What is the next bottle you purchase or open?

Looks like I will be cracking my second ever OGD 114, leaving me with one in reserve. I'm preparing some samples for a fellow Connosr and this is one he hasn't tried before. I need an excuse other than "I want some" to overcome my chronic FORO.

I'm on call tonight (and I try not to even pour samples on-call) but I'll likely open it this week so I can enjoy a dram while I prepare a dram for him.

My latest purchase is also a white whale. Highland park 21yo...got it for $100 off. Just a little bit excited.

@nooch , sounds like a score! How'd you get the discount?

@MadSingleMalt there’s a place in Calgary that has an annual sale. There were a few bottles that were $10 off, $20 off. HP21 was $100 off. Sweet deal - still the most expensive bottle I’ve bought thus far.

Anyone try the new Macallan yet? It’s called classic cut. Bottled at 58%. Saw it for $90 us last night. Hadn’t heard of it. Did some reading. It’s the closest thing to cask strength they’ve released in years.

@nooch, here are a couple reviews, both with some community commentary about this versus the old Cask Strength.

reddit.com/r/Scotch/…

reddit.com/r/Scotch/…

@MadSingleMalt this is when I wish there were a whisky club within 50km so we could split a bottle to take it for a spin!

Looks worth trying for $90 US IF it is along the caliber of the CS.

I would note it remains NAS, and it's matured in Sherry-SEASONED barrels, not barrels that matured sherry for years and years. So the would does not get long term effects of sherry and the Scotch may have a lot of newer wood influence than wood that soake din sherry for years and years.

I THINK (but would have to go to the box and check) that the Mac CS I have was also matured in sherry-seasoned casks.

@Nozinan, I noticed that many commenters in of those reviews I linked (the second one) also made a lot of that "seasoning" business.

But are there really many whiskies these days that are matured in "barrels that matured sherry for years and years"? I always got the impression that they were relic of whisky days gone by.

@MadSingleMalt I think there are. I don't presume to know what is better, but I suspect the effects are different.

I'd love to try something from the old paxarette days.

@MadSingleMalt Macallan uses barrels that hold Sherry for two years for their Sherry oak expressions, I know that much.

@nooch, you are correct. The Macallan Barrels were filled with sherry (Jerez) and left for two years to season and mature before being shopped to The Macallan Distillery.

Tomintoul 12 YO Portwood Finish (no chill-filtration or additional coloring)

Recall being surprisingly impressed w the Tomintoul 16 and was looking for a 'on-the-sweet side' everyday sipper

So are Macallan's two-years-of-sherry casks considered to be just "seasoned" or real "barrels that matured sherry for years and years"?

(Is there even a clear line you can draw between the two? Maybe @Nozinan and I are trying to penetrate the impenetrable here.)

Speaking of Macallan; has anybody tried the Edition 3?

@MadSingleMalt I don't know the answer. I suspect a new cask that holds already matured sherry for 2 years will have a different effect on new make than a new barrel that receives new sherry and then matures it.

@MadSingleMalt I believe Macallan seasons the casks with sherry for at least two years. I don't know how long sherry is usually in casks for so I don't know if it makes a huge difference but I suspect it does, given that the Macallans of today are but a shadow of their former self.

@nooch I saw it at Federal Wine & Spirits in Boston on the weekend, and almost bought it. But I looked at it and it was so much lighter in colour than the old Mac CS that I was afraid it would disappoint...

@talexander, I concur.

The aging of sherry prior to its introduction to the toasted oak whisky casks would indeed have a profound influence upon the designated whisky casks. The term "aged" sherry might seem ambiguous; however, it is in my opinion an acceptable practice because putting an age statement on a solera style aged sherry is not possible due to fractional blending.

I suppose "aged" sherry introduced to designated whisky casks for seasoning and further maturation is perhaps not full disclosure, but disclosure none the less. This practice of seasoning barrels will continue to be a challenge to the whisky industry as sherry consumption remains in decline.

Three choices which are all around same total price:

1. Glenfarclas 1974 Family Cask (Cask 5786)

2. Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 9

3. Glenlivet XXV and Ardbeg 21

Which would you choose? Alternatives?

@msudukie, there are no bad choices there. I think that I would taste them if I could. Failing that I would read a lot of reviews of each.

I already own an unopened bottle of the Tun 1401 Batch 9, so I'd get something else.

If I had no other information I would probably get the Glenfarclas because I am shorter in stock in the category of older sherried malts.

Don't know the Glenlivet XXV, but the Glenlivet 21 yo Archive is a beauty which I would love to have in my cabinet.

@Victor - the Glenfarclas is a tough one to pass up. I like the idea of the Glenlivet 21 Archive.

@msudukie The Glenlivet XXV is stunning.

@talexander - thanks. I have it on the list as sounds right up my alley and has been recommended by a few people I know. Might try to get a dram around me first

Glenfarclas 15 and Te Bheag are going to be opened as soon as my Aberlour 12 and 'farclas 101 are drained - so this weekend. Can't wait! A new bottling of Highland park 12 (the daft 'Viking' one) will be opened soon as well - I'm praying it is still decent.

As for purchasing - I've bought quite a few of late that were more due to good pricing than because I really wanted the bottle. I'll probably wait until xmas now but am hoping to acquire Benromach 15, Port Charlotte SB HP, Cutty Sark Prohibition and, if I can get away with it, the Glen Garioch 12. The latter I see Ralfy reviewed yesterday and scored a 90 so that one will be going up in price and becoming scarcer . . .

@RianC, I am vicariously enjoying your bottle of Glenfarclas 15 yo. In my household, we've been through one bottle over the last 5 years, and have our only other one unopened. 'Farclas 15 is a rare treat in the US, because it is not sold here. We, viz. @Maddie, @Dramlette, and I have gotten all of our bottles from Canada. So Glenfarclas 15 yo is a fun which we ration out.

We do have Glenfarclas 105 here, but I have never bothered to pick one up. If I had no CS Sherried Malt I would get a 105, but I prefer Amrut Intermediate Sherry, Aberlour A'bunadh, and Macallan Cask Strength to 'Farclas 105. I am encouraged, however, by the testimonials that Glenfarclas 105 greatly improves with air exposure. Some day I'll probably buy one of those too.

@Victor - enjoy away! That surprises me as it seems a very popular dram over there? Was only fairly recently the 12 was available here and that seems to have become rarer. MoM don't stock it anymore . . . (mainland) Europe seem to get a lot of the 'farclas range that isn't available elsewhere. Shame!

I've been sitting on my 15 for a couple of years and wanted to save it for Christmas but my reasoning/excuse if I open it early is that these sherried whiskies usually need quite a bit of air time before they shine . . . so it should be at it's best come the festivities.

My 105 was good on opening and has kept improving over three months. I can't help wondering what a few more years in the cask would do to it though. Et voila, le 15!

@RianC, I do not think that you will have to wait for your Glenfarclas 15 yo to get good once you open it. I think that when you take a sip that you will wonder why you waited to open it.

People here love Glenfarclas 15 yo, but I don't think that Glenfarclas makes enough of it to sell it in a large market like the US.

@Victor - Perhaps I'd best wait then! I'm usually pretty good at self-restraint and make bottles last at least a couple of months if not longer.

Every now and then though a bottle (Ardbeg 10, Springbank 10, Arran 14, Caol Ila 12) comes along that is just too damn hard to put down . . .