Whisky for the weekend?

Just bought a bottle of Caol Ila Cask Strength (perfect for my current tastes) which I will open tonight

I special ordered a couple bottles of Glenrothes 1998 Vintage (couldn't find it anywhere locally). They should arrive today at my local shop. Hopefully I will crack one of these open for the weekend, and put the other one up. I've heard its an excellent dram for only being 10yrs old.

My Birthday this weekend so off out to choose that special bottle which my wonderful wife can then wrap and give to me as a surprise. Always look forward to picking out a special bottle(or any bottle for that matter) Am thinking Lagavulin 1993 Distillers edition right now..my local store has one left. Must dash,so much choice,too little time.

@RoganFox Happy birthday!

Saturday I will have a whisk(e)y tasting for 6 persons featuring 22-25 whiskies. Sunday @JeffC will come over and he will try 7 or 8 of my ryes and bourbons and I will taste about 10 of his malts/vatted malts and blends which I have not yet tried.

@Victor that's a whisky weekend for you.

Yes, this will be a very whisk(e)y centered weekend for me! (and squeezed between my Sunday morning basketball game)

For me, I will start the weekend with lagavulin 16 yrs old and then see how it goes!

@Piero Thanks.. always a nice time to add a bottle or two to the collection

That's right, this Sunday Victor and I are having the first Washington DC based Connosr facilitated tasting. I'm giving it the nickname of the "Cabinet Level Meeting," should be great.

I'm just about to crack into a 19 yo D&M Scapa bottle. Mmmm cask-strength Scapa!

I picked up the two 1998 Vintage bottles, but also a 1/2 bottle and 50ml sample of Mac 18yr. I already had the 50ml, and wrote up a review. I hope to get into the Glenrothes tomorrow.

yesterday I picked up a bottle of greenore and one of nikka from the barrel! They are my first single grain and my first japanese, so it's oging to be an interesting weekend!

@lucadanna1985 good choice!

@lucadanna1985 Which Greenore did you pick up? The 8 Year Old?

@markjedi1 Yeah! It was the only one avalaible in Sicily and your sample of 6 years old is supposed to arrive soon too! :)

I was planning on picking up a Talisker 10 which is on special at the moment but couldn't drag myself out of work to make it happen. I have quite a few unopened bottles in stock, I'm enjoying the Springbank 12yo CS & might open Longrow 14. Either way I'll have a few tasty ones on the cards

Well, last night (Fri) was going to be a strictly Laphroaig QC night. I was going to crack open a new bottle. However, I decided to start with an 18 year old Higland Park. Beautiful, but a bit too smooth for me. Then, it was on to the HP 12 year, which I like better than the 18 year. Then, I thought I would give the Singletong of Glenduallan a try (only tried it once before), and I liked it a lot better the second time. There is a definite taste there which I didn't notice before, that seems to give it a bit of sweetness and almost a nice, syrup-like consistency. I likened it to almost a flavour of Port wine. The last few drams were from my cherished Laphroaig Quarter Cask. I opened the new bottle. I can spend an amazing amount of time just nosing stuff, I think the smokiness and peatiness must almost be addicting like smoking!!?? I really do savour the Laphroaig. For reasons I can't understand - possibly the name comes into it - this single malt almost has a life-like quality to it. It just has so much personality - like a human being - sometimes almost being a bit obtrusive, then it kind of settles down, and you get a sweetness and thickness that coats your tongue beautifully, followed by the smokey aftertaste. I just have to say that I love the "company" of this single malt. Now, being Saturday, I am off the the shops to see if I can round up a 10 year old or 10 year old Cask Strength, neither of which I have tasted yet. Have a great weekend everyone! How nice it is to have this wall to share our comments.

I'm looking for something completely different from my usual Islay whiskies and tonight it was time for a Brora 1982 CC. It was subtle, very very sweet with taste of fruit, flowers and grass. Perhaps not what I'm looking for but an interesting experience. When I got home again I recalibrated with Uigeadail and Corryvreckan.

@Himanshu I opened this weekend my birthday present, a Glenlivet 18 yo. It was the first time a tried a Glenlivet. It was all right. It starts with a disappointing nose, but the taste and the finish is quite good. I would not buy a bottle myself, but as a gift, it is a good whisky that I will pour once in a while. I had Auchentochan 21 yo after that, another of my birthday present but it was already opened weeks ago. Another whisky that is not in my preferred category but that can be enjoyable. I had Aberlour 16 yo also yesterday... So it was a luxurious weekend as you can see. I am a peat and islay fan, but this weekend was all about main land !

Johnnie Walker Blue Label over here.

@PeatAndMeat

I have a bottle of that, but after having it on the rocks on a trip to Arizona, I was fully unimpressed. I may just keep it in the box and look for a trade.

Is this the first time you've had it or is Blue a regular?

I plan on diving into what's left of my Yamazaki 18.

I tried Macallan Select Oak last night. It's a darn good thing it comes in a liter. It's so smooth it may replace my daily diet coke! lol

@PeatAndMeat Just reacquainted myself recently with Old Pulteney 12 year old. I'd ruled this one out having only tasted it during my earliest encounters with whisky. I was unimpressed at the time but I realise now that was due to my inexperienced palate. Tried it the other day and found a lot to admire - especially at the price. Getting a bottle in for the weekend.

"Weekend" started early for me, St. Patrick's day, three establishments yesterday with 14 first-exposure-for-me samples of whiskies: Ardmore 12, Ardmore 30, Bruichladdich Fino Sherry 1992, Glenmorangie Astar, Glenmorangie Signet, Glenrothes Special Reserve, MaCallan Whisky Maker's Edition, Cragganmore 12, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Johnnie Walker Gold Label, Springbank 10 (46%), Springbank 10 Alchemist's bottling, Springbank 18, Highland Park 15. My favourites?: The MaCallan Whisky Maker's Edition, the Ardmore 30, and the Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

@Victor You're my hero! :)

Tell us about the Ardmore 30 and the Macallan Whisky Makers Edition, uh, that is if you can remember it. ;)

@RobertH, I will do my best to describe from memory: this Ardmore 30, which I have read was distributed only in the US, had a grand detached feeling, sort of like I was observing life on earth from outer space. (Yeah, yeah, I know, this was dram # 13 that day!) Without having taken detailed tasting notes at the time I recall this as being sort of Zen. It was very, very smooth, with significant, but not dominating wood flavour present. The MaCallan Whisky Maker's Edition was very very woody, woody like a bourbon, but I would describe it as a nice malt which just happened to have a lot of wood. I am very sensitive to sulphur taint in whisky, but even so I did not perceive either direct sulphur taste or sulphur tainted bitterness in this whisky which apparently led Jim Murray to write off this particular whisky in his 2011 Whisky Bible. And @RoberH, I suspect that I would have been unimpressed with Johnnie Walker Blue Label as you were, if I had had it on the rocks. The flavours are so delicate that I don't think that they can stand up well with any dilution.

@Victor, thank you for your thoughts. I was concerned about the issues of putting something that old over ice or with water. I figured it may have rendered it flat, which it was. I may have to give it one more try. I have to admin, I like the black rather well and I use the red for cocktails like a good rusty nail or a black tartan.

I regret that I will be missing the big Whisky to do down in Vegas this weekend. I will look for it next year and make a point of being there if they make it a regular event. I think I would have a good chance to try several of the older expressions of many favorites.

Carry on with your long weekend. I shall join you in a glass this evening.

R

I have a wee nip of Whyte & Mackay Supreme 22 Years Old 'Limited Edition Bottling' here.

Good lord, it really is supreme!

@Carl...your description of the LQC is similar in a lot of ways to the 'personality' that I see in the Lagavulin 16. Just a wonderful offering that presents something different with each glass!