So, what are you drinking now?

Aberlour A'bunadh, Batch # 45. A friend is visiting us from Belgium, the one who gifted us the bottle of Lambertus 10 yo Single Grain Whisky a few years ago. She knew A'bunadh and wanted some of it tonight. I am having one with her. .

@Victor You are using English words but they make no sense. Let me unpack this:

You call the person who gave you Lambertus a friend... suspicious.

You are rewarding said friend with good Scotch.

Nope...can't see it.

I’m too wired to sleep, so I’m having a nightcap. I’m excited to try Big Peat, so I’ve poured myself about 20 ml to see if I can “taste the Port Ellen”. Of course, I’ve never had Port Ellen, but it’s a good line anyway.

@bwmccoy, a difficult task indeed. I'm pleased to learn that you were up to the task....Laphroaig 18 YO in the bottom half, heck of a lineup for sure.

I've been able to refsist joining the SMWS, but I fear my strength is fading....

@OdysseusUnbound first impressions on Big Peat?

@Nozinan I haven’t had the opportunity to sample this mythical lambertus but it sounds like a unique experience. Isn’t offering that the very definition of a friend?

@Hewie here’s a first impression, a mini-review, if you will.

• Nose (undiluted): smoke, peat, with citrus fruits and sweet barley grain behind it. Graham crackers perhaps. Smells like a toned-down Ardbeg. With time in the glass, a faint bacon aroma develops. I like this.
• Palate (undiluted): slightly oily texture yet still on the light side. However, there are some deep, dark flavours here; it's ashy on arrival, develops some pepperiness, and a touch of tobacco. I really like this.
• Finish: long-ish, black pepper, tarry, slightly antiseptic (is that you, Laphroaig?), with some very dark chocolate ( > 85%) and coffee flavours lingering. Very impressive indeed.

I realize there’s no Laphroaig in here, but I associate that antiseptic note with the ‘frog. This is a nice contrast between a bright, sweet nose behind the smoke, and some dark flavours on the palate and finish. I’d probably have rated this 88 or 89 points last night. I’ll have to do some more testing with water and at different times to see what I find.

@bwmccoy one heck of a line up, these SMWS outturns seems to get better each time. I fear I am in the same boat as @paddockjudge, I feel my resolve wearing thin, the fact that I would have to order every bottle from across the country kind of saves me on the impulse of joining.

@OdysseusUnbound your bottle of Big Peat sounds like a winner, I don't think I have ever tried this blend.

I remember a few years ago I was at the SAQ and two gentlemen were in the whisky section (likely fans of "the" Macallan if you know what I mean) and one was lamenting how good Big Peat was but that the label made it seem like it wasn't a serious product and was cheesy and he was ashamed of displaying it in his cabinet and offering it to friends.

I remember thinking how sad that was, I love great visuals but at the end of the day it's the liquid that counts.

@cricklewood Yup. Lots of people complain about Springbank’s work-a-day labels. I kind of like them, but more importantly, I love their whisky.

I’m doing part 1 of Highland Park 12 Viking Honour vs. an older sample of HP12 (no Viking) courtesy of @fiddich1980

I’ll do 15ml neat now, and 15 ml with a 1/4 tsp water added tomorrow or Friday. I’ll post the reviews before Sunday....maybe.

@OdysseusUnbound, I like the springbank labels although I have to say favourite style was the previous black label iterations.

I'm also partial to the new Berry Brothers and Rudd livery. Austere and to the point

Last night, had a Bruichladdich H2H. Classic Laddie (one with a lot of wine casks in the vatting), a 22 yr old single cask finished in Château Latour barrels and Black Arts 4.1 the last two were samples I won of an Instagram contest.

I don't know if it's something I ate but all three were rather sulfured. I ended up vatting them all and the sum was better than the parts. I have to try these another night

Redbreast 12 YO CS - Fantastic.

I poured a half ounce to compare to a mystery dram generously donated by @OdysseusUnbound. That was good too (and I guessed correctly!!!!), but it wasn't this. Now I can sit back, finish a book, and enjoy it as it's had a long time to open up.

@Nozinan I’ve tried my fair share of Irish whiskey, but RB 12 CS is my favourite. It’s miles ahead of all others.

@cricklewood and @paddockjudge - I’m not familiar with how the SMWS works in Canada, so can’t speak to whether it is a good deal or not, but I’m happy with my experience here in the states. Even though I have contemplated not renewing my membership due to some of the changes implemented under new ownership, I stayed because I really like the whisky they bottle and I have access to distilleries that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

Tuesday night - Glenmorangie 10

Last night (Wednesday) - Dry Fly Port Finish Wheat Whiskey

@cricklewood @paddockjudge The best way is to have a friend who is a member. My buddy can get me the odd bottle if I see something that looks interesting (and affordable). He’s also a Springbank member and gets us discounts on all Springbank products. Works for me.

My impressions of a freshly opened Deanston 2008, Nine Year Old Bordeaux Red Wine at 58.7%. Nose: Tight, Barley Sugar and demerara sugar, vanilla, spices, Tabasco pepper, star anise. Touch of heavy cream Taste: Heady, cinnamon, orange, dark plums, star anise, honeyed Demerera, raisins, dusty cocoa, citrus tangy orange, drying Finish: medium to long, throat warming, peppery I'm thinking Christmas pudding with flaming brandy. H2O brightens it up. I think with oxidization this will open up into a very nice whisky.

Last night thirsty Thrusday at the SAQ tastings with a buddy had 4 whiskys

-Glenlivet Captains Reserve: my 2nd time having this, loads of cocoa powder, grape and a bit of tobacco, it's very light and again not something I would buy but I didn't hate it.

-Glenmorangie 18: Loads of powdered sugar, glycerin, brown sugar and thompson raisins, the palate was super light and a rather underwhelming affair.

-Craigelacchie 13 (my friend kept calling it Cra-zilla) : Now we're talking, bright, punchy, malty nose with some citrus, the palate had a great texture, a long finish that gets a bit dirty at the end a bit like Balvenie 12 but I liked this more.

Kilchoman single cask 6 yrs old SAQ exclusive,Bourbon finished in PX: Big in your face, oily and roasty nose at first it subsides but never opens up much. The palate was decent, I felt like the PX influence was light, it gave it a bit of sweetness and sherry notes but the bourbon remains dominant. I wanted to love this but it was good not great.

The hit of the night was that Craigelacchie, need to try more expressions.

@fiddich1980 your tasting notes for the Deanston are awesome, sounds like a good holiday whisky, makes me look forward to opening my bottle down the line, it will have to wait, I am trying to reduce the number of bottles I have in the danger zone.

@cricklewood I left the empty glass overnight. There was a dry residue stain at the bottom of the glencairn. It had a strong aroma of sweet rich tobacco leaf. I have to thank @Astroke for recommending it. I'm very sure that with time and oxidization it will get better. It was my last personal purchase for 2018. I'm getting a measure of satisfaction recommending whisk(e)y to the people at my work place.

@cricklewood A friend gave me a sample of Craigellachie 17. He's convinced I'll love it. He tells me it's similar "in spirit" (pun intended) to Springbank. It's fruity with some funk, according to him. Time will tell. That Kilchoman sounds interesting...

Craigellachie prides itself on its sulphur. They literally pride themselves on not using much copper to remove it in the distillation process. Dave Broom calls it "good sulphur". Eh, not to me. If that sulphur doesn't bother you then they make a nice malt. Personally I can tolerate the younger Craigellachies, e.g. the OB 13 yo, but I would never buy a bottle of any of them. By the time they get to be 30 years old the sulphur has pretty well vanished. I like those Craigellachies.

I got a chance to taste 8 Craigellachies at a seminar at the 2018 Tales of the Cocktail. Diageo hotshot Georgie (Georgina) Bell presented, with pride in the sulphur. I'd look forward to the old ones. The younger ones are interesting.

A HP 12 (old bottle), Wild Hare Pale Ale with dinner, followed by a wee Quinta Ruben. I'm now about to enjoy a Laga 16 (which I'm finding hard to put down) and will cap the evening off with a Corryvrekan. It is Friday after all . . .

@Victor As long as it's not the "rotten eggs" or "spent match" sulphur, I don't have a problem with it. Oddly enough, my brother bought a bottle of Alberta Premium Dark Horse awhile back, and I swear it reeked of rotten eggs. I couldn't understand it, since I believe they add actual sherry to the blend, but the sulphur hit was unmistakable. I don't know what happened with that batch/bottle, but it was bad.

@OdysseusUnbound I Don't know about Craigellachie being like Springbank but I haven't tried that many, some springbanks are downright grimy and some of their sherried expressions have a touch of the brimstone.

@Victor I know some malts have a tendency to be have a bit of a sulphurous nature, especially some of the Diageo Stepchild distilleries (Mortlach, Benrinnes, Blair Athol) I guess one can add Craigellachie to that list

It could just be the two limp whiskys before it that helped bolster my impression but I didn't mind the sulphur funk at the end since it was mostly on the heels of the finish. The very same phenomenon ruins many Balvenie expressions for me, it rears it's head midway on the palate and is distracting.

As far as good or bad sulphur I think it depends on folks, I know you are quite sensitive to sulphur and so may have no room for it and I've met people who love it, I remember some guy waxing poetic about a bottle of Tobermory that to me was "cabbagey" to the extreme.

@cricklewood, @OdysseusUnbound I reiterate it plainly a second time: the Diageo hotshot presenter openly claimed that the basic nature of Craigellachie malt was sulphurous. She stated that their stills and still design do not allow sufficient contact of the distillate with copper to allow complete removal of the sulphur in the distillate. She took pride in the fact. She also acknowledged that some (except under her breath) unmentioned party, viz. Jim Murray, would not be pleased with that, and that we shouldn't pay much attention to what he thought about that subject.

I wish that sulphur didn't bother me, but it does, big time. It took years of whisky tasting for that sensitivity to develop in me. Now I am stuck with it.

@Victor I am not surprised that Diageo would take such a preposterous strategy, they will talk out of both sides of their mouth. So basically they are pushing forward their whole marketing in this aspect of the whisky that it's badly distilled

Then again they've talked so much bullshit about character that they couldn't actually use that as a strategy this time.

There are lots of malts that have a certain amount of "asperities" left in the spirit or are made in a way that probably isn't "proper". Let's take Clynelish and it's waxy build-up, Pulteney where the still was modified to fit into the building, Mortlach that has a weird 2.5 time distilled method not unlike what Springbank does. The problem here is instead of explaining that the choice to cut the spirit a certain way or run the still faster or whatever being due to history, style, local preference, it just becomes a throwaway marketing gimmick that will leave the layman with no real understanding of what is happening.

@Victor Isn’t Craigellachie owned by Dewar’s?

@OdysseusUnbound, yes you are correct it'd owned by Bacardi. I omitted to check