So, what are you drinking now?

@bwmccoy that 17 yo Abraham Bowman Bourbon @ 73.75% ABV was a one-off which came out in mid-2012, just before the madness and exponential price rises for premium bourbons took place. For that reason I was able to buy at least half a dozen bottles of it off of the shelf in my local liquor stores. In the current environment, now, 6.5 years later, acquiring even a single bottle of any Abraham Bowman release is a major accomplishment.

@fiddich1980, sometimes I think keeping all one's thoughts to oneself leads to a blow-out, better to ruffle some feathers every now and the, besides there is so much coddling and back-patting in the whisky scene, I think that's what leads people to take offense so easily. Don't get me wrong some folks are just constantly negative., that's no fun either.

Last night it was SAQ Thirsty Thursdays (I missed last week's), a great turnout and line-up.

-Deveron 12: I really dug the nose, fresh and fruity a tad sulfurous, the palate was a total let-down, dry oak and flat

-Genglassaugh NAS Port wood finish: unbalanced and chaotic, it's a bit funny and thrilling at first but completely irredeemable by the end.

-Glenrothes 18: loads of dried fruit and creamy notes, not a "dark" sherry influence. it was good but not great

-Longmorn 16: Wow! you know when a cover band does a rendition that is better than the original, I feel like someone set out to recreated Glendiffich and amped it up.

Bruichladdich Black Arts 6.1: What you expect, loads of wine /sherry casks but there is a background freshness that uplifts the whole thing and the finish on lingering yeasted dough and tobacco is superb.

@Victor I have never tried any A. Smith Bowman but I've always been intrigued by it, especially the process by which it is distilled. What are some of it's distinction from what is made at buffalo Trace, since from what I understand it is BT new make that is distilled one or more times in a pot still there.

Opened an Old Pulteney 17 tonight (I couldn't wait!). A little heavy on the sweet sherry on first impressions but with a dash of water it really opened up and the bourbon, tropical fruity notes began to emerge. Lots of that OP salty toffee and great mouthfeel too.

@cricklewood Sazerac Company bought A. Smith Bowman Distillery in 2003. Since that time the Bowman named products, and, I think, also the mass market Virginia Gentleman Bourbon, are once distilled at Buffalo Trace Distillery, then redistilled at Bowman, and aged there at their facilities in Fredericksburg, Virginia. How many redistillations? One I think, but I am not certain. At Bowman they are a little vague on giving any more details than that. The products named Bowman started in 2011, and include Bowman Brothers Small Batch Bourbon and John J. Bowman Single Barrel Bourbon, which is usually 10 years old and bottled at 50% ABV. John J. has won some top bourbon awards in the last couple of years. Abraham Bowman is a special release whiskey, which comes out when they have something to put out. Abraham Bowman has sometimes been on the experimental side, e.g. ginger beer cask finish. Getting a bottle of any Abraham Bowman release is now in the same category as getting BTAC, Four Roses Limited Editions, Van Winkle, etc, which is to say, very hard to get. In the last 4 years I have never seen a bottle of Abraham Bowman on a liquor store shelf.

Lot 40 CS 2017. The original first edition. Just relaxing after a day of visiting relatives and my mom's friends.

I did get a chance to stop into 1 liquor store. Nothing of interest unfortunately. Tomorrow may be a good day...

Out of desperation for something sweet, and with nothing that would count as an actual dessert, I made a spiked hot chocolate -- never tried it until this evening but I found a Swiss Miss hot cocoa packet crammed in the back of our cupboards and mixed it with some George Dickel No. 12...surprisingly tasty and hit the sweet spot!

@archivist - My partner had a hot chocolate with rum (Wood's) the other day and it was surprisingly (to me) enjoyable!

@RianC What kind of notes were you getting? Was the hot cocoa more tropical, for lack of a better word? Makes me curious to try that out. My hot cocoa with the Dickel had a very nice balance of not being too overly sweet as the smokiness of the Dickel evened it out, and so it was kind of like having a toasted, slightly charred chocolate marshmallow...

Last night, I had a buddy over for burgers and beer. After dinner, we switched to whisky.

Westland Distillery (Seattle, WA) SMWS 133.1 (5 year - October 2011) - "Speakeasy sneaky peeky" Virgin oak barrel / Heavy char - 57.0% ABV

Westland (Distillery Bottling) Single Cask #3824 (Rum Cask Finish) Bottle #62 of 168

Bladnoch SMWS 50.56 (23 year - July 1990) ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!’ - Refill barrel - 60.3% ABV

Bladnoch 26 year (May 1990 - Nov. 2016), Archives - Fishes of Samoa bottling. Cask # 30336. 48.5% ABV. This was the remining portion of a sample that @jordytropp was nice enough to leave with me after his last visit. Thanks @jordytropp!

Highland Park 13 year (Dec. 2004) "Stones of Stenness" from Single Cask Nation - 2nd fill ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry hogshead - 57.4% ABV

Laphroaig SMWS 29.224 (18 year - May 13th, 1998) "We arrived!" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 55.3% ABV

At a liquor store I had a chance to try the Bearface Canadian whisky.

Then @nosebleed and I dropped by our oldest sister in law to pick up some food. Her husband and his father were there and they offered us a drink. When I saw what was open I couldn’t say no...

Tonight, before dinner, GlenDronach SMWS 96.22 (9 year - Oct. 30th, 2008) "Rocky road spice freakout" finished in a first-fill ex-Pedro Ximenez hogshead after being matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead - 59.1% ABV.

With dinner (grilled cedar plank salmon), Talisker Storm. While I’m still not a fan of this expression, now that it is near the bottom of the bottle, I could actualy taste some smoke for the first time tonight.

After dinner, Tobermory SMWS 42.36 (13 year - Mar. 3rd, 2005) "Lunch at the lighthouse" from a second-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 61.9% ABV.

Ardmore SMWS 66.123 (12 year - Mar. 6, 2006) "A strong personality" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 57.3% ABV. This one felt a little closed, so I had a second glass and added some water. That opened it up a little. This is a newly opened bottle, so hopefully time and air will open it up a bit more.

@archivist - Sounds nice! In answer to your question, it was definitely sweeter. The sugary vapours that came off it were the most enticing part. Wood's on its own is a little bitter at the end but that disappeared altogether.

Had a Jameson after golf yesterday and thought it was fairly decent but not the best I've had. Nice nose but a little spiky going down. We went out for some Korean food later (I had twice cooked pork belly . . . mmmmm!) but, sadly, J was feeling a bit under the weather so our plan of whisky and cocktails after was cut short!

Some Laga 16 and Corryvrekan hit the spot at home later though!

I'm currently making a glazed ham and have been at it in the kitchen for hours now. It's not even midday yet but the lure of a well earned ale and whisky is definitely calling . . .

@bwmccoy - Some lovely sounding drams there! I've found that Ardmores really open up and change with some time/air. Even the Legacy (which I rated about 77/100) has become much more rounded and sweeter now it's been open about 9 months.

Last night Pam and I went to an incredible tasting where we enjoyed:

• Tyrconnell 16 year Old 46%. Great way to open the evening.

• A new independent bottler called Valinch & Mallet bottled a 14 year old Irish single malt, sherry hogshead # 17-3001 from County Louth. Double distilled in 2003, bottled in 2017, yielding 329 bottles. 51.5%. Rich and fruity, incredible. We suspected it was a vatting of Cooley and Bushmills, but really weren't sure...

• Whisky Agency bottling (chosen by Heads & Tails, our friend Igor Kossov's importing company) 1989 29 year old Speyside Batch #2, from a hogshead and bottled in 2018. 47.6%. Elegant, beautiful, luxurious. We don't know the distillery.

• Glen Ord 30 year old (Diageo Special Releases 2005) 58.7%. My highlight of the evening. I've always loved Glen Ord and this perhaps the ultimate expression.

• Springbank 21 year old single cask (oloroso sherry) bottled exclusively for Pacific Edge, USA). 648 bottles, 49.8%. Definitely one of the better Springbanks I've had, herbal, peaty, bracing.

• Lagavulin 16 year old (bottled in late 80s - early 90s) 43%. So much more subtle (and with incredible use of great sherry casks) than today's bottling. Would have loved to have a current bottling to try side-by-side.

• Johnny Walker Black, 40%, suspect bottled in the 90s, and probably open since the 90s (Nick Spence found it somewhere in his parents' cottage). Unfortunately had gone quite flat and caramel-y.

Great times had by all!

CORRECTION; I said Talisker Storm above, but I meant Talisker Skye.

1) Glen Grant 48 yo, 1965-2013 40% ABV; lovely except for some bitterness on the finish. Rating 90 points

2) Benromach 35 yo 43% ABV; I didn't care for the wood quality, others liked it better than I did; 85 points

3) Miyagikyo 12 yo, 45%, great, 88 points

4) Nikka Taketsuru 12 yo, 40% ABV, also great, 89 points

5) G & M Imperial Distillery 15 yo, Crozes-Hermitage cask, 46% ABV; delicious, 91 points

6) G & M Balblair 20 yo, 1991-2011, 45% ABV ; divine, 93 points

7) G & M Balblair 21 yo, 1993-2014, Sherry Cask, 53.4% ABV, 90 points

8) G & M Balblair 21 yo, bourbon cask, 43% ABV, a best seller for the vendor; 92 points

9) G & M Mortlach 25 yo, bourbon cask, 43% ABV; mild, a little ho-hum; 87 points

10) George and J.G. Smith's Glenlivet 21 yo, 43% ABV; mild, 87 points

11) G & M Linkwood 1998-2015 17 yo Port wood, 45% ABV; 93 points

This was at a free commercial tasting. The experience was very enjoyable, but I doubt that more than one or two of these whiskies would tempt me to purchase them at their current prices.

@Victor - That’s an epic lineup for a free tasting. Wow!

Having Ardbeg Uigeadail and Laphroig 10CS back to back. Cant decide which is better... both so good. Still giving a slight edge to the Laphroig. They're similar in some ways but the sherry casks in the Ardbeg give it a sweeter, sherried note for sure. Not a bad lazy Sunday.

@casualtorture, if you can't determine which of the two you like better, perhaps you should go the extra distance and have another round...

@paddockjudge for science!

@talexander Way, way back in time we used to get a 10 year old Glen Ord OB out here on the left coast. It was very good and very reasonably priced. Then suddenly it was gone. Haven't seen a Glen Ord since. I can only imagine what a 30 year old at cask strength would be like. Sounds like you got to participate in an excellent pre-Christmas tasting. May the new year bring you such good fortune.

Cheers.

@bwmccoy I quite like the Storm, but the Skye, I thought from my one experience of it, was a waste of glass.

Speaking of Storm, did you get hit by the big wind storm down your way last week? It wreaked some serious havoc up here.

Best of the season and the new year.

@Victor Big points for the Linkwood, I see. I have yet to have one I didn't like... a lot. Looks like you were pretty impressed with the Balblairs too. Another distillery that I'm liking a lot these days.

Cheers and the best of the season and new year.

@BlueNote - Unfortunately, Diageo now only sells Glen Ord OB’s to the Asian market. Thank goodness for IB’s, otherwise we wouldn’t have access to this excellent whisky.

We were fortunate that where I live, no serious wind damage. We lost power for 8 hours, but fortunately, I have an automatic generator for the house, so we were only mildly inconvenienced. Others were not so lucky; downed trees through roofs. We even had a tornado rip some roofs off in a nearby town which is really rare for this area.

Hope you and yours have a wonderful Holiday season!

@BlueNote, @bwmccoy, yes, I too remain a big fan of Linkwood. We did taste some lovely Balblairs today as well. These guys giving the tasting invite for these big tastings largely by word of mouth. Currently they do one big free rare Scotch malt tasting, one rare American whiskey tasting, one rare tequila and mezcal tasting, and one rare Cognac tasting per year. The store manager has found that 25-50 good customers sampling lavishly has led to big time sales from a very few individuals which renders the lavish tastings very productive for the profits of his business. Managers from other stores would not believe that this approach can work, but it does work for him. Have a wonderful holiday and 2019!

@Victor, I'm a believer! Giving comps to the right players will ensure that their dollars get spent in your house. A full casino will make money, but a half-full casino with a few thirsty whales can make the house a lot more money.

@BlueNote - '. . . a waste of glass' ha!

I've only tried a mini bottle but it wasn't great to be fair. I've had lots worse though . . .

@BlueNote Thank you! And yes, I've never had a Glen Ord I haven't loved. Happy Holidays to you and yours!