So, what are you drinking now?

Started the afternoon with a drink alongside my mother in law. I had a Gin and Tonic with her (using Bruichladdich’s Botanist Dry Gin- lovely) and then a NickelBrook Kentucky Bastard Stout, aged in ex-bourbon barrels. Delicious but potent at 11.9% abv.

Linkwood 15 Year Old / Gordon & Macphail

Today at my great aunt’s house. She has two trees weighed down with oranges. She also has an avocado tree. My daughter claimed and got the really juice oranges and we squeezed a lot of OJ. Fresh. Healthy. Delicious.

Neat

Nose: citrus, fresh. Clearly Orange-tree matured. You can smell the oils from the skin. 25/25

Taste: tart. Fresh. Explosion of flavour with each sip. Very orangy. Surprisingly, little to no hint of Amrut Naarangi. 25/25

Finish: Short, astringent and tart 25/25.

Balance: nose and palate complement each other perfectly. Slightly tart but that is a characteristic, not a flaw. 25/25.

Total score: 100/100

This one goes well with a few drops of water or 40:60 with soda.

Just opened a Redbreast 12 CS. I've a bit of a cold so nosing is limited but very rich and buttery with a surprisingly little amount of heat on the palate and a silky mouthfeel. I remember the standard 12 being very quaffable and this is more of the same on first impressions.

@RianC What is the batch version on your Redbreast CS?

@RianC I haven’t had any in a long time. My current bottle of Redbreast 12 CS has been open over 2 years. I am so far behind in tasting the expressions I want to...

Tonight it was Goldstar on tap. This one was the least malty of all the beers I tasted this trip.

Tomorrow.... the distillery tour!!!!!!

@Nozinan Its hard to beat the flavour of fresh squeezed OJ. Those Israeli beers sound good too. Happy Hanukkah to you and the family. Safe travels.

Last night on Christmas Eve eve, before dinner, I made Gin & Tonics with 3 parts Fever Tree Light Premium Indian Tonic Water and 1 part Society Gin (SMWS GN1.3 “Coriander meander”) distilled in Aug. 2017 at Makar in Glasgow, aged in a second-fill ex-bourbon barrel. 57.8% ABV.

After dinner, Glen Ord SMWS 77.57 (9 year - Apr. 2009) "Down the old wax mines" - Refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 59.1% ABV.

@Nozinan That sounds like some great OJ. Got a batch number handy?

We visited my wife’s cousin last night, as he was having a small Festivus get-together. It was a great time, and although I stuck to beer most of the night (Great Lakes Brewing’s Pompous Ass English Pale Ale), we ended the night with a few pours of Forty Creek Copper Pot. I wish I had thought to take down the batch number as it was particularly good, the way I remember FC CP tasting about 4-5 years ago. None of the thin, bitter finish that has crept into some more recent batches of Copper Pot and Barrel Select.

@fiddich1980 - B1 17. Having another glass now and really enjoying it ... Even with the cold!

@RianC Excellent!

Merry Christmas to everyone in this little whisk(e)y, bourbon community.

@fiddich1980 Indeed ! Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas, (and Happy Holidays if I’ve forgotten some) to everyone here.

@OdysseusUnbound @fiddich1980 - Hear, hear!

Happy holidays from the epicentre of judeochristianity...

I had a few drinks with my wife’s 88 year old grandfather tonight. Glendronach 12 always tastes better with good company and some good stories, even if I have heard most of them several times before.

I made Baileys Irish Cream Eggnog Milkshakes for the first time. May have found a new Christmas Eve tradition! From our family to yours, Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Wiser's Dissertation. My first taste and it's quite different from what I expected from a rye. Sure, it has some soft, sweet spices and a touch of eucalyptus and spearmint but the arrival is so unusually sweet, almost bubblegum like. Very appealing and rich. A touch of water didn't help the mouthfeel, as I'd suspected, but does increase the oak and spice.

Is this the same rye as Lot 40 as I can't help drawing similarities? Excellent first impressions! Thanks again, Santa

@RianC, Dissertation is 7/8 Rye. I don’t know for certain the other 1/8, but I suspect all or most is double distilled corn whisky. Thee is both pot still rye (Lot 40) and column distilled rye. The whisky will taste better with each pour with the last being the best pour. You are in for a treat if you already like the neck pour.

Last night, while watching Love Actually, which is my wife and I’s Christmas Eve tradition;

Dailuaine SMWS 41.121 (14 year - Aug, 2004) "There will be blood orange" - After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, finished in a medium charred, fine grain 2nd-fill French oak barrique - 58.9% ABV.

Finished with 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.

Merry Christmas to all!

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I'm having having Uigeadail with Ling, my wife, who continues to wow me with her whisky preferences. I'm curious to see what she thinks of the Corry. She loves spice...so I think I I'll have a partner in crime with that bottle.That makes me happy.

She also just let me know that Springbank 12CS is her favorite so far. Might just buy both the CS and the 10 for her. Not sure if she'll like Kilkerran. i know what to get for 1/1/20.

She's Catholic and I'm Jewish: fortunately we have no religious prohibitions on booze! In terms of food, we're going for Thai.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Yesterday, celebrating Christmas at my brother-in-law's house, he opened a gift from his boss; a 3-pack of Kings County Distillery (Brooklyn, NY) whiskey.

Kings County Straight Bourbon (80% NY Corn, 20% English barley) aged 2 years (or more) in charred 10-gallon oak barrels. 45% ABV.

Kings County Peated Bourbon (corn and Scottish peated malt). 45% ABV. I didn't really notice the peat, but there was an earthy quality that the straight bourbon didn't have which I'm assuming is due to the peat.

Kings County Single Malt Whiskey (English and Scottish barley with a hint of peat, per the distillery), twice-distilled in pot stills, aged in the distillery's own used ex-bourbon barrels for a minimum of 3 years. 47% ABV. Honey and hay on the nose. Tons of straw / hay in the finish on the palate.

Next, my brother-in-law opened another gift; Dalwhinnie Winter's Frost (Game of Thrones House Stark) bottling. 43% ABV. I haven't had a Dalwhinnie in ages. This was better than I was expecting. A lot of honey and honeycomb on the nose and palate. Not something that I would seek out to purchase, but it was a very enjoyable dram.

Balvenie 12 year Doublewood

Aberlour 12 year (May 5th 2006) SMWS 54.68 "A perfect garden party" from a refill ex-bourbon barrel. 53.8% ABV.

Arran 17 year (April 20th, 2000) SMWS 121.100 "Pure indulgence" from a 1st-fill ex-red wine hogshead. 50.1% ABV.

Bunnahabhain 9 year (October 22nd, 2008) SMWS 10.162 "Big wave sofa" finished in a 1st-fill ex-Oloroso hogshead after initially maturing in an ex-bourbon hogshead. 61.4% ABV.

Finished the night with Ardbeg 10. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas celebration and holiday season.

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

And Glen Scotia SMWS 93.112 (14 year - Feb. 2004) "Sweet and grubby" - Refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 53.7% ABV.

Tonight I'm sipping some Weller 12. I'm glad I didn't give up on this bourbon. While I still prefer the Antique 107, this is a lovely easy-sipper now that the bitterness has gone from the finish. I get different types of fruit on the nose almost every time I drink this lately. There's always some cherry and vanilla, but the last time I had it, I swore there was some pineapple and maybe some mango in there and tonight the aroma of ripe peaches is almost dominating the oak and vanilla notes. Interesting stuff. It's probably more a function of what I've eaten than the bourbon itself.

I’ve moved to Laphroaig 10 now. It’s a bit darker than what I normally expect from this whisky. Not unpleasant at all though...

@OdysseusUnbound, I've sipped many pours of Weller 12 with caramel corn or Poppycock, they seem to made for each other. The time is right to open another bottle of W12, my currently open bottle is falling below half, a work in progress for the past two years.

@paddockjudge Are there significant differences between OWA 107 and Weller Antique 107?

@OdysseusUnbound, there is a discernible difference between these two bottles. It may be attributable to the lengths of time they have been open. The "old label" 107 is more rounded, less tannic, and a touch sweeter, but this would be expected after being open for 3+ years. The "new label" 107 has been open for perhaps 15 - 18 months....also these are the pedestrian twist top releases and cost only 60% as much as the "new new label" fancy expensive cork release

It is a warm day and a Jim Beam BiB & Pepsi on ice was called for as drink for post X-mas and Boxing Day.