What Are Your White Whales?

@paddockjudge She sounds like a beauty.

Cheers

@msudukie Thanks for your kind offer. Unfortunately we are on opposite sides of the continent and opposite sides of the border. I'm now concentrating my efforts on getting hold of the 2017 Cairdeas.

Cheers.

@BlueNote - what do you think - should I get the anniversary version for $80 or pay $529 for the OB at a store near me. Just kidding. I have no idea where stores like this get their valuations. Anniversary version it is!

@Victor, you mentioned "some CS Caol Ila" on your list. Do you specifically mean the OB, or do you have your eye open for any CS Caol Ila?

Or put another way, have you never had any CS Caol Ila, even from the indies?

@msudukie , I'm a big Laphroaig fan, but I never had either of the 15s. But I have followed plenty of chatter about them, so I offer you these possibly useful, possibly third-hand, possibly true(!) tidbits of possible wisdom:

•The reviews I read of the old 15 and the anniversary 15 sound very similar and I vaguely recall some side-be-side reviews that didn't uncover any huge differences.

•Any high prices you're seeing on the old 15 are surely due entirely to rarity, not quality. Skim 'em.

•When the anniversary 15 was new, I saw persistent—but to me, far-fetched—rumors that it was actually just the normal 18-year stock that they'd labeled as a 15 for the occasion's sake.

All that said, I have had the 18, and it's quite good. If you have a lead on any 18s still hanging around at a reasonable price, I can recommend it. The ABV is higher too.

@OdysseusUnbound , if you decide to take @Victor's advice and try for an Old Pulteney 17, do so quickly! It's discontinued, in case you didn't already know. Gots ta strike while that salty iron is still hot, yo.

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Any you're on the hunt for Laphroaig 18? My local shop still has some, I think. $95 USD. (Plus, they're having a 10% off sale right now.) Do you have any muling opportunities to get a bottle to you from Madison, Wisconsin? I'd be happy to help you out.

Oh, and @OdysseusUnbound, about that Old Pulteney 35: Thanks for talking that up! I've been trying to muster the will for a while now to buy a 1977 CS Old Pulteney IB for ~$200. That would easily be the most I've ever spent on a bottle. Your friend's glowing comment on something probably similar gives me a (useful? dangerous?) nudge.

@msudukie Good choice. You can't go wrong with that one. Get two and save one to sell for triple the price on the 300th anniversary.

@MadSingleMalt, no I don't think that I have ever even tasted a sample of CS Caol Ila, any of 'em. I expect that I would be pleased with almost any CS Caol Ila. .

@Victor, I'm sure you would be pleased with any CS Caol Ila, too! In my experience, Caol Ila is tasty spirit but the OBs are diluted to death. Maybe I'm spoiled by having access to Binny's and a few other local stores that carry IBs, but I think CS indie Caol Ila is the only way to go.

And for anyone who does have easy access to stores that carry IBs, Caol Ila is almost always represented. It seems like it might be just be the most widely "indied" Scottish malt out there.

@MadSingleMalt That price would be great, even with exchange, but sadly I have no U.S. mules....Thanks for the offer, though. I am wondering, however, if anyone has ever shipped it Fed-Ex or UPS and labelled the package as cologne or perfume? I wonder if this would arouse suspicion or be confiscated. Anyone have any experience with this type of approach?

@MadSingleMalt, well noted. Thanks. I always do prefer the higher strength whiskies, anyway. I have to go a little bit out of my local geographic zone to find IB bottlings. My county's liquor system doesn't carry any IB Scotch. For the time being I'd be satisfied with a few tastes. Later I imagine I'll eventually get a bottle or two of CS Caol Ila.

@OdysseusUnbound , no personal experience here, but I do believe that many many Canadian whisky samplers on Reddit trade samples using such tricks. And I think that European site that is willing to ship anywhere (finedrams) does something similar. It sounds like it works!

@Victor I am pretty sure we cracked a G&M Caol Ila CS in May.

Also the 17 YO unpeated CS

@Nozinan, I wondered about whether we drank some Caol Ila CS on our last visit to see you. Yes, we did. I stand corrected. @MadSingleMalt, so yes, I did try those two CS Caol Ilas, and, as I now recall, I did like them. So, so many good drams over the years.

Why did my usually excellent memory forget those two? Probably the substantial number of drams which we were tasting,...or the mesmerizing company.

@MadSingleMalt - incredibly helpful, thank you!

For me, it would probably consist of numerous past "one-off" Springbank releases that I'll never find these days or a Brora. Probably Longrow 18 as well which I can pick up at any time that I feel like punching my wallet in the face.

@KRB80 Yeah, most of the ones on my fantasy wish list are wallet punchers.

Welp, a local store just got a hold of a Springbank Local Barley 36yr, 51.3% 1965, Cask 6 Bottle # 58, Bottled in 2001....for the grand total of $2399. I'm sorry to say that it "ain't happenin."

They got a plethora of old and rare stuff last night, one bottle each, and sent out the email this AM. Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg 30, stuff from closed distilleries, etc

Saw a 1974 Glenfarclas Family Cask (Cask 5786) from 2014. Definitely a white whale, with a hefty price tag.

I'd love to get hold of the Black Arts 5.1, but at $400+ it remains a white whale.

I am constantly being given the slip by Laphroaig 10 yr Cask Strength.

@Frost You're in Australia, right? I'm in NZ and I don't know that it's ever been available here - I never seen it on any NZ sites. With @MadSingleMalt talking it up all the time I feel like we're missing out

@Hewie Like anything you can't have it's more in the wanting than the having. I think Spock commented about that in the episode "Amok Time" .

The Laphroaig 10 CS is a very good whisky, I rated batch 005 at 90. But there are a lot of very good whiskies out there.

So don't despair too much. Enjoy what you have for now, and maybe something will come your way in the future.

@Nozinan Yes, no shortage of good bottles to try at some time in the future

@Hewie yes I'm in Australia, seems AU & NZ are the forgotten islands with this whisky in question !

I forgot one of my white whales: Any mid-1990s sherry-cask, cask-strength, peated Benriach. When I first discovered peated Benriach a few years ago, I read quite of a few bombastic reviews of these 1990s sherried guys, and I've always had an eye out for them since, but no luck so far.

If you want to see a example, check out the following post from earlier this year on the K&L blog. Sadly, this happened during a period when I was ignoring K&L. D'oh.

spiritsjournal.klwines.com/klwinescom-spiri…

@MadSingleMalt I had the 15 year old Pedro Ximenez Finish a couple of years ago. I found it cloyingly sweet. I actually preferred the 12 year old sherry finish. I would like a taste of those two 19 year olds though.

Like Victor I am also trying to limit my current inventory, but there are a few bottles out there that when I see them I cannot help myself: Bottles I already have and would buy more (under $100) without hesitation. 1. Talisker 175th Anniversary. 2. Gooderham and Worts Naturally Small batch. 3. Booker's 2015-4 Oven Buster. 4. EH Taylor Cured Oak

Bottles that I do not have but want and would purchase at or near retail price: 1. Willet Family Estate Bourbon 2. Orphan Barrel Whoop and Holler 28yr

@newreverie, "Oven Buster"?

What's that all about?