So, what are you drinking now?

A pour of Springbank Cask Strength 12 yo. It is a great dram, which isn't a surprise to anyone.

@RianC Mums deserve anything they can get. We only get one each. I hope she enjoys the weekend, and you too.

Tonight I had a pour of Glenfarclas 15, and now I’m having some Uigeadail. The ‘farclas was chosen because my wife’s 90 year old grandfather came over for my youngest’s birthday dinner. He takes his scotch with ice and water but a strong whisky still hits him hard. The GF 15 is only 46% abv and with ice and water it’s more tame than anything else I have handy. I dig Glenfarclas because it’s a sherried whisky that isn’t all sherry, all the time. I like that I can still perceive the base spirit.

@BlueNote - Cheers! Teasing aside, yeah I hope she does too. She does the bulk of the early mornings and deserves a bit of pampering with the girls. We've been fine, luckily! It's actually been a lot calmer and the lads have squabbled less ... Might keep that to myself though

As for drinking, was hoping to have a few drams in front of the fire last night but the small glass of red with dinner was enough - too tired and had to keep fresh in case of a night time wake up call.

@OdysseusUnbound Love the 'Farclas 15. Pretty much a perfectly constructed whisky. I had a cask strength version form KWM a couple of years ago. If there are degrees of perfectness, that was a perfect whisky made even perfecter.:-)

The last dram of my Dewar's 18 year-old is the first dram in my new, official OWG Glencairn...

@BlueNote

Last night (Saturday), my wife and I went to a friend's house where we swapped 5 blind tastings (see my previous post for the 5 whiskies that we had our friends sample blind. They did exceptionally well, by the way. Much better than my wife and I, but in our defense, our friends had a multiple choice test, where ours was completely random. We did well in the 1st round of questions, but over thought it in the 2nd round.)

Before the blind tasting, we all had a warm up dram of Deanston 12 (ex-bourbon casks, 46.3% ABV). This was honey and vanilla. A quintessential Speysider and a perfect warm up dram.

For the blind tasting, my wife and I had the following:

21 year Glenburgie bottled for K&L wine. 50.6% ABV. This was beautiful and my wife and I both ranked this one #1 of the 5.

15 year Strathclyde grain whisky. SMWS G10.30 called "Bonbons" distilled July 12th, 2005. Region: Lowland. 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel. 61.7% ABV. Compared to the other 5, this was the most floral whisky. It stood out from the rest. This was good, but I ranked it #5 and my wife ranked it #4.

6 year Ben Nevis from Single Cask Nation 67.6% ABV from an amontillado gorda cask. I've previously owned this one which has a very unique nose. I recognized this one right away, even though I didn't know that they owned a bottle of it as well. This was my wife and I's 3rd favorite of the 5.

10 year Caol Ila from Single Malts of Scotland. 61.9% ABV. Every time I nosed this one, I swear that it was Mezcal. I've never nosed a Caol Ila like this one before. Obviously, very earthy and vegetal on the nose, but that didn't come through on the palate. While I didn't recognize it as Caol Ila, I knew it was Islay. This was my wife and I's 2nd favorite of the night.

The 5th dram was a cask strength peated Amrut.62.8% ABV. My wife and I correctly picked this one as not being a Scotch. We ranked it as our 3rd favorite of the 5.

After the blind tasting, our friends wanted my wife and I to try a bourbon. They poured us an Elijah Craig Barrel Proof 12 year. 61.8% ABV. Batch # A121. This was very nice!

After that, our friends wanted to open something special from their cabinet for us. They chose a single ex-Sherry cask # 45 Bimber (London, England). Bottled Oct. 2020. 58.9% ABV. Bottle # 200 of 293. Without water, a little hot and woody, but with water it was freshly cut cedar and wood sap. I would love to pair this with cedar planked salmon.

I also took something to open for them as well. Fettercairn SMWS 94.10 (13 year - Aug. 2007) "The gentle beast from the east". After 11 years in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a 1st-fill ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry hogshead - 56.0% ABV. I think this may be the first Fettercairn that I have tasted. We all thought it was great. So happy I have this one in my cabinet.

The Fettercairn reminded our friends of one they had in their cabinet. Longmorn SMWS 7.244 (15 year - September 7th, 2004) "Abracadabra". Two second-fill ex-bourbon barrels were combined into a first-fill ex-PX butt. It was amazing how similar this one was to the Fettercairn.

A great night with great friends who share a passion for whisky.

Yesterday, my wife and I had a couple of Jerry Thomas Manhattan's made with Rittenhouse Rye BiB for happy hour.

A friend gave me a sample of Society cask No37.117 called Royal Fruitcake. It is a 15 year old Cragganmore at 55.6% from a 1st fill hogshead/ex PX. I haven't had anything from Cragganmore in a couple of decades. This little beauty was a revelation.

@BlueNote - sherried Cragganmore's, especially ones that I've had from the Society are nothing short of amazing and nothing like their standard releases, with the possible exception of the Distiller's Edition.

Tonight, I finished off a sample of Highland Park 21 (2019 release). Sherry, vanilla and peat. Thanks @jordytropp for the generous sample! Really enjoyed it!

My sister is quite the Glenmorangie aficionada. She never met a Glenmorangie which she didn't like. And to think that 10 years ago she used to say, "I hate Scotch." Not now. It was in tasting Glenmorangie Artein and a 12 yo Glenmorangie in Belgium that she decided that she liked Scotch. I just spent 3 days at her house over which I/we sampled 51 beverages, including her 9 open bottles of Glenmorangie. In addition to these 9 open bottles of Glenmorangie she also owns unopened bottles of 4 additional Glenmorangies: Signet, Artein, Tusail, and Nectar d"Or. Here's what I/we drank:

1) Two Stacks Irish Blended Whiskey, 65% ABV. Wow! What a find! Fabulous. Nothing like a blended Irish whiskey at 65% ABV. Intense and very enjoyable.

2) George Remus ("King of the Bootleggers") 5 yo SB Bourbon 55.6% ABV, MGPI bourbon. Exceeded expectations. Another great find. .

3) Midleton Very Rare 2021 Release. This was my favourite Midleton Very Rare to date. Wonderful.

4) 8 Shires Single Malt, 3 yo, Williamsburg, Virginia. 41.5% ABV Really quite good. Another testimonial to the fact that 3 years aging in Virginia is about equal to 6 years aging in Scotland.

5) Jung & Wulff Guyana Rum, No. 2, 43% ABV. This rum is a Sazerac Co. product which was purchased by my sister at the Sazerac House Visitor Center in New Orleans. Very nice, but I'd welcome this at 70% ABV

6) Belle Grove 1797 Whiskey, 45% ABV, from Copper Fox Distillery in Williamsburg, Virginia. This is a corn whiskey with some oats and barleymalt. This newly opened bottle is good but a little rough around the edges. I think it will relax with a little air and become like the sample that led my sister to buy this bottle at the distillery.

7) Ian Maccleod's Isle of Skye 12 yo Blended Scotch, an old favourite. Don't like blended Scotch? Give me this and The Bailie Nicole Jarvie and I could hang out on the desert island for years

8) Old Potrero Hotaling's Single Malt Rye Whiskey, MMIX, 50% ABV. This 2009 release 14 year old 100% malted rye whiskey was near-unobtainium in 2011 when I drove 400 miles round-trip to get bottles of this for myself and for my sister. It is more unobtainable now. In 1906 much of San Francisco burned to the ground but the highly flammable whiskey warehouse of A.P. Hotaling company survived. This was commemorated by a local poet:

"If, as they say, God spanked the town for being over frisky, why did he burn the churches down, and save Hotaling's Whiskey?"

9) 8 Shires Bourbon, 3 yo, 41.5% ABV

10) 8 Shires James City 46.5% ABV Gin ("genever inspired", whatever that means) I'm not quite sure what they did here but it does taste like a cross between Dry Gin and Genever. Quite good

11) Tullamore D.E.W. Phoenix Limited Edition, 55% ABV

12) Douglas of Drumlanrig Caol Ila 14 yo, 46% ABV. Beautiful, as always!

13) Kilkerran 8 yo CS 56.5% ABV. I always have to have some of this when I am in town. Delicious as usual.

14) Johnnie Walker Black Label, 43.4% ABV, bottle with the tax stamp which was discontinued in 1979

15) Laphroag 10 Cask Strength, Batch # 012, 60.1% ABV. This is excellent whisky. The greatest consistency in high quality of any whiski I have ever seen is in the 12+ releases of Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength

16) Lagavulin 12 Cask Strength, 56.5% ABV, 2010 Release. My sister and I have another sister whose husband has a very narrow taste in whiski. This is almost the only one which he likes. Lagavulin 12 CS is also most certainly my own go-to Lagavulin

17) Tomatin 18 yo, 46% ABV, oloroso finished. Very beautiful and this bottle is clean of sulphur.

18) Puni Single Malt, Italy, NAS. OK, not great

19) Kamet Single Malt, India, NAS. Pretty good, better than the Puni.

20) Iwai 45 Blended Whisky, 45% ABV. # 18-23 were tasted at a store tasting. Others present liked this one. I did not, at all.

21) Lucky Cat (choco) Blended Japanese Whisky. Better than the Iwai 45 I tasted, but not something I'd buy

22) Joseph A. Magnus Valiant Navy Strength Gin (Washington D.C,) Excellent gin! My sister bought a bottle at the tasting.

23) Akkeshi (Hokkaido) 2021 Single Malt. The pourer announced this was his favourite malt of all time and the bottle cost $ 350. It was very nice, unadorned barleymalt, with a spectacular mouthfeel, but it wouldn't be worth more than $ 150 per 750 ml to me.

24) G & M Linkwood 15 yo, 43% ABV. I egged my sister on to buy a bottle of this at the store after the tasting. She did. I knew it would be fabulous. It is. I'll have you latter-day Linkwood distillery fans know that I was extolling Linkwood's virtues, alone, on Connosr, starting about 7 years ago.

25) Compass Box Orchard House Blended Malt, 46% ABV. My sister just HAD to buy a bottle of this one on Saturday also. The box promises fruity and sweet. It is.

26) Bruichladdich Scottish Barley, 50% ABV

27) Col. E. H. Taylor Old Fashioned Sour Mash Bourbon, BIB, ambient yeast, my sister's $ 16,964 at-auction bottle

28) Smooth Ambler "White Whiskey", 50% ABV. Remarkably smooth for New Make

29) Catoctin Creek Cask Proof (100%) Rye, 58% ABV, "under 2 years old"

30) Smooth Ambler Old Scout 7 yo Rye, Batch 1, 48.5% ABV, MGPI sourced. Smooth Ambler, in West Virginia now has its own aged products to sell

31) Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao, 40% ABV. Love it! Sip-able!

32) Clement Creole Shrubb Liqueur d'Orange. Rum-based. This one is too sweet to be sip-able for me

33) Cynar Amaro, 16.5% ABV. delicious nose, delicious palate, unlike that legendary god-awful 30-years-opened bottle of Cynar my sister used to have before this one. For me Cynar is a sipper. Artichoke with Gentian and other bitter herbs in a wine base

34) Jameson Gold Reserve, 40% ABV

35) Highland Park Dark Origins, 46.8% ABV Halleluah! After many years the sulphur in this god-forsaken bottle has declined...scoring from, for me, 68 points then, to 84 points now

36) G & M Dufftown 8 yo, 46% ABV. Long air exposure has improved this. Good!

37) G & M Inchgower 13 yo, 46(?)% ABV. Still nice.

38) G & M Mortlach Cask Strength, 12 yo, 1998, 57.5% ABV Always great. Delicious and free of sulphur. I wish that were true of all Mortlachs

39) Talisker Dark Storm, 45.8% ABV, Travel Retail

40) G & M Glenallechie 14 yo, 46% ABV

Now, the Glenmorangies:

41) Allta, 51.2% ABV, Private Edition # 10. Ambient yeast; this has vastly improved with much air exposure, buttery now. I am amazed at the changes, in a good way

42) Finealta, 46% Private Edition # 2

43) 15 yo Bourbon, 43%, 'Limited Release'; there's a hint of orange flavour here, as is often the case with Glenmo Original

44) The Tarlogan, aged in virgin oak and used bourbon barrels. This is a favourite of mine.

45) The Lasanta 12 yo, 43%, sherry finished Glenmo. My history with Lasanta? 3 noxiously sulphured ones, followed by a very good clean one, followed by this one, which is not completely clean but is only slightly sulphur damaged and still pretty good

46) Quinta Ruban 14 yo. A nice batch

47) The Tayne, Amontillado finished. Previously horribly sulphured this one has mellowed out. I can enjoy it now, 7 years later. This bears little resemblance to the horror I once reviewed

48) The Duthac, 43% ABV, Pedro Ximenez and virgin oak. Very, very good.

49) Companta, Private Edition # 5, 46% ABV. Good Lord! 8 years later the sulphur is almost completely gone The last Glenmorangie in this list, for now.

50) OB Old Pulteney 12 yo, 43% ABV. This one is OK, but less salty than most Old Pulteney. My sister and I both miss the salt. .

51) Noah's Mill Bourbon, 57.15% ABV. Curious that a bourbon would be bottled at British Navy Strength. This is from KBD, the Willett people. This bottle is much lower pitched in flavour than all of the 5 or so previous bottles of Noah's Mill from which I have sampled. You never know with whiski what you will get from one batch to the next

End of Dissertation

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@Victor Jeeeez....that's epic. I count myself as a latter-day Linkwood fan regarding #25 on your list. The G&M 15 distillery label is one of the best whiskies I've ever had. The fact it achieves such lofty status at a mere 43% abv is all the more impressive.

@Victor - the list would have been shorter had you listed what whiskies you didn't drink

Wow, though, what a session(s)!

I've never tried the Isle of Skye 12 or The Bailie Nicole Jarvie but hear good things. I think they're both defunct now though but I see them at auction quite often. I may have to pull the trigger next time I'm buying.

And I have to ask, how was the JW Black?

@RianC I've been drinking out of that particular bottle of JW Black Label which was bottled in the 1970s for quite a few years now and it is getting low in the bottle. It has always been quite a beautiful sherry-influenced JW Black, but recently time seems to have lessened it from what it has been most of the time I have known it. When @Nock sipped from that bottle at a tasting chez @Maddie among 30+ other greats, that was the bottle among them all that he said "haunted him" because of its beauty. And this is @Nock, now, man of a thousand peaty-smoky whiskies. .

A shorter list? You know I own hundreds of bottles. My sister owns more bottles of whiski than I do.

BNJ used to be quite legendary when it was available. Even at 40% ABV it is the most delightful citrus expression I've ever encountered in any whiski. BNJ is supposedly about 60% malt, which puts it almost into its own category. It was made by Glenmorangie.

I was not exaggerating when I said that I could be perfectly content indefinitely with Isle of Skye 12 yo and BNJ.

@Victor Some of us were taking heed back when you were extolling the virtues of Linkwood. I've had several over the years, all from independents and all very fine. I agree with @casualtorture, the G&M 15 year old Mortlach is a gem.

@Victor - Impressive list! Thanks for sharing the list and your thoughts on them, especially the Laphroaig CS Batch #12. I love my bottle and glad it has the @Victor seal of approval as well! :-)

Tonight, I had half of a sample from a friend of an 8 year (April 2011) blended heavily peated Islay malt from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. This is the 8th release in the series of blended malts. It is called Battle Axe and bottled at 50% ABV from refill ex-bourbon hogsheads. While I don’t know the various malts making up the blend, I suspect there is a fair amount of Caol Ila in it. Whatever malts we’re used, it’s a very good blend with earthy, floral, coastal and medicinal elements.

Sticking with peat, I finished the night with 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.

@bwmccoy That Bunna sounds good.

November 11, 1918, at 1100 hours, 103 years ago today, hostilities ceased, for 20.8 years, anyway, in The Great War. In the USA we commemorate each November 11 as Veterans' Day. Today I am toasting all veterans, and in particular my 6 years, 4 months, and 4 days of active military service (who's counting?), with two whiskis. As a Doctor of Dental Surgery I was commissioned as a Captain in the U.S. Army. I served 5 years as a Captain before being promoted to Major, at which rank I served for the last 16 months.

The whiskis? Well, at least one has to be American. I choose Eagle Rare 17 yo, Spring 2015 release, the neglected stepchild of the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection. Why neglected? Because of the low ABV, 45% ABV, recently raised to 50% ABV. While it was neglected at first, a funny thing happened several years ago. Supplies dried up, and suddenly ER17 became extremely rare, with only about 3,000 bottles being released annually. Current average world secondary market asking price? $ 2,450. I left a couple of bottles on a shelf once for $ 50 each. This is Buffalo Trace rye bourbon Mash Bill # 2, at about 15% rye content, average for the bourbon industry. This is the same mashbill as for Blanton's, Elmer T. Lee, and the Ancient Age line. Like George T. Stagg, Eagle Rare 17 is an exercise in the study of wood influence.

Whisky #2 is Springbank 14 yo Bourbon Cask, 55.8% ABV. This is a great Springbank. I salute with this whisky especially the UK and Commonwealth veterans. Cheers to all, those living on earth and those in the spirit realm !

@BlueNote - The bunna is wonderful; balanced and subtle.

@Victor - I join you in saluting all veterans. Thank you for doing so.

Last night, I started out with a dram of Bend Distilling (Bend, Oregon) Black Butte Whiskey 3 year. Release #5. 47% ABV before dinner.

After dinner, my wife wanted to open a bottle that we've had in the cabinet since 2013 (pictured below). Who am I to argue? Dallas Dhu 1980 (29 year) Signatory Bottling (Distilled Oct 31, 1980 - Bottled Mar 17, 2010) Cask # 1855. Bottle # 108 of 154. 54% ABV. This whisky exceeds my expectations of it which were pretty high! Outstanding!

I finished the night with a dram of Copperworks Distilling Company Special Release 34 WA state peated malt (Skagit Valley Maltings) aged for 49 months in 8 new American oak casks - 52% ABV. While this if far from my favorite open whisky in my cabinet, it didn't stand a chance last night after the Dallas Dhu. :-)

Celebrating my daughter’s birthday with our family. Tomorrow is her actual birthday anniversary; however, we are gathering this evening and toasting her special day with G of T Lagavulin 9 YO.

I’m enjoying my pour, a lot.

@paddockjudge - As much as I can't stand Diageo as a company, at least some, if not most, of their Scotch distilleries produce some really nice whisky. I also wasn't too sure about the G o T thing, but again, some of those releases were pretty good. I was afraid they were going to use the marketing gimmick to get rid of some less than stellar whisky. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case, at least with some of the releases.

Happy Birthday to your daughter. Hope you have a great time celebrating with the family.

@Victor I too salute all the veterans and raise a glass of Benromach 15 and remember. Cheers all.

@Victor I saluted our Canadian veterans with a healthy pour of Lot 40 Dark Oak. I’m a bit of a military history nerd and so Nov 11th is always a solemn day for me.

I will salute the vets with a Lot 40 cask strength. Grandfather (British) was at Gallipoli, Balkans and Western Europe. Father joined at 16, mostly convoy duty Battle of the Atlantic. He was on the HMCS Chebogue when it was torpedoed. Imagine being in a WW 2 for 3 years and being 19 years old when it ended. Lucky to be ever born :)

@Astroke "Imagine" ... I can't fathom. I work in a business where final arrangements are made. Some of the stories I've I heard from a late Veteran's family about their father's or grandfather's wartime experiences are just unimaginable.

@fiddich1980 You and I get to hear some very interesting stories. About 25 years ago I met a guy who had fought in North Africa. The war didn’t hurt him…. His army doctors did… a humbling experience.

I had a week night whisky tasting with my local 'club' last night. These two bottles were provided and some of us brought others along to share and try along side. I opted to have the Lochranza Castle 21 first knowing that it would be a lot softer and more complex than the Quarter Cask - as was the case. The 21 had some lovely sherried notes in the mix but overall it didn't wow me. The Quarter Cask was very lively and bright in comparrison. Almost estery with fruity notes but not a lot of wood influence (thankfully). An Old Malt Cask 22 year old Blair Athol from a sherry butt was lovely and my pick of the night. My Glengoyne Cask Strength batch 8 was ok but not too exciting.

I couldn't drink last night but am now raising a large dram of Glendronach 15 to all those souls who have given their lives in the terrible business that is war.

I also always remember my Granddads. Luckily, they came home, as did their fathers before them; but the tales I picked up (mostly after their deaths from my Dad and Grandmas) are truly horrifying (Malta, N Africa and Dunkirk).

My toast always acknowledges my good fortune in never having to have made such a sacrifice.

Lest We Forget ...