So, what are you drinking now?

I wish I could contribute to thoughts on A'bunadh but have never tried it though this discussion has prompted me to. I think a friend has this bottle, I will ask to swap samples or something, as a quick price check on this would run me around $80 USD.

Last night, I started off with a Wright+Brown Rye Whiskey. I bought it sometime last year and it's a local distillery - it was their first release ever, and it shows they have promise as they've captured some lovely char and spices, but it's also young whiskey and thus doesn't leave much for me to chew or hang onto. I do think having the bottle opened now for several months has made it better...the first time...ooof, I wasn't wowed.

Proceeded to have some Old Potrero Single Malt Rye...which never disappoints. Today will be picking up a couple of bottles from the shop, including that Knob Creek 8 yr Cask Strength Rye @paddockjudge suggested...can't wait!

@archivist when I see you I'll bring you some Old Potrero Hotaling's Whiskey to taste.

On the bottle:

"If, as they say, God spanked the town for being over-frisky, why did He burn the churches down, and save Hotaling's Whiskey?"

Quoted from a poet on the 1906 San Francisco fire.

@Victor Thank you so much for the comment. And also for emphasizing the point - to which I agree - that whilst I appreciate notifications of good deals etc, and of course am not oblivious to price... the cost of an expression makes little sense as a determining factor for a review since this site is so multinational and with/without monopolies and what have you.

@Victor have you tried any of the latter batches of Glendronach CS? I see there are no reviews on here, but some of them appear pretty readily available here and I would like to try one. I've kept my eyes on the 18 Allardice also for a while, mainly because I'm intrigued by the 'closure effect' meaning that the 18yrs will this year effectively be 24yrs... but have also seen some rather lackluster review of late, with people saying that the 15 is actually better (though when I did a HTH I thought the 18 was better as it also has Oloroso rather than just PX).

@casualtorture @Victor I believe I’m in the minority of people who generally prefer Glenfarclas 105 to A’Bunadh. Perhaps I’ve hit exceptionally good batches of 105, or maybe Glenfarclas uses more refill casks, which makes 105 less of a “sherry bomb” than A’Bunadh. I don’t know if that’s true, but it might explain my preference.

@OdysseusUnbound - I'd tend to agree but I'm drawing from a very small sample size, as it were.

@RikS Glendronach CS are matured in a combination of Olorosso and PX Cask. If you ever run across batch 4 or 5 they are excellent. They have decent complexity, harmonious flavour, with a good nose, palate, and long lingering finish. In my opinion, they are not sherry bombs.

@fiddich1980 thank you, that's really valuable information. So, it seems that at least batches 1 - 5 is favourably seen, so one may hope that this also goes for 6 and 7 which are the ones available now, I think. I think I'll have to do my best to run across one of these...

And they appear pretty reasonably priced too - I see the batch 7 for £56 / $73US here in the UK.

I enjoyed a dram of Kilkerran 12 yo. The bottle is almost empty now. I like its tastes of vanilla, lemon, chalk and honey. It's some kind of wonderful. Which band played that song ?

@NamBeist, GRAND FUNK

@paddockjudge thanks!

@Victor I'm pretty excited about a tasting i'm going to this week in which the line up features a couple of hard to find Glendronach bottles. I'll report back after the event.

@fiddich1980 I've been sitting on a batch 2 of the Glendronach CS for a few years now. I think I tasted from a sister bottle in Calgary. I wonder how much it would be worth? I hope at least an 86... The problem is finding an opportunity to open it with people when there are so many other impressive bottles to try.

@Nozinan I would not know the value of the Glendronach Batch 2. However, today after reading @RikS's, inquiry about Glendronach CS, I decided it was time to retry and take notes on the Batch 4 which I, had brought to your Epic Tasting. It is about 2/3 full and gassed. The flavours of plums, dates, allspice, cinnamon, and vanilla, were very well integrated and harmonious. Moreover, the sweetness was not dominated by the PX Cask. There was a lot of spiciness from the Olorosso cask. If I were to put a theme to the Batch 4 : Christmas Plum Pudding with flaming brandy. It was a 90-91 rating for me.

Yesterday's Glen Garioch 1995 freaked me out on the initial pour. I thought I had bought a Timorous Beastie. Then the addition of water and time took it to a totally different level.

I have a tough time valuing brown spirits. I generally, look for a core of agreement and how an individual interpretation influenced their judgement of a whisky when reading reviews.Then I consider if it is profile I would enjoy or provides enough interesting to try. Human's are subjective and diverse in their preferences. Then there is the fact that a the spirit evolves over time in the bottle. This of course makes the bottle an individual. It is a challenge to make a generalisation on a brand of whiskies. Simply put, trust your own senses. I don't know if I've answered you question. @Nozinan what's the question?

@fiddich1980 Sorry, I was unsuccessfully trying to be funny. I'm the first person to criticize people for using Connosr as a platform for selling bottles.

I think I've made my position clear in the past that I don't buy to invest, and while I respect my friends who do, I also respect that they haven't used Connosr as a platform for making money.

So I used that language deliberately, but I used it to mean "how good might that batch be? How much will we enjoy it when we open it?" I hope you'll be there to help me answer that question.

@Nozinan No apology required. I just couldn't figure out what your question was about. I'll probably put together a sample bottle of the Foursquare "Premise". I think you'll enjoy it.

@RikS you have already received more batch info on Glendronach CS than I can provide.

@fiddich1980 for me Cask Strength 100% Sherry matured = "sherry bomb".

@Victor When I think sherry bomb, the association is with A'bunadh. Your analysis makes perfect sense" the base malt is totally eclipsed by the heavy sherry which is what grabs your gonads and squeezes". Much like your comments about IS, the base malt of Glendronach CS Batch 4 does not get "eclipsed by the sherry", the nuance flavours in the base malt do shine through. The DNA of Glendronach is present, in particular a profile similar to the 2016 release of Revival 15. From the perspective of subjective tasting, I do not consider Glendronach CS to be a sherry bomb, but: from a technical perspective it is a sherry bomb. Another aspect of A'bunadh is the comments that it's "too hot". I wonder if this is the result of a "rushed distillation"? Thus resulting in large batch variations.

@fiddich1980 I’ve Not really noticed that A’Bunadh is too hot. Batch 36 seemed a little vegetal, maybe Some soulful, and 38 was maybe a little hot, but none of the others. And some have been downright excellent.

Last night, Balmenach SMWS 48.42 (10 year - Nov. 2002) "Grown-Up Ice Lollies" from a first-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 56.7% ABV. When water is added, it tastes just like a stick of Juicy Fruit chewing gum. This is one of the very few whiskies that I actually prefer it with a few drops of water added.

Finished with Croftengea SMWS 122.23 (7 year - Feb. 11th, 2011) "Highly a-musing" from a second-fill ex-bourbon hogshead - 57.7% ABV. This one is unusual in that I like it equally with or without water added. I can't get over how much this reminds me of an Islay whisky. So good!

At the tasting I presented at my sister's house yesterday:

1) G & M 1998 Inchgower 13 yo

2) Hakushu 12 yo

3) Mellow Corn

4) Van Winkle 12 yo

5) Dad's Hat Vermouth Cask Finished Rye

6) Tamdhu Batch Strength Batch No 2

7) Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX

8) Amrut Naarangi

9) Aberlour A'bunadh Batch # 54

10) Isle of Arran Sauternes Finish

11) Old Pulteney Navigator

12) Brenne Single Malt (Cognac Cask)

13) Talisker 57 Degrees North

14) Ardbeg Uigeadail L10 151

15) Ardbeg Ten

16) Pappy Van Winkle 15 yo

17) Knob Creek Cask Strength Rye

18) Thomas H Handy Sazerac Rye

10 were present, 8 of whom were women. Yes, we need more whisk(e)y women! There were a lot of first-timers-tasting-with-us present. 6 of 10 were beginners. The most well-liked whiskies from the group were Brenne, Old Pulteney Navigator, and Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX. At least one beginner came to understand that she is enthusiastic about having brine in her whisky, but has not yet acquired a taste for peat and smoke. We started losing people after 3 or 4 hours. Apparently @Maddie had not made it clear in advance that these are usually 6+ hour operations. Under normal circumstances we would have tried about 10 more American whiskies to add to the list.

@Victor is really love to join you once for one of these tastings!

@RikS please do!

A little JW Black followed by a Booker's. I'm really enjoying this bourbon tonight - sweet, floral but with one hell off a punch! Bottle's about half full and it is much improved now some air has got to it.

@RikS and @Nozinan and others in the Glendronach CS discussion. Thought I would throw in my two cents for what its worth.

I have owned a bottle of of Glendronach CS batch 2 and I have also tried batches 4, 5 and 6.

I honestly prefer batch #2 (@Nozinan you got a nice one there . . . and if you are looking to trade it I am your man!). My bottle certainly got better with time. It lasted three years and was its best just near the end. It always scored in the low 90's. I would probably give it a wholistic score of 91 for the life of the bottle. By the end I think I scored it a 93 on one occasion. (I still have 50mL saved for a future comparison if necessary).

My second favorite was batch 5 which has some lovely funk and darkness to it, and then 4 which is less dark and more clean sherry. Batch 6 was my least favorite. It was too spirity and and not as rich and dark as the others. It lacked the bass tones you find in deep sherry whiskies. But it did pack a HIGH ABV punch.

I also preferred the 18yo over the 21yo and the 15yo. Again, those are just the bottles I have sampled. I don't know what years they were. But I really enjoyed the 18yo enough to pick up a bottle. My bottle is dated from early 2018 so that puts is at 22 or 23 year old juice inside. I look forward to opening it one day.

Again, don't trust what others say (including me). Try for yourself. I have also heard that people prefer the 15yo. But when I sampled it from my friends bottle I much preferred the 18yo. I thought the higher ABV of the 21yo would win my heart. Again, wrong.

My experience with Glendronach so far is that they are putting out well above average bottles. If something has your eye I would buy without much trepidation.

@fiddich1980 I also scored my experience with Glendronach batch 4 a 90. And I would agree that batch #4 is not "necessarily" a sherry bomb. Batch 2, and 5 have much more deep sherry influence. I got a lot of orange and citrus notes from batch 4. It was very clean and I would agree with your assessment that the spirit was not eclipsed by the sherry. I thought is was a very balanced CS bottle and I would happily own one. That all said, I preferred batch 2 and 5 because they were more along those "sherry bomb" lines. Deep rich stewed fruits with some dunnage warehouse funk and leather.

@Victor I love how you throw the newbies into the deep end! What a trip of a tasting that must have been. Going from Mello Corn to Van Winkle 12yo to Dad's Hat Vermouth finished Rye . . . WOW that gives me whiplash just thinking about it!

It sounds like a fantastic time and it looks like you ended strong. A very generous tasting!

@RikS, Don't be misled by @Victor 's claim of 6hours for a tasting, that is for newbs. Set aside double that.

@Nock If I had 2 bottles I would be happy to send one your way. Sadly I have only one and I want to enjoy it with as many enthusiasts as possible when the time comes.

@Victor What a fantastic lineup, and wish I was there! Any comments about the Dad's Hat? I'm most curious...