So, what are you drinking now?

@YakLord That looks inviting!

@MRick Non Chill Filtered, Natural Colour, 54.1% ABV...perhaps a 1.5oz pour was a little too much...

@YakLord Jealous! How is it? I only ever found batch 5. Happy anniversary!

@casualtorture Very nice! The heat didn't start until about half way through, but it was never overwhelming. I picked this up in 2013 (back when Scotch distilled in 1999 was still more affordable), so it's been waiting a while to make its appearance.

@YakLord Well scored. Nothing like that with an age statement available from Arran these days ( at least that I’m aware of). Happy anniversary.

@BlueNote Thank you! There isn't much Arran to be found around here these days. And I'm still not sold on the bottle design.

Last night (Halloween), over at my brother-in-law’s house, we mostly had beer while handing out candy, but finished with a dram of Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2010 - 50% ABV.

Tonight a 10 cc pour of a rare gem for a rare occasion.

I discharged a patient today. This is not in an of itself remarkable. But as a palliative doctor when I discharge a patient they rarely see another doctor, or anyone... but this patient got better. And I will not bore you with the details that make this a very happy day for me, but boy am I happy.

So 10cc North of 7 Canadian whisky, Barrel 16 bottled at Hazmat strength, and opened with a little water, Yay me!

@Nozinan That's great news about your patient.

And that whisky is indeed special. I've tried it at a variety of strengths and it's different every time. At full strength, it's oaky, spicy, and chocolaty. At around 50%-55% abv, there's some caramel and nuttiness that comes through. At 45% abv or so (don't judge me), it's like a s'more with vanilla, marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker type notes coming through.

@OdysseusUnbound 45%. The Horror.

@MRick Don't look at me!

@Nozinan I'm sure that's what makes doing what you do so rewarding. Congratulations, you deserve that dram.

@BlueNote That and...

@bwmccoy Right now I am drinking the Single Cask Nation Teaninich 13 year old. All I can say is YES, YES, YES…er, what I mean is I LIKE IT, A LOT.

@BlueNote - Glad you like it! It's an underrated distillery, in my opinion.

Tonight, my wife finished off a couple of "her" bottles; Glenmorangie Dornoch and Penderyn Legend.

I conducted a head to head comparison of Maker's Mark 46 and Maker's Mark Private Selection for BevMo! - June 2020 - 55.1% ABV. The Private Selection has slightly more wood notes and is creamier. The standard 46 is sweeter and a little more "harsh" than the private selection.

Last night (Wednesday), I rated 3 recently opened peated bottles;

Bunnahabhain SMWS 10.176 (11 year - Dec. 2007) "Tea-smoked salmon" - After nine years in an ex-bourbon hogshead transferred into a second fill Spanish oak ex-Oloroso hogshead - 59.2% ABV. Rating: 94. Perfect balance between the peat and the wine finish.

Laphroaig 10 year Cask Strength Batch 012 (Feb. 2020) - 60.1% ABV. Rating: 93. I can't believe it has been over 10 years since I last owned a bottle of cask strength 10 year. That won't happen again. This stuff is amazing!

Glenturret SMWS 16.52 (11 year - Dec. 2009) "Campfire breakfast on a damp morning" from a re-charred American oak hogshead - 63.4% ABV. Rating: 92. This one is developing nicely in the bottle. Only opened a couple of weeks, but quite improved.

@bwmccoy Very nice mid-week lineup.

A friend gave me this sample of this 22 year old Ben Nevis from That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Quite spectacular.

After a long evening of parent-teacher conferences, I’m sipping some Michter’s Small Batch. I’m not sure if they’re bottling their own product yet or if this is still Old Forester (or was it Four Roses?) but this is much better than I thought it would be. The deeper brown sugar/caramel notes are balanced out by some bright fruits (oranges? lemons?) and just enough barrel spices. It’s unfortunate that this sits at about $75-$80 as it’s not great value for the money, but I can’t rule out replacing it once it’s gone. Sometimes one isn’t in the mood for a high-powered belter and measuring the right amount of water to add can be a pain. Or maybe I’m just one of those lazy teachers who is responsible for the imminent collapse of society.

@OdysseusUnbound As far as the imminent collapse of society goes, you are way late for that party. Witness the COP (cop out) 26 fiasco. They all flew there in big jet planes, they are all being chauffeured around in big gas guzzlers, (Biden has a motorcade of about a dozen Cadillac limos) and they’re all promising to reduce fossil fuel production and reduce carbon emissions. Talk about hypocrisy. They want us to change our lifestyle, take one for the planet, while they carry on fleecing us for our hard earned so the politicos and their billionaire buddies can maintain their disgustingly excessive lifestyles. I guess irony is too subtle a concept for our esteemed leaders, particularly ours.

@BlueNote Google Meets and Zoom conferences are the exclusive domain of educators, not of politicians, I suppose.

@OdysseusUnbound A no brainer, you would think.

Tonight, I once again conducted a head to head comparison of Maker's Mark 46 and Maker's Mark Private Selection for BevMo! - June 2020 - 55.1% ABV because I forgot to rate the Private selection the other night. The Private Selection is slightly better than the 46, therefore it receives the rating of 86 compared to the Maker's Mark 46 which I previously rated 85.

Later, while playing on-line poker with my brother-in-law and friends;

Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2010 - 50% ABV.

and finished the night with Ardbeg Wee Beastie - 5 year old - 47.4% ABV.

@bwmccoy The Wee Beastie is a serious overachiever given it’s age and price point IMO. I’m on my third bottle.

I’m sipping some Ardbeg Uigeadail. Even an “average” bottle of Oogie warms the soul with every pour.

@BlueNote - the best one I saw in that vein was a Lewis Hamilton tweet (or whatever, I don't do Twitter or the like) where he called for everyone to be greener whilst recording his message on a gas guzzlin, high performance speed boat! And given his day job ...

I've been all for 'green' practices since I was a kid in the 80's but the corporate/elite hypocrisy currently is, well, I'm not sure if it's hilarious or shameful. Both, sadly ...

Anyway, I'm having an early Sat morning coffee - first of many today I imagine as I have my two nippers to myself all weekend. Mum has had the audacity to book her and her friends on a spa weekend ...

@RianC I trust she will buy you a couple of expensive bottles of malt to make it up to you.

@MRick - Ha you'd like to think so but I doubt it! Man, I could go on for hours but, in her mind at least, she does everything and I do very little so it's about time ...

What's that Man Mars, Women Venus thing again?!

@RianC I thought men crawled out of the primordial ooze!

@BlueNote - I agree about the actual whisky in the bottle, but I can't get past the name. I hate that they called it wee beastie. It is in no way a beast (wee or otherwise). Don't get me wrong, I like it, I just wish they would have called it something else. (I know I'm blowing this out of proportion, but for some reason it just bugs me.) It's like Compass Box's Peat Monster. It's a fine whisky, but it is no monster. :-)

@RianC - It's a little after 8am here. I'm drinking coffee as well. My 7 year old woke my wife and I up around 7am. I got up with my son so that my wife could go back to sleep. There will be no bonus points for me either. :-)

Last night, my wife and I had a couple of our standard Friday night cocktails. Black Manhattans made with Maker's Mark 46.

After dinner, I did some prep work for tonight. My wife and I are going over to some friends house for dinner and drams. They have 5 whiskies selected for my wife and I to taste blind, so I put together 5 whiskies out of my cabinet for our friends to taste blind. Of course, I had to sample them each to make sure they were the best whiskies for the task at hand and that they were in the correct order. :-)

Teaninich SMWS 59.51 (30 year - November 1983) "A refined cocktail" - Refill hogshead - 51.5% ABV.

Bladnoch Adela 15 year Oloroso Cask Matured - 46.7% ABV.

Bend Distilling (Bend, Oregon) Black Butte Whiskey 3 year. Release #5. 47% ABV. (I threw this one in as a curve ball since it is a non-Scotch single malt, but it tastes more like Bourbon to me and it is from a fairly unknown distillery.)

Moving on to peat: Bunnahabhain SMWS 10.176 (11 year - Dec. 2007) "Tea-smoked salmon" - After nine years in an ex-bourbon hogshead transferred into a second fill Spanish oak ex-Oloroso hogshead - 59.2% ABV.

And finishing with a heavily peated dram: Glenturret SMWS 16.52 (11 year - Dec. 2009) "Campfire breakfast on a damp morning" from a re-charred American oak hogshead - 63.4% ABV.

Looking forward to a fun whisky night with our friends tonight.