So, what are you drinking now?

My parents are on their way South to Florida for the winter and they stopped in for my youngest’s birthday. My mother and I sipped some Faraon Oloroso Sherry, some Kilkerran 12, and some Glenfarclas 105 CS. She preferred the Kilkerran 12 to the Farclas, despite “not liking peated whisky”.

Had some time to kill while waiting for my brother, I popped in quickly to the SAQ near Atwater market.

My inside source wasn't available but I had my trusty card and there was some interesting spirits at the tasting station. Had the following

-Yellow spot 12: the nose had a bit of Quince paste and caramelized banana, needs more time to open up. The palate is lively, zippy on the attack and then it coats your mouth, rich and fruity. I want more.

-Ardbeg Grooves: Sooty, briny with a touch of smoked salted ham. Palate is much the same wirh a touch of red fruits but it's ever so slight. It's got all the hallmarks of Ardbeg but it's missing the lemony mineral attack of the 10. It's ok.

-Yuzugin, Japanese gin made from a sweet potato soshu base with yuzu, shansho pepper and juniper. Wow! Quality spirit. It's fresh and avoids the perfumy, cologne like aspects of many craft gins. Sadly the price is bonkers 130$

High West Bourye. My Sunday morning basketball buddy gave me 50 ml from his bottle today. While I like High West, I have never respected the claim that there is something special or innovative about blending a standard rye-containing bourbon with a straight rye whiskey. The net result is merely either a bourbon or a rye, depending upon whether or not the net rye content equals or exceeds 51% of the grain.

I don't have the batch number, but this bottle was purchased within the last year. This bottle has very tannic wood influence. The tannin is quite distracting. A rating for this? 80. Take the tannins down 3 notches and it would be 87-89.

Next I am having some Springbank 14 yo Bourbon Wood, 55.8% ABV. Yes, I can get used to drinking this. Delicious.

@Victor Thanks for reminding me. I have about half a bottle of Springbank 14 Bourbon Cask that I have not visited for some time. Today is the day. I think I will follow that up with the Hazelburn 13 Oloroso which is so far not doing it for me. Maybe because I like the Hazelburn 10 so much and this one is so different.

Glendronach 21yo in the hot tub on a chilly night. Doesn’t get much better than that warm dram in the cool air.

I’m sipping some El Jimador Reposado tequila, which @Victor Recommended awhile back. My mom has been getting into sipping tequila and it seemed like a good time to try it. I’m impressed. It’s a little smoky (hooray!), vegetal, peppery, floral, with a tiny bit of sweetness. All for about $32 CAD.

@OdysseusUnbound the Jimador is quite nice, if you get a chance try Hornitos black barrel is also very interesting, it's got cedar, honey and barrel char that blends well with the earthy vegetal agave spirit. It makes a killer margarita too.

@cricklewood That’s my mom’s go-to sipping tequila. I liked it, but I think I prefer the El Jimador. I feel like it’s a bit “crisper” if that makes any sense. I don’t really have the “proper” vocabulary to describe tequila.

@OdysseusUnbound, your tequila vocabulary is coming along just fine.

Yes the Hornitos is a bit wood heavy.

It does require you to dig around a little in your vocabulary when tasting Tequilas & Mezcal.

There is an extra anejo sold at SAQ called "Serpiente Emplumada" that's worth a try. It's not too oak forward but it picks up the most extraordinary spices and caramelized agave flavours. It's only hampered by the too short finish, I think the abv is partly responsible.

I can send a sample your way if you're interested.

Had a couple of drams with my brother this evening.

Glenlivet Nadurra 16 batch 08/14, just as good as the first time, complex and dangerously easy to drink.

Glenlivet Captain's Reserve, Cognac Cask finish. I had little in the way of expectations but was pleasantly surprised. Quite punchy for 40%abv, it had a good balance of wood spice, milk chocolate and dried fruit. They should drop founder's reserve and stick to this.

@cricklewood That’s the first good thing I’ve heard about the Captain’s whatever. I’ve read some bloggers who were downright angry about this one....

I finished the evening with some more of the Bearface 7 Year Triple Wood or Triple Oak or whatever. This is surprisingly good whisky. I’m fairly certain it’s 100% corn and it shows how corn can be responsible for good quality, complex whisky. The red wine cask finish is present, but it isn’t overpowering, and there’s a lot of sweet, creamy, buttery, caramel flavour. It’s surprisingly rich for 42.5% ABV. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (or whisky), but I’m a fan.

@Hewie - No Talisker open but I have tried with peaty ones like Ardbeg and thought it became a bit drowned out. The sweetness might act more as a counter to the spices? Always game to try these things though!

I used some Jura Superstition in the sauce and ideally would use the same whisky to drink (like wine) but the bottle has gone completely flat so tastes a bit off now - fine to cook with though.

@OdysseusUnbound - I have a bottle of that Reposado tequila (also on @Victor 's recommendation) and am quite impressed. It certainly makes me more interested to try some more 'upmarket' offerings.

@RianC and it doesn't hurt that El Jimador holds its own for quality with all of the rest of the 100% agave tequila market which costs twice the price (here). El Jimador is only "entry level" by virtue of its price. The quality is there, as evidenced by its extreme popularity in Mexico.

@Victor - Quite! Given you can get it for well under £20 here it offers excellent value. My bottles got much better with air time as well.

@RianC, after you have tired 50+ tequilas I predict that you will find quite a few which you prefer to El Jimador, but, 1) you will still have a permanent place in your cabinet for El Jimador, and 2) you will still not find better value for money than El Jimador.

If Brown-Forman radically raises the price for El Jimador the value proposition will change, of course.

@OdysseusUnbound I think I may have read some of the reviews you refer to. I wouldn't buy a bottle for myself but I thought it was a fair dram, on par with something like Aberlour 10 or 12.

The marketing shtick that is all over the box is comical.

@Victor If I drank 50+ Tequilas I'd be "tired " too

@Nozinan 50 at a time would be tiring.

Yesterday, before dinner, I opened a sample of 17 year (distilled Dec. 14th, 1994. Bottled May 11th, 2012, Bottle opened Apr. 25th, 2016) Abraham Bowman Pioneer Spirit Virginia Limited Edition Bourbon Whiskey (73.75% ABV) that @Victor generously gave me while visiting him and @dramlette at their home at the end of September. While I thoroughly enjoyed this whiskey at that time, I was blown away by it last night. I do not remember the high Rye content on the nose and palette, which I loved. After letting the empty glass sit around for a couple of hours, the nose was still very prominent, but had developed a fresh pipe tobacco quality that was mesmerizing. Not to mention how incredibly easy drinking this one is considering the high ABV. My wife, initially caught off guard by the high alcohol content, really enjoyed it as well. In addition to the Rye notes, the nose and palette contained some mint, spice, anise, vanilla and balanced wood. Wow! What a treat. Thank you again @Victor and @dramlette. I appreciate all that you did for me while I was in town as well as the samples that you sent me home with.

I knew nothing that I had in my cabinet was going to excite me as much as the Bowman did, but I wanted a little smoke, so I went with a Laphroaig 10 after dinner.

@bwmccoy, it is so good it should be illegal! Abraham Bowman Pioneer Spirit Virginia Limited Edition Bourbon Whiskey was my favourite whisky of the 50 - 60 world class tipples we sampled in May. Amazing, amazing, amazing!

A colleague was laid off at work today. He is a fellow whisky enthusiast and also my happy hour buddy - we headed to our usual watering hole today after he packed up his things and I bought him a couple of rounds of his favorites (well, at least what's available at this bar) - starting with Basil Hayden's bourbon, Michter's Rye, and then Glenlivet 18. Going to be a tough week(s) ahead...

@bwmccoy, as much as I like Laphroaig, wanting a little smoke is a whole nother ball game in Canada these day.

@paddockjudge - yes, that kind of smoke is a legal option here as well. :-)

Your comments on the Bowman were spot on! I was surprised by how much more it stood out to me yesterday than the first time I sampled it. So glad that I was able to try it again so I could fully appreciate its greatness! I still have about half of the sample left. It is taking all of my will power not to finish it off right now!

@archivist - sorry to hear about your colleague. Layoffs suck!

Tonight, while completing my mail-in ballot for tomorrow’s mid-term elections;

Westland SMWS 133.1 (5 year - October 2011) - "Speakeasy sneaky peeky" Virgin oak barrell/Heavy char - 57.0% ABV

Ardbeg SMWS 33.135 (9 year - May 2007) - "Peat-reek and barbeque char" - Second-fill ex-Oloroso butt - 60.2% ABV

@paddockjudge - Has Canada turned into a living episode of the Walking Dead yet? Or is it, as I'd imagine, business as usual?

@bwmccoy Isn't it a little late to mail in the ballot?

@Nozinan - No. Our state is 100% mail-in, so the ballot just has to be postmarked by today, or I can use a ballot drop box until 8pm tonight. That is why it takes days, sometimes weeks, to get results in close races. I’m not a fan of 100% mail-in for that reason. I prefer the good old days when you went to an actual polling location to cast your vote, but mail-in is more convenient for the voter and therefore increases voter participation / turn out, so I doubt we will ever get rid of it.