What was the last bottle you finished?

Last night two more staples killed off. It was St. Patty's . . .

I already have a replacement Ardbeg TEN open. The old bottle was open for about 5 months. It really turned sour and bitter by the end. The fresh bottle (both the same batch code) was fantastic with no hint of bitterness or sour lemon.

Another notch for my theory that peated whisky doesn't handle air time as well as sherry dominant whisky.

I will try and wait as long as I can to open my replacement for the Port Charlotte 10yo. That bottle has been opened for 6 months. I still enjoyed it at the end.

@Nock I see enough variation in results with respect to how peated whiskies respond to air exposure that I make no firm generalisations, other than that they always lose smoke intensity. Beyond that, I've seen them go in both good and bad directions, become stronger in flavours sometimes and weaker in flavours other times. Mostly they weaken in intensity over time, but this is not true for all peated whiskies.

@Victor your make some great points.

What I didn’t clearly articulate in my post is that while my Ardbeg 10yo had been open for 5 months and turned bitter & sour, my Port Charlotte 10yo was open for 6 months and was still fantastic. Therefore, the Ardbeg bottle makes me think one thing. The Port Charlotte makes me think another. Conflicting experiences.

I have had the same experiences as you have with peated whiskies going all kids of different ways. Drawing any kind of generalization about what a bottle is going to do is guess work at best.

I guess I just have a deep fear of some of my older (lower proof) peated whiskies going sour/bitter within 4-8 months of opening them.

For some reason I have no fear about opening a heavily sherried whisky, or a rye whiskey. My experience with them has been that they always seem to get better. And as soon as I have said that I am sure there are people out there who will disagree with me.

Good-bye old friend....

@paddockjudge except with you, when one Legacy dies, 10 show up for the funeral :)

@Astroke which, as long as they stay 2 m apart, is apparently fine.

Glad I’ve got a few backups. Review forthcoming.

@OdysseusUnbound When you find that special expression, it's great to know you have some extra for the future.

This is what it really looks like when kill off a bottle. Notice, I pour off a sample for the Library and kill off the last dram.

The bottle? Old Potrero 18th Century Style Whiskey 51.2% 102.4 Proof 10-RW-ARM-3-N. I opened this bottle on December 23rd 2014. A big “thank you” to @Victor for turning me on to this rye. It is fabulous. I have bought a few more batches since then, but this particular batch has been my favorite. Thankfully, I still have this 60mL sample and an unopened bottle in reserve.

It is time for some spring cleaning. Time to make room in the cupboard. I also killed off these guys by making a very large vieux carre.

Just finished a Hirsch bourbon..... been making Irish coffees to finish some bottles...... out of actual Irish at the moment

@chrisbator A. H. Hirsch Bourbon to make Irish Coffee?

@Astroke yup, just the cheap select though... surprisingly good in coffee. I ran out of Tullamore Dew and Writers Tears So I’m using opens and bottles I’m trying to get rid of for Irish coffees as a way to raise the overall quality of my collection.

I hear you can also use Jameson to make Jack & Coke. :)

@MadSingleMalt Kidding aside, Jack & Coke may be an iconic drink but I’ve recently discovered that Jack & Ginger tastes much better than Jack & Coke. Seriously, it’s quite good (2 parts Schweppes ginger ale to 1 part Jack with plenty of ice....please don’t revoke my Connosr membership).

@OdysseusUnbound you’re on shaky ground here Buster. (Are you old enough to get the Anne Landers reference? Or maybe it was Dear Abby).

What a difference 40 or 50 months makes! This Forty Creek Harmony has evolved into a magnificent whisky, pity it is almost done. I’ve noticed a trend with Forty Creek Limited Releases, they get better when open for a long spell, right to the last drop.

I’ll be opening another bottle soon to begin the “long” bottle aging that agrees with these FC special releases.

Last night, the last dram of Springbank 12 CS (a recent batch) went into my Campbeltown-only infinity bottle, and the last dram of Laphroaig 10 CS (batch 6) went into my Islay-only infinity bottle.

And now the open-bottle shelf is looking a tad empty.

@MadSingleMalt

Come on over and take some of my open bottles... I have no room for all of them...

@MadSingleMalt. I think you know how to rectify that situation.

@BlueNote, yeah, I've been wondering what, if anything, to open next. All I have open is:

• Naked Grouse (meh)

• Glenfarclas 105 (decent)

• Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 (quite good)

• Longrow 7 Gaja Barolo (great)

Maybe I'll open a couple Taliskers? Or maybe some Kilkerran to welcome the nicer spring weather?

I'm also expecting a financial windfall within the next couple weeks, so I might just risk the outside world & buy something new instead of choosing from my unopened bottles. That'd be fun! Except weirdly, there's nothing I'm really lusting over right now, except the unfindable sherried Kilkerran 8 CS.

@MadSingleMalt Who doesn’t love a financial windfall. That Kilkerran 8 year old is an elusive little bugger. I had a dram of the Kilkerran 12 the other night. Nothing wrong with that one, but I am lusting after the 8, which is getting huge reviews. Tonight I’m having to make do with the Benromach 10 year old 100 proof. Not exactly a hardship.

Cheers.

Man Down! There could be more to follow. Proceed with caution, 65.1% abv and drinks like it is half that strength.

Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye. This is true AP. An excellent example of ADL RYE... and the price is right, the high end is $65 CDN.

Finishing the last dram of my A’Bunadh Batch 58 right now. This was an excellent bottle that disappeared much too fast. I enjoyed this one more than my last bottle (Batch 53). The overall balance of this one was much better; sweet raisins balanced by fresh tobacco and drying oak tannins. Yum!

@OdysseusUnbound that's not what I wanted to hear. I have a batch 53 unopened. Oh well.

@Astroke Well I rated my bottle of Batch 53 a 88/100 so it’s not like it was bad whisky. It was quite dry, and just a little out of balance for me. But again, 88/100 is a “very good” score from my perspective. I’m a teacher and my “average” score is 75/100. A whisky that scores 75 is completely average and unremarkable. Not bad, not good, just average.

@paddockjudge I am very much looking forward to a taste and probably a bottle of that 65% ABV Alberta Premium 100% Rye Whisky. Kudos to Alberta Distillers Limited and to Wiser's for doing what was needed in bringing out Cask Strength and Premium releases. It is mind-boggling how much improved the Canadian whisky landscape is in the short 9 years I have been following it. Now, hopefully, world economic depression will not prevent the continuation of these expansions at the top end of the Canadian whisky lines.

When considering what was most likely to temper the high costs of whisky, this current scenario of world economic depression always seemed to me to be the most likely probability. Costs will decrease, but so will purchasing power of the individuals doing the buying. Rare stuff will stay expensive, but middle shelf whisky will probably become less costly.

@Victor, I have one tucked away for you and we will sip from an already opened bottle in order to preserve yours.

@fiddich1980 has once again done me a solid, harvesting a few of these gems to help replenish my waning stock, thanks bro.

I haven’t had the opportunity to announce the end of a bottle in quite some time. October, to be specific.

This afternoon I had to go do an urgent visit. Before I left I topped up my spray bottles and drained this bottle of Dillon‘s. It was a faithful partner in healthcare but I will not miss it. I have 3 more, and hopefully our programme can track down more if we need it.

Talisker 10. Kind of a waste of money.