So, what are you drinking now?

@RianC I'm now a big fan of the Deanston 12. It hits all the criteria for a solid whisky and at a great price to boot.

@Nozinan I was about to make a k=joke about your Islam whisky but it seemed poor taste - took me a moment to realise the typo there!

Guys weekend continues..

Regular Jameson; I brought this for the guys who are Scotch fans, but another guy brought Bushmills Black Bush so we started with the Jameson to set up the Black Bush.

Bushmill’s Black Bush

Balvenie 12 Doublewood

Kaiyo Japenese Mizunara oak

Port Askaig 10th Anniversary 10 year Cask Strength. Bottle kill.

Ardbeg An Oa

Glen Scotia 15 and then Bulleit 10 before and after dinner last night. Two very enjoyable whiskys. I really like the maltiness of the GS and the Bulleit is so easy to sip, shame about the lack of a finish though. Would have carried on but whatever virus I have (definitely not CV19 - test was confirmed last night - six days later ... ) is finishing me off too early in the day. I at least can leave the house now!

Currently sipping a Springbank 15 with a good splash of water in it - it's perhaps better for the dilution. I do like this but I'll be glad when I can move onto another bottle.

@Hewie I’m not sure what a k=joke is, but I now see the unfortunate results of my phone’s autocorrect....

A little pour of Wisers Dissertation - the colder (well, wetter, really) weather is here and so I rejoice as the alter of rye is open for worship once more

I will review this soon. Spoiler alert, I like it.

@RianC I cracked a bottle of Dissertation in solidarity some time back and It's nearing the end, perhaps an afternoon pour is in order while I figure out what to cook. Looking forward to your review.

@cricklewood still slowly working through my first bottle of dissertation. It’s a great whisky.

More Irish Whiskey cocktails. This time a Black Irish Manhattan...

Last night, after returning home from guys weekend, a dram of Inchmoan SMWS 135.14 (13 year - Mar. 2005) "Tripping the light fantastic" - After maturing in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transfered to a first-fill charred red wine barrique - 55.4% ABV.

Tonight, tried another smoke infusion of 2Bar Spirits (Seattle, WA) Straight Bourbon Whiskey - 50% ABV with the Smoke Top. This time I tried @victor’s suggestion of using cherry wood. As usual, @victor was spot on. The smoke was not overpowering and added a new dimension to the bourbon.

Finished with a dram of heavily peated Bunnahabhain SMWS 10.190 (6 year - Oct. 2013) "Make moine a devil!" from a second-fill ex-Oloroso Sherry butt - 61.1% ABV. This is my favorite open bottle right now.

Currently doing a blind tasting of a sample provided by @Nozinan

It's been a chilly day, so some Highland Park while I do some editing...

I was decanting some samples for a future zoom meeting and had a nip of lot 40 CS 12yr old and some Clairin (unaged sugarcane juice rum).

Strange bedfellows

Last night was American (specifically, Seattle, WA) single malt whiskey night;

Westland single cask # 5410 was aged 6 years and 1 month. It is their standard 5 grain mash bill that was first aged in a 1st-fill ex-Westland cask, then it was transferred to a 1st-fill ex-bourbon cask before spending the last 26 months in a French oak ex-Syrah Washington State wine cask from Guardian Cellars (Red Mountain AVA). 57% ABV.

Westland single cask # 2542 (6 year-Distilled 2012) 27 months in Coopers Reserve New American Oak followed by 45 months in an ex-Pedro Ximénez Hogshead - 50.8% ABV.

Pre-release bottling of Copperworks Distilling Company SMWS 143.1 "Sea buckthorn tea time". Bottled as a 3 year, but it was actually aged 46 months (distilled Mar. 14th, 2016) in new oak (18 month air seasoned staves) heavy toast, medium char (#2) - 60.2% ABV. This malt was made from a six row barley variety known as Alba. Three batches of wash were combined prior to distillation, each having between 9 to 13 days of fermentation. Official tasting notes; The aroma was that of Acacia honey on slices of buttered toasted malt loaf next to simmering red currants almost ready to be filled into jars for jelly. On the palate, full roasted oak and coffee flavors with hints of molasses and a slightly bitter turmeric finish.

No whisky this evening...instead it was the first of some Halloween cocktails I'm whipping up on behalf a friend for their business social media feed. The Black Widow Smash, using Sombra Mezcal...

@bwmccoy Some of those sound very interesting. If we ever get to visit the in-laws in Oregon again, I’ll see if my brother in law or my hipster nephew can find some of Seattle’s best...whisky, not coffee.

@YakLord What else is in there? Are those blackberries or raspberries floating on top?

Not much work coming in lately and still fighting the tail end of whatever virus I've had so a large pour of Deanston 12 last night was most welcome and helped lift the spirits.

Currently sipping a JD SB BP - still can't smell much but the thickness and oiliness feel good on my throat.

@BlueNote Blackberries floating on top of some ice shaped liked spiders...with a sprig of smoked rosemary.

@BlueNote Muddle some blackberries and fresh rosemary with 1oz of lemon juice and 1oz of agave nectar, add 2oz of mezcal and a couple dashes of orange bitters, shake with ice, top up with soda, strain into a rocks glass over ice and garnish with more blackberries and a sprig of smoked rosemary.

I'm sipping some Kilchoman Sanaig while marking and sending emails to parents. When you have no prep time at school, you have to make prep time at home. It could be worse, I suppose.

Today is my Friday, took tomorrow off. Having a Manhattan made with Elijah Craig and Antica Vermouth. Was craving a peated scotch but getting together with a friend this weekend and will be tasting numerous whiskys so I held off. Made wife a Non Sequitur cocktail so she's a happy camper too. Slainte!

@OdysseusUnbound kind of like me “charting”, eh @BlueNote?

@BlueNote - If the border ever opens back up and you are visiting your in-laws in Oregon, add some time to your schedule and I'd be glad to meet you at either Westland or Copperworks (or both). I live about 45 minutes from downtown Seattle. Both Westland and Copperworks are relatively close to each other in / near downtown and they both aren't that far off of I-5. As I've said before, I'm not that big of a fan of either distillery's standard range, but some of their single cask releases are amazing!

Tonight, played on-line poker with the same group of guys that attended guys weekend last weekend. While playing, I had 3 drams in order to rate the open bottles;

Milk & Honey (Israel) Whisky Distillery Elements Sherry Cask - 46% ABV. This bottle is so much better than when I first opened it. 86 points.

Kaiyo Whisky Japanese Mizunara Oak - 43% ABV. I've been enjoying this one more than I thought I would. 87 points.

Ardbeg An Oa - 46.6% ABV. Again, maybe my expectations were so low, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I like this one. 91 points.

@bwmccoy I was pouring samples of Milk and Honey oak aged Levantine Gin last night, in preparation of a video tasting. I got to taste the last drop from the bottle.

@bwmccoy We might have to take in a hockey game down your way sometime.

@YakLord Maybe I’ll just drop by your house one day right around happy hour.

@BlueNote That'd be a long trek...but if you're ever in the Ottawa area, let me know.

Cutty Sark Prohibition. I wanted an after-dinner dram as I chatted with my family on zoom. A healthy 15 cc pour from my decanted bottle. Maybe 1 or 2 such pours left. At the rate I'm drinking it (last pour was 1 yr 9 mo and 1 d ago), I should have this bottle finished by the time I retire...

While at Williamsburg, Virginia last week with my sister, we had draft beer almost every day, and my sister doesn't even like beer, but made an exception to policy for Shock Top, an extremely citrus-y Belgian White Wheat Ale. I was drinking a nice archetypal mild Vienna Lager. At our lodging we had Amrut Intermediate Sherry, Don Julio 1942, Old Fitzgerald Bottled In Bond (Heaven Hill Wheated Bourbon), Jefferson's Reserve Bourbon, Rittenhouse 40% Straight Rye, Sagamore Spirits Rye 48.3% ABV (from MGPI), Knob Creek Cask Strength Rye, Bruichladdich Islay Barley, 2010, and the remnants of my Tales of the Cocktail blending exercise experiment for standard Crown Royal Blended Canadian Whisky. That Crown Royal attempt tasted much better 15 months after I had first put it together.