So, what are you drinking now?

Tonight, Laphroaig Lore. Yes, it is over-priced for a NAS, but I really do like this whisky a lot. I’m glad I bought it, but at this price point, I won’t be buying another bottle of it.

@JayRain that's BBQ - this is wings.

@Nozinan They do awesome BBQ chicken wings as well

@bwmccoy I got the Lore in a bar and I liked it alot. It is probably the Laphroaig with the oldesr stuff that I drank with my limited experience of that distillery and I found another style less in your face with it. Anyway, I think it is better than the general opinion pretends but like you I find the price an obstacle that I can ignore. Enjoy it while you have it.

Compass Box The Peat Monster Reserve, 48.9% ABV. After buying this "handle"/1.75 Litre bottle in 2011 I am in late 2017 about half way through it. Still a lovely whisky, with a lot of acidic peat and a lot of acrid smoke. This monstrously big bottle is difficult to store, however.

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@Victor Nice photo.

My first experience with the Monster was probably my best...that being a few years ago. The most recent one is ok, but not as spectacular.

@Victor_ "This monstrously big bottle is difficult to store, however."_ We have a saying in french for that kind of situation, we call that: "La misère des riches". That is a problem I would happily live with. I am glad you still enjoy it.

@Nozinan, different batches can be quite different indeed. I was completely unimpressed by the first standard Peat Monster I had in about 2010, but I've had some since which was quite impressive. In the case of Peat Monster Reserve, I was mightily impressed by some I had on a whisky cruise in 2011. My own bottle is not as overwhelmingly impressive as that one was, but is solidly good. I was disappointed in my bottle, but only on a comparative basis to the earlier stellar bottling I had tasted on that cruise. So yes, batches do differ. Your results may vary.

@Victor at least you didn't say Don't try this at home

@Nozinan, do try it at home. It is much less expensive that way!

@Victor I got home too late to try it but maybe someday soon. I have an open bottle plus a couple of samples of special releases thanks to @TAlexander (and you)

Two quick half-glasses last night: Laphroaig 10 CS and PC7. In the value game, the Laphroaig is the easy winner. But on taste alone, I gotta give the gold to the PC7: More vibrant, cleaner, and brighter. In that Laphroaig, I'm really feeling the oak, which hit me as too heavy.

I suspect my verdict would be reversed on a cold & snowy night.

One of my longest friends (we'll he's about 6 feet tall but I've known him since before high school came over to see the house. It was his 47th birthday a couple of days ago so I poured him a small measure of A'Bunadh batch 47. If there were bottles in the store he's have bought them all up. I enjoyed it too. Then he finished up with a little Lemon Hart 151 (he hopes it's available in San Francisco, where he is moving tomorrow), while I have poured myself a half measure of Wiser's Last Barrels.

Tonight, my wife and I had @evarees and her husband over for dinner followed by the following whiskies;

Cut Spike Single Malt Whiskey (Nebraska)

Girvan 31 yr Single Cask Single Grain Whisky (SMWS G7.10) “The Texan Tea Party”

Glenmorangie 15 year Sauternes Wood Finish (distillery only bottling)

Glendullan 14 year Cask Strength Single Barrel (SMWS 84.18) "Sneezing in the sun"

Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique (56.9% ABV) Cask W090220020 Btl 143/197

Arran 13 yr (May '01) Oloroso Sherry Hogshead Cask Strength Single Cask Nation Cask #102 of 329 btls

Glenlossie 14 year Cask Strength Single Barrel (SMWS) 46.43 - "If I were a carpenter..."

Laphroaig 18 year (1998) Single Sherry Butt cask hand-filled at the distillery (04/16) 250 ml bottle

Laphroaig Lore

Tobermory 10 year (July 2005) heavily peated Cask Strength Single Cask Nation Cask #10-235 btls (05/17)

Bruichladdich Octomore 07.1 (5 year old) 208 ppm Scottish Barley

@bwmccoy, a splendid line-up of yours, as usual. Any chance of coaxing @EvaRees of posting again on Connosr?

Dang, @bwmccoy, I bet that Laphroaig is killer.

@Victor - Thank you! I will do my best!

@MadSingleMalt - Yes, it is. The only bad thing about it is that it's a 250ml bottle. I'm going to have to pour small drams each time in order to make it last as long as I can. Won't be easy though. :-)

Tonight at my Uncle's, he, my cousin and I came close to finishing his Glenmorangie Lasanta (1 pour each - there isn't much left). I wouldn't call it a monster dram but tonight it was pleasant.

Old Forester Statesman bourbon, 45% ABV, a new special release associated with Kingsman: The Golden Circle film. I am trying a commercial sample. This one is very very woody in both nose and palate. Cassia-heavy in nose and on delivery, with heavy wood tannins in the mouth. The palate is a little thin in body. Goes dry quickly with all the tannins. This is nice enough to drink, but is pricey for what you get at the US suggested $ 55. Get Old Forester 1920 instead, or Wild Turkey Rare Breed, or Knob Creek Single Barrel Reserve Reserve, etc.

@Victor sounds like since I can buy neither here.... I'll go with OGD 114 for my "what am I not drinking now", cheaper, and sounds better.

Tonight Caol Ila 18 and Glenmorangie Signet. What stands out for me on The Signet is how incredibly aromatic it is. So fragrant. The nose is the thing. The Caol Ila has an incredible mouth feel - which lends to layers of flavour both in the mouth and, later, on the finish (when some fruit pops up). Both quite different from what's in the rest of my cabinet.

@nooch Funny you mention the Caol Ila and the Signet. I came into the Caol Ila 17 CS by trading in a bottle of signet. I wonder if I made the right choice... I should try the signet some time.

Singleton, sweet and easy going.

As promised, to celebrate the new NDP leader who promised to campaign on a theme of Love and Courage (and fighting racism, inequality, poverty and promising to actually DELIVER electoral reform), I opened a bottle of FC Heart of Gold. And I'm drinking it in a CANADIAN whisky glass.

This expression is as good as I remember it if not better. I'm tempted to have a second glass. Tempted, but realistically it will be midnight before I finish this glass.

My last dram: Springbank 12 CS with a dash of Longrow CV.

@Nozinan I don't know if the new NPD leader has an Heart of Gold but I know he is charismatic. From what I heard, he will have difficulties to be as good a leader as this Heart of Gold is a good Canadian whisky. We will wait and see.

A'bunadh batch #56, weighing in at 61.2% abv. from a bottle I purchased in December 2017. The bottle is in the last third and it's really turning into a beauty. The nose is full of oak, leather and vanilla, the palate is chewy and bursting with dried fruits, tobacco and herbs. There's a reason this gets so many people excited, despite all the competition, it's big stuff, hard to beat.

Last night I popped in to a Vom Fass. I bought nothing, despite the super-hipster-clerk's high-pressure sampling battery and sales pitch.

They had some old grain whisky, some interesting-sounding Irish stuff (Cooley), a cask-strength Craigellichie, and that Cragabus (or whatever) Islay blend. All decent, but waaaaaay overpriced, as always.

I really wanted to try that Irish stuff, but their impossibly cute little barrel was empty. And Hipster Clerk was decidedly cold to my "bottom of the barrel" jokes. I moved along.

Deanston 10 YO CS PX finish. My nephew is over and that is what he chose. Sipping it in Bourbon glasses.

After dinner, I revisited my Glenfarclas 12. It was noticeably better than the last time I sipped it, but it’s still not really impressive. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was carbonated. The nose has settled down and is decent, but the palate is really weird and funky. Prickly, yet fairly thin-bodied. Almost watery. So after one dram, I cracked open my Redbreast 12 CS. I was going to wait until Sunday, but I couldn’t. How is it? Remember this scene in The Office ? (Skip to around 1:10 if you don’t want to watch the whole thing)

It is really, really good. I know it might be the honeymoon phase, but wow. I would never have guessed that this is 57.2% ABV. It is rich, sweet, complex, fruity, buttery, a little spicy, full, mouth-coatingly beautiful (should I say smooooooooooooooooth?).