So, what are you drinking now?

Surprisingly free of Jet-lag on this first full day home. It SHOULD feel like 5 am but I'm barely feeling any fatigue. I went down to choose a small pour for tonight and my eyes landed on Kaiyo Mizunara CS whisky. I first tasted it earlier this month when @Paddockjudge and I opened this bottle at an epic tasting (report still pending). We then split the remainder of the bottle and it has stood quietly in my cabinet (as has everything else). It's a little hot neat, but seems to tame with a little water. We'll see how it stands on its own as I write up my Epic tasting report...

Tonight, Westland SMWS 133.1 (5 year - October 2011) - "Speakeasy sneaky peeky" Virgin oak barrell/Heavy char - 57.0% ABV.

Finished with a heavily peated Glenturret SMWS 16.33 (8 year - Dec. 2009) "Melville’s other monster" - Re-charred hogshead - 62.0% ABV.

Last night I had Redbreast 12 CS - really enjoying this. Very approachable and even on early acquaintances I think this may be my fave Irish thus far. That said, it doesn't seem to take much water given the strength.

Pikesville rye - approaching the last fifth of the bottle after 7 months of being opened and this just gets better. Superb neat and the balance of sweet and spice is exquisite. So glad I got two on sale recently.

Wisers Dissertation - early days but very enjoyable. More 'classic rye' notes than the PV but with a very rich backbone; this should open up nicely.

Talisker 18 - this one too nears its end but the air has really brought out the tropical fruits. Some differences from my last bottle with less sweet liquorice on the finish but still highly enjoyable. A classic.

Had a pour of Springbank 15, the bottles been open three months now and only down to the top of the label. Last night I 'got it' or it has started to blossom at any rate. Lots of oranges, red fruit, creamy malt and something akin to sweaty socks but in a good way with some soft smoke. Time was against me but I could easily have made a serious dent on that showing!

My older son and his wife recently moved to the area. We celebrated a late Christmas with them yesterday (Sunday). My son and I had the following drams while opening gifts.

Miltonduff SMWS 72.31 (29 year - Dec. 1983) "Something Old, Something New" - Refill Hogshead ex-Bourbon - 48.3% ABV

Bladnoch SMWS 50.56 (23 year - July 1990) ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!’ - Refill barrel - 60.3% ABV

Penderyn SMWS 128.7 (5 year - Mar. 2013) "Down the old fruit mines" - First-fill barrique (shaved/toasted/re-charred) - 61.1% ABV

With dinner (tri-tip steaks and asparagus on the charcoal grill with pecan wood chips added), Mortlach SMWS 76.144 (13 year - October 2005) "I caught the darkness..." - After 11 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a 1st-fill charred red wine barrique cask - 60.0% ABV. It was interesting how much the red wine finish came through when paired with dinner. Almost no whisky character at all. Nosed and tasted just like a lighter red wine.

@bwmccoy I hope you didn’t drink that last one like a light red wine.... my sips of wine tend to be larger than my sips of whisky...

@Nozinan - no, normal whisky sips and relatively small pours as well. :-)

@Nozinan Yes, and mixing the grape and the grain is usually, for me, a recipe for a headache. I've learned the hard way that drinking red wine after drinking whisky is a bad idea.

@bwmccoy I do love me some Miltonduff. I have had a very good 22 year old, but I'm betting that 29YO is spectacular.

Glenfarclas 21 at the last 1/3 mark:

This has held up well having been opened over one year and five months. It is not my favourite of the core range. A savoury single malt with rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme notes. Spices more in line with nutmeg, allspice, clove, touches of black pepper and green cardomon. There is a flinty salt finish bordering on a citrus sauvignon blanc dry wine finish. More unbalanced in comparison to the 15 and the 25 but, seemingly more spirity and more youthful that them. I suspect that the bourbon cask were tired and the sherry cask were not as active.

@BlueNote - yes, it is. However, my son’s favorite of the four was the Bladnoch, which was tasting particularly good yesterday.

@bwmccoy Ralfy recently did a review of a newer Bladnoch, and rated it favourably. I wonder though, where the distillery got its spirit from as they haven’t owned it long enough for it to be their distillate.

Alberta Premium CS. All 65.1% of it.

The last 2 years I posted a review of a Lot 40 CS 100% rye on NY day. This year, I'm not convinced that the release is of the same quality. But I still wanted to do a Canadian whisky. After looking at the options, I've chosen this one to review.

See you on the other side...

@fiddich1980 Just got a bottle of GF 21 recently and so far I still prefer the 15.

@Nozinan - older stocks perhaps? Bladnoch is one those distilleries I'm yet to tick off.

Not drinking yet (Bit early even for NY eve) and have a day of cooking (Spanish style meatballs with beans, cinnamon and pimenton) and party prepping ahead for later this pm. My eldest (3) has really got the festive bug this year and is very excited!

Anyway, all of this is to say that I'll be trying to sneak in a few wee nips and maybe a beer or two along the way. I doubt I'll have the energy after theyve gone to bed!

Wishing you all the best for tonight and 2020!

Some club buddies and I are planning an early-evening Laphroaigathon for New Year's Eve tonight. The table will be groaning under the weight of many 10 CS batches, many recent Cairdeases (back to 2014, at least), most of the standard-range stuff, and—according to rumors—a few surprises beyond those.

Happy new year!

@Nozinan - I agree with @RianC that they are pulling from their stock of casks that would have been included in the purchase of the distillery.

I’m getting started for 2020. I cracked open my bottle of Yamazaki 12 YO and I lit up a Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ cigar. Aahhh! So long to 2019 thankfully.

Before meeting up with family for New Year’s Eve celebrations, I made a “smoky mountain” cocktail for my wife and I with burnt cinnamon stick smoke, whiskey (I used Copperworks new French oak single cask), maple syrup and bitters.

Hope everyone has a fun (and safe) New Year’s Eve and a Happy New Year!

Danfield's 21 a sample from @paddockjudge. This is a gorgeous whisky:

Nose: ripe orchard fruits, honey, white grapes, caramel popcorn

Taste: balanced sweetness vanilla bean and nuisances of baking spice, mild cinnamon and roasted red peppers, creamy corn syrup ; oily silky mouth feel

Finish: long fading finish with touches of mild chili flake and smoke.

Balanced from start to finish.

To everyone Happy New Year and Be Safe.

@fiddich1980, I’m jealous, all I have is Johnnie Blue and CC 41 Chronicles

Celebrating New Year’s Eve last night with my wife’s family, my brother-in-law and I had the following;

Glenrothes 12 year (Jun. 2007) from a 1st-fill Spanish oak Sherry butt - 64.6% ABV. A classic sherry bomb!

Bowmore 15 year (Feb. 2004) from a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon hogshead - 57.1% ABV. Cereal, smoked shellfish and salty with a dry finish. Best Bowmore I’ve had in a long time.

Glen Scotia SMWS 93.112 (14 year - Feb. 2004) "Sweet and grubby" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 53.7% ABV. Oily, tar and oak with maple syrup and salted caramels.

Ardmore SMWS 66.153 (11 year - May 2007) “Herbs on a grill tray” from a refill ex-bourbon barrel. Very herbal (rosemary, sage) with smoked meats and burnt toffee.

Ardmore SMWS 66.154 (10 year - July 2008) “Robocow” from a refill ex-bourbon barrel. Farmyard, very peaty for an Ardmore with some medicinal and mechanical notes as well.

Caol Ila SMWS 53.298 (11 year - September 2007) "Tokaji and tug boats" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 60.0% ABV. Sweet coal ash.

Finished with a heavily peated Glenturret SMWS 16.33 (8 year - Dec. 2009) "Melville’s other monster" from a re-charred hogshead - 62.0% ABV. Dense, chewy peat, fishy, earthy and medicinal.

Here’s to a prosperous and healthy 2020. Happy New Years!

@paddockjudge I always shed a tear at this time of year for those living below the poverty line and struggling to keep their cabinets stocked with the essentials.

We went to my wife’s cousin’s place. Her husband opened a bottle of Glenfiddich Project XX. I was very pleasantly surprised. It’s definitely on the sweet end of the spectrum but it’s bottled at a respectable abv which helps to cut through some of the sweetness.

@BlueNote, not my bottles, I had four pours of Johnnie Blue and two pours of CC41 YO... I can't afford that shit!

Last night, before dinner, my wife made Brie cheese in a puff pastry appetizer. I paired it with Glendronach 12.

After dinner, Linkwood 15 Year Old from Gordon & Macphail.

I fear I'm developing a cold and this may have an impact on my January dramming. So I decided to try an anti-microbial.

Alcohol at 60% - that's the magic number.

Thanks @odysseusunbound for a sample of Glenfarclas 105. The first 15 cc are going to a good cause...

@Nozinan No Drynuary this year? As it’s been an odd week, I have talked my way into not starting until the 6th. I have to do it because Mexico is coming up and I’m not looking too good in my expensive new Billabong bathing suit. Means no potato chips for a month too.

@BlueNote In the past I've done Dry January after a holiday season of (relative to my normal intake) excess.

This year I essentially had a dry December mostly, after the EPIC tasting on the 7th. I was in Israel for 2 weeks and had a total of 35 cc whisky during that time.

I don't feel a need to abstain for now. And now that I have my consumption from 2019 to compare to (equivalent to 4.5 750 cc bottles, which, I think, is OK) I can watch for any concerning trends.

Sipping some Blanton’s Original. It’s ok, but I don’t get what all the fuss is about. Probably hype and limited availability driving some FOMO out there. There are a lot of “mid-range” flavours here, some “bright, high-end” notes, but almost no low-end depth to speak of. And there’s a real ethanol-forward bitter note the first 10 minutes this is in the glass every time. It does disperse with time, but it’s a bit annoying. It will be interesting to compare this bottle with the other one I have. If I had more room, I would have opened them at the same time to compare.