So, what are you drinking now?

@almapercus Hi,my first tought about this whisky is maple-honey-burst,quite a little bit of vanilla,not a bad guess,at 35$ here in quebec,it s a steal of a deal!!!Have nice day.

@Nozinan, @Victor, The first bottle I bought was a Glenfarclas 15 yo, a very good batch. It was soon followed by Glendronach revival, Ardberg 10 ( probably a 2011 batch), Cragganmore 1997 DE, Lagavulin 16 and A'bunadh, not necessarly in that order. That was a good start. My point is that you don't need to start with mild flavors or big flavors; you need to start with good quality if not great. You don't catch flies with vinegar. After that, I was always asking for new profile to expand my knowledge. I read a lot of reviews to compare my impressions with what others were experiencing. My goal was to discover what are the flavors I detect and what are the ones I really enjoy. Writing reviews is a way for me to force myself into knowing myself and get a better appreciation of what I am drinking.

You can take the path you want but I would simply advise you to go for quality and variety.

Decided to give Friday drinks with mates a miss to have some quiet time with a dram of Aberlour 12 Year Old Non-Chill Filtered and a nice long smoke.

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A little bit of rest and relaxation after what has been a rather long week.

Last night with my brother,

Multiple servings of:

Aberlour A'Bundah batch 53 Eagle Rare 10 Glengoyne cask strength

made for an interesting day today....LOL

The last of my sample of Elijah Craig 12 YO courtesy of @Paddockjudge. With a little warmth from the fan of my computer the nose really opens up and reminds me of Amrut Single (Bourbon) cask. This one is turning out quite nicely. Glad I picked up a bottle.

@Nozinan Seems like Elijah Craig is growing on you. Thought it was decent myself hence the two bottles. My go to suggestion to anyone just starting on the "Bourbon road" is Buffalo Trace.

Last night Macallan 12; Glendronach 12; Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015; and Talisker 10 alot later. That Talisker 10 is special in my books or maybe the ambiance assisted either way good evening with great friends!!!!!

@Victor My first experience with just sipping Whiskies were Century 21, Wisers 18 and Danfields 21 years. Once I discovered Bourbon and Scotch it was a gradual progression to hunt down every thing I could find or afford based on reading or watching thousands of reviews. Long enjoyable journey. I have not been able to adjust to fully to heavily peated SM's, but I am trying. The Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 and Lag 16 have been the easiest on my palate so far. Am considering having my sister grab me an Ardbeg Uigeadail in Nova Scotia as the price there is quite reasonable compared to the dreaded LCBO. Always enjoy your Whiskey wisdom. Cheers

@Astroke

You might like Bowmore Tempest as the next step in your peat journey, or Amrut Peated CS. I would be happy to introduce you to these if you're ver in town.

@Nozinan Passed on the Amrut CS when they were being blown out. My neighbor shared a dram with me and it was very good, I missed the boat on that one. Have an Intermediate Sherry waiting for me in Nova Scotia. Looking forward to that one. I would take you up on that offer :)

Cheers, @Astroke! In the case of appreciating whisk(e)y I would very much say that it is a journey more than any single destination. With any luck, the appreciation of whisky is a very long and a very pleasant journey.

I have read your recent conversion gentlemen and I very much enjoyed your input on the matter of where to start ones whisky journey. In my opinion @Robert99 make a convincing argument, starting with quality is the most important.

To stay somewhat on topic I will also say that yesterday I had oban 14. A nice, sweet and enjoyable dram. Though I was surprised by the lack of smokiness, I thought it would be much more pronounced.

Some Bladnoch 12 Year Old Sherry Matured.

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This is one exceptional malt.

@sengjc was this from the Raymond Armstrong era? Green label, 55%?

I found something off-putting in my bottle and it has taken almost a year for it to subside. My best experience with the new (now old) Bladnoch was the 10 followed by the 11.

But if you have a 12 and it is good, it gives hope to me for my other bottles of 12...

Last night at my brother-in-law's;

Glenfiddich 2012 Cask of Dreams. In 2011, my wife and I wrote our dreams on one of the casks used to finish this whisky. Fun to taste the final product. 14 - 16 year old whisky finished for about 3 months in 11 new virgin oak casks that were brought to America as part of the cask of dreams promotion.

Highland Park 15 year - SMWS 4.203 "Romantic Tales, Songs and Whispers" from a first fill ex-bourbon barrel. A very unique, wonderful dram. Would never have guessed this to be Highland Park.

Ardmore 11 year - SMWS 66.54 "A chameleon coat of many colours" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. Lavender, eucalyptus, apricots and figs. Oily finish. Sweet and savoury.

Ardbeg 8 year - SMWS 33.143 "Thank you and Goodnight!" from a second fill ex-sherry butt. Reminds me a lot of Uigeadail, but with the addition of a huge hazelnut finish.

Bruichladdich Port Charlotte PC7 Sin An Doigh Ileach "It's the Islay Way". The perfect nightcap!

last night

Finished a bottle of aberlour 12 and a bottle of buffalo trace with my brother. I think all the recent drams of various cask strength bottlings have affected my palate as the aberlour 12 was very light and smooth and the lower ABV was definitely noticeable. The higher ABV in the Buffalo Trace hit the spot...

OESK ... Four Roses Single Barrel. Starting to think it might be weird to celebrate finding an Elmer T Lee with this...

Glencadam 15 Year Old.

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A rather fruity-sweet and malt driven single malt that has barrel character from the 15 years of maturation. A touch of spice and berries imply a component of European sherry oak matured spirit was used.

Very enjoyable with a medium length finish. While not as poised and dignified as the 21 Year Old from memory, it does possess an amount of character while maintaining some boisterous youthful tendencies.

This comes across as a young adult who's establishing his career, bought a home, developing an investment portfolio, settled down with a life partner and is planning his first child yet meeting up with his mates occasionally for the Friday night piss-up or the weekend barbecue with plenty of drinks and cigars...

LOL - sounds familiar.

@Nozinan

Yes, I believe this is from the Armstrong era - distillery bottling, bottled at 55%, green label with a picture of sheep featured. There is a tinge of sulphur in the aftertaste and the nose does has a salty odour not unlike (my) socks after a day of work - LOL.

Quirky, meaty but strangely intriguing and attractive. My first Bladnoch and I quite enjoyed it. I have quite a few bottles of these, stocked up partly from your feedback and partly because they were shutting shop - figured I should get in quick before prices become astronomical.

I have some bottles of the peated 11 Year Old and quite a few of the 1990 vintage 22 Year Old that I understand to be pre-Armstrong stock, but am yet to sample them.

@chrisbator

Night out in various whisky bars in town, this is the standout:

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Rich, pure and mature. This is whisky.

Some Bladnoch 12 Year Old Sherry Matured.

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A lovely malt and a long cigar after Friday night drinks in the city.

At the Kilburn, the old Baranows reopened and run by Ben, Wal's son.

Yamazaki Sherry Cask 2016 bottling.

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Sullivan's Cove French Oak bottled from a private cask.

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A Society bottling of a Caol Ila 19 Year Old.

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Back home now and I am revisiting the dram of Bladnoch 12 Year Old Sherry Matured that I left in a lidded Glencairn overnight. It has really opened up overnight.

On the nose: garlic butter and cream sauce, spirity not unlike an Irish pot still.

On the palate: Sweet with a sulphurous tinge, raspberry gelato, white pepper, mineral complexity, tortilla cornchips.

The finish is short with a lingering malty sweetness and salted popcorn.

Last night I tasted (and reviewed) McClelland's Highland single malt, then watched The Postman Always Rings Twice with Lana Turner and John Garfield. Let's just say the movie was better than the dram...

Yesterday I attended a whisky expo and had the chance to try some different, nice malts.

I had

Mortlach 17 yrs vintage 1995 Asta Morris.

On the nose it had some quite high pitch fruityness, with sugared peach and was quite waxy, Taste-wise it had quite a sharp arrival but not particularly alcoholic. Wax, peach and strawberries

Box whisky, unpeated sherry cask 3 yrs

Swedish whiskymaker BOX has quite the reputation for good whisky but without the marketing apparatus of mackmyra. So quite the contrary to our other swedes up at the mine who's got stellar marketing but so-so whisky. This was the funkyest of the night. I found the nose very "Heavy". Sultanas, quite spicy with cloves, rosewater, raw meat and beef stock. Rather strange...Tasting medium dry and somewhat hot, perfumy, dry meaty sherry notes and coal black raisins.

Bowmore 18

Heavy sweet sherry laden nose with very subtle smoke and leather. Taste was savory, herbal at first then quite spicy, medium dry with some smoke and sherry shining through.

Blair Athol CS 23 yrs, vintage 1991. Pearls of Scotland rare cask selection

Spirity nose with sweet meringue, cinnamon baked apples and saccharine. The taste had sweet spice, sweet type cinnamon, some herbal notes with mostly thyme and was rather hot.

Laphroaig 25

Nosing smoke but not very medicinal actually. Bacon and seawater. The taste was big and sweet with smoke and peat. A rather short and somewhat dissapointing finish.

Bowmore Tempest batch 6.

Black pepper peat smoke and smoked vanilla on the nose. I found the taste dry and immensely hot and powerful. I was a bit overwhelmed and i Believe that i had some serious sensory fatigue at this Point so i made this one the last for the night.

Last night, I attended the inaugural Whisky Jewbilee in Seattle. They have previously hosted these events in New York and Chicago, but last night was their first time in Seattle. It was a great event! There were about 150 different whisk(e)y expressions available. My goal at these events is to try stuff that I have never had before. I sampled 26 and none were ones that I have previously tasted.

Since I am not a bourbon drinker and relative novice with Rye, I asked @Victor to suggest some to try. Thanks @Victor. I really appreciate you taking the time to point to ones that I should try as well as the ones to avoid. @Victor's recommendations;

Alberta Rye Dark Horse. It was a very interesting dram, especially with the addition of the sherry, but I did think it was a little lacking in the finish.

Pikesville Straight Rye Whiskey. I thought it was a very nice rye. Not as spicy as other ryes that I have previously tried.

Jack Daniels single barrel rye (94 proof) in a sample bottle (like they would use in the blending room; not labeled for retail). It was OK, but I preferred the Pikesville between the two.

Even though I'm not a bourbon guy, based on @Victor's recommendation, I tried the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof (138.8 proof). One thing that does not appeal to me in bourbons is that "cherry cough syrup" taste. It was present in this one, but the 12 years in the cask really mellowed it out. I could definitely tell that this was a much higher quality bourbon than I had ever tried before. Thanks again @Victor for recommending it because I would have never tried it otherwise.

Here's the rest of what I sampled last night (not in order that I tasted them);

Benromach Organic - light, but with some complexity. Good dram, but too light for me.

Benromach Peat Smoke - 62ppm, but definitely more peat than smoke. Mint / Eucalyptus in the finish. I liked this one a lot.

Octomore 6.1 - Excellent!

Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 15 year - OK, but the least favorite of the 3 Linkwood's that I tried.

Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 21 year from a Sherry cask. Very nice, but I tried it after the one below and it wasn't as good.

Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood Private Collection 1998 Cote Rotie Finish - Wonderful! Dry wine finish. Loved this one.

Greenore Single Grain Irish Whiskey - It was ok, but nothing special for me.

Hakushu 12 year - Lightly peated. Thought this one was pretty good.

Hibiki Japense Harmony Masters Select - Light initially, but with a huge finish that kind of sneaks up on you after you swallow it. Very nice.

Kilchoman 2008 Vintage - classic Kilchoman. Excellent.

The Macallan Rare Cask - pretty good, but no way it is worth the price. I'll take a Macallan Cask Strength over this one any day.

Glenfarclas 25 year - Very nice dram!

Glendronach hand-filled distillery only bottling distilled Jan 29th, 2004. Best whisky of the night. No contest!

Lagavulin Feis Ile 2013 bottling - Distilled in 1995. Wasn't from a sherry cask so it was a little light for me, but still good.

Laphroaig Brodir (travel retail bottling) Batch #1. Port wood finish. Very nice! I really liked this one.

Yoichi 10 year - Peated. Very good.

Octomore 5.1 - Excellent!

Bruichladdich 9 year (Single Cask Nation bottling) - good, but nothing special.

Cooley 13 year Irish Whiskey (Single Cask Nation bottling) - Awesome. 2nd favorite of the night behind the Glendronach.

Undisclosed Islay 6 year (Single Cask Nation bottling) - I guessed correctly that it was Lagavulin. Wonderful dram. Much better than the Feis Ile bottling above.

Westland Distillery 3 year (Single Cask Nation bottling) - Very good.

Westland Distillery Seattle Whisky Jewbilee Festival Bottling - Very nice. Coffee and Chocolate on the nose.

Chicago Whisky Jewbilee 2015 bottling 8 year grain whisky from LDI/MGP distillery. Awful. Poured it out.

Only 1 out of 26 that I didn't care for. Not too bad. It was a great event. I hope they come back next year and do it again!

Later today, I will be opening a bottle of Grand Old Parr 12 yo to celebrate the arrival of a 2nd cousin, who was born earlier this week. I anticipate a 2nd pour in the next couple of days to celebrate the arrival of a niece who is taking her sweet time. :)

@bwmccoy, thanks for posting that great list!

I should have specified that I was hoping for you to try the Jack Daniel's barrel strength Tennessee whisky, the one up near 70% abv, and not the rye. As for JD Rye, I haven't had any of it myself, and would not be much in the business of recommending 40% abv ryes to anyone, ...and especially not a connoisseur of your exquisite taste.

I am very curious about the composition of that unloved whiskey from MGPI. I have noticed that it is pretty frequent with those miscellaneous "American whiskey"--s of undescribed mashbill that they combine both wheat and rye...and do not work. 'Michter's American Whiskey' is a good example of that. That one is God-awful, just a nasty mishmash, as are, for me, anyway, most whiskies with both wheat and rye in them together.

@Victor - Sorry. In my hurry to get this posted, I wasn't clear that you had recommended the Jack Daniel's Barrel Strength and it was my decision to deviate from your recommendation because the Barrel Strength wasn't available. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for the unloved whiskey, here's some more detail; 8yo American Light Whiskey distilled and matured at LDI/MGP (aka the old Seagram's distillery). It was further matured in a rye cask that was used to mature beer from the Shmaltz Brewing Company.

Even more information: This light whiskey was extra matured in a cask that previously held the 6yo LDI/MGP rye whiskey (which was part of the 2nd Whisky Jewbilee NYC festival bottling) which was used to mature Shmaltz Hop Manna IPA for the first collaboration beer bottled in celebration of Whisky Jewbilee NYC 2015. It's like a paradox wrapped in a conundrum. 65.1% ABV.

Color - Deep honey

On the nose - Toasted waffles dripping with heavy orange syrup, light citrus hop note and pine sap with fresh rye bread and caraway seeds framed by soft oaky tones

Flavors on the mouth - Oily entry with a chewy rye bread note, a hint of fresh citra hops, orange creamsicle, cracked black pepper, nutmeg, and a citrus pixie stick sweetness

Finish - A lasting umami-like saltiness as toasted caraway seeds and notes of orange cake transition to soft oak.

@bwmccoy, hmmm, I'd describe it more as a dilemma wrapped in a redundancy.

"Strange brew...kill what's inside of you." It is sad to see 65% ABV wasted....

@Victor Don't be so sad... I "waste" 60% ABV many times a day disinfecting my hands...