So, what are you drinking now?

Last night I shared eight Canadians at a birthday party for my wife's b-in-law. Four of us took our time (as the ladies gathered in a nearby room) with pleasant conversation and a few sour tales involving local politics, followed by more pleasant conversation and no shortage of laughs. During the four hour session it was revealed that one of us had recently received a large shipment of rum from an island nation and was completing the mind-numbing process of entering into a pact with the LCBO...whisky is an excellent lubricant.

The Lineup consisted of:

Century (Highwood) 30 YO Single Cask 45% abv......thank you @fiddich 1980 and @ JasonHambrey.

Canadian Rockies 17 YO 50% abv....thank you @JasonHambrey.

Canadian Rockies 21 YO 45% abv....thank you @Nozinan and @Nosebleed.

Lot No. 40 Cask Strength First Ed. 55% abv....thank you D. Michael Booth.

Wendel Clark Single Grain Rye 41.6% abv....thank you #17.

Wiser's 35 YO 2018, 50% abv....thank you @whiskydoc for releasing this great whisky!

Pike Creek 21 YO European Oak 45% abv.

Forty Creek Heart of Gold 43% abv....thank you John K Hall, wherever you may be.

Finished off my bottle of Girvan 31 year SMWS G7.10 (Lowland Grain) "The Texan tea party", followed by a dram of Highland Park “Stones of Stenness” 13 year (Dec. 2004) from a 2nd-fill ex-Pedro Ximenez Sherry Hogshead. Single Cask Nation bottling. Cask #76.

Last night I finished off my bottle of High West Midwinter Night's Dram Act 4.2 (2016 release). Great rye / port balance that benefited from extra air time. Opening up Act 6.1 in the near future.

Down to the last coupe of pours of Longrow Peated. This has changed a lot since being opened and now the peat has completely molded into the other notes. It's delightfully malty and clean. I think I prefer it like this but have to say that if you're looking for a peat bomb best stick to other more tried and tested routes.

@bwmccoy - Your posts on here have me drooling every time

I had 2 generous drams of Lagavulin 16 tonight. Despite the 43% ABV, this remains one of my favourites. There’s more wood/tobacco smoke than vegetal/iodine peat, sort of the opposite of Laphroaig. And there’s an underlying toffee sweetness here too. And the slight eucalyptus note at the tail end of the finish makes it just right.

Still feeling under the weather but my nose was functional, had a dram of Compass Box Flaming Heart 2015, I am stretching the last of this bottle, dark, complex and luxurious.

Dry Fly 3 year Port Finish Wheat Whiskey followed by finishing off my bottle of Caol Ila 11 year SMWS 53.252 "Smoky incarnations".

Last night I finished an Ardbeg 10 bottled 10/23/17. I love the sweet malt character of this whisky paired with the sharp vegetal peat. I do wish there was easier access to older Ardbegs, but such is life :)

Westland 5 year SMWS 133.1 "Speakeasy sneaky peeky" from a virgin, heavy char cask.

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

I opened the Lagavulin 9 YO Game of Thrones bottle yesterday. It is bottled at 46% ABV. There is the peat/smoke element there but not as intense as the normal Lagavulin offerings. I would rate this around an 85.

Up early to take my son to basketball. He scored a basket and had a few assists. His team tied (the other team's coach was not impressed), the first time they haven't lost!

I actually had a nap in the afternoon then we went out to celebrate my mother's birthday.

Dropped my son off at my cousin's so they could watch the Raptors beat Cleveland, and settled in with a Laphroaig mini-glencairn containing Cairdeas 2016 Madeira. First time I've tried this.

Thanks @fiddich1980 for the more than generous sample. I hope to review it at some point.

The current occupation I'm in has a few benefits. It was not whisky but worth a mention: A bit like speed dating while on the job. Belvedere Vodka: clean distillate with just a touch of dissipating, (grain or potatoes) flavour nice velvety mouth feel. Flying Monkeys Chocolate Manifesto (A Craft Brewery in Barrie, Ontario, Canada): A stout ale infused with chocolate, very sweet with a bourbon barrel taste but, without an actual bourbon barrel finish. If that makes any sense. A cross between Nestle Quik and a thick Mexican hot chocolate drink, with a chalky mouth feel. A thing which would be difficult to consume alone. Sampled an Italian Preseco, an a Chandon from from Californian. The Chandon would work really well with seafood in my opinion. I ended this week splitting a bottle of Meiomi Pinot Noir with my wife over a pizza and chicken wings. The madness of the Christmas wave rolling in full force.

@fiddich1980, our crew (@Dramlette, @Maddie, and I) loves Flying Monkeys Brewery. We have their beer glasses in our cabinets, and visit the brewery whenever we are in that part of the world, such as staying in Collingwood or Horseshoe Valley. @Maddie, who doesn't usually even like beer, typically brings some of their special edition beers back with her across the border when we return.

On advice of an old friend and former vocalist of our college band, I am drinking Suntory Whisky Toki.

No doubt it’s Japanese. No doubt I like it.

Almost a perfume nose (in a good way) light golden color, legs for miles and a great viscosity in the mouth. 43% SBV is always welcome over the minimum.

Japanese whisky punching above it’s price point in a brick-shaped bottle.

Tonight I had:

• A whisky, whose identity I will not disclose, before dinner: I have a bottle of the stuff, but I haven't added it to my Connosr cabinet as @Nozinan will be getting a sample of it shortly. Nothing crazy-fancy, but I enjoyed it a lot.
• Canadian Club 20 Year Old (40%): I have a growing collection of samples and so I thought I'd start trying some. I posted my review. Enjoyable, but not in the same league as Highwood Ninety "Decades of Richness" 20 Year Old. Not the same league, not even the same sport.
• J.P. Wiser's Alumni Series Wendel Clark 11 Year Old 100 % Rye (41.6%): this one is quite similar to Lot 40 (43% version), but the "over-steeped chai tea" note on the finish is a bit more prominent. I like this one a lot, which shouldn't be surprising given my love for the rye coming out of Windsor/Walkerville these days.

@Wodha, I am with you. Toki is surprising, surprisingly good. I didn't expect to like it one bit, but I do like it. Light fare, for a relatively light mood, to be sure, but there is enough there to engage me. Inexpensive too.

Barbancourt 15 Haitian rum. Great stuff, but wishing it was single cask /cask strength!

Octomore 7.2 with a couple of whisky virgins.

It made an impression.

After a shite day I'm finishing the last dram of my Longrow Peated and will then be opening a Laga 16 to help put a smile back on my face.

As an aside, I received the Laga and a Lediag 10 in the post yesterday and at first glance I thought they were knock-offs! The cardboard packaging is very thin and has lost the texture they used to have. No ribbon/tag on the cork of the Laga either and the Ledaig is a much darker colour than my last bottle (and not stated natural colour - I'm sure the last one was?!)

Having a look around seems that's how they are presented nowadays . . .

Catching up on some overdue posting...

2 nights ago (Saturday), after a Mexican food dinner, I finished off the sample of Jose Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Extra Anjeo from @Victor. It was the perfect way to finish the night.

Last night (Sunday), I had a dram of 23 year Bladnoch (SMWS 50.56) "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!" from a refill ex-bourbon barrel.

Tonight (Monday), I attended a December Outturn Preview Tasting hosted by the Whisky Society.

10 year Glentauchers (SMWS 63.46) "A walk in the park" from a refill ex-bourbon barrel

9 year Glendronach (SMWS 96.22) "Rocky road spice freakout" finished in a first-fill ex-Pedro Ximenez hogshead after being matured in an ex-bourbon cask.

22 year Glen Grant (SMWS 9.155) "Witches' night" finished in a first-fill ex-Pedro Ximenez hogshead after being matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead.

25 year Caperdonich (SMWS 38.22) "Love letters on linen paper" from a refill ex-bourbon barrel.

10 year Glen Ord (SMWS 77.47) "Delicatessens and old libraries" finished in a 2nd-fill hogshead after maturing in a ex-bourbon hogshead.

21 year Springbank (SMWS 27.112) "A broadside cannon barrage" fully matured in a first-fill ex-sherry butt.

13 year Tobermory (SMWS 42.36) "Lunch at the lighthouse" from a second-fill ex-bourbon barrel.

11 year Caol Ila (SMWS 53.250) "Smoked salt orange peel" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead.

18 year Laphroaig (SMWS 29.224) "We arrived!" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead

An excellent lineup tonight. Ranking them in order of my favorites; #1 Caperdonich - such a unique, special whisky, #2 Springbank - funky, in a good way, sherrybomb. #3 Glen Grant, #4 Tobermory, #5 Glen Ord, #6 Caol Ila, #7 Laphroaig, #8 Glendronach and #9 Glentauchers.

@bwmccoy as usual you are drinking a line-up to which most of us can only aspire! Such a great collection you have, even though these last few were not (yet) from your collection. Thanks for posting the line-up and the picture.

Club night!

@MadSingleMalt, you have me interested!

@MadSingleMalt wow. I’d like to join this club! Beats boodles

Yeah, @MadSingleMalt, can I come too, please!?

Last night I opened a Laga 16 and it convinced me my last bottle was from a below par batch. This one is is excellent. I had a couple of small ones, to be sure, and then followed them with an Ardbeg 10.

I've not been that excited by whisky tasting in a while. The Laga definitely loses a little in the mouth feel on the Ardbeg but, and I'm surprised I'm saying this, the flavour of it was winning my heart . . .

@bwmccoy, it surely must have been a stellar lineup. The recent addition of 10 year Glentauchers (SMWS 63.46) "A walk in the park" to your cabinet is undoubtedly something you enjoy. That speaks volumes for the rest of the Society lineup as you rated this bottle eighth of nine....tough night when 8 of 9 makes the cut

@paddockjudge - It also speaks to the quality of the lineup when I rank both a Caol Ila and a Laphroaig #6 and #7 respectively out of 9. There wasn't a bad one in the bunch. The reason the Glentauchers was #8 was it just didn't stand out in this crowd. There was nothing wrong with it, just nothing memorable about it last night. It will be interesting to taste it again by itself to see if I get a different impression. The Glendronach was #9 only because I didn't particularly care for the nose, but the palette was quite nice. The point I'm trying to make is that I had to get pretty nit-picky in ranking them which is a good problem to have.

As to why it appeared in my cabinet this morning, I assisted the person who was leading the tasting. As a thank you, I was given the whisky that was left over, so these are partial bottles with 2 or 3 drams left which is really cool because a couple of my friends couldn't make it to the tasting. Now, I can share these with them so they don't have to feel like they missed out.

@MadSingleMalt - That is pretty much Whisky Nirvana as far as I am concerned!

@paddockjudge I had a bottle of G and M Glentauchers 1995 that was fantastic. Why they only release single malts in IB is beyond me. Great dram.