So, what are you drinking now?

@Victor - congrats to the Nationals! Great come back win tonight!

@bwmccoy thanks! This year is surreal for the Nats. The Washington Nationals finally accomplished something in the postseason, taking a page from the 2018 Washington Capitals. The Dodgers are certainly the acid test, though.

Sadly, simultaneously, WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne went out with injury 3 minutes into the second game of the WNBA finals against the Connecticut Sun, and the Washington Mystics couldn't handle Jonquel Jones without her. Iff (mathematical if and only if) Delle Donne returns full time the Mystics are still in great shape. They are an awesome scoring machine.

@bwmccoy I may be in Seattle next summer...Count me in!

@Nozinan @paddockjudge @Victor - That would be awesome if we could all get together.

Tonight, I’m revisiting one of the drams from last night’s tasting. 9 year (April 2009) Glen Ord (SMWS 77.57) "Down the old wax mines" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. 59.1% ABV.

I’m a big fan of Glen Ord and this one does not disappoint. Nose: sweet waxes, cereal, lemongrass and sandalwood. Palate: retsina wine, gauze, herbal extracts and tea.

@Jonathan Can someone remove this last post? It's quite ugly. I shouldn't have posted this in a a whisky forum that I greatly admire.

@pierrre

Tonight I am drinking some Bruichladdich The Classic Laddy Scottish Barley.

Tomorrow I will attempt to track down a number of bottles currently on sale in my area.

I love the transparency of Bruichladdich about this bottle. In case you didn't know you can look up your bottle on the website and see all the casks that went into it. They tell everything: the barley, the vintage, each kind of cask used. It is wonderful.

My current batch is 17/347 bottled on 2017/12/05. It has 2 casks from 2006, 16 from 2008, 30 from 2009, and 35 from 2010. And then they tell you all the specifics about the casks.

This is a great salty, animal sour, farmy, barley forward whiskey. I actually preferred batch 19/021 from 2019/01/30. Still, there is a lot here that reminds me a great deal of Springbank 10yo, but without the tires (and a little less complex if I am honest).

My thinking is that this whisky will be a great vehicle to try and add some peat and sherry to. I will buy several bottles at $30.30 each tomorrow and begin my blending experiments. At the very worst I will have some fun stretching this whisky with peat. At best . . . I could end up with my own youthful farmy/peaty blended malt alternative to Brora (ya right). I will probably end up with a bunch of odd peaty whisky to drink. It could be worse!

Last night, I revisited another dram from Monday night's tasting. 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. The Glen Ord and this one were my two favorites of the night, so much so, that I ordered a bottle of each of them.

Nose: rosewater, retsina wine, chocolate, fig jam and blood orange. (In the 12 years that I have been a member of the Society, I have never seen "retsina wine" in a tasting note. Interesting that both the Glen Ord and this one have it)

Palate: cough medicine, raspberry, gin, pecan pie, tutti frutti, herbs and liquorice.

@bwmccoy That's quite the intriguing palate. I'll have to have my member friend look that one up.

Cheers

OK, so I just did a mini experiment. I poured 15mL of Lagavulin 16yo 43% in one glass. In a second glass I mixed 11mL of Lagavulin and 4mL of Everclear 151 Proof. The math say it is now 51.66%. If I am honest 50% ABV is my new 46%. I really like whisky at least at 50% ABV (or higher). I loved Douglas Laing for doing it back in the day with the Old Malt Cask line. Thank you Bruichladdich for taking the lead in this! Now everyone else needs to get on board.

Lagavulin 16yo On the nose. Clearly the straight 16 at 43% is fantastic. Thankfully, this is a good bottle. It is rich, smoky, elegant, oaky, relaxed. You can see why so many people (who are not “super-in-to-whisky”) have long been fans of Lagavulin 16yo.

Now on to the Lagavulin abomination at 51.66%. The nose is very spirity and noticeably thinner. So far what I expected. But on the palate . . . boom! All that wonderful Lagavulin richness in wonderfully intensified and becomes luxurious and almost creamy. Wow! This is what I am talking about.

I am sold. This was a wonderfully fun experiment. I will likely do it again with other lower proof Scotches just to see what happens.

@Nock I'm interested in seeing your results. I'm actually surprised adding everclear makes it better. I've always thought it wasn't the low ABV but the dilution with water that made low ABV whiskies weak. Raising the ABV with neutral spirits should in theory dilute the flavour more.

@Nock This is a wild experiment! I'm also surprised by the results.

@Novinan just for you I am repeating the experiment here after my wife has gone to bed.

To be clear . . . I didn’t say it was “better”. It is obviously very different. The nose score obviously goes down some. Nothing is quite like a good Lagavulin 16yo at 43%. It has its place on your bar.

However, this mouth feel and finish with the added Everclear (again 11mL of Lagavulin to 4mL Everclear so almost 3 to 1) is creamier, more viscous, and . . . more enjoyable for me personally. There is obviously that “grain” element that you get in blended scotch. So if don’t like that then avoid. But I can like it sometimes. This one works for me. Your mileage may vary.

The finish is much bigger. Again, it has that Lagavulin smoke, silk, oak, and leather but now with a bit of creaminess and more bombastic. It really is Lagavulin . . . but blown up like a balloon. It is bigger but also thinner and more stretched. All the flavors are there but more spread out on the tongue . . . and more accentuated. It is like acoustic Lagavulin now plugged in and amplified through a sound system. There might be some feedback or a midrange honk . . . but it is louder.

On my second try I definitely like this more on the palate and the finish than the standard 43% Lagavulin. This mixture is perhaps the perfect Lagavulin blended scotch. The Everclear really isn’t brining any off flavors to the party. Just a flavor intensifier. The mix clearly isn’t a single malt anymore. It isn’t 16yo anymore (with Everclear it really isn’t scotch anymore).

I can only encourage others to try and see what you find. It was totally Ralphy inspired (by the way).

@Nock - Nice experiment. I saw the Ralfy vlog and wondered how effective it could be. Not sure I'd like the grain influence but definitely intrigued by the idea.

Agree on the 50% as well. I guess every spirit is different but I was pondering this whilst sipping some Four Roses SiB last night - 50% is high enough to carry the desired flavour but also a strength that can (usually) be drank without any unpleasant heat.

I've had a mega-heartburn flare up the last few days and had to go on a high alkaline diet to get back in balance (Brussel sprouts are King!). Tested the waters last night with a JD Master Distiller no.4. Nice, easy, sweet yet solid TW; quite possibly the most quaffable whiskey I have open currently. Then a Caol Ila 12 (still tentative that any higher abv will set me off again) - becoming more herbal this one but there was a lovely fruity, liquorice thing going on as well. Then a small Four Roses SiB. Lovely soft bourbon. Much less sweet than the Jack with a delightful buttery popcorn and herbal quality to it.

Hoping I'm still PH neutral later so I can have a wee tasting with my Mum and bring out 'the big guns'.

@RianC sadly, alcohol can make heartburn worse, depending on the cause. I often wonder if it was the reason that I never got into any sort of alcohol in a big way (in the past). And Zantac has been pulled from the market in North America because of a possible link to cancer. Luckily PPIs are available. They changed my gastrointestinal life.

@Nock You have inspired me to seek out Everclear in Alberta(Not available here). I'm torn between it and a Polish product that I saw on the shelf next to it, bottled at 96%. The question is how to get it to Ontario safely. Not by plane, and probably not in the hot summer by mail...

Anyone want to do a road trip?

@Nozinan - Thanks. I take Omeprazole daily (used to be just when I took opiate pain meds) but I think the stress and general exertions of the last two weeks brought on a big attack. If I lay off the acidic foods and hydrate properly it usually recedes. But yeah, whisky and heartburn do NOT mix!

Earlier I had a mini-Epic tasting with my Mum. (well, as EPIC as current circumstances will allow!).

Benrinnes 10 - the last of an @wierdo sample to start. Pear drops and soft vanilla. Nice is about as far as I'd go. Ben Nevis 10 - My Mum's fave of the set. This bottle is almost gone and it's a shame I can't get another. Kicking myself for only buying one at £30 not that long ago and my Mum is taking a good sample back up 't north. Talisker 18 - Tasted really good in this line up. That finish . . . Laphroaig 10 CS - 'TCP' and 'Can I have some more water' were my Mum's comments - I think she liked it though. Springbank 15 to finish - This one needs more air methinks. A bit closed and cluttered but boy is there lots going on. This is NOT an easy access malt!

Having a Four Roses SiB now and will end with a Pikesville rye.

@BlueNote - Is your member friend a member of the Canadian chapter? If so, I'm not sure if that particular bottle will be available there. If they are a member of the American chapter, there are currently 16 bottles still in stock. Personally, I think it is very much worth the cost. I love the influence French oak has on the whisky. There are a lot of unique flavors that I don't get from other types of oak.

By the way, if it wasn't obvious, the nose and palate notes in my last post weren't written by me. When I first taste a new Society bottle, I sit down with the Society's official tasting notes and highlight the ones that I can pick out, so what I listed was what I could nose and taste of the items that were listed by the Society. There were many more that I couldn't smell or taste, so I didn't include those. Just wanted to explain my approach, if it wasn't clear.

@Nock - Thank you for detailing your experiment. I haven't tried my hand at blending like many others on here have done. Now, you've taken it to a completely different level. :-) You (and the other blenders among us) have inspired me to give it a try. Thanks all!

Last night, I was in the mood for some wine influenced peat and smoke, so I went with a dram of Glen Scotia SMWS 93.106 (13 year - March 2005) "Red diesel". After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a 1st-fill Port hogshead - 58.6% ABV. Exactly what I was in the mood for.

Gordon & Macphail Glenturret 1999 cask strength first fill sherry Hogshead, ABV 51.6%. The cask influence on the spirit is perfect. Too bad most of this stuff went to the Asia and Australasian market.

Warning: the following may be upsetting to some purists.

I’m kicking off my weekend with the following spin on a Whisky Sour:

• juice 0.5 lemon
• 1 Tbsp Canadian Maple Syrup
• 2.5 oz Kilchoman Cask Strength Single Cask
• orange wedge and maraschino cherry (garnish)

Sweet, sour, smoky, delightful.

Aberfeldy 12 yr old, a gift from my father In law, it's about time I finished it, a great warming drink to accompany my coffee on a cool fall night.

Tonight, Glenallachie SMWS 107.16 (7 year - Apr. 2011) "Truly a fairy tale" - 2nd-fill toasted oak butt - 67.0% ABV.

Followed by a peated Croftengea from the Loch Lomand distillery SMWS 122.23 (7 year - Feb. 11th, 2011) "Highly a-musing" from a second-fill ex-bourbon hogshead - 57.7% ABV.

@Nozinan @bwmccoy and anyone else interested: I think the key is to find the highest proof and most neutral spirit you can. It might be a high proof vodka. For me it was Everclear. Ralphy recommends a rum that I can’t find.

The idea first came to me with Bruichladdich. I LOVE Octomore 8.3. I am sad my bottle is now below the halfway mark. One night it struck me that I had on hand a bottle of Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2009. And if I added a splash of the Octomore 8.3 (also Islay Barley). I would still have a 5 year old peated Bruichladdich exclusively Islay single malt. So I tried it. Amazing! The ratio was probably about 30mL of Bruichladdich to 5mL of Octomore. But oh my goodness. You already had all that wonderful Laddy malt as a base. The smoky Octomore spread out and was boosted with the Laddy malt. Octomore is SO dense (particually the 8.3) that it still managed to impart massive amounts of flavors (farm and peat) to the Laddy. It ended up really close to a Port Charlotte level of peat. I probably need to blind taste that mix with a few other Port Charlottes I have on hand.

Anyway, after that experience the idea of doing a reverse boost seemed interesting. Now I am using a low ABV single malt for the base, but boosting the power with neutral grain spirit. The flavors are stretched out. But that isn’t always a bad thing. In some ways the flavors are more individuated. It becomes easier to focus on one leather note apart from a deep fruity note. The flavors are further apart and, I think, easier to identify.

In both cases the experience I want is sacrificed for more. I want more Octomore 8.3. But mixing it with the Islay Laddy spreads out that experience. I want a bigger Lagavulin 16yo than the 43% ABV allows. In both cases you do sacrifice density for breadth. But there is an added intensity that didn’t exist in either alone. The additional “boost” takes the desired malt experience (Lagavulin 16yo or Octomore 8.3) to a new level. All I can say is do your own experiment. You might find out something amazing.

@OdsseusUndoub bring on the cocktails. I am all for it! My favorite cocktail is the Vieux Carré. I once made it with:

1oz Sazerac 18yo Rye (2014 release)

1oz Delord 25yo Armagnac

1oz Carpano Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth

¼ oz Benedictine

2 dashes of angostura bitters & 2 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters Built over ice. No garnish.

Some would consider it a waste of good Sazerac 18yo. I thought it was an amazing cocktail. I never did make it again. But it was fantastic. It’s your whisky. Drink it how you like it.

Tonight I started off with a mix of the Classic Laddy Scottish Barley with some Port Charlotte blended in. That didn’t work as well as the Octomore experiment. Then I felt a mood shift to Bourbon. So the ECBP A119. Always a graded “A” bourbon experience in my book. Now I am finishing off with Port Charlotte 10yo.

@Nock thanks for a great post! Very interesting observations you make about using high ABV low flavour density spirits to creatively modify whiskies.

In all the times we've tasted together I don't think that we've talked cocktails much. We are, after all, whisky guys first. The Vieux Carre is my favourite cocktail as well. One day maybe you will join me in one at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans where it was invented.

@Nock I think the logical next step, if you find the everclear spreads the flavours apart, would be to add some to a cask strength malt, wouldn't you say? That could have interesting results...

@Nock Not a waste of Saz 18 at all. In most cases, it's like cooking - the better your ingredients, the better the result.

@bwmccoy great event. Loved the insight you brought to the event with each distillery.

@Victor You are correct sir. We have never discussed cocktails. I have gone through big cocktail phases in the past. I created a "house cocktail menu" for guests just like you might get in a bar. I noticed several years ago that when you ask someone if they would like a cocktail most people have no clue what to say. Because even if they know what they might order at a bar, most people don't know what you can make - that is what you have on hand. So, to simplify things I have an evolving list of cocktails I am prepared to make. Most people grateful to have some reference point.

And if I had to guess, I would have laid big money on you having the Vieux Carre in your top 10 cocktails. Glad to hear (yet again) that our taste profiles align. The Vieux Carre is my favorite cocktail to introduce people to the idea of a "good cocktail" being more than the sum of its parts. I make my standard house VC with George Dickel Rye (or Bulleit; both MGP), Fundador Spanish Brandy, and Martini Rossi Sweet Vermouth (along with Benedictine and bitters). When educating people I will pour a small amount of the individual components for people to try before the cocktail. Then when the flavors are combined in the cocktail . . . magic occurs. Most people notice the change and appreciate the "lift" that all the elements combined create.

@talexander I couldn't agree more. That is why I love to (on occasion) elevate cocktails with higher quality spirits and ingredients. Often it serves to better the overall final beverage. (But sadly, not always).

@Nozinan your point is noted. In for a penny, in for a pound.

In many ways the addition of the grain neutral spirit acts like adding water to whisky. It causes it to open up in new ways. But where water typically dilutes the whisky below what I almost always enjoy, the grain neutral spirit amps up the flavors while still causing it to "open up" if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I am about to do another tasting here this afternoon. I think I will post my impressions in a new thread. It is going to be super long. I feel bad bogging down so many thread with my overly long posts.

@Nock How about "Interesting Things to Try with Whisky"?

@OdysseusUnbound It’s your Kilchoman, you can ruin it any way you like. HaHa, just kidding. That sounds very tasty.

A couple of drams last night:

• Bushmills 10 (40% abv) : I closed the “cottage” for the season and brought the Bushmills to my wife’s cousin’s place. She was hosting a dinner and I figured I’d share the last 1/3 of the bottle with the whiskey drinkers there. It was very popular and the bottle is gone. Review forthcoming.
• Glendalough Double Barrel (42% abv): this bottle bears no age statement on the front, but the back reads “aged for 3 years in bourbon barrels and finished in Oloroso sherry barrels”. First fill? Fourth fill? How long in sherry? From the taste, I’m guessing not too long. The whiskey is not unpleasant, but its youth is apparent, and not in a fun way. The spirity, acetone bitterness doesn’t dominate, but it’s not hard to detect either. Some vanilla/marshmallow notes with a bit of pepper, oak, caramel and lemon. Wouldn’t refuse a glass but wouldn’t buy a bottle. 77/100
• Woodford Reserve Distiller’s Select: Once I got home, I poured a small dram of the entry level bourbon from Woodford to “christen” the Libby Kentucky Trail Bourbon glass(es) given to me as a gift from a kind whiskey angel. This was a very different experience than drinking Woodford from a Glencairn. There was less orange zest and spice on the nose, and the fruitiness was a bit more vague. It reminded me of Juicy Fruit gum, so maybe orange, pineapple, and banana? There was also a bit of a cotton candy flavour in the Woodford. It felt a bit hotter on the palate than I remember. The bottle has been open for about a month (5 weeks?) and is 2/3 full. It was enjoyable but not life changing last night. 83/100
• Stagg Jr (65.95% abv, pictured below): the highlight of my night by far. Despite being much more potent than the Woodford, this baby was smoooooooooooooooooooth as silk. This bottle is almost gone and I’m pretty sad about it. I don’t think I’ve reviewed this batch (9?) yet but I think I’ll wait until the bottle is done to do so. If someone asks me how bourbon should taste, this one comes to mind. Lots of rich vanilla, brown sugar, and sour cherry candies, a char note that is present but not overwhelming, a bit of waxiness, some peppery oak spice, all beautifully balanced. I can only hope that the bottle of Batch 11 (63.95% abv) I have is as good as this Batch 9. Last night this was easily a 92/100.