So, what are you drinking now?

@Nozinan - I've tried them side by side and honestly felt I'd be happy with either, mood dependent. The 10/100 was really very good but I'm not always in the mood for full frontal power whiskys. That's where the 10 excels as it has lots to offer (a good all-rounder?) but was more accessible. It also has this ale like quality to it, which I love in a whisky, and does well for the abv.

I have a storage crisis. No room for anymore bottles, maybe even the ones I have.

So I'm identifying 4-5 bottles I want to get rid of, bottles that seemed right at the time or that I received as gifts. One is promised to a fellow Connosr hopefully sometime later this year, and I've found a few more that happen to be listed at the LCBO.

The plan: match a few of these to the price of an otherwise too expensive whisky. I've done this before with unwanted bottles.

The question is, what do I want to get? I see a few bottles of Caol Ila 15 YO unpeated, but I'm a little gun-shy after reading @Markjedi1's review. Another option is Lagavulin 12 2017 edition.

Luckily @fiddich1980 gave me a sample to try. I'm tasting it now. It's good, and one can never have too much Lag 12 at home.

Of course, the NBC release is only a short while away.

I will consider all of these options as I sip on this Lag 12.

@Nozinan, Lag 12

@Nozinan the Liquor Control Board of Ontario has two great virtues: the beauty of its displays at the premier stores, and its return policy. Oh the backlighting! So pretty, while being so expensive. More art gallery than liquor store, by US standards.

@Victor I would gladly trade the “art gallery” aspect of the LCBO for the better pricing at “Cousin Zeke’s Booze Barn”.

@OdysseusUnbound, I too would welcome cousin Zeke into the neighbourhood. I wonder if he would help to pay for universal health care? Tax-based financing pays for our health care system in Ontario. The LCBO is an instrument through which tax revenue is collected, sad but true. When I see the sterile settings of LCBO retail outlets I'm reminded of where health care dollars are generated.

@paddockjudge I agree, but I also believe it’s not an either/or situation. Nova Scotia also has a liquor monopoly and universal health care, yet their prices on whisky are almost always better than ours. And allowing cousin Zeke into the market doesn’t mean he would be exempt from excise taxes.

@paddockjudge

Crazy examples like Ardgeg aside, I would be happy with the higher prices if they would just bring in the variety that places like Calgary have.

Nerdy collectors like me are a rarity, but people who like to buy something good, even if it costs a little more, should be able to do that in their home province.

@Nozinan, an AMEN from the choir!

@OdysseusUnbound, Nova Scotia certainly does offer its whisky buying public better prices than Ontario. At one time, so did New Brunswick; those days are long gone.

Just in case people think I only drink high proof whisk(e)y . . . I also, will on occasion, also drink high proof rum. I am still not a rum guy. As a whole it is far too sweet for me. But on occasion . . . In the end I was very surprised by this tasting. Blind was impossible because I could instantly tell which was which from the color. I thought the Foursquare had a ton of coconut and vanilla. It reminded me a lot of a bourbon. The Goslings had the least "rum funk." All are good purchases for the money.

@Nock, maybe get some navy strength gins in there too.

Would you really have trouble differentiating those four (five--I don't know the FourSquare) rums blindfolded? They seem pretty distinct to me. And I drink all four of those also.

I like rum, but it disappoints me frequently. I don't yet have any high proof rhums agricoles, but I would like to. I like rhum agricole even at 40% ABV. Depaz or Clement, no doubt others.

@Victor @Nock

I am a proud owner of 3 of thse rums. I was introduced to the SMith and Cross and Lemon Hart by @Victor, and have him to thank for my first bottle of the Lemon Hart (which I was subsequently able to source in NS (have you tried it yet @Talexander?) The Smith and Cross used to be readily available at the LCBO but has been absent the last few years.

I haven't tried the unaged rum yet, as I'm waiting for a change to flambé, at which time I will also sip.

@Victor sadly my liquor-controlled state doesn’t like to carry cask (or navy) strength spirits. The only Navy Strength gin I have is a bottle from Plymouth. I do like it, but the Plymouth style is different from the London Dry – which I prefer.

@Victor I don't drink the rums straight often enough to really remember them. I mostly use them for cocktails during the summer. But yes, someone with a passingly familiarity with them could easily distinguish them by nose alone. The Goslings is my go-to for dark rum cocktails and the Wray & Nephew for light rum cocktails. I like the high proof for Tiki drinks. I like that the high proof can stand up to all those “juices.”

Like you I am often disappointed when I opt for Rum over Scotch, Rye, or Bourbon. The Smith & Cross really has a ton of funk that I am not always in the mood for. This bottle has been open for years. I bought it soon after tasting your bottle. My bottle seemed much more offensive. My guess is that I have had it open for at least 3 or possibly 4 years. And it is only now calmed down to where I like it (in the right mood).

I bought and opened the Lemon Heart during the Christmas of 2017. It is one I clearly need to spend more time with . . . when in the proper mood.

I saw the Foursquare in a few shops in Nashville last Christmas. The prices ranged from $55-$90. I am glad I was able to get a small sample of the 2004 (11yo) at 59%. It certainly was interesting. I feel confident that you (plural), @Victor and @Nozinan, would both enjoy it. There was a ton of coconut and vanilla and it really seemed closer to a bourbon than the funky style of Smith & Cross. The down side is that it was very sweet and was thinner than I expected for an 11yo at 59%. (Not “thin” mind you, but “thinner”). A bourbon at that age and ABV would have been thicker with far more oak. Still, I would call it a rum for bourbon drinkers.

@Nock the majority (and usually 70+% grain content) corn content which you get in bourbon, despite its usually completely and the rest of the time almost completely nonexistent taste around new wood, does give a whiskey a great deal of body. You see this thinner body with 100% ryes as well, which are very noticeably thinner in texture than are bourbons. I like a thicker body in all spirits, and that usually comes either from 'high' ABV or from corn. So I adore the 100% ryes I have had, but I appreciate the added thicker body in US straight ryes, which still have about 35% corn content in them.

Last night, in preparation for a Society tasting on Monday night, I sampled the 6 whiskies and one non-whisky that I will be pouring. I can’t reveal the details until after the tasting, but in my opinion, it is a pretty good lineup.

@Nock I have heard many good things about Foursquare. I'll keep an eye out.

I stopped at "Boyd's Jig n Reel" today while in Knoxville, TN. One of 5 SMWS bars in the US I believe and over 950 different whiskies!!!! A hidden gym at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and definitely worth a weekend trip. I sampled "Arran - The Devil's Punchbowl Chapter 2," and Laphroig Triple Wood (I see myself owning a bottle of that in the future.)

If you are ever in Knoxville I would highly recommend this spot. A huge selection of SMWS whiskies as well. I would have spent more time (and money) if I wasn't driving back home.

Tonight, Penderyn SMWS 128.7 (5 year - Mar. 2013) "Down the old fruit mines" - First-fill barrique (shaved/toasted/re-charred) - 61.1% ABV. A perfect dram for the fall season.

@Nozinan Yes, definitely!

1)LAG 16:I''m having and loving this ashy batch 2) Ledaig 10: oh my, need a back up 3) Laphroaig Cairdeas: Triple Wood: so good at 59%

Reverse order, so Laga last, right now in fact. It works, surprisingly, though the abv is going in reverse order. In any case, the Lag 16 has a Machir Bay like banana flavor--it tastes young for 16---but that ashy finish does it for me. The nose too. In fact, if it were bottled a few abv points higher, it "might could" be a classic (as one says around these parts). . I'm already someone who talks with his hands, but there's something about the finish of a good Lagavulin 16 that breaks my heart.

Maybe I'm channelling the little Nick Cave on my shoulder (jut saw him and had the second question of the QA--thank you crutches :) I asked about Rowland S Howard and JLP and then he played "Shivers." This is Jeffrey Lee Piece I have on my mind (RSH covered it): www.youtube.com/watch

I wasn't going to post this. I usually don't have three drams either, but this was part of my post:

I had to first let a friend know that he can't drink my whisky as he has done in the past (half a bottle of Ardbog in a night!).He harassed a woman in grad school (the letter was in everyone's mailbox and the cops visited him), he became a white supremacist (and actually lived with Jared Taylor from AmRen), and raped/or refused to pull out when asked by a young woman. Her family wanted to kill him. Oh yeah, he pays a fee for a woman to stay with him--I'm not joking--and she doesn't seem to like him much.

I don't contact him ever , but what pissed me off tonight is that he offered to buy me an expensive round if I bought a cheap "crap" one. Fuck that condescension. He also dissed my city (Baltimore). He barely sniffs before he gulps. I will not share my cabinet with him.

I'm hitting fifty soon and healing broken bones, so my tolerance for all of that is over.

I apologize if I'm not epic, celebratory, or cheery.That's not what whisky represents for me, not now. My wife loves A’bunadh, so that's something to be happy about.

@Victor, that is fascinating information about corn. I have always thought about corn as the “filler” agent in Bourbon and Rye similar to how I think about grain whisky in blended scotch. I always assume that malt is what provides the beefier and heavier texture.

I think of MGP rye (95%) as being much thicker than either Baby Sazerac Rye or Jim Beam Rye. I believe both are low rye mash bills (around 51%). Sazerac has 39% corn. I think of Rittenhouse Rye as being thicker only because of the higher ABV (I know it has 51% rye with 37% corn).

That is certainly in information to recalibrate my thinking on American whiskey.

@Nock the experiment I would suggest is to try as many 100% rye content ryes as you can, and then compare them to straight ryes, adjusting for ABV of course.

Last night, @jordytropp and I conducted a Society tasting for 40 people in Seattle.

29 year (May 1989) Cameronbridge (Single Grain) SMWS G4.18 "The paradise patisserie" from a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel. 54.7% ABV

7 year (July 2011) Glenallachie (SMWS 107.17) "Kissing a rainbow" from a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel. 62.3% ABV

9 year (April 2009) Glen Ord (SMWS 77.57) "Down the old wax mines" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. 59.1% ABV (one of my two favorites of the night).

14 year (August 2004) Dailuaine (SMWS 41.121) "There will be blood orange". After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a medium charred, fine grained 2nd-fill French oak barrique. 58.9% ABV. (My second favorite of the night).

8 year (March 2010) Glen Scotia (SMWS 93.115) "Seafood cycles" from a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel. 61.2% ABV. This was good, but not as good as some of the other recently released Glen Scotia's from the Society.

11 year (September 2007) Caol Ila (SMWS 53.297) "Stampede of peat" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. This was very good; better than the Glen Scotia between the two peated drams.

Finished the night with a 1997 Armagnac (SMWS A3.3) "University bonfire" from J. Goudoulin.

Thanks to @jordytropp for all of his assistance with the tasting. (Photo courtesy of @jordytropp)

@bwmccoy, I'm gonna make my to one of those Left Coast tastings....warning, I may not be alone!

@paddockjudge - Now that would be an EPIC tasting!!!! You (and whoever you bring along) are welcome any time!

@bwmccoy, and that, sir, is an offer of Epic proportions.

@bwmccoy , the @paddockjudge is voicing what I've been thinking about for a couple of weeks now.