So, what are you drinking now?

@OdysseusUnbound my first bottle stayed good to the last dram. I was thoroughly impressed.

@Nozinan Are you referring to Redbreast or GF 12?

@OdysseusUnbound The Redbreast. I've never had any Glenfarclas other than the 15 and the 105 that I can remember.

Last night, I had a dram from my all-Islay solera bottle to make room for a contribution of PC7.

Good stuff, and it just keeps getting better each time I add something.

@MadSingleMalt

"Last night I had the strangest dram I never drammed before..."

I’m too excited for the Northern Border Rare Releases so I’m having some “standard” Lot No.40. As per a different discussion, this one has not changed at all since I opened it in early July. Great stuff !

@OdysseusUnbound The only Lot 40 I have is a small sample remaining from a larger sample from @Paddockjudge. It was the older version.

I finished my Lot 40, moving on to Black Bush

Smooth Ambler Old Scout 10 YO cask strength 59.6% - my first taste of this. Just opened it (I wasn't planning on tonight but after a very syrupy Australian dessert wine the wives wanted opened, no other whisky we were looking at could overpower that.

It's actually quite nice out of the bottle and we're enjoying it (@Nosebleed and me).

Beer, Bourbon, and Bar-B-Q fest in Leesville, Virginia. I couldn't resist $ 23 per head online price. I got to try some new bottlings of established products. Results:

Rebel Yell (standard): above average batch, pretty darn good

Elijah Craig NAS: probably better than any I've had of the standard previously 12 year old 47% ABV

Four Roses Yellow Label, Small Batch, and Single Barrel: all very good, including the Yellow Label. This was a better Yellow Label than most I've had before. There was the usual strong quality in both the Small Batch and Single Barrel.

Filibuster Bourbon and Rye: didn't like the bourbon; the rye was young but nicely spicy.

Jim Beam Single Barrel: really lovely, actually. First I've had of this one.

Jim Beam Bottled in Bond: solid and fully acceptable. First I've had of this.

Basil Hayden's: very nice out of a fresh bottle.

John E. Fitzgerald Larceny: generally quite a nice wheater, but I found the sour element a little too strong.

2009 Evan Williams Single Barrel: lovely

Jameson Black Barrel: very enjoyable as always

Jameson Cask Mates Beer Finish: meh

Standard Maker's Mark: OK, no world-beater.

Maker's 46: the usual solid quality

1792 Ridgemont Reserve Small Batch, very caramel-y, but good.

Ezra Brooks 90 proof (Luxco, source believed to be Heaven Hill): still solid and great value.

Three or four of the sixty beers offered.

Today here was perfect weather, many friendly encounters with strangers, some good BBQ, and a lot of fun with quite a few samples, for a little bit of money.

Make that: Leesburg, Virginia.

@Victor All that for $23? That wouldn't even get you close to the door at SOT!

@Victor, looks like you had a great line-up with the exception of a few wheaters and one-offs. Could it have been one of those days when corn, rye, and barley could do no wrong? Now and again I have days when everything tastes great....if that were a regular occurrence I would save a fortune sticking to the bottom shelf.

@OdysseusUnbound, noooooo, don't use the "s" word, say soft or supple or anything else in its stead. You paid for it, you can call it anything you want, and yes, I find the batch I have (thank you @ Nozinan) 57.4%, is sm, smmm, smmmoo, ahem, soft and supple with excellent mouthfeel.

@paddockjudge I can count...Smooth isn't a four letter word. It's ok for a good whisky to have smoothness among its other qualities. It just depends wheat the smoothness refers to...

@Nozinan, @paddockjudge, the price was discounted and excellent on a special online deal. It would have been $ 45 at the door. I have wanted to try out some of these new NAS versions, e.g. Elijah Craig and Jim Beam Black Label, for some time. The batches of NAS I tasted had not lost flavor quality at all. I liked the NAS Elijah Craig better than any of the "standard" 47% ABV 12 year old I had previously tasted. I would definitely not shy away from drinking or buying them, if I were in the market for those flavor profiles. I always like to check in on new batches, too, especially of the inexpensive products, like Rebel Yell and Ezra Brooks. I had owned one bottle of standard Rebel Yell which was very weak. This one yesterday was quite decent, and would have scored into the mid-80s, at least. Ezra Brooks is one of the very good inexpensive bourbons on the market. I was worried about it for awhile, though, because my local stores had abandoned their previously-standard 90 proof version in favour of an 80 proof version. Now, five years later, the 90 proof is back on the shelves as the local store standard. That is a relief in a whisky which I have consistently liked, and which can be had for $ 15-20 here

I didn't care for everything I tried, and I did avoid a few things. I was slightly disappointed with Larceny. That sample was a little too sour for me. I had my first Fireball yesterday too. Tastes just like the candies I ate 55 years ago. And yes, I did like it, just as I had loved consuming the big red cinnamon balls of the same name. I consumed hundreds of the Fire Ball candies in the early 1960s. I tried one other flavoured whiskey yesterday and was shocked that I liked it. It was a Rebel Yell with ginger (or ginger beer?) finish. It was actually quite enjoyable. No, I don't consider anything with additives to be "proper" whisk(e)y.

@Nozinan, the location of the tasting required 70 minutes of driving each way, so there was a bit of a time and gas/car depreciation expense involved. The location was actually a selling point, because both @Dramlette and I love to drive through the country up that direction, including taking the Jubal A. Early Ferry (White's Ferry) across the Potomac River each direction. General Jubal Early led the 1864 Confederate Cavalry raid on Washington, D.C. during the Civil War, using that same ferry. Note that the town itself was named after Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General. Our area is full of American Civil War history.

@paddockjudge I was facetiously referring to the “s” word because of an article scotchnoob posted awhile back and that @Nozinan and I (among others) were discussing. I’m generally not a fan of that word because it isn’t as descriptive or precise as other words.

@OdysseusUnbound, I was just poking fun at you. I've used the word, on this site. I believe I referred to Danfield's as silky smooth or velvety smooth. The one descriptor commonly used by noobs when commenting on a whisky they find enjoyable is "smooth"...followed by silence.............

@paddockjudge, certainly yes, new whisk(e)y drinkers do frequently assume that whisk(e)y is harsh, or rough, therefore "not harsh" = "smooth" is their compliment meaning "not harsh and rough like that horrible low priced low quality stuff I've tasted and hated before." The evolution of taste descriptors is at its beginning point here, because the new whisky drinker in unpracticed at observing and naming the flavours encountered. "Smooth" is the only positively connotated descriptor they seem to be able to come up with at this stage.

@Victor Still, if you put in the whole cost, it's a steal.

@paddockjudge You're welcome.

@Victor @OdysseusUnbound Maybe smooth is not the desired goal, but unpalatable and rough (I'm thinking JW Red) is definitely something I try to avoid.

I don't mind challenging whiskies. But they have to taste good. If they are good AND go down easy.... it's not terrible.

@Victor, yes, so very true, the perception of the absence of harshness often solicits a "smooth' comment. Most of the early tasting in a whisky career is done when sampling from the bottom shelf. The evolution of the newly initiated whisky aficionado sees him moving upward from bottom shelf, to middle shelf, to top shelf and finally in the final position, whisky aficionado erectus. The tell tale sign of a successful transition is the realization that smooth does not always = great whisky.

@Nozinan, true, it was a steal of a tasting deal. That is why I jumped on it. That is the first big event tasting to which I have been since May 2014 Spirit of Toronto, at which I first met you.

As for "it's not terrible", that is my sister @Maddie's bottom line description of many whiskies. She varies "it's not terrible" with "it's not horrible".

@paddockjudge Speak for yourself. I did the Data tap dancing lesson technique. I went right to the final lesson. A'Bunadh was one of the first malts I tried in my first club meeting. The third malt I ever tried (2 others - I think entry level fiddichs and Laphroaig) was Macallan 25. I climbed the learning curve steeply.

@Nozinan,

when it comes to whisky there is always variability, so be it with data too. You are definitely an outlier and I'm excluding you from the data set....but not from any whisky related endeavors. For those not well acquainted with @Nozinan's cabinet, his bottom shelf is primarily a stunning array of Canadian top-shelf whisky....one requires a space suit to reach his top shelf.

@paddockjudge I was referring to the character, not actual data.

But thank you for the kind words.

Aberlour A'Bunadh batch 47 @60.7%

Thanksgiving (on the day it was meant to be held) dinner with tons of family and food, and lots of smells. We needed something (the request was for unpeated) robust enough to overcome the smells. I think this works well...

@Nosebleed is driving so he missed out, but our niece and nephew joined in. Later when he's home and the smells have dissipated we can try something else.

@Victor The exalted Ralfy used the S word today in his review.

@BlueNote even I, his most loyal follower, don't have the patience to watch all of his reviews through,