So, what are you drinking now?

Tonight it's Arran 14 followed by Ledaig 10. I liked the Ledaig better when I first opened it, but now down to the last couple of inches I'm finding it tastes somehow artificially peaty. Maybe it was just the wrong thing to follow the quite sweet Arran with.

@Robert99, I will certainly permute this set of rye samples until I arrive at a pleasant combination.

@Victor I bartend for friend's parties here and there and Fireball mixed with Rumchata (called a Cinnamon Toast Crunch) was a hit and requested multiple times

Speaking about RUMchata, tonight @nosebleed and I are capping the evening with Lemon Hart 151 Rum. Who would have predicted it goes well with Trader Joe's milk chocolate?

And all it takes is 5-10 mL...

I’m drowning my disappointment at not yet having a bottle of Lot 40 CS with a generous pour of Dissertation. Tasty stuff.

@OdysseusUnbound Good choice. We're having a number of whisky drinkers over this evening, so we'll see what gets poured.

Tonight (so far), my uncle tried the Deanston 10 PX CS, my brother in law and his friend went with A'Bunadh 47 leaving me with about one serving left, now decanted. I went with Springbank 12 YO CS, which is coming along nicely a month after opening.

Having Eagle Rare right now. Picked up a Redbreast 12 for $55 on clearance today, but may wait until tomorrow night to test it out.

@Nozinan I grabbed one of those Deanston 10 PX a few weeks ago and really like when I’m craving something sweeter.

@boatracer where’s it on sale?

@nooch local LCBO clearance, Cedar St in Cambridge. They had 10 or so.

@boatracer I have to get to Cambridge one of these days... Cheap Irish whisky and great chocolate!

And the week-long dramfest is capped off by a little Highwood 90, 20 YO. Always delicious. I've heard it called one of someone's top 3 corn whiskies. So naturally Canadians call it Rye.

@OdysseusUnbound , I second that disappointment at no CS Lot 40 (And also of Kilkerran 12 selling out before I could get my mitts on any). I am having the second dram from a bottle of Dissertation I obtained thanks to my brother. I have to say it's quite the experience, the nose on this is almost overwhelming at first. This one is going to take a while to dissect.

Glen Garioch 12 followed by a 50/50 blend of Bowmore 12 and Ledaig 10. Makes the Bowmore 12 drinkable.

Tonight, attended a friend’s birthday party;

29 year Clynelish (SMWS 26.105 “Bumblebees by the sea”) from a refill ex-Sherry butt. Stunning!

Glenrothes 1975 (bottled in 2006). I haven’t had this one in several years and never thought I would see it again. What a treat. It lived up to my memory of it.

Glenfiddich experimental cask (finished in IPA casks). While not bad, it was my least favorite of the night.

13 year Old Pultney (SMWS 52.20 “All day American breakfast in the garden”) from a refill barrel, ex-bourbon. One of the most unique noses and palettes of any whisky that I have ever tasted. Would have never guessed it to be an Old Pultney. It was so unique, that at first I wasn’t sure what to think, but it really grew on me the more of it I drank.

Ardbeg 21 year old. The peat was very understated allowing the most wonderful floral notes to come through. A simply beautiful dram.

22 year Springbank (SMWS 27.110 “Horse harnesses and mescal ‘worms’”) from a first-fill hogshead, ex-sherry. Absolutely wonderful.

24 year Caol Ila (SMWS 53.210 “Fantastic stuff”) from a refill hogshead, ex-bourbon. This was perfectly named - fantastic stuff!

20 year Laphroaig (SMWS 29.165 “Cigar-smoking, perfumed nurse”) from a refill barrel, ex-bourbon. A perfect dram to end the night.

A wonderful party with some wonderful friends and fellow whisky lovers.

@bwmccoy that is a stellar assortment of whisky right there. That's the stuff of dreams for some of us. Sounds like a great night with good friends

@Hewie Beats the hell out of cake and ice cream.

Last night I had Hazelbank 10 after letting it sit with some air for about a month. Much better. I found it quite sweet on initial opening.

@BlueNote Was that a typo or a mixture of Springbank and hazelburn? Either could be delicious.

@Nozinan Not so much a typo as a braino. Hazelburn, of course, one of the gifted offspring of the Springbank family.

@Hewie and @BlueNote - Thanks. Yes, my friend's cabinet is quite extensive and he is very generous with it. It was his birthday, but it was like we were the ones getting the presents. Unfortunately, I had to leave the party early. I was told that they opened a 41 year (1970) Macallan after I left.

@bwmccoy I have to commend your friend for drinking that 41 year old with friends rather than tucking it away as an investment. Pity you couldn't have hung in long enough for a sip of that one. I hope they saved you a dram. Cheers.

@bwmccoy You could have reactivate the old thread "Epic Tasting" with that pleiade of Scotch. It is nice to have good friends.

I also saw that you grab an interesting Westland. I am very curious about that one as I picked there regular peated expression and find the first two or three drams delicious. After a few days, it had lost some interesting low notes but was still good. I was impressed enough to tell myself to keep an active eye on that distillery.

@Robert99 - Thanks for the heads up. I didn't realize that there was ever an Epic Tasting thread.

As for Westland, I highly recommend them. I'm fortunate being in Seattle and can visit the distillery on occasion. Matt Hoffman, the master distiller, is very good at what he does and is very knowledgeable in all things whiskey. (He's also a really nice guy.) Anyway, Westland has 3 standard bottlings (Flagship, Sherry and Peated). The sherry and the peated are my favorites of the three, but if you ever have a chance to pick up any of their single cask bottlings, you can really see what makes this distillery special. They also have a release that is from Oregon white oak casks (Garryana). I highly recommend it; a very unique and interesting whiskey. Westland is also starting to source peat locally from Washington state (their current peated releases are Scottish barley). It will be a few years before the local peat releases are ready, but it will be interesting to compare it to Scottish peat.

@Robert99 I agree. That was super epic.

Just having a dram of Laphroaig 10 after a dram of Ardbeg 10. Interesting. I've never done them back to back. The Ardbeg has a broader range, if that makes sense. It has brighter, more "citrusy" highs and deeper, darker more coffee-esque lows. The Laphroaig has more minerality, more sweetness (the vanilla really seems to be popping after the Ardbeg) and feels a bit "thicker". I'm probably a more generous marker with a dram in hand, so my students are reaping the benefits. Side note: for those who are interested, my full version of the Redbreast 12 CS review is up on my blog. Slainte !

@OdysseusUnbound ha ha I'm picturing you sitting at your desk marking with your glass at hand. I tend to use a whisky as an incentive to finish my marking - something of a reward when I get it done. Maybe it would go faster if I marked with a dram in hand?

@Hewie @OdysseusUnbound When I'm stuck with a ton of charting, or have to create a presentation, I like to have a cask strength bruiser to make it more interesting. A'Bunadh (though it's a little complex), Booker's, OGD 114... Sadly last night I was on call, and tonight I'm midway through a cold I either got from my son or my nephew. Tomorrow I have evening plans and my wife ha plans for me on Thursday. So it's boring charting for this week.

And I so want to get back to Legacy and Stagg jr!

Pshaw—you amateurs. I'm pretty much dead-drunk at work constantly.

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@OdysseusUnbound, fun stuff on the blog, as always. I never heard about that "close-mic" thing with the strings in Eleanor Rigby. And I hear that song a lot, as I play it for my oldest girl all the time. (Her name's Elanor, but in the tradition of Samwise Gamgee rather than Paul McCartney.)

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@bwmccoy , if you're interested in Westland's use of North American peat, you might want to check out the following recent discussion on Reddit, though maybe it's all stuff you already know. reddit.com/r/worldwhisky/…