So, what are you drinking now?

Just a coffee (it's only 08.30am) while getting ready to watch the England v New Zealand Rugby WC semi-final. I may celebrate or commiserate with a dram at lunch time afterwards unless nerves get the better of me ...

@Hewie - I assume you're watching? I'd have you as favourites but not by much. Should be a cracker!

@OdysseusUnbound Stunning series. Also check out Burns' Vietnam epic.

@bwmccoy, you mentioned stretching things out.....I pulled my favourite Toronto Astro Jays t-shirt from the closer, uhm, I mean closet.

@paddockjudge - Love the shirt! Awesome that you got to see Hank Aaron play. In my first game, there was a player by the name of Jose Cruz, who is the father of Jose Cruz, Jr., who you may remember was a Seattle Mariner before being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin (July 31, 1997). To this day, that was the second worse trade in Mariners history. (Adam Jones to Baltimore for Eric Bedard was the worst!)

You mentioned the Oldsmobile... My first car was a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass, no 442, but still a lot of “small world” stuff going on here.

@Hewie that’s why I haven’t opened my SP12CS. I know how fast it will go—and how difficult to replace it will be.

@bwmccoy, haha, yeah it’s a tight little circle this globe. I was young, 10 years old, and didn’t appreciate the greatness of Aaron at the time. The one thing I do remember about him, he was not a large man, not a giant and he had this tiny little waist. I wonder to this day where his power came from..... physics, he had the perfect home run swing and the necessary skills to get the job done.

The 442 was red with a black top, 1968 edition with a few modifications. That thing flew. A few years later I was drinking Mister Sam’s whisky and piloting a Chevy Van.... not necessarily at the same time. I’ve still got a couple of bottles of Sam’s whisky.

@bwmccoy

Timlin was a good pitcher for the jays and was a key part of 2 World Series Championships.

@bwmccoy @paddockjudge your car tales made me remember that my first car was an Oldsmobile Delta 88. Five days after I had gotten it, I had driven it about 25 miles and it was parked outside my house when it was totaled by a reckless driver. I didn't have the car long enough for it to have made a deep impression on me. That sequence seemed like a dream to me. Now you see it, now you don't.

@OdysseusUnbound @talexander Ken Burns was one of many celebrities with whom my late wife dealt in her hotel career. She said that he was a lovely guy. Tom, did you meet Ken Burns in your work?

@paddockjudge Osuna is a great closer. Too bad he’s been a naughty boy. He might have blown his chance to be up there with Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of them all.

PS. The brooms are back in the closet.

A Guinness West Indies Porter with dinner and now onto desert ... a Laphroaig 10 CS. Didn't get chance to celebrate England's highly impressive victory and performance over the All Blacks at lunch so now will have to do.

This stuff is lovely - waxy, medicinal and ash tray like neat but I've found that water and time change this into a much more balanced and fruity dram.

A Wales v England final would be awesome for the NH teams but I kinda hope South Africa get through as the Welsh would literally die to beat us in that final!

@RianC we were out played Well done to the English - a celebratory dram was it? A lot of surprised Kiwis this morning - most were expecting NZ to be there in the final. We had dinner with friends and watched at their house. They had been to a whisky tasting that week and bought a Balvenie 12 Doublewood. Surprisingly this was the first time I've ever tried Balvenie - probably been put off in the past. It was OK but had a very prominent artificial cherry note like I often find in Bourbon.

@RianC @Hewie the match is just starting the broadcast here. So now that I know the outcome.... Such a gentle sport.

@Hewie - Thanks, mate! Yeah, I'm trying to relax with it amidst the cries of a wee bairn I think the only way any team would beat that NZ side is with a performance like that! Best I've ever seen from England.

I quite like the Balvenies I've had but it's a style I seldom seek out. I had a single cask (ex-bourbon) bottling last year though that was very interesting - very tart and sour and different to their standard OB offerings that I've tried.

@Victor = Ach, Sorry Do watch it though, I'm biased, but that was as good a performance you're likely to see in the game against a team that hadn't lost in a WC for 8 years!

As for gentle ... watch some of those tackles fly ... I ached just watching it!

@Victor whoops sorry for the spoiler there. To be fair it's not the best game of rugby to watch - England did a fantastic job of shutting the AB's down. SO much so that they looked very average. A great result for England. Wales vs. South Africa will be an interesting one tonight.

@RianC I was watching with a Scot and she was dead against England winning - something about Culloden

@Hewie - To be fair it's not the best game of rugby to watch - England did a fantastic job of shutting the AB's down . I get that - there will be more open and high scoring games for sure but tactically and intensity wise I thought it was excellent. That any team could do that to that NZ team is worth seeing. Well, maybe not, situation dependent

The comment about the Scot you were with made me laugh And on Culloden - not many know that English regiments from Manchester fought alongside the Jacobites that day (the English, Catholics especially, were just as mistreated by the Crown as were the other nations). A very bloody battle though and the last pitched battle ever fought in Britain.

Fabulous high energy of the players and in the crowd. The excitement is palpable.

Watching a classic between the Leafs and Habs with a friend of mine and having a Wicked Awesome IPA by Nickelbrook Brewing, and a Glenfiddich 15 Solera on the side.

Dissertation and Legacy after Commencement Exercises at the Autumn Convocation. My eldest was presented with a Masters of Science Nursing and a post graduate diploma Nurse Practitioner.... proud Papa! We toasted with Wiser’s Legacy and are continuing the celebration with Wiser’s Dissertation

Hazelburn 13 :I hope I don't run out.

Ardbeg 10:it never gets old

Longrow: (NAS?0: too good for school)

Peat can be like a rainbow, ,excluding Hazelburn, which has it's own rainbow,Can there be two rainbows?

www.youtube.com/watch

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@paddockjudge Good to see that there is no added colour in the Legacy. Why, I can practically see through the bottle.

Congratulations on a job well done. It takes good parenting to produce good offspring.

My wife was the Director of Nursing here for 18 years. She has said many a time that increasing the responsibilities of nurse practitioners is the best way to relieve pressure on the health care system and take care of many situations that do not require a doctor. Your newly minted professional will have no trouble finding a job.

Oh, and one other thing @paddockjudge, re the Nationals/Expos: OH, OH!!

@Nozinan - yes, Mike Timlin was great for the Blue Jays, but not for the Mariners. In his defense, Jose Cruz, Jr. was such a fan favorite in Seattle, I doubt anyone would have been able to replace him. The fan base was very upset with the Mariners organization for trading Cruz.

Last night, my brother-in-law was over and we had;

12 year Glenrothes from a 1st-fill Spanish oak ex-sherry butt. 64.6% ABV

15 year Bowmore from a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon hogshead. 57.1% ABV

Laphroaig SMWS 29.226 (18 year - Mar. 1999) - "Seaside surprise" - Refill ex-Oloroso sherry butt - 56.8% ABV

Makers 101, tasty

@BlueNote ...and for many situations that do require a doctor.....@Nozinan, don't read this.

@BlueNote, the Houston Astro Jays have made it a best-of-three affair. I love October!

@paddockjudge Some of my best colleagues are nurse practitioners... you met one of them in August.

There's lots of overlap in scope and we work best when we work together.

Maybe I can put it in a different way... I specialize in single malts and dabble in NA whisky. You specialize in NA whisky and dabble in malts.

When we drink alone, it's good. When we combine our talents, we get an EPIC tasting.

@Nozinan Nicely put, Doc.

@paddockjudge Is game 5 in Washington and then 6&7 back in Houston? That might be good for the Nats as both teams seem to like the road.