Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@bwmccoy, excellent to hear that you own The 12 Bottle Bar. Try the Aviation. It is fabulous.

@Victor - hopefully, I got the right book. I can’t find a recipe for the Aviation. If you’re recommending it, I definitely want to try it!

@bwmccoy my extreme bad! There I go burying the lead! I'm sure you have the right book. And you will find it delightful.

I got confused with my memories of the many cockails I have tried at my sister's house. Aviation is one we like which comes from another source, Boozehound, by Jason Wilson. Boozehound is wonderful too, but it concentrates most on his extremely colourful and entertaining true to life booze stories. There are some cocktail recipes there too.

Here is the Aviation recipe from Boozehound:

1.50 oz gin

0.75 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

0.50 oz maraschino liqueur

0.25 oz. creme de violette or Creme Yvette

Fill mixing glass halfway with ice. Add all 4 ingredients, stir vigourously, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The 12 Bottle Bar remains my favourite cocktail book, by far. It is logical, practical, and always interesting. When I want to systematically learn more about bartending and cocktail-making I go to The 12 Bottle Bar. The 12 Bottle Bar, Boozehound, and Drink This! Wine Made Simple by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, which is the only wine book I have ever loved and found useful, were all discovered by my sister. @Maddie is a giant fan of Jason Wilson, who used to be the spirits editor for The Washington Post. Wilson also has an extremely interesting book named God Forsaken Grapes, about the thousands of grape varietals which make good wine, which no one has ever heard of.

I just received two bottles of Aberlour Alba. I haven’t been able to find it in any stores so I purchased it online.

@DaveM would you please give some specific observations on how you find the Aberlour A'bunadh Alba?

@Victor He told you...he found it online...

@Nozinan "find" as in how he enjoys the product.

My rum adventures continue. I went to our local LCBO to pick up a wine order (including a bottle of Amontillado Sherry) and the bottle of Pusser’s (42%) was calling out to me. I heeded the call and bought it.

@Victor Methinks the good doctor is messing with you. I FIND him a bit of a wag.

@Victor What is the flavour of the Crème Yvette?

@BlueNote here is a nice comparison of Creme de Violette and Creme Yvette:

drinkstraightup.com/2013/05/…

@Victor thank you. My impression is that the Creme de Violette would be preferable for an Aviation and other classic cocktails. I am intrigued to taste the Creme Yvette, though.

I just bought a Pike Creek 10 Year Old. Why? A few reasons;

• it was $35 and I like to keep an inexpensive whisky at my mother-in-law’s place
• I’ve been a bit grumpy and ornery vis-à-vis Canadian whisky for the last few months (I don’t know why) and I want to get re-acquainted with it.

Recently bought both Bunnahabhain 12 and 18 as I haven't had either for a while and it sound like the 18 might be disappearing soon. Man, the 18 is a massive sherry monster, a bit more so than I like actually. I'm leaving it to settle down for a while. Meanwhile, the 12 is a very tasty little daily drinker.

@OdysseusUnbound my sister texted me today, saying she had just bought a bottle of Pike Creek 10 yo. I am very interested to try it and compare it to my past experiences of Pike Creek 10 yo. Maybe I will like it more this time. I didn't like it much at all before.

Not a purchase, but a gift from my children. A bottle of Wiser’s 23 YO, currently my favourite Canadian Whisky. Thanks kids!

@paddockjudge Those are some very well brought up kids.

Just received a bottle of Yamazaki 18. Heard great things (for the quality if not the price) so I'm looking forward to this one.

That’s a great one @broadwayblue!

Enjoy!

@broadwayblue Jealous .... One of my all time favourites

Thanks guys. I am very excited about it. I have a couple other nice bottles to check out that have been on hold while I was recovering from Covid for over a month.

@broadwayblue

Well, I am not on Facebook, so I can avoid catching "Facebook Envy," but I must admit, it is posts like this one, I get a bad case of "Whisk(e)y envy."

I have never owned a bottle of the 18yo Yamazaki, but I have had a few drams when I visit in Tokyo.

@broadwayblue Glad to hear you recovered. Over 100 000 of your fellow citizens have not been as lucky.

I think COVID puts things into perspective. Enjoy what you have while you are able to. Goes for more than whisky.

On the topic of buying bottles - as this pandemic continues and the business I'm in (Canadian film industry) remains completely uncertain, I will not be buying anymore bottles until things normalize and my industry is on firmer ground. For the first time in years I did not bid at the last LCBO auction, and I will be letting my SMWS membership lapse this month. I have many at home that I will be tasting and reviewing but otherwise things are going to be very dry for a long while.

@talexander If you are in danger of running out of whisky to drink, let me know. I know a guy...

@talexander Not the kind of news any of us wants to hear. I fear your industry may be in trouble for the longer haul due to the cross border restrictions. I hope I'm wrong and you are back to gainful employment and a healthy level of whisky buying sooner than later. By healthy level I of course mean excessive as I'm pretty confident in assuming you are as gung ho on this so called hobby as most of the rest of that hang out here. Your thoughtful reviews and comments are always appreciated. I hope you'll keep 'em coming despite these shitty times.

Cheers

I dropped my wife off at the grocery store and went to the LCBO to pick up “a few things” for her, and I couldn’t resist the following:

• Bearface 7 Year Triple Oak: this one will come to the cottage with me. It’s a nice easy sipper, nothing too complicated and it was $5 off.
• Gooderham & Worts 49 Wellington 19 Year Old: I figured I’d give it a go. The 17 Year Little Trinity took a long time to open up, but when it did it was quite good.
• The Real McCoy 12 Year Rum: Ok, so this one was an online order, not a chance purchase, but I’m excited to have landed a bottle.

@OdysseusUnbound - I was just telling my wife the other day that we needed to get a bottle of The Real McCoy Rum for no other reason than that’s our last name.

From the LCBO auction that just finished (and NO this was not me, I didn't bid):

@talexander - That is beyond crazy! It’s sad, actually.