What is the next bottle you purchase or open?

Tomatin 10yo old 1970's. A blast from the past!

Planning to open my bottle of the Arran Robert Burns Single Malt for our Robbie Burns Dinner tomorrow evening.

Purchase: I bought a bottle of the Arran 12yr Cask Strength on impulse today...it looked interesting... Open: Cragganmore 12 (for my NEAT Challenge Testing Session on March 8) and Clynelish 14 (for our 2nd Annual St. Clynelish's Day Tasting Evening on March 16).

Next ones to open are probably the Balvenie Port 21yr and Yamazaki 18. Still holding off opening the Tun1401.

Of course, this is all pending finishing off some Green Label and Glenlivet 18 first...gotta stop opening bottles before opening others.

Id love to say something profound and amazing on this post, but I'll probably pick up Lagavulin 16 soon and treat myself to that :)

In the last couple of weeks, I've gone on a whisky buying spree. Partly because of a generous gift card to a large local wine and spirits store that I got that was burning a hole in my wallet, and partly from getting an early income tax refund that made such a spree possible.

Here's the list: Glenmorangie 12 Quinta Ruban Cardhu 12 Nikka Taketsuru 12, Bowmore 15 The Darkest, Glendronach 12 Original, Dalmore Cigar Malt Reserve, Bank Note 5 (blend), Buchanan's 12 (blend), Whyte & Mackay Special (blend), Benriach 12 (new bottling at 46% ABV), Kilchoman 100% Islay (2nd Edition).

It was going to be a bottle of Abunadh, as I don't yet own a bottle - but all the local liquor stores seem to have is either Batch 38 or 41, neither of which sound worth buying. So then it was going to go to next in line, Glenlivet Nadurra. Then that jumped up in price a few bucks and it now priced pretty steep ($94 CAD, same as a bottle of Ardbeg 10 which I love). BUT I discovered there's a few bottles of Springbank 10 around for $10 less than the Nadurra, so that's next up for sure. Probably pick it up this weekend.

@MacBaker62: Let us know what you think of the Benriach 12yo. @ 46 % when you get around to it, please.

I've got a number of bottles arriving today. I'll attempt to muster all the will power I can to avoid opening any of them since my open bottle count exceeds 130 right now. Hibiki 12 year, Nikka Yoichi 15 year, Compass Box Flaming Heart, High West Campfire and Dickel Rye will be added to the bunker this afternoon and hopefully stay tucked away for a little while at least.

@Bourbondork, I admire your self control with only 130 open bottles. I would have to close out 50 more bottles to get down to 130 open bottles.

Stopped in a smaller liquor store this morning that I do not usually frequent on my way to the grocery store. There, sitting all by its lonesome on the shelf, an Ardbeg Beist 2008 bottling. Since all I have had are the 2007, I just had to take him home.

Glenfarclas 105 is definitely going to be purchased tomorrow.

I'm not sure if I'll be picking up something else as well.

Bottle of Highland Park 18 and Springbank 18 arrived today. Couldn't resist opening them tonight...both are fantastic!!!

@Victor I feel better now....I see you have the same disease I do.

@Bourbondork, it is a chronic condition...and once it sets in It can last a very long time. Short of an act of God, relief can be a long time in coming.

@Victor, do you not have issues with whisky oxidizing or having the flavor profile change (for the worse)? I have quite a few bottles I'm looking forward to trying, but am nervous about having too many open at once. Perhaps this is an issue worthy of a separate thread.

@broadwayblue, yes, there are additonal lengthy discussion threads on oxidation on Connosr.

And yes, I learned the very hard way about too much oxidation, by having about 20 of my bottles have their flavours change in undesirable ways. I gas everything now with Private Preserve brand inert gas. Decanting into smaller containers with small air spaces is another very other useful approach to keeping your whiskies fresh. Almost all whiskies improve somewhat with initial oxidation. How long it takes for undesirable changes to take place is highly variable for different whiskies and different conditions. With my whiskies, about 7 or 8 months is the shortest time I have seen for an open bottle of whisky to move significantly in a bad direction. The way that I understand the main process of what is happening in the case of excessive oxidation is that the sugars from the wood in whisky finally experience a sort of refermentation, which makes the whisky more sour and throws off the sweet/dry balance it once had. I find that increased sourness also subjectively emphasises and exaggerates the perception of the taste of any bitterness in the whisky, making it seem more bitter. So my experience has been that 'spoiled' or over-oxidised whiskies tend to taste more sour and/or more bitter than they once did.

Whiskies do need to be kept from sustained heat and direct sunlight to maintain them for long periods.

I think it will be a Glendronach 15yo revival.

@Victor, Thanks for that. I'll check out the inert gas. I did also purchase some small 1/2/4 oz bottles from specialty glass to decant into. One other question, regarding exposure to heat, does that apply to only open whiskies, or can sealed bottles suffer from this as well? Thanks, and sorry to bring this discussion OT.

@broadwayblue, I don't think that non-extreme heat is much of an issue if the bottles have not been opened. I suppose that over many years a warm environment would accelerate Old Bottle Effect (OBE), mentioned in some of our previous discussions, but it would take years for this to develop.

Just brought home my long awaited Bruichladdich Octomore Orpheus. Looking forward to this one, to paraphrase Will Rogers I never met an Octomore I didn't like. :)

@Onibubba Do you mind if I ask how much the ANB set you back? I found some 2006 in a duty free in the St. Maarten airport so was wondering how good of a deal I got. I paid $80 each which I think is very good but hard to tell given it is hard to find.

@msudukie It's expensive. Unless you found a place that does not realize the value of what you have. I paid 129.00 for this guy. Most reviews I have found seem to say that the 2007 was somehow off, and that the 2006 and 2008 are best. That said, I find the 2007 to be the best Ardbeg I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. If you like Ardbeg, I would say, buy it. That's a great price. I have no problem laying down 100+ for this one.

Opening next the Caol Ila 12. I will be acquiring Lagavulin 16, finished my current bottle. I am also on the lookout for Yamazaki 12.

Just picked two bottles of whiskies, one inexpensive and one rather expensive.

A bottle of Bushmills 10 year old, and the limited edition Dalmore Castle Leod 1995 vintage.

Just picked up a bottle of Noah's mill. Looking to open tomorrow night. This is my first try at a top shelf bourbon, as I've been experimenting with only scotch for the last year. I went looking for PVW or George T. Stagg...and I found myself feeling very out of the loop and almost silly for asking as they described lotteries of 500 people going for 8 bottles. Anyway, I did some research and Noah's seemed like about my best bet for a super quality bourbon experience if I was lucky enough to find a bottle and fortunately I was. Great Price also compared to what I've seen on line. $35 This stuff sounds powerful...I've always loved bourbon but rarely consumed neat...hopefully my scotch adventures in Islay have prepared me for this moment;)

Tonight I dropped by a small local corner liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine for my wife to serve at dinner, and I saw a bottle of Balvenie 15 year old Single Barrel (Cask #8778 Bottle #26), high on a shelf behind the counter that I just couldn't resist!

Ordered a bottle of Karuizawa, curious to see what all the hype is about.

@broadwayblue - From K&L? If so, I did as well (the12 year). Also curious to see if it matches the hype.

@msudukie, yup...that's the one '99. the '81 looks quite nice...but the 3x price tag was too rich for my blood. lol