So, what are you drinking now?

Springbank 10. Nice and mature. More challenging than my latest glenmorangie to say the least

@Talexamder @Nozinan @Paddockjudge Tonight, I am having a dram of Kilchoman Loch Gorm and it is so much better than when I was with you, it makes me sad. The big rubber tire nose has recessed and I have now a mineral and leathery peat with the others usual suspects like vanilla and citrus. I even have some French lilac (the white ones). I am really frustrated by the fact that it was not very good when I was with you. Fortunately, we had a few good ones on that night. Anyway, just take note that I would give it maybe between 6 to 10 points higher than two weeks ago.

@Victor I think that batch of Ardbeg Ten would be also to my liking as I found my latest bottle of it too sweet with too much vanilla. Would you call it austere, because that is the way I like Arbeg Ten.

@Nozinan where do you get your infos on all those FRSB batches? I have an unopened bottle of batch 81-1M and an open bottle of batch 6-3i whoch is fabulous. Can I expect the 81-1M to be as good?

@Robert99 My info on the FRSB comes from @Paddockjudge whose opinion I trust. He was very impressed with the 81-1J and got an extra which he traded me for the batch I was able to obtain. I doubt my palate is refined enough to tell much of a difference.

Teacher's Highland Cream. A safe blend.

Last night I went to a Glenmorangie tasting at The Caledonian in Toronto, hosted by Ardbeg/Glenmorangie Global Brand Ambassador Hamish Torrie - fairly standard tasting, featuring the Original, Lasanta, Quinta Ruban, Nectar D'Or and Signet. My opinions on each hadn't changed: Original and Lasanta are OK, love the Nectar D'Or, Signet is outstanding and I hate the Quinta Ruban.

@Robert99, I find the 16/11/2015 Ardbeg Ten more rough than austere. There is some underlying sweetness here, and yes, even a little vanilla, under the surface, but they are so overshadowed by aggressive bitter/sour peat that those bitter/sour flavours hold sway in the mouth. The sour component, especially, is what for me creates disharmony. Bitter peat without a lot of sourness gives what I would call the 'austere' peated profile, which I often find quite beautiful, ...so long as a lot of sour is NOT included in the mix. This batch is enjoyable for me when I am in the right frame of mind, which is sometimes, but certainly not always.

@Victor I totally get what you mean and I am with you. Even if I usually like my whisky with less sugar than most people, I don't like any sour note. The sour note is one of the reason I find wine finish rarely works. Thanks for your quick answer.

@Nozinan I really like your source! ;)

For good or worse, vacation time really lets you dive deep into your whisky cupboard.. Tonight I'm having Springbank 10 followed by the great value bunnahabhain moine. The bunnahabhain is fairly one dimensional but does that dimension surprisingly well in regards to its price-tag. I hope all of you are having pleasant evenings

@Alexsweden I wish that were true... My wife is going to keep me so busy on our vacation I will likely have no energy to drink at all!

@Alexsweden,

I'm feeling the vibe, cabinet set on vacation mode. Macallan CS, Red Breast CS, Knob Creek Single Barrel, WhistlePig The Boss Hog Single Barrel. All right around 60% abv. That was last night.

Tonight, to celebrate Day One, I'll be featuring an all-star line-up for the Blue Jays vs Royals match. Nothing but barrel strength bourbon while watching the heavy hitting boys of summer: William Larue Weller 2014, Four Roses 125th Ltd Ed Small Batch, and Elijah Craig BP Batch #6.

@Nozinan just to be clear, we're talking about going places and looking after the kids......

@Paddockjudge You like your big boys. This quite a line up of big sluggers.

Myself, I introduce some members of my family to whiskies buy exploring the influence of grain and wood. So we start with Teeling Poitin just to start with a new make followed with Willett Family Estate 2yo to explore the rye grain. Then for the corn ( with a big rye content) it FRSB. The wheat was next with Bernheim Original. Buckwheat followed with the only wisky inthe world 100% buckwheat the French Eddu Silver Brocielandd. After that it was time for barley, but I had a twist by offering them Nikka Coffey Malt. It was not time for Scotch yet. Ireland has to be visited first, so we had both version of Redbreast regular and CS. I had planned way more Scotch but it was starting to be late so we went for Abunadh as the sherry bomb of the night and then right to the peated one. Again I gave a twist to the tasting by choosing a peat from the Speyside, the very elegant Benriach Septendicim. Next to the last dram of the night was a sherry peated one the Arran Private Cask SAQ exc'usive. We end that night with the star of the night, the Octomore 6.3 with its astronomic 258 ppm phenol parts. Even if those phenol parts are coming from the fire of the earth, I was in heaven!

@Robert99,

that's a nice whisky journey you took family members on, from poitin to peat monster. My barrel strength flight had way more lumber in it than the Blue Jays' line-up.

@Paddockjudge But both had nice low pitch, I guest.

@Robert99 ...and plenty of heat.

Enjoying a single barrel 1792 selected by a local shop...... Saw some 1792 Full Body I might go get.. And I'm lamenting my earlier finding that there is a local shop where ECBP is selling for $99.95. But I also heard that Johnny Drum Private Stock is in the area...

I have 24 hours to pack, see patients, prepare 2 briefs for my boss and create a presentation (2 hours) to be delivered to people who do not speak English. Only one thing can meet that challenge.....Bookers 2015-01

A smoky lineup tonight. Having some friends over for dinner and tasting.

We had the Bunnahabhain mòine, Ballechin 10, Ardbeg 10 and Amrut peated CS.
The Bunnahabhain is decent but lacks power in this company. The Ballechin was interesting and I'm hoping that it'll open up a bit with air. My friend brought a truly magnificent bottle of Ardbeg 10 but even so it wouldn't quite stand up to the immense power of the Amrut. The ten was amazing though...

Bottle code L63168 05/08/2015 15007481 1241. Superbly powerful with smoke and citrus up front. A tiny bit of rubber and sweet vanilla to see us through and an ever-changing finish that lasted forever!

Knob Creek single barrel reserve - local bottle shop barrel.... Nice with a visit of some water

I'm having a little flight of ryes tonight. I've started with Rittenhouse at 50%, moved on to Millstone 100 rye also at 50% and finished with a Willett 2 year old at 55.9%. I've was extremely pleased with the improvement in the Millstone, when I first opened it I was really disappointed but 3 weeks later it's settled right down and has become something very nice indeed. The Willett is also good. When it gets a few years older it's going to be fantastic.

@maltmate302 I am a big fan of the Millstone 100, have a bottle that's been open for a couple years and it keeps getting better. I have another stashed as it is long gone here.

Today I had the last pour out of a bottle of Glenmo Lasanta. I opened that bottle more than 4 years ago and it has been exposed to air all that time. To my big surprise, I think it was better than ever. I was not a fan, but now it was the kind of scotch you could drink glass after glass for a whole night. Maybe I should buy a new bottle and pour it in a decanter to oxydise it.

@Robert99, ...and the recent batches of Lasanta have been much better than it used to be.

@Victor I recently sampled a few Glenmorangie at a tasting session in the SAQ Signature of Montreal and all of them had that Blackcurrant buds flavor that I don't like unless it is very faint and a chemical note that I had in the recent past years from that distillery. The only one exempt from those two notes is the last batch of the Original. I will try to taste a new batch of Lasanta to check. Oh and sorry, Signet never had the unwanted flavors, so it is another exception and a wonderful one if you ask me.

Bookers batch 2014-05, thought I would never be a bourbon drinker but I am a convert. Heavy oily mouthfeel a decadent dram!

NAV26 as it happens I'm having a dram of Kilkerran 12 right now and on first impressions this whisky is wonderful. I only received the bottle this morning and as a huge Kilkerran can I had to have a taste and it certainly hasn't disappointed. Obviously I'm going have to wait a little while for the whisky to open up fully but I know already how great it is. No wonder you've put it on your wishlist.

Dug back for my Clynelish DE from 2012. Been quite a while since I've been here...

@Jonesz,

welcome to the table. My whiskey dollar stretches farther when I'm buying bourbon, which lately has become often.