So, what are you drinking now?

Last night, rated a couple more open bottles;

BenRiach SMWS 12.49 (10 year - March 2010) "Is this the way to Amarillo?". After 9 years in an ex-bourbon barrel, transferred to an ex-Tempest Old Fashioned IPA cask - 60.0% ABV. Rating 86.

Ben Nevis 6 year (Dec. 2013). Full maturation in a 1st Fill Amontillado Gorda. 67.6% ABV. Single Cask Nation bottling. Rating: 88.

@bwmccoy Your Ben Nevis sounds a nice dram and the Single Cask Nation bottlers seem to be doing some interesting things. Have you had any of their other offerings?

@bwmccoy Sounds like another fine young Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis offerings are not easy to get hold of, but definitely worth the effort.

@Timp - If you didn't know, Single Cask Nation has a retail line (left in the picture below) and bottles that they sell exclusively through their website (on the right). Other than different labels, I'm not sure what separates the retail line from the website offerings. I've never had the opportunity to try any of their retail release bottles, but I have owned a couple of different bottles that I've purchased from their website. In addition to the Ben Nevis, I've owned a 13 year Highland Park that was fully matured in a 2nd-fill ex-PX hogshead as well as a heavily peated 10 year Tobermory. Both of these bottles were outstanding and a great value price wise. I also love that for their website orders, shipping is a flat rate $10 whether you order 1 bottle or a hundred bottles. Not $10 each bottle. The Ben Nevis is not as good as the Highland Park or the Tobermory, but it is still good enough that I don't regret purchasing it.

@BlueNote - I totally agree with you! I remember being in Loch Fyne Whiskies in Inveraray, Scotland and purchasing a 50ml bottle of the Ben Nevis standard 10 year release. One of the guys in the shop asked why out of all that they had to offer, did I purchase the Ben Nevis 10. I told him that we don't get Ben Nevis standard releases where I live and I wanted to try it. I was very impressed with their 10 year old and have been a fan ever since. I now try to pick up independent Ben Nevis bottles whenever I see one, but like you said, they are few and far between, at least around here.

Back to Loch Fyne whisky, the rest of that story is after asking why we purchased the 50ml 10 year Ben Nevis, the salesman handed me a small dram and asked me to try it blind. It was amazing! I asked him what it was and it was a 25 year Ben Nevis distillery bottling that spent 14 years in an ex-bourbon cask before spending the remaining 11 years in an ex-sherry cask. I told him that it wasn't fair to tease me with a 25 year when I just purchased the 10 year. He asked me if based on taste would the 25 year be something that I would consider purchasing? I said of course, but that I probably couldn't afford it. Granted this was in 2010, but the price was 89 GBP. I couldn't and didn't pass that up. I still haven't opened that bottle, but one of these days...

@bwmccoy Thanks for that and had a look at their website. Interesting selection.

Not had much Ben Nevis but picked up a bourbon cask 21 year old Cadenheads bottle a few years ago from their shop in Campbeltown. It has lovely slightly dirty, off fruit notes to it. Should pick up some of their standard 10 too. Cheers.

Ps that 25 looks a stunning!

@bwmccoy - Wow! That's bringing out the green eyed monster in me ha nice score, enjoy!

£89!!! What would one pay now? I'd say at least £300, and that's if one could get it.

I passed up the opportunity to buy some older IB Ben Nevis not that long ago, and it is my biggest whisky regret. They are as rare as hens teeth these days.

@Timp - it was about 4 years ago I bought the 10 for £30 on MoM. I so regret not stocking up on it when I had the chance.

@RianC Its only when you look back like and you see how much things have changed. Bargain at 30 quid and wish I had too.

Last night, I finished off the second batch of my pre-mixed traditional Manhattan (made with Rittenhouse BiB Rye) that I have been bottle aging with a charred oak stick. It has been aging for 8 weeks. It is recommended to age between 4 and 6 weeks and you aren't supposed to re-use the charred stick, but since I only aged the first batch for 4 weeks, I wanted to get my money's worth. :-) The second batch has been excellent since about week #2. I will do this again since I have a new charred stick in the kit, but will probably take a break for a bit.

After that, I rated the last two unrated open bottles in my cabinet.

Caol Ila SMWS 53.320 (12 year - Sep. 2007) "Raiders of the flossed ark" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 58.2% ABV. Rating: 91. This would have rated even higher except that there is very little nose and even the initial palate is lacking, but then the flavor explodes on the finish. It is so good that it makes up for the lack of nose and initial palate. This is quintessential Caol Ila!

Finished with a peated Glenturret SMWS 16.46 (6 year - July 2013) "Cooking on a rusty grill". Re-charred hogshead - 64.9% ABV. Rating: 86. This dram is meaty and with the peat smoke, it reminds me of burnt ends of a prime rib. I want to like it, but there's something about it that I'm not that fond of. It's ok, but after to Caol Ila, it's no contest which I prefer!

I just had a Manhattan made with Alberta Premium 20 Year, Dolin Sweet Vermouth, Angostura bitters and Regan’s Orange Bitters. It’s not the best Manhattan I’ve ever had, but the AP 20’s more obnoxious aromas and flavours are somewhat masked making the drink tolerable.

Post-dinner I’m having a Vieux Carré, also made with AP 20. The lemon twist masks the less pleasant aspects of the AP nicely.

Embracing the postprandial dip with a wee sip of Amrut Intermediate Sherry Bach #20. Open more than two years, this bottle gives up the penultimate pour which is an absolute stunner! No gas, no decanting, only natural evolution.

Thank you @Nozinan for providing backup.

Last night, went to an event at a local restaurant that offers special bottles by the dram for cost every Tuesday night. They call it Break Even Bottles. Last night, they were offering 1oz pours of Ardbeg Twenty Something, 22 year, ex-bourbon cask, distilled Spring 1996 and bottled on July 18th, 2018, 46.4% ABV for $15.83 per pour. This was a very nice dram, but there is no way that I would pay the retail per bottle price for it. However, I happily paid $15 USD to try it and I really enjoyed it.

Had a local IPA beer with dinner.

One of the national Ardbeg reps lives in the Seattle area and came to the event to pass out some Ardbeg swag. After dinner, a few of us sat around chatting with him. During that time, I had a barrel aged Vieux Carre made with a local rye (Woodinville Whiskey Company), BroVo Jammy sweet vermouth and E&J brandy, garnished with an orange peel. The cocktail is aged in a Woodinville Whiskey Company barrel. They do not use any Benedictine or bitters in their version of the Vieux Carre, but I could swear that I tasted bitters. This was a really good version of a Vieux Carre. I really enjoyed it!

All-in-all, a fun way to spend a Tuesday night!

@bwmccoy Sounds like an excellent evening, but is that allowed on a school night?

@BlueNote - It was an early night. I was home by 8pm so no issues or concerns with it being a school night. :-)

@RianC - Your comment got me thinking, so I did a search and found my exact Ben Nevis bottle on a whisky auction website. The were actually two bottles. The winning bid was 370 GBP for one and 410 GBP for the other. Don't worry. I'm not tempted to sell mine. I buy my whisky to drink, at least, eventually. :-)

Tonight, a dram of Penderyn Legend.

Birthday with my sister, yesterday. First round, chez ma soeur, at noon and before going out to lunch:

1) Redbreast Lustau Edition, 46% ABV. This was OK, but I have liked Lustau better from a different bottle

2) Powers John's Lane 12 yo Pot Still Whiskey, 46% ABV. This was a bottle that went from not so great when first opened to quite great with a couple of years of air time, and is now sliding a bit in quality as it nears the bottle of the bottle

3) Tullamore D.E.W. Phoenix Limited Edition, 55% ABV Please give me half a dozen more different Irish blended whiskeys bottled at 55 % ABV

4) Corsair Hydra pot distilled Malted Barley Whiskey, 9 months old, using malted barley smoked with pecan, apple, sugar maple, black walnut, and persimmon woods. I find this to be a very successful experiment in showing both in the nose and in the mouth the influence of different, disparate, and multiple types of wood. Yes, I actually do smell the faint smell of persimmons

5) Caol Ila 14 yo, Douglas of Drumlanrig Single Cask, 46% ABV. This favourite bottle remains a bright star

6) John J. Bowman Single Barrel, 50% ABV, from a newly opened bottle. We smelled and tasted roses from this bourbon

7) Colonel E H Taylor Single Barrel, BIB, 50% ABV, from a newly opened bottle. Lovely and very easy to drink

8) Pappy Van Winkle 15 years old, 2017 release, 53.5% ABV

These were followed by lunch at my sister's favourite neighbourhood French restaurant. Everything tasted great on this day, but most impressive to me were what I considered to be the best mussles I have had in my life. Round Two, after lunch:

9) more Pappy Van Winkle 15 year old

10) George T. Stagg, 2010 release, 71.5% ABV. This is my favourite release year for George T. Stagg. My one bottle of it was consumed 8 years ago. Fortunately Big Sis still has some for me to drink

11) William Larue Weller, 2011 release, 66.75% ABV

12) Johnnie Walker Black Label, 43.4% ABV, don't know the bottling date, but this one has a US tax stamp on it, and those were discontinue in 1979. JW Black was SO rich in those days

13) Isle of Skye 12 yo Blended Scotch, 43% ABV. This remains one of my all time favourite blended Scotch whiskies. It did not disappoint on my birthday

14) Kilkerran 8 yo Cask Strength, 56.5% ABV. Wonderful whisky

15) Glenfarclas 15 yo, 46% ABV As beautiful as ever

16) Compass Box Great King's Street, Artist's Blend 43% ABV. This seemed very light yesterday, lighter than either of us remembered

17) Compass Box Great King's Street, Glasgow Blend, 43% ABV. Return to a little more oomph in flavour

18) Compass Box The Spice Tree, 46% ABV. I had to chuckle a little. My sister pulled this out thinking it was Compass Box Orangerie, and then was surprised that she tasted no orange in it. Her bottle of The Spice Tree tasted just fine on its own

Day Two, this morning at 10:15 am, a few beers:

19) Blue Moon Light Sky, with tangerine peel, 4% ABV. This ultralight citrus wheater was so light that it tasted almost like a carbonated beverage or a wine cooler

20) Duvel Golden Ale, 8.5% ABV. This classic has always tasted good to me

21) Westmalle Dubbel Trappist Ale, 7.0% ABV

22) Westmalle Tripel Trappist Ale, 9.5% ABV

We consumed maybe half of the quantity of beer opened, recapped the bottles and @Maddie will finish the beers at another time. It was a very enjoyable birthday with my sister. .

@Victor - Happy Birthday! Sounds like it was a great day! Wish I could have been there to celebrate with you! I love mussels, so if I ever make back to DC, maybe we could go have some of the best mussels you've ever had together. My treat!

@Victor all of that sounds absolutely fantastic, except for the mussels (I’m not a fan). I sometimes think: if I somehow came into many hundreds of millions of dollars I’d love to purchase the Caol Ila distillery. They make such wonderful whisky, yet Diageo seems to have relegated much of its output to blending fodder. I’ve tasted (and possibly reviewed?) some young, Cask Strength IB Caol Ila that was magnificent. I’ve had some 15-18 year old unpeated CS Caol Ila that made me want to linger for hours just nosing it. Why oh why is Diageo not doing more with this workhorse ??

@OdysseusUnbound when you purchase the Caol Ila Distillery please set aside a few bottles for me to buy.

More availability and more variety are always good, of course.

But what is the state of things, really? I'd say that the glass is about 80% full. There can always be more, of course, but I'd say maybe 80% full. Why do I say that?

I was 10 years old, and my drinking buddy sister 20 years old when Glenfiddich INVENTED the name "single malt". There were ZERO Scottish Malt Whiskies from ANY distillery bottled and sold to the public for many years prior to 1963, and very very few different malt whiskies from a small handful of distilleries which came online in the next 20 years. "Single Malt Scotch" as a commercial product divorced from the Scottish blended whisky which it served for the prior century is a very recent occurrence. You might even call it a recent fad. "Single Malt Scotch Whisky" is a "tradition" which goes back...58 years.

vinepair.com/articles/…

By historical standards, we're lucky we can get ANY Caol Ila malt to drink at all.

Long week so far. Referrals piling up faster than I can get to them. I've been working at capacity for a week and a half and my wait list has jumped from 4 to 10 (it was 12 this am). And these people can't wait long... they are literally dying to see me.

Anyway, I decided to pour myself a 10 cc measure of Dillon's Rye1 cask strength 2019 release. Why? Because it is in my office (no more room in the basement cabinet, or up here either for that matter). I must have hit the sweet spot with the water because it really shone tonight. So much so that I've poured another 10cc. Hopefully this will get me through my last chart...

@Victor The single malt tradition outside of Scotland is recent. Aeneas MacDonald’s “Whisky” was published in 1930. In it, he denounces vanishing age statements and misleading terms being applied to malt whisky such as “Rare Old” and “Finest Luxury”. He also derides blended whisky as “inferior” and excoriated the companies who were willing to “dilute quality to increase profits” (I’m paraphrasing). Now obviously, these malt whiskies were not as known or valued outside of Scotland at the time, but it’s interesting that many of the same critiques are applicable today. Of course, blended whisky got better....and then worse, and might be getting better again. Time will tell, I suppose.

@OdysseusUnbound. Good comments. I also thought that some of Aeneas MacDonalds references in his book were resonant with some of today’s issues and controversy. A lesson in looking to your past I thought. A very interesting book.

@Victor Your insightful mention of the word commercial I think is the key change, as certainly single malts were purchased by the cask or jar for people to bottle or blend themselves in their cellar. My better half’s Grandfather, born in 1890, purchased and bottled his own whisky in this way as probably many other gentleman of that era did.

@Timp The same was the case in Ireland. The distillery would sell to bonders. That’s how Mitchell and Son got the “Spot” series to age and market.

I’m on my second Casino cocktail/apéritif. I may have found a new favourite pre-dinner cocktail. It’s dry, nutty, bright citrus, and just delicious. I would love to make this with a better quality gin. I’ve only got Tanqueray on hand. Anyhow, here’s my version of it:

• 2 oz gin
• 0.5 oz Maraschino liqueur
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 1-2 dashes Regan’s Orange bitters
• shake in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a Luxardo maraschino cherry.

A Nor'Easter, although I used 5 Fathom Dark Rum (from Barrelling Tide Distillery in Nova Scotia) instead of bourbon...so I guess it's technically a variation on the Dark & Stormy. The recipe is here: thekitchn.com/recipe-the-noreaster-cocktail-the-10-minute-happy-hour-200385

Busy day on call taking pages. Lots of sick people out there.

Relaxing this evening with some popcorn and K-dramas. And now a little Benromach 10/100. As I said in my review: “This is Scotch!”

Another round of 1) WhistlePig 10 yo Rye 50% ABV, 2) Willett 2 yo Rye, 54.05 % ABV 3) Willett 4 yo Rye SB, 55% ABV and 4) Old Weller Antique 107, 7 yo, 53.5% ABV...then I changed gears and had, 5) Old Forester 75th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition Bourbon special edition, from 2008, 50% ABV 6) Johnny Drum Black Label Bourbon, 43% ABV, and 7) Johnny Drum Private Stock Bourbon, 50.5% ABV.

The Repeal Bourbon was tasting great tonight, and I loved it with water. The Johnny Drum Black Label is a first rate inexpensive bourbon that few are aware of. It is a KBD product, which is to say, a sourced distillate product matured by the Willett people.

Opened my newly purchased bottle of Glenlivet Nadurra 16 batch 10/13/Z last night.

Very impressed and took me right back to my last bottle. On the nose, classic bourbon barrel stuff with lovely fruits such as light apricots, peaches, some sweet citrus sharp touches, and lemon posset pudding with apple and vanilla custard. Some dry woody notes with a little spice bunged in for good measure. I thought maybe a splash of apple cider also. On the palete it seemed thickish and quite viscous which diminished greatly with the addition of water. Flavours similar to those described above with again a drying woody, nutty thing happening. Possibly bitter orange marmalade too which was welcome. One of the few I prefer without too much if any water at all. Not too hot which helps also.

All in all very pleased I took the plunge with this on the auction I go to sometimes and I note this month they have six up of varying batches. Might just have to have a look as it ends tonight. Just to see obviously!

Cheers. Tim.