So, what are you drinking now?

Tonight, Lot 40 Rye - after reading a few posts here, I do wish I had cask strength just to do a side by side. Nevertheless, it is delicious and enjoyable - loving the buttery toffee and spice...

A Corryvrekan - my first ever. This nose . . . wow! Concentrated TCP, creosote, tar, sea air and maybe some sweeter notes in there but this baby has just been popped - nothing quite like a freshly opened Ardbeg. Intense is as good a word as any and it's surprisingly clean although I fear it's singing my nostril hairs, but in the best possible way. Oh and the taste is no let down either . . . more smoke and tar. I'll add some water soon.

It's a shame it's Sunday evening

@RianC I am planning to open my Corry sometime this year as well. Glad to know it's a winner.

@RianC now we want a comparison between this one and the oogie. At last I'm curious about their similarities and dissimilarities!

@RianC I’ve also had a Corryvreckan in my possession for some time. I’m hoping to open it before the end of the year, but we’ll see. Glad to hear good things...

I’m enjoying an after dinner dram of Glenfarclas 12 at my in-laws’ place after a Sunday night dinner. This is the bottle that I bought from a friend. It’s been open about 18 months and it’s a bit “mellower” than my previous bottle of Farclas 12, but still very enjoyable. After an uneasy start, Glenfarclas is fast becoming one of my favourite distilleries.

@RikS - Hard to say without a side by side but first impressions are that the Corry is more medicinal and perhaps less sherried than the Oogy. It's been nearly two years since my last Oogy as well so take that with a pinch of salt.

@RianC I'm very much looking forward to comparing the 2 before the end of the year

@RianC & @Nozinan

Forgive me for repeating myself from past discussions, but I can't let all this talk of comparing Corryvreckan to other Ardbegs go by without saying that when my club tasted our way through a whole table of different Ardbegs a few months ago, I found Corryvreckan to be the clear winner.

Most were good. A few were great. Corryvreckan was the best.

@MadSingleMalt, did you not also say that you were the only person present who thought so?

@Victor, indeed! (And wow—good memory.) Most Ardbegs on table that night got at least one vote. But for me, it was Corryvreckan all the way!

@MadSingleMalt I would normally have it between Uigeadail or Corryvreckan. What did your party members choose as the best?

@DaveM, this is a dimming memory, but I think the Ardbeggedon voting results were along these lines:

•Zero votes: Kelpie 46%, Dark Cove 46%

•One vote: A many-way tie among Corryvreckan, Ten, Oogie, Ardbog, Auriverdes, Dark Cove CR, Alligator, any others that I'm forgetting about

•Landslide winner with two votes: Perpetuum—which was a total surprise, but maybe not since it's basically like a really good Ten, so maybe it collected the "default" votes from folks who didn't especially like one of the weird ones

@MadSingleMalt, I have to think that any release of Ardbeg Supernova would have received three votes from the members of your club. :-) That is clearly a good-natured SWAG--Sophisticated Wild-Ass Guess--on my part. The Supernovae are now quite scarce. They started expensive, and have now become more so.

I think of Corryvreckan as being sort of like the standard Tullamore D.E.W. version of Supernova's Midleton Very Rare, righteously strong, but quite crude by comparison. I can imagine a top batch of Corryvreckan perhaps being like a Supernova. None of the four Corryvreckans I have tasted have come close in my judgment. I would love it if they did. Corryvreckan remains available and affordable. Supernova is a wasting resource.

@Victor Maybe for you, but here Corryvreckin is rare and pricy. If I am to replace the bottle I plan to open, it will have to be in the US.

@Nozinan, and now you know how to do it!

Interestingly, wine-searcher.com's search for Ardbeg Supernova shows the cheapest bottle of it in the world to be in Alberta (Britannia Wine Merchants), at the equivalent of about $ 162 USD. That is the only bottle listed for Supernova in Canada, and the listing may be out of date,...but, that is about 41% of the current secondary market asking price for Supernova worldwide. If that one is still around I'd be snapping it up if I were there.

Don't waste your time with the Britannia website it is not up to date and I think someone cleared their inventory of the good stuff.

I had tracked down a couple of bottles of Octomore 7.3 (called to confirm) and when I called back a week later to purchase and schedule UPS pick-up they were gone. Same with every other bottle I inquired about.

@Victor, well now that you mention it, the Supernovae were conspicuously absent from our Ardbeg night. That's one I'd sure love to try someday.

And a guy in my club has one, too. Unopened. I think he pegged its value at $250 when we were discussing bottle swaps a while back. Tempting, for sure.

Had some Chilli Con Carne for my tea followed by some fresh pineapple. Wanted a drink but my taste buds weren't saying 'whisky' so opted for an El Jimador Reposado tequila. It follows the pineapple nicely and this bottle has definitely improved after being open a good few months. Thanks again @Victor for the suggestion!

I’m currently having a Gordon & MacPhail Caol Ila Cask Strength 10 Year Old (60.5% ABV) that was graciously provided by @Nozinan

Details to come...

Having a generous pour of A’Bunadh batch 53 after a long day. A 2 hour drive to work, an 8 hour work day, and a 2 hour drive home....I don’t know how some people do this all the time...

Trying a 2:1 blend of A’Bunadh and Laphroaig Triple Wood. Even though the ABV is lower, Laphroaig is slapping around A’Bunadh like it (Aberlour) owes Laphroaig money.

@OdysseusUnbound I'm always hesitant to adulterate my sherry monsters with peated whiskies. You're a braver man than I am.

Having a dram of Highland Park Dark Origins, it's almost inky tasting tonight, not that I mind, it suits my mood.

I braved the madness at Ikea to return a part of a Besta unit since we changed the configuration we initially planned on. I purchased a few other things which I tried to assemble tonight only to realize mounting hardware is missing from package

Last night was a Sherry night; Macallan 12 and Ardbeg 9 year (Distilled May 24th, 2007) SMWS 33.135 - “Peat-reek and barbeque char” from a Second-fill Oloroso Sherry Butt.

Tonight’s a port night; Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey Port Finish and a peated Bunnahabhain 10 year (Distilled December 1st, 2006) SMWS 10.118 - "Enthralling pink and peat intensity". After nine years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, the remainder of maturation was in a 1st fill Port barrique.

Got together with a couple of former colleagues to catch up and discuss a recent personnel shake-up of sorts in the art museum world. We drank a lot of wine (sauv blanc; chardonnay) that paired well with soft shell crab, and a green mango salad. Sticky rice pudding for dessert. Polished off the evening with Kikori whiskey -- which I was unfamiliar with, but it's rice whiskey from Japan that has been aged in French oak, American oak, and sherry casks.

The whiskey was very delicate, and light - both in color and in taste. The color was similar to the sauvignon blanc we had with dinner. There was a grassy and floral aroma as I held it close to my nose. It's not normally my cup of tea, as I like more peat and body to my whiskey -- but after a dinner of rich food along with several bottles of wine, I welcomed the airy body, tinge of sweetness and light tingling to the tongue -- there's not a lot of there there, but it was perfect to cap off the night.

Tried some Chivas Regal 12 last night and was pleasantly surprised. Light and easy but lots going on. Seems like a very decent blend.

Having another now before kicking back with some more Corryvrekan

@OdysseusUnbound, Try toning down the Laphroaig to the 1/8 -1/12th range. Marry the A'Bunadh and Triple Wood with some HP 12 or Glenrothes Speyside or JW Green Label or Glenlivet 15. Try varying ratios, you might hit something to your liking. 8:4:1, 4:4:1, 2:4:1, A'Bunadh : _ _ _ _ _ : Triple Wood.

Longmorn 24 year (Distilled May 20th, 1993) SMWS 7.198 "Sweet summer berries" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead.

Caol Ila 11 year (Distilled July 2006) SMWS 53.252 "Smoky incarnations” from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. This was one of the 2018 Feis Ile bottlings.

The wife and I went out to an Art Slam last night. I didn’t drink during the event, but we went to a nearby pub afterwards and I allowed myself one drink. The only moderately interesting offering was Bulleit Bourbon. It was flat, uninteresting, and quite frankly, tasted like brown vodka. Who knows how long the bottle had been open? Oh well...