Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@Nelom Of course it's not THAT NDP.

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We know that, unlike the other parties, THAT NDP can't be bought, especially at the LCBO...

Laphroaig Cairdeas and 10 CS arrived and wife has taken it in her stride no complaints.

She must be getting used to the buying and not drinking as I am working lots of overtime and rarely get chance to have a quiet night with a new bottle.

Either that or the surprise holiday to Marrakech in September has worked like a charm.

Don't believe she knows what is in the various cupboards.

@Nelom Just finished a bottle of the Glynnevan Double Barrelled from a year and a half ago. Not bad stuff, Alberta Distilleries no doubt with some extra aging in NS. They have a triple barrelled version as well (finished in the Fortress Rum barrels) at 45% ABV.

@Astroke Yes, your comment in this thread was part of the reason I decided to order the Glynnevan. Glad to hear it continued being an enjoyable whisky for the duration of the bottle.

I took this sucker off my friend's hands today...

Whoops! I meant this...

@KRB80 you must have been doing him a big favour

Well, just returned from Halifax, NS and brought these back. 3 are backups for bottles I have on the go, that Balblair 1990/2015 is fantastic. The Ancnoc 24 was reasonably priced and I thought I would pick it up. The Tomatin Cask Strength was a whim but I could not pass up a cask strength SM for $80 Canadian. The Plantation 12 Rum looked too interesting to pass up, 8 years in Bourbon cask's and 4 years in Ferrand Cognac cask's and finished in Wild Cherry wood, 44.1%.

@Astroke Nice haul. What did the Balblair set you back?

@BlueNote $166. Nova Scotia pricing is excellent, for the most part.

@Astroke Score! No Balblair available in BC at any price, $175 for the 1990 in Calgary, but out of stock. Enjoy.

@BlueNote I saw a Balblair 1983/2014 there for $407, a little rich for me considering the amount I had already spent but certainly a reasonable price for a 30+ year SM.

@Astroke Good price on the 30, but the 1990, 25 year old is the real bargain. I'll be interested to get your tasting notes and impressions when you get around to cracking that one.

@Astroke,

Is the Masterson's batch 001? That is a special bottle.

@paddockjudge Yes, batch 001. I am on a batch 001 from my trip last year. They had the PSA batch in the same place as the batch 001 but unlike the LCBO I did not take it to the cash and hold them to the $85 as I doubted it was that much better than 001. I find 003, 005 and 001 to be similar and 015 is mediocre at best. I read that 001 was released after 005 but I am not sure about the validity of that post.

@BlueNote I have gone through 1/2 a bottle of the 1990/2015, did not take me long to realize I would replace it at that price. So thick and rich, not a sherry bomb but a sweet oily fruit forward SM. Perfect desert dram if ever there was one. Of course I could get the 1990/2016 at the LCBO for $296.

@Astroke,

the appearance of batch 001 after batches 003, and 005 is probably correct. I have not seen evidence of batch 001 prior to the release of 3 or 5. The French Oak is interesting and enjoyable. It commands a premium price like the PSA batch.

I wonder if the truckload that was heisted was the original batch 001?

I just bought a Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength, unplanned.

I popped into the liquor store for some beer, and of course I skim my way past the scotch shelves. Bam—there it was! My first sighting. Now, the price ($86) was a few bucks more than what @KRB80 recently paid, but I just decided to go for it. Until they disappoint me, I'll keep buying all their stuff if the price is reasonable.

@MadSingleMalt Curious to hear about this one. I'm really enjoying the 12. Last night I had a taste of a SMWS bottling of an 8 year old Ardbeg 55.4% as I recall. It had some serious bite but huge flavor. Only took a few drops of water to settle it down to a very drinkable dram. I'm guessing the Kilkerran 8 CS will be a similar taste bud monster.

In the absence of the "what bottle will you buy ASAP" category - bruchladdiach announced the next Octomores. My mouth waters just thinking about them.

@BlueNote , I'm in rather a "pop 'em open!" mood at the moment—I recently opened a long-gloated-over PC7—and I almost just popped open that Kilkerran 8 when I got home from work last night. If I didn't have a master scheme in mind, I probably would have. But, restraint prevailed, and I've set it aside for a few weeks, at which point I'm going to finally open my first Kilkerran 12 and then unleash the vertical† that I've been preparing for myself these past few years:

•WIP 1 (my second bottle)

•WIP 6 Sherry (my first bottle)

•WIP 7 Bourbon CS (my second bottle)

•12 (my first bottle)

•8 CS (my first bottle)

I can't wait! I hope your prediction vis–à–vis that SMWS Ardbeg turns out to be true.

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†Maybe not a true vertical, depending on your definition

@nooch , we used to have a "What are you lusting over?" thread that could be fun to revive.

connosr.com/what-are-you-lusting-over-whis…

Which Octomores are thinking of? The "8.X" series? The OBA ("Octomore Black Art")?

@MadSingleMalt Restraint is highly overrated. Enjoy that vertical, but try not to get horizontal:-)

@MadSingleMalt Sounds more like horizontal tasting...at least that much heavily peated scotch may leave you horizontal... .

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I see I was beaten to the pun(ch)

@MadSingleMalt I'm thinking 8 series. Black Arts is a bit beyond my reach - whereas I snagged my bottle of 7.3 for $100. That's more my speed!

@Nozinan Great malty minds think alike.

@nooch Wow, that was a good deal. I had the new Black Arts at a tasting the other night. Our host had bought it ($300 Can) and insisted on sharing with the rest of us, For some reason I assumed it was a peat monster, it ain't, but it was very good. I had a couple of sips and brought the rest of my one ounce pour home for later consumption.

@nooch , @BlueNote

Just to be clear, I think we're all talking about a couple different whiskies here.

Black Art is their long-running series of unpeated whisky in crazy casks around ~23 years old. The current release (#4, I'm pretty sure) had a big price jump. These used to run around $200-$250, and the current one is $350.

OBA is their new single release of "Octomore Black Art"—that is, their super-young, super-peated Octomore spirit finished in a bunch of crazy casks, Black Art-style. I don't know what the price was or is, but I think it sold out already.

@MadSingleMalt @nooch Yeah, that's the one we had, the unpeated one. I think it was Batch 5.1 which is the first one put together by the new master blender at Bruichladdich. I only had a small taste and still have most of an ounce in a sample bottle, but my impression was that it was very good. I don't know if it is 300 bucks good, we'll see what the reviewers think.

@BlueNote if I get a chance to try it I'll jump all over it, but $300 is above my pay grade. The most I've ever spent on a bottle is about $150. Despite living in Ontario I've managed to snag good bottles at duty free and from Calgary that have allowed me to pick up highland park 18, glenmorangie 18, glenfarclas 21, 2 Octomores, various Ardbeg, and old pulteney 17 for a lot less than what they are at the local extortio...I mean LCBO.
What's the best bang for your buck malt you all have ever found? That Octomore 7.3 for $100 was pretty good. I got the Glenmorangie 18 for $100 at duty free.
The best deal at the lcbo remains benromach 10. That's stuff is glorious.