Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Nozinan I was holding on to an Aberlour 16, waiting for the inevitable price increase for return but the ECBP had been on my short list since it was released so I paid the $150. I have to laugh/cry at the fact I purchase SM's knowing they will increase in price and the LCBO will trade me for product. I wish I had put this kind of effort into stock market trading.

@Astroke, we can give a medal to Nova Scotia for their excellent prices. The medal for New Brunswick was for "honest" pricing. Their current prices also reflect current trends.

Tragedy!

No one wanted any Scotch at the dinner I was at, and as I was driving, I didn't have any either. But that isn't the tragedy.

My hosts insisted I take the bottle home as there were no Scotch drinkers in their home. But that certainly wasn't the tragedy.

The tragedy was that at I was adjusting booster seats to give a couple a lift to the subway, the bottle fell out of its box and shattered on the driveway.

Nose - definite sherry, hint of saltiness - oh wait, that's my tears...

@Nozinan: that could make for a new thread. My tradegy bottle shattered was one of Aberlour 16yo. Paper grocery bag tore, canister slipped through tear, I managed to grab canister, but bottle could not be restrained by canister cap, and the rest of the story is one of cuss words and short tantrum.

On brighter note, I just purchased two bottles of Taketsuru 17yo that have been collecting dust on shelves of out of town retailer for past several years. Price was right, so I acted.

@cherylnifer good find!

I think the tragedy thread would be interesting if depressing...

The bright side of it was that when I told my wife the story she suggested I get another one.. which I just may do... I'm passing by the store tomorrow for work... And just like the Caol Ila CS that I missed out on last year (but got 2 more expensive bottles for instead) and couldn't get out of my mind (and I'm glad I pursued it b/c it's fabulous) I fear this will now gnaw at me until I pick it up.

Picked up the whisky at the airport and the Zacapa XO online for birthday present for my wife.

Not quite the haul I planned but tried the Glen Garioch 12 which was on special for £41 a litre bottle and liked it a lot so bought instead of the GG15.

Wife was hinting at the double oak as it is the only bourbon she likes so far and couldn't tell her no without spilling the beans on the rum. So got that instead of the Glenmo18 I wanted, but I did get the 57 north and Port Charlotte so balances out.

@Pete1969 Nice haul. Worth it just for the PC and the 57 North. I have a bottle of the Glenmo18, it's nice, but nothing special as 18 year olds go. The GG 12 was a good deal here recently too. Very tasty, a nice mix of bourbon and sherry cask maturation and at 48%, NCF and natural colour a real bargain at around $60 Can. Cheers.

My rebound purchase.... I used another gift card to buy a replacement bottle of Benromach 10. I plan to open it today in a fit of spite (mad at myself for dropping the other one). If I like it, I have to decide whether I like it enough to spend $20 and the rest of the card for another or $25 and the card for Wiser's dissertation. Any advice?

Benromach 10 is absolutely fantastic. Easily best bang for your buck available.

@Nozinan Benromach 10 is a favorite of mine, I grabbed 2 new bottles recently. The price won't likely stay where it is for long either. Dissertation is good too, I got to try it this past week. I won't say that I like it as much as Ben10, but it is a limited release so unlike the Ben10 you won't be able to taste it down the road. Half of the Dissertation barrels were released while the other half held onto, possibly a Dissertation 2 to follow? Anyway, that said, there will always be one off's and limited releases. you could always get the Dissertation and if you change your mind at any point exchange it? Or vise versa, think that there are enough bottles that it will be on the shelves for a bit, Last Barrels is still kicking around.

@Mancub MAybe I'll trade a Last Barrels for a dissertation... thanks for planting the idea in my head

@Nozinan The Dissertation is better IMO than Last Barrel's and better than the 150 FWIW.

@Astroke That is very useful information. Much appreciated.

I am so happy to say, that I was able to get Glengoyne in my hometown. I already had the 15yo, and I just picked up the 12yo and 18yo. The 12yo was at 51.99 USD, and the 18yo was selling for 122.99 USD.

Why? I enjoy them all, and they aren't that readily available, and quite affordable compared with other places, which are located in other states. I am glad I dont have to go to another state to get these.

@nooch Agreed! I'm on my third bottle.

Aberlour 10 yo, 43%, Highwood Ninety 20 yo corn whisky 45%, Johnny Drum Private Stock bourbon, 50.5%, and a 200 ml three-pack from Michigan's Journeyman Distillery, containing Featherbone Bourbon 45%, Last Feather Rye 45%, and Silver Cross Whiskey 45%.

The Aberlour and Highwood I got on my recent trip to Ontario, Canada, with much help from and much thanks to @Nozinan. Why these? I prefer Aberlour 10, which is almost impossible to find in the US, to the Aberlour standard 12 and 16 which I can easily get here. I consider Aberlour 10 to be quite refreshing and very under-rated. Highwood Ninety 20 yo is one of the very best corn whiskies which I have ever tasted, so I am delighted to have a bottle of it.

The Johnnie Drum Private Stock will be my second bottle of that one, and first in the last 6 years. It was a gift from @Maddie for my birthday last month. I am a fan of all of the Johnnie Drums from KBD, but I am especially a fan of the Private Stock.

The Journeyman Distillery 200 ml three-pack was a gift from a visiting friend who knows that gifts of whisk(e)y are much-appreciated by me.

N.B. to @Nozinan and @paddockjudge: when we made our obligatory leaving country stop at the Travel Retail, in this case at Fort Erie, Ontario, @Maddie just had to buy 4 bottles of Scotch and one of rum. She got a couple of different Glenfiddich Cask series bottles, a Glen Deveron 16, and her very own Talisker 57 Degrees North.

One day I'll get with the picture-posting, but not yet!

Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength, Batch # 008, bottled April 2016. This one just arrived in my area very recently. Why did I buy? 1) I never met a Laphroaig 10 CS I didn't like, 2) @MaltActivist loves this one, and his taste is close to my own, and 3) it was on sale for $ 63.21, tax incl.

@Nozinan, that makes 7 bottles purchased by me for me in 8 months.

@paddockjudge , can you help us understand that point of comparison you're making?

Who are the "direct sales commodity producers" who "would be raked over the coals if they sold all products at market price during upwards pressure"? My little bit of econ background and a little bit of Googling were equally incapable of attaching any concrete examples to those keywords. Is it a Canadian thing?

@Ol_Jas,

not exclusively a Canadian thing, after all the comment was about integrity. It wasn't too long ago that real time market prices were only a dream. Electronic and digital technology has quickly reshaped our world.

Below is a link to an excellent resource.

Here is a snipit from: Overview of Canadian antitrust law. Yves Bériault and Oliver Borgers McCarthy Tétrault LLP

"Criminal offences: relations with customers. Businesses are, generally speaking, free to choose their customers. However, once the customer relationship has been established, the Act imposes some important restrictions on the supplier which are criminal in nature. The Act contains four specific offences which deal with pricing practices: resale price maintenance, price discrimina- tion, promotional allowances, and predatory pricing."

mccarthy.ca/pubs/antitrus_overview.pdf/

I "accidentally" bought a bottle of Lagavulin Distiller's Edition online from Satan's, I mean the LCBO's website. Accidentally? Yes, my friend was asking me to show her some good scotches online and while I was perusing, talking about some of my favourites she said "Only 4 in stock online means 0 available, they're probably broken bottles. Go ahead and try to order one, I guarantee you'll get an email saying they're out of stock." I decided to humour her, and $160 CAD later, my bottle has shipped and should be here next week sometime. The LCBO does NOT let you cancel an order once it has been finalized. Ooops. My mistake. Now I LOVE Lagavulin, but I don't like to spend that much on one bottle. There are far too many sub-$100 bottles that I haven't tried yet. Oh well, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

@OdysseusUnbound

You can return it with the receipt for a refund if you decide you don't want it. I wonder if that $160 would be better suited to a ECBP or Lagavulin 12 CS, which is PHENOMENAL

@OdysseusUnbound I think you're friend just tricked you into buying a nice bottle ;) haha. The only orders I've had cancelled were when the stock online was "1 Available". I contacted the shipping center and was informed that when the bottle was to be located for shipping it couldn't be found, either due to it being misplaced or accidentally scanned in when it wasn't there in the first place. Never heard of multiple bottles being broken before as a reason not available. I'd suggest once the bottle arrives to exchange it for a couple others if that's how you would prefer to spend your money. You could also just return it rather than exchange and get your money back.

@Nozinan The LCBO website doesn't show a whole lot of Lagavulin 12 "Special Edition" (bottled at like 54%, so I'm assuming that's the Cask Strength) available. None anywhere near me. I wonder if I can get them to arrange an exchange. That said, I'm not THAT disappointed. I LOVE Lagavulin. A LOT. I'm sure I'll like it.

Edit: Lagavulin 12 YO Special Edition is bottled at 56.8%, and I would not spend that much on bourbon. I like bourbon, but nowhere near as much as I like scotch.

@OdysseusUnbound Your point is taken about the bourbon. I think ECBP is overpriced when you can get it for less than 100 CAD in the US.

As for the DE vs the 12, I would go with the 12 because it's great (never tried the DE but it's at 43%). I would not pay full price at this time because I can't justify that amount of money when i have a large collection, but if I had something to trade in I would definitely get a spare or three.

Yesterday, I didn't buy a whisky, I bought a Cognac: Remy Martin 1738. The wood notes would please many Speyseider afficionado. I quite like it and was thinking that maybe I should venture more often in this direction. So if you have recommandation...

@paddockjudge , that link is four pages of semi-dense Canadian legal schtuff. What's the point here? Help us out.

I get the perennial point about your LCBO thing being a monopoly that serves its customers poorly (as nearly all monopolies do), but it seems you're making some more specific point about price changes that I'm having a hard time "getting" over here on my side of the keyboard.

I just made what should be my final big purchase for a while. Marketers take note: Yes, the short-term availability of the Ardbeg Kelpie did indeed move me to action, and the "make a big order to spread out the shipping costs" business model of an online whisky shop did indeed spur me tack on anything else I'd been considering. What can I say—I'm a rational mouse responding to the buttons and levers placed in this maze I find myself in. :)

I bought:

•Ardbeg Kelpie, the 46% version. I wouldn't have shelled out for this just for myself, but I think it's a good choice for my whisky club. We'll pool the expense & risk, and I know some of the guys will be really stoked to try it. Especially, it will be the anchor for "Night of Five Ardbegs!!!" that we'll have sometime, along with the Ten, Oogie, Corryvreckan, and Dark Cove.

•Talisker 10. Because it's the most classic of modern single malts in my opinion, and it's a steal at $50.

•Talisker 6 Sherry Cask (Old Malt Cask). Because indie Taliskers are rare, this one's supposed to be good, and the price is right ($50 again).

•Kilchoman K&L Pick Red Wine Cask. The price was high ($100), but it's supposed to be a good one and I know my whisky club will be all over it like stink on a monkey. I brought another Kilchoman single cask around to that group a few months ago and they were gaga over it.

•Old Potrero 18th Century Style Rye. Because @Victor and other folks here on Connosr rave over it, and I think it'll be interesting for my whisky club.

So basically, and lot of whisky club stuff, with a couple Taliskers thrown on for myself!

@Ol_Jas,

You'll need to be more specific. It is quite clear to me.

Picked up my Lagavulin 16 Distiller's Edition 1999, bottled 2015. I couldn't stand to ask the LCBO staff to exchange it once it was in my hands. Happy Friday all.