So, what are you drinking now?

@archivist that's an All-American combo, mac"n cheese and Dickel 12.

Having a tiny dram of Gretzky Estates 99 proof, I find the nose has a bit of an acetone sharpness at first but it dissipates with air, juicy fruit, berries, brown sugar and oak. It's interesting to try a wine finished Canadian whisky but I am not sure about the result in this one.

Drinking nothing for another two weeks. My 2016 Lagavulin 12 arrived today and all I can do is look at it (longingly).

@BlueNote I must have missed it. Is there a reason you are not sampling your new bottle of whisky??

@DaveM Yeah, doing the dry January thing before heading to Mexico next month for 30 days of overindulgence in everything. Feels pretty good, lost 5 pounds so far. I’ll be cracking the Lag in exactly 14 days. Meanwhile, I’m enjoying the Ardbeg 10 marmalade that a friend makes. My toast never had it so good. He also does one with Laphroaig 10 that I have yet to sample.

Cheers

Today at the local county whiskey event I had some Isaac Bowman Port Finished bourbon, some Wild Turkey Longbranch Bourbon, some of a single barrel barrel pick of Buffalo Trace bourbon selected for my county, and a 'smoked Manhattan' cocktail made with Southern Comfort. The Isaac Bowman Port influence seemed pretty clean from sulphur, so I liked that one a lot. That's a decent bottle. The Buffalo Trace barrel was a good one, though I've still never been enough impressed by standard Buffalo Trace bourbon to ever have purchased 750 ml of it. A smoke machine was used with burnt apple wood chips to make the cocktail, which was quite enjoyable featuring a maraschino cherry and some Mandarin orange. First impression of the Wild Turkey Longbranch did not excite me. Maybe it will seem better next time. I got a huge charge out of listening to the Sazerac company rep patiently explain to me that Sazerac has reduced the additives content of Southern Comfort down below the level (3 % by US law) that it can now be legitimately considered whiskey and no longer considered a liqueur. It is still Southern Comfort, and it is still very sweet!!! It made a good cocktail, though.

@Victor, there was an impressive amount of port barrels on hand when we visited the Bowman distillery...if I recall correctly the barrels were costed at $600 each. A lot of good juice comes out of that plant.

Southern Comfort a whisky? Up north we get the 35% version, none of the 80 pf or 100 pf versions.

Oh, one other thing of which the Sazerac Company rep informed me was that the new Sazerac Visitor Center in New Orleans should be completed no later than June 2019. So all y'all coming down for Tales of the Cocktail this July should be able to visit it. The new Sazerac Visitor's Center is only a few blocks from the Monteleone Hotel at which Tales will be centered.

Celebrating my brothers's birthday today (and my cousin's yesterday). The whole family was over. I BBQed and my wife cooked up a storm.

I asked my unce what he wanted and he said "surprise me". I asked my brother (he usually declines) and he said to give him the same as my uncle.

Well, I had a few bottles on my to open in 2019 list so I decided to crack my recently purchased Ardbeg Corryvreckan (as opposed to the one I bought in 2014 which remains sealed, deep within my cabinet).

First impressions, very smoky and quite sweet. I'm trying to see how it differs from Uigeadail. I think it will mean tasting both several times... oh goody!

@Victor What a lovely and tasty event. Keep me/us posted on the Wild Turkey Longbranch...never tried it, but do like Wild Turkey 101. What was lacking upon first impression?

Ending a somewhat tumultuous work week with Laphroaig 10. Ah, simple pleasures...

@archivist my first impressions of Wild Turkey Long Branch were that the major taste evident was caramel with a hint of varnish, but somehow remaining thin in flavour texture. ABV is 43%, on the light side. The bourbon is 8 years old, which is plenty of age for a bourbon. Product info mentions two types of charcoal filtration, American White Oak charcoal and Texas Mesquite wood charcoal. I suspect that the filtering removed flavouring components that I would want to remain present. Overall I found Long Branch thin in flavour. 'Thin' in flavour is not a good thing to me. This was just one sample, though. I would want to try it again. Based on that sample, though I would prefer Wild Turkey Rare Breed to Long Branch 7 out of 7 days of the week. Similarly I would generally prefer to drink Wild Turkey 101 to Wild Turkey Long Branch. Would Long Branch beat out Wild Turkey 81 proof? Probably, but that isn't saying much. I would certainly not consider buying a bottle of Wild Turkey Long Branch unless I were to have some additional experiences with it which were much better than the one I had yesterday.

Last night, Ledaig 13 Amontillado finish - excellent. Followed by a Corryvrekan - A great whisky. If I had to live with only two whiskys . . . (perish the thought)

Now having a mystery dram very kindly sent to me from @cricklewood. All I know is that it's Canadian and goes by the pseudonym "Canada #150".

I get some fresh, dry oak, and spice that gives the impression of rye grain(?) (pepper, clove and a touch of cardamom). A little solventy note that puts me in mind of the 'glue' thing I get in JD, and then a sort of ginger and apple biscuit with some musty toffee. Taste is much sharper than the nose with a lot of the ginger biscuit and pepper. Water's bringing out more bitter wood and alcohol on the nose and has done the palate no favours- thinner and more sour.

I'm intrigued . . .

@RianC, great description of the 150....perhaps next time he'll send something decent ... I'll be paying dearly for that comment.

@RianC wow, that's an endorsement. Corry over Oogie??

I'm actually making homemade haggis today for a little private Burns dinner between Pam and I. It's extremely laborious and handling a sheep's stomach is pretty nauseating (Butcher: "It's fresh, it was just slaughtered this morning!" And yes, it was fresh in the grossest way you could imagine. Multiple cleanings.) Luckily I also have a pot roast on. And so far we've had some lovely scotches today: Ballantine's Finest, Cardhu Gold Reserve (OK that one's pretty bland), Glengoyne 12 Year Old, Bowmore 12 Year Old and Glen Grant 18 Year Old. Older scotches will follow dinner...

Also, for some reason I'm not getting notifications from this discussion (so forgive my silence on this particular one)

Just had a small pour of Signal Hill Canadian Whisky. They sent me a full bottle with drink recipes and a personalized letter. It's much better than I expected. It's rich and sweet. Not super complex, but nicely balanced nonetheless. And unchill-filtered, which is surprising for a 40% abv whisky. I'm following it up with some Kilkerran 12. The pear, smoke and peat really pop on the nose after the sweet Canadian. And there's some meringues coming through as well. Interesting....

@Victor Thanks for the assessment. "Thin" says all I need to know. Would be curious to hear how Longbranch fares down the road should you sample again...but for now, I'll stick to WT 101.

@RikS - You know, I've never tasted them side by side but would say the Corry probably edges the Oogy. And yes, that Ledaig was the real deal!

@paddockjudge - I feel I should point out that I have also received another mystery sample that I believe may be quite unusual and a very generous sample of the Lot 40 CS; which I've had a small sample of and was very impressed!

I'm not usually swayed by by the 'theater' and general BS that surrounds whisky but I can't help get the sense that Lot 40 is whisky not too far from the style that the early pioneers were producing?

@RianC I've never tried the Corry... but now, I suppose I'll just have to! :)

I'm drinking a.... blind test. Very deep colour, almost Cognac. With a rather unique distillate sweetness to the nose that made me think Nikka or Amrut. A palate of barley sugars, but possibly also some sherry, but if so not very dominant. Hot! At least 55-60% ABV, I'd say. Not very viscous, and the finish falls away quite fast, but taste wise it's both very interesting and good. The finish brings up some of that sherry sweetness, but ... hmm... almost makes me think of a wine cask, rather than a boom first fill PX/Oloroso....

My mind took me in the direction of a Bruichladdich high ABV wine-finish....

What was it? A phone call to my beloved brother revealed - Edradour 12yrs cask strength. Most of the components right, but I totally didn't pick up much of the the sherry (supposedly Oloroso, but could be a refill hogs as it's subtle). Entertaining Sunday!

@RikS - I've never tried any Edradour but have long eyed up those Ibisco decanters they do of SB bourbon and sherry CS bottlings. Was this from one of those do you know?

@RianC I don't think that the North American pioneers had much access to 10+ yo whisky!

@Victor - Ha, very true!

@talexander And the star of the night was a 1980 31 Year Old Single Cask BenRiach!

@RianC Yes, I believe it was - the one with a purple ribbon around the head. I think they have it at TWE and MoM.

BBQ lamb dinner with friends last night.I produced the 'world famous on Connosr' Guinness chocolate cake which turned out beautifully - thanks @fiddich1980. It was mostly beer and wine but we finished the evening wit a couple of whiskies. Opened a bottle of Aultmore 12 and finished with some Springbank 10. The Aultmore was ok but nothing special. It reminded me of Arran 10 - lots of vanilla, fruity, a little creamy, and some citrus. A very 'clean' whisky. The Springbank, as always, was just fantastic bringing forth mental images of old dusty libraries.

As it's Sunday, I'm enjoying a Rittenhouse rye, 50%. What can I say - @Victor 's crystal ball proved rather accurate; it's really starting to grow on me a lot after having sat open for a while.