So, what are you drinking now?

@BlueNote Yep, I have a feeling it is a long list...best pour yet another.

@Hewie - I have an 11 year Caol Ila from the Whisky Society open, so I decided to do a head-to-head of it with the 6 year. First the details;

Caol Ila 11 year SMWS 53.252 "Smoky incarnations" Feis Ile 2018 bottling from an ex-bourbon hogshead

Caol Ila 6 year SMWS 53.241 "Dense smoke over a tarry deck" from an ex-bourbon hogshead

Without water, the 11 year has a subdued nose with muted peat until the finish which is medium long with a small explosion of peat / smoke. Slightly spicy. The 6 year has a salty / briny nose which continues on the palette. This one has a lot of Springbank-like characteristics.

With water, the 11 year nose opens up a little. More peat upfront with the smoky explosion continuing. I think water helps this one. The 6 year nose is now muted. The saltiness comes through, but not briny. The palette is very briny now, but not salty. I prefer this one without water.

Overall, both are very good whiskies, but when compared head-to-head, there is no contest. With or without water, the 6 year is so much better than the 11 year.

@paddockjudge don't forget .... me! I may not be famous, but I'm a famous person maker. Lemony Snicket was a mere teenage when he met me. 2 of the Liberals I debated made it into cabinet and all won their own seats.

Darn, I must have met Doug Ford somewhere...

Tonight the whole family was over to celebrate my baby boy turning the big 1 - 0!

I served myself a little Amrut single cask (Sherry) LCBO exclusive and it was less harsh this time. Opening the bottle seems to have helped. My niece liked it too (though she prefers the Naarangi from last time.

By the time my uncle arrived cooking smells obliterated any nuance and so he got Glenborrodale on the rocks and was happy with it.

now as I prepare to do my charting, I a looking at a we pour of ECBP. I need to fortify myself for 2 days of OMA meetings, and it looks like they will get nasty.

@bwmccoy thanks for going the extra mile for us and providing your insights into that SMWS Caol Ila H2H. I had a look at what's available domestically and there are some Signatory and G&M bottlings that may be worth a punt.There is a Signatory 2009 8YO bottled at 46% but there is no info on it. I found what I think is the same bottle on the MoM site and their brief notes don't even mention peat or smoke so it may be an unpeated version? Anyway, thanks for the extra info - I'll be keeping my eyes open.

@bwmccoy thanks for providing the H2H. Caol Ila is a great spirit and it's nice to see young whisky performing so well.

@Hewie too bad on the lack of sightings. Too tired for a dram I've been there and that's very tired indeed

HDW CLIX Vodka. This is one I forgot to mention yesterday, which we had at the North Charles Buffalo Trace Antique Collection/Van Winkle tasting.

The first thing we were poured was CLIX vodka, by Harlen Davis Wheatley, the Buffalo Trace master distiller. CLIX was distilled 159 times. It retails for $ 300. 2,000 bottles were produced. CLIX = 159, in Roman numerals.

How did it taste? Well, it did have a completely marvelous silky texture/body which I loved. Other than that it tasted like vodka. CLIX did a good job of approaching the ideal of vodka, which is to say, to be completely lacking in colour, odour, and taste.

A Quinta Ruben in front of the fire after a disappointing Medal round in wet conditions. Just about thawed out now! Even got some Mungo Jerry on to lift the spirits

Oh and the last of the Writer's Tears is going down the sink I'm afraid. Put some in my flask of coffee and it even managed to ruin that!

@RianC now, that's an endorsement of writer's tears if I've ever seen one. Do you think this is how it got its name? The writer sitting down to enjoy a dram after a long day of creation, ending up crying over how appalling his reward turned out...

@RikS - Ha! If they'd had this bottle then, yeah, most probably!

In fairness, I've had a bottle previous and it was excellent. This started badly and has got worse . . .

@paddockjudge I’ll continue to blaspheme by stating that so far I prefer this year’s Lot 40 CS to last year’s!

I finished the night with Wiser’s Wendel Clark and I have to say, I’m not sure I could tell the difference between that one and the standard Lot 40. Maybe it was palate fatigue, but it was pretty darned close. Not that it’s a bad thing...

@paddockjudge - It's because they feed them tea and oranges that come all the way from China, surely?

@Victor wow 159 times distilled - that sure is a lot of purification. Many years ago I made my own still with a simple copper worm as the condenser. I made a basic rum wash, and with tight cuts (to be sure to be rid of all the nasties), I ran it through 3 times. That turned out to be a lovely white rum and very drinkable. I struggle to get excited about a neutral spirit where they've worked hard to remove all flavour.

I'm having an ardbeg an oa. The bottle has been open a few months and as per my own recommendation in a recent review I've added a few drops of water. Time has really done this one well. The ardbeg base, so to speak, is very apparent but it has taken on a more oily viskous palate that is very enjoyable. And for thr first time, I really understand what people mean when they say biscuit. It has exactly that feeling of thr kind of buttery biscuits that crumble a lot when you bite into them, like a thinner shortbread of sorts. It really sits somewhere between the 10 and the oogie, and I suppose that's quite the idea. It's not quite as good as the oogie, but when one just wants something ardbeg-y and want to hold on a little longer to the few drops left in the uigeadail, then this one is nothing to be ashamed of.

@OdysseusUnbound I'll agree to differ on the Lot 40 CS (you sinful purveyor of unholy cocktails). I agree with you on the W Clark Rye, it is the same stuff, different oak. WC is aged in experienced oak (I'm thinking first-fill ex-bourbon) and Lot 40 is aged in new oak.

@Victor, now we have another expression besides klaek to describe nothing, it is CLIX....and I thought we were nerds, 159 times, really?!?!

@paddockjudge @OdysseusUnbound

The last time I tasted the 2018 Lot 40 CS release I was more impressed than the first time. I am not sure I can choose between it and the 2017 without a H2H, which may become necessary in the near future

@Hewie, how cool is that that you did some rum distilling? Those are experiences I'd love to have. People (law enforcement) get very excited about home distilling around here, though, unless you have obtained about 150 pages of licenses.

@paddockjudge, yes, it is hard to imagine, much less believe, that somebody is distilling vodka 159 times. It is sort of like somebody telling you that next week he or she is going to take a trip to Neptune. $300 USD will buy you a bottle, though. The presenter said that Harlen Wheatley was trying to please his wife by presenting her with the perfect vodka. 159 iterations may mean that she is hard to please. I am happy that my sample was free.

I'm having a French Vanilla ice cream with a lime gelato on the side in an automotive garage while someone is deflating and mounting a new tire on the wheel rim. The garage is located near the North Sea(in my mind somewhere in Aberdeen), the air taste of sea salt in a fishing village, misty and salty. This what get I get from drinking a dram of Compass Box, No Name. I wish i had another bottle of this one.

@fiddich1980 that’s essentially a review in a different thread...

Thanks for sharing this one with us!

@Nozinan I may try to write a review on at some point in the future. My current occupation is rather, busy and mindless.

It’s 2:16 a.m. as I write this. My wife’s surprise birthday party went off without a hitch. I didn’t drink much, but I was so anxious and wired that I’m just winding down now. I’ve got an old, trusty friend helping me out.

Last night, my wife and I had @jordytropp and his lovely wife over for dinner and drams. Before dinner;

Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 15 year old (2010 bottling) 53.5% ABV. A sample graciously provided by @Victor.

William Larue Weller Barrel Proof (2015 bottling) 67.3% ABV. Another sample from @Victor

Abraham Bowman Bourbon 17 year (Dec. 14th, 1994, bottled May 11th, 2012) 73.75%. Another sample from @Victor

High West American Prairie Bourbon Batch # 18B14

High West A Midwinter Nights Dram Act 4, Scene 5

Sazerac 18 year old Rye (Fall 2011 bottling). 45% ABV. Another sample from @Victor

Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye Barrel Proof (2016 bottling) 63.1% ABV Another sample from @Victor

Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Extra Anjeo, also from @Victor

A head-to-head comparison of two DryFly (Spokane, WA) port finished whiskies. A 4 year Triticale grain and a 3 year wheat whiskey. For me, the wheat is a little one dimensional. Still a very good whiskey, but I prefer the Triticale between these two.

Next a head-to-head comparison of two Westland (Seattle, WA) single cask, cask strength whiskies. First a rum finished expression (Cask # 3824) and a 5 year SMWS 133.1 "Speakeasy sneaky peeky" from a virgin, heavy char cask. Both are very good and tough to pick a favorite, but the 133.1 is just that much better, in my opinion.

At this point, we took a break for dinner. With grilled steaks and Portobello mushrooms, we shared a bottle of 2009 Elevation Cellars (WA state) Monolith Columbia Valley Red Wine (76% Cab Sauv, 9% Merlot, 10% Cab Franc, 5% Malbec).

After dinner, a head-to-head-to-head comparison of three Bladnoch whiskies; a 20 year distillery bottling (March 1992, bottled May 2012) 51.4% ABV, a 23 year (July 10th, 1990) SMWS 50.56 "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside" from a refill, ex-bourbon barrel (60.3% ABV) and a 26 year (May 1990, bottled 2016) Archives bottling "Fishes of Samoa" Cask # 30336, 48.5% ABV. For me, the 20 year was different, where the other two were similar. The 20 year was very grassy on the nose. For me, the 26 year was the clear favorite of the three with the 23 year a close second.

A 23 year Alt-ABhainne from the Fighting Fish series 54.1% ABV

A 10 year Croftengea also from the Fighting Fish series. 56.6% ABV

A 21 year Glen Scotia from the Fighting Fish series. 50.9% ABV

Next up a head-to-head-to head comparison of three Caol Ila's; A 19 year from the Fighting Fish series (40.2% ABV), an 11 year SMWS 53.252 "Smoky Incarnations" and a 6 year SMWS "Dense smoke over a tarry deck". The 19 year and the 6 year were my favorites. While the 11 year is a great dram on its own, in head-to-head comparisons, it seems to be lacking something and doesn't stand up to the competition.

Finished the night with a 16 year (Oct. 11th, 2000) Auchentoshan SMWS 5.60 "Sweet Surrender" finished in a first-fill ex-Oloroso hogshead. As the name implies, a sweet treat to end the night.

I want to thank @Victor again for sending me home with all of the wonderful samples and letting me share those with @jordytropp. The clear favorites of the night were the Pappy15 and the Sazerac 18.

I also want to thank @jordytropp for all of the whiskies that he brought over and for the wonderful cranberry gingersnap pie that his wife made for dessert. A great night with great friends!

@bwmccoy That's got epic written all over it. Certainly up to your usual high standard of tasting occasions.

@OdysseusUnbound There's no friend like an old friend when you need one.

@bwmccoy, I am very happy that you got to share all of those samples with Jordy and your respective wives.

Gibson's Finest Rare 18 yo, just after having watched the Calgary Stampeders score on the Ottawa Redblacks in the 106th Grey Cup, eh.

@paddockjudge Vatting is much fun. Vatting with a target to aim at is even more fun and quite educative. Thank you for letting us know that Laphroaig 18, Macallan cask strenght and Nadurra are blending well. Now it is time to vat.

So a simple vat for me tonight: Arran 10 and Sazerac rye in a 3:1 ratio. Banana, coconut, papaya, citrus and plank (still a bit rough).

Kilchoman Red wine Cask and the Classic Laddie. For the the former, i wanted to try some something new. And the Port Finish and Loch Gorm ( which I've had ) were all sold out.This is wonderful stuff. I know the Oggi so well, and I think think highly of it. I was told to pick up a bottle of the Port cask matured whisky by my whisky shop reps. Having loved Machir Bay and the (bourbon cask) cask strength offering, I took a chance on the Red Wine 50% version, which has some Port in any case. It's great. I should have bought a bottle of the entire Kilchoman line before it disappeared (until next year). I'm a Kilchoman fan.

As to the Classic Laddie--I quite like it, but I've only had a small dram of the CL. I really don't get that "baby puke thing" that have seen in reviews.

@BlueNote - thank you, but none of my epic tastings would be possible if it weren’t for the generosity of a lot of my friends such as @Victor and @jordytropp with this one.

Last night, finished off my bottle of Dry Fly Triticale Straight Whiskey Port Barrel Finish Aged 4 years - 45% ABV - Bottle #70 of 250. Also had a dram of Bunnahabhain 10 year (SMWS 10.118) "Enthralling pink and peat intensity" that was finished in a port barrique cask.

Tonight, Glenmorangie 10 followed by Ardbeg 9 year (Distilled May 2007) SMWS 33.135 “Peat-reek and barbeque char” from a Second-fill Oloroso Sherry Butt.