Your Whisk(e)y of the year 2019

And I guess the 89€ wasn't too expensive....

@Misty Those Signatory folks know a good cask when they see (taste) one. I've had a few excellent bottles from them. Good score, and good idea to load up the bunker.

Haha, love this topic. It's always hard to choose... but here goes (in no particular order other than the order that they came to mind)... at the very least, it's been a good year for fun stories of whisky that were tied to events that made an impact.

1. Alberta Premium Cask Strength. Being from Calgary, I just have to be proud of what can be produced in the local backyard.... or the middle of the industrial area in which this distillery lies. Either way, I'm not even that big a rye fan and I think this is a helluva drink. Bought multiples and I think it checks off all the hallmarks of a great whisky. It's big, and bold and delicious. Can't ask for much more

2. Elijah Craig 12 Year Barrel Proof C917. I went to visit some family in the US, and whenever I go south of the border, I always aim to bring back at least one bottle of the Laphroaig 10 yr Cask Strength. This time, I was having a really difficult time finding it, so I went to reddit to see if the online community could help. Lo and behold, they did, and one of them pointed me to a store that not only had the Laphroaig 10CS, but there was a lonely dusty bottle of this ECBP sitting on the shelf. My heart filled with glee. I had to have it. Upon opening, I experienced waves of euphoria that I hadn't felt since I discovered po-.... this is bourbon at its peak.

3. Kilkerran 15 yr Bourbon Barrel Recently released in our area right after Christmas, a good friend of mine managed to snag a bottle for himself and he was thoughtful enough to snag one for me from a local hotspot. This one is unique. It has loads of character. Every sip is an adventure, and frankly it's been a while since a scotch in its sub-18year form as tickled my fancy like this (yes yes, I'm an ageist snob - it happens when you get old and you develop unjustified feelings of judgment towards the young whipper snappers of the world - both in people and whisky. )

4. Kavalan Solist Sherry - picked up from the Taiwan Duty Free I'm a lucky guy - a good friend from work actually picked this up at my suggestion. We had some work mates who had just received their professional engineering designation, and wanted something to celebrate with. Nothing tastes quite as delightful as a celebration drink. especially not one as good as this - it's a clean bottle, beautifully made, and cleaned out with good company celebrating one another's achievements.

5. Ardbeg 19 Traigh Bhan - Does this deserve a whisky of the year mention? not at all. Was it great? I didn't think so. but I paid close to $400 CAD for this motherf***er so it better stand up. Truth of the matter is, it's good, but it's not $400 good imo. People I know tried to take the mindset of "well, at least Ardbeg didn't try to charge us $800 for this one". Me on the other hand, took it as evidence that I'm justified in saying that Ardbeg truly deserves the title of "Macallan of Islay". Don't get me wrong, it's very decent whisky. It's just...I can rattle off a good number of other stuff that's older, cheaper, and comparable or better. Something can be said about the taste of vindication

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Aaaah goodness, sorry for the spam. The website kept telling me my comment failed. I figured I had to edit the content to shorten it.... didn't realize it posted several times. Sorry again folks

@BlueNote

Yes, I think for me the signatory cask strength series is one of the most reliable independent bottlers.

I’ve tried a few of the Cadenhead small batch series too and although some can be great they also contain a few ‘interesting’ ones. Currently have a 13 year old Ord opened that’s was finished in a Marsala cask. I’m not digging it and unless you are in to weird lightly peated funky fruity gin you probably wouldn’t either. Nothing like the tasting notes.....

@Mackstine, I’ve posted my share of multiples/duplicates, every time I see one I smile, been there, done that.

Keep on posting, I enjoyed your comments.

@Misty Thanks for the heads up on the Cadenhead Ord. I considered it, but went with the 11 year old Knockdhu and the 10 year old BenRiach. Both very good.

@Misty that Deanston sounds great. Think I'll try and grab a bottle next pay day.

My whisky of the year (a little late) for 2019 is the Port Charlotte 10yo 50% 2018/10/04. It is not my highest scoring whisky of the year, but it does represent the whisky which really helped me find a new groove. I have long been looking for an alternative to Brora. Some contenders: BenRiach, Ballechin, Benromach, Longrow, Ledaig . . . and for me the torch has at last passed to Port Charlotte. This medium peated Bruichladdich has really achieved an excellence in peat, farm, and terrior. And that cannot be better captured than in this bottle. I scored it blind on three occasion: 96, 94, 93 = 94.33

I have gone through 3 different batch of the Port Charlotte 10yo this year. And 2018/10/04 was clearly my favorite.

Two other worthy bottles that scored better:

Ardbeg Corryvreckan 57.1% 16/11/2015 (scored blind: 94, 95, 95) = 94.67

This is a particularly great batch. Ardbeg still has my heart.

Port Charlotte Elements of Islay Pl4 61.2% from Speciality Drinks Ltd bottled 2015 from Two Chateau Margaux Casks (scored it blind 96, 95 and 94) = 95

This whisky is so good. Port Charlotte is doing some amazing things. This was the highest scoring whisky I scored blind on at least 3 occasions this year. It only confirms to me that Port Charlotte is my top dram of the year.

@Wierdo Me too on the Deanston 18 (if I can find it).

@Nock how do you tell which batch your PC10 is from?

I just brought a new bottle the other day and want to check it.

@Wierdo My most recent one has a code on the bottom rim on the back side of the bottle. It reads: 162464 18/286 underneath that it says: 018/09/06 15:21.

@Wierdo @BlueNote is correct. You can find some small white letters laser etched on the lower black lip of your bottle. Please share them when you find them.

For @BlueNote’s bottle the 18/286 is the batch according to Bruichladdich. Currently you can use that batch code to look up the components for any bottle of the Classic Laddie on their website. I hope they will eventually make the component casks of their Port Charlotte 10yo available. But that is not currently the case.

That said for @BlueNote’s bottle the number 018/09/06 . . . my guess is that you cannot easily make out the “2” at the front. It should read “2018/09/06” which means bottling year of 2018 in the month of 09 (September) and the 06 day. So September 6th of 2018 is when that bottle was filled. The last numbers with the colon indicate the time of day.

I have picked up 3 different batches

Port Charlotte 10yo 50% L/162076 18/166 2018 04 30 14:10

Port Charlotte 10yo 50% L162568 18/306 2018/10/04 11:00

Port Charlotte 10yo 50% L162987 19/066 2019/03/12 14:41

Notice that there is some discrepancy in the use of backslashes, but the same information is still conveyed. Hope that helps.

@BlueNote @Nock thanks for the help.

My PC10 is 2019/08/05

@Wierdo

Yes recommended for sure. I think there are about 3 different casks in the range all at 60%+ abv and all very good with subtle variations.