Laphroaig Cask Strength, Batch # 6, newly opened bottle

Heavily-Peated Islay cousin: Talisker 57 Degrees North, 57%

Islay # 3: Lagavulin 16 yo 43%

Islay # 4: Lagavulin 12 yo, 2010 release 56.5%

Islay # 5: Lagavulin Distillers Edition, dist 1991, 43%

Islay # 6: Ardbeg Uigeadail L10 151, 54.2%

Islay # 7: Ardbeg Supernova 2010, 60.1%

Glenmorangie Signet 46%

Total of 31 spirits tasted. Some people passed on 4 or 5 of these. Even nicely paced over 9 hours with food, that is a lot of liquor. One of the ladies was new to bourbon and rye, so I made a point of showing her what the good stuff tastes like.

I feel like I could go a few days without whisky at this point.

@Victor sounds like a better evening than spirit of Toronto 2015. How was the Lag 12 2010? It's the one I have yet to open.

@Nozinan, I reviewed the Lagavulin 12 yo 2010 release. I am a big fan. That one is currently # 11 on the Connosr 100 Top rated list.

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...and comment trail.

@Victor Wow! Amazing! Myself, I'm just finishing off a very busy day with a bit of Lagavulin 16.

Working on the tail end of a club bottling 33yr Glenlivet....

@Victor that list is a thing of beauty!! My best to you and 'Ms. Slivovitz' :)

@Victor I'm glad I tried the Signet at a dinner after five other malts... if I had it after 30 it would turn into Signer and I'd sign whatever you bring :) Of course, spread out through seven hours of food and the introductions of your majesty Victor, that's a whole difference experience.

@Victor Ah, wow!!! You have more than a few I wish to try one day. In BC Canada quite a few of those would be a pretty penny or unavailable even back in the day. Yes, aware that you and your friends have a few years on me when it comes to collecting. My top two on that list would be Lag dist 1991 and WLW 2012.

Tonight just had the best Irish I have in my cabinet right now Redbreast 12. Wonder how much better the other ones are....

I like to accommodate and encourage the ladies in the pursuit of whisky and spirits appreciation. This particular tasting emphasised 1) Lady L's peaty smoky preferences She had previously known Ardbeg and Laphroaig, but had had no acquaintaince with the basic Lagavulin line, 2) a nice introduction for Lady M into bourbon and US rye, and 3) my sister Mary Anne's love of fruit brandies and other fruit spirits.

I am not one of those "entry level spirits" cousellors, and really don't believe that there is such a thing as an "entry level" this or that whisky. There are commonly available and inexpensive products, yes, but I don't see the purpose of starting anybody there., except that those are the easiest ones for them to buy for themselves. I see this the same way I saw buying sapphires when I was in Bangkok. If you want to know what a desirable sapphire looks like, you don't spend your time looking at the $ 50 stones. You spend your time looking at the $ 25,000 stones. If you advise people to spend a year or two digesting the most basic products and not experiencing the high end, you are keeping them in ignorance about what is available. I like to give my tastees the experience of a wide range of the good common products and also of the best ones available.

@goldfilm, I was impressed what a strong impression the Glenmorangie Signet made on the tasters, even at the very end of a long list of spirits. We took our time, for sure, which you really have to do to fully enjoy the whiskies and other spirits tasted. At a certain point we knew that the alcohol consumption needed to pause in order to resume an equilibrium. That's when we took a long interval for eating.

@MrFathom, I am not acquainted with the vicissitudes of British Columbia pricing and availability except through the informative comments of @BlueNote and others, but I am very well acquainted with the corresponding idiosyncrases of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and the Societe des alcools du Quebec (SAQ). The premium US products on my list were never easy to get, even in the US. Even 5 years ago, when I first discovered the BTAC whiskeys, Van Winkle, etc. it took enormous hustling to get a bottle here or there of any one of them. I made personal friendships with the dealers in the days PRIOR to their frustration reaching a boiling point by being hounded by hundreds of people demanding the top stuff at list price. The great popularity of the premium products doesn't help matters. All sorts of speculators are on hand when an $ 80 bottle can be immediately resold for $ 400+.

I don't see availability or price of the premium products getting any better. Those are made from perhaps a fraction of 1% of the total output of the corresponding distilleries. Even for big producers like Buffalo Trace or Four Roses, it still isn't a lot of juice, when what you want is la creme de la creme.

In the meantime we do the best we can. I think that the best opportunities now lie in stocking up on fluke-good bottlings of standard products.

@Victor, reading about your epic tasting and reading your following comments brings back good memories. Thank to you, I bought that Willett rye that Is now one of my favorite rye. I am also looking forward to get my hand on any BTAC or Parker's Heritage. You are a mentor to us. Thanks for your words of wisdom.

@Robert99, it is our pleasure to know you and your lady.

If I could still get BTAC whiskeys as well as I did in 2011 and 2012, you'd already have some.

@Victor

The man who began my journey into whiskydome had recommended I start with JW red, then black, then silver , then gold, then Blue, then start with single malts. I would never have made it to cask strength single malts at that pace.

But there is something to be said for an accessible single malt or blend as an "entry level" to scotch. If you start everyone off with a CS Springbank or Bowmore Tempest you'll overwhelm them.

By entry level, I don't mean cheap. I mean something with a nice nose and not too strong palate, like a Glenlivet (yes a 12 or 18), or maybe a Basil Hayden. CC Chairman's select or Alberta Premium.

I would then quickly move them up to the things I think are more flavourful, like a CS bourbon matured Amrut or A'Bunadh, Booker's, and if they are ready, a Laphroaig QC, and onward from there.

I think things like Uigeadail, well, if that were my first whisky, it would be my last. But having had a chance to experience various flavours over the last 5 years, I appreciate and enjoy it.

@Nozinan, I take your point. For many, starting with the milder flavours is the most practical path.

What I am emphasising is that every whisky drinker should decide her/his own path. Some would reject whisky if what they have first are the so-called mild "entry level" whiskies. These people need the high-test stuff early and often.

On the other hand I also think that it is condescending in the extreme to refer to the milder products as "entry level", as though an experienced drinker will be beyond finding them enjoyable. While it is true that I am one of those who like the rush of very strong flavours in the whiskies which are my top favourites, it is also true that I have to admit that sophistication of taste allows for the perception of beauty in the subtle and gentle products.

In sum, I think that appropriate "first (entry) whiskies" are an individual matter, for some the mild stuff, for others the most intense stuff you can find. For most, probably, yeah, start with the mild stuff. But I prefer to have noobies try a lot of things to see the true point from which they really are beginning. I have had noobies try 25 varied whiskies including many greatest hits, who found Ardbeg Uigeadail was the one they liked best.

@Victor

A lot of wisdom in what you write. I had to chuckle at "These people need the high-test stuff early and often". early maybe, often?

I would suggest that subtle and "easier" does not mean that experienced drinkers won't like something. A great example of would be Glenlivet 18, Writer's Tears. These are whiskies that anyone can enjoy. Although I wouldn't reach for Glenlivet 12, I might not turn it down. In contrast, i wouldn't start someone on a Founder's Reserve.

I don't know if a alcohol naive person would be able to tolerate (or appreciate) 25 whiskies at once. But I can certainly see myself in a sitting with a newcomer starting with an "easy" bourbon-matured unpeated malt at 43%, and progressing up to a CS bruiser in the same sitting.

As Commander Adama (Lorne Green) said..."we will move as quickly as our slowest ship", we should avloid leaving people behind IF we want to propagate our appreciation for spirits (and ironically increase demand).

In contrast, using Darwinian logic, we could act as Commander Adama (Edward J Olmos) and leave behind any ship without FTL drive.

It's a judgement call.

Buffalo Trace Experimental Collection Rye Bourbon 115.

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