So, what are you drinking now?

@ajjarrett I hope the snacks were good, cause the whisky sure as hell was.

Revisiting my bottle of the excellent Tamdhu 15 this evening. As I was saying to @paddockjudge earlier, this stuff makes me wonder why I would ever consider buying Macallan again. The 12 yo sherry cask is stupidly overpriced in this part of the world. But I guess when you are THE Macallan, you can get away with that kind of bullshit.

@BlueNote They were, yes, I am referring to the snacks. ^_^

And as I post this response, I just opened a bottle of the Glenlivet 12yo Illicit Still. First impressions are qutie positive. I won't go into great detail since it is the first pour, but this is what I am drinking now.

@BlueNote, You are absolutely correct! Tamdhu 15 puts Macallan 12 to shame. Great whisky, great value!

@BlueNote Mac 12 Sherry Oak and Tamdhu 15 are about the same price here in Ontario. It isn’t even close to my palate. My last bottle of Tamdhu 15 disappeared quickly. I’m glad to have a second bottle in the bunker and I’m a little disappointed I didn’t buy a third. Or fourth.

I haven't yet had a taste of Tamdhu 15, but I have tried the Tamdhu "Batch Strength". Would someone give me a comparison of the two please?

@OdysseusUnbound I'll see what sort of discount KWM comes up with for the Tamdhu 15 when their sale gets underway tomorrow. I'll grab one even if it's only 10% off. They have a KWM 14 yo cask strength (57.1%) Tomatin matured in re-charred American oak that looks interesting and only $118 before any discounts.

Tonight's D&D Cocktail: Lucille's Big Swing...made using The Walking Dead Bourbon and a recipe from the Spirits of the Apocalypse website...

I should have found a 'nailbat' card from our Zombicide game as an illustration, as that's what Lucille was: a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat...

2oz bourbon, 1/2oz amaro, 1/2oz orange liqueur, 2 dashes Absinthe or some other anise spirit (I used Raki), and a dash each Angostura bitters and orange bitters. Garnish with an orange twist.

Jays game and charting... Need something potent. I went with a small pour of the Hazmat edition of Elijah Craig Barrel Proof, 70.1%.

If I need something more, I will continue to work through my @Fiddich1980 sample of North of 7 Barrel 16

@BlueNote - I completely agree with you about the Caol Ila!

Tonight, after an absolutely disaster of a day at work, while playing on-line poker with my brother-in-law and friends.

First, I finished off my bottle of Westland Single Cask # 2631 (5 year 6 months-Distilled 2014) - 1st Fill Oloroso Hogshead - 57.9% ABV. Really enjoyed this one!

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

Finished with a peated St George's Distillery English Whisky Company SMWS 137.7 (7 year - Feb 2012) "How to kill your dragon" - 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 65.5% ABV.

Tonight, after a long work week, the charting done, we had a BBQ. After dinner as I zoom chat with the rest of my family, I poured a mini glencairn of Bowmore Tempest V. The citrus is bursting from it tonight. Only 2-3 more pours left. This one seems to get better all the time.

@Nozinan nice looking bbq and I am also a fan of tempest. One of the best Bowmore in my view and the only bottle I purchased from the distillery while everyone else queued for the expensive stuff. Need to obtain another really.

Last night had some Octomore 7.1. Just lovely. Cheers..

A little JW Red (80s) in a rare moment of calm as our two toddlers watch (randomly) Dolly Parton tell a bed time story on the BBC. I'm more excited than they are love me some Dolly. There, I said it, ha!

@RianC I would think Bourbon would be more her style....

@Timp do you have a source for Tempest? I know a few people, me included, who would love to see that available again...

@RianC, Dolly is fucking awesome!... intelligent, beautiful... I’ll stop there.

@paddockjudge - Yeah a real woman (apart from all the fake bits, of course). She's always made me go a little fuzzy inside when she talks.

@RianC @paddockjudge haha fan of Dolly too!! Her greatest hits was one of only three audio tapes my dad had in his car when I was a child. Consequently spent many hours on long journeys learning all the words to her songs. Stays with you forever. Lol.

@Nozinan I found a stash at the distillery last time I was there and picked up a batch 6. Will go back again this year ( if we get there ) in September to see if I can get some more. Happy to help if they have any but not sure if I can? Other than that it’s the auction sites. Cheers.

Kilchoman 4 yr from the distillery shop. To me Sherry cask loveliness although my father in law described it as a touch anaemic and thin. Each to their own as with all whisky. Cheers.

@Timp I thank you for the sentiment, but I think I have more than my fair share stashed away. I have a couple of batch 5 and a batch 6. And I'm waiting for @BlueNote to be able to travel east for a Bowmore CS extravaganza including Tempest, Laimrig, and Devil's cask III.

For world whisky day, Teaninich SMWS 59.51 (30 year - November 1983) "A refined cocktail" - Refill hogshead - 51.5% ABV.

Old Forester 75th Anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition Bourbon, 50% ABV This was a one-off product released in 2008. The 375 ml bottle was $ 25 then and $ 250 now. Today I am toasting a horse and a man...and a racetrack and my sister. First I toast Rombauer, the 11-1 shot horse which won the 146th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore yesterday. My whiski-buddy sister lives in Baltimore about 2 miles from Pimlico, and her late husband loved the horses. When he passed into spirit in 2009 my sister decided that Carl's ashes belonged in a place that gave him much joy. So a few months later we made a party of it at Pimlico with about 15 family members. A nice brunch at the clubhouse was followed by the Carl H. Durham memorial race, the 4th of 9 races on the card that day. The Carl H. Durham Memorial Race featured the very entertaining event of the favourite horse refusing to get into the starting gate and being disqualified after delaying the race about 5 minutes running around and avoiding cooperation. The main event was the scattering of Carl's ashes at the finish line at Pimlico, with a benediction by the late @Dramlette. Good times! So, a toast to Carl, @Maddie, @Dramlette, Pimlico Racetrack, and Rombauer.

Sunday breakfast calls for more than one course, so I'm having some Eagle Rare 17 yo Spring 2017 release, 45% ABV. Whooda thunk that the neglected stepchild of the BTAC would, by virtue of its rarity, become a very expensive bottle? In 2010-2015 "nobody" wanted 45% ABV ER17 when you could have Stagg or Weller at or near 70% ABV, or Handy around 65% ABV. In years when my much beloved dealer benefactors denied me Stagg or Weller, they gave me ER17. Then a funny thing happened. The supply of ER17 dried up to around 3,000 bottles per year. Yikes! Eagle Rare 17 is now RARE! $ 2,374 today on wine-searchr.com. I remember leaiving 2 or 3 bottles of this on the shelves in 2011, priced at $ 50 per. It is very tricky to predict the future!!!

@Victor - dang! Yes, it must sting to think of all the unknown 'valuables' that were left filling the shelves, and not all that long ago ...

I'd love to try some 'older' bourbon but even your basic Jim Beam's from yesteryear go for crazy prices on UK auctions.

Since 2014-15 I can think of several bottles that I have left and gone on to regret. I saw recently that the Macallan 2nd Edition was selling for over £1000 at auction! That was about £70 brand new in c2017 - crazy! Was supposed to be a very good Macallan too, but that was too rich for my blood back then. If only ...

Hey ho, just how it goes I suppose.

@Victor, A great story! I always like hearing it. I too was once a railbird. Sadly, I didn't have a chance to meet Carl, but I think we would have got along just fine.

I join you in a toast to Carl, @Maddie, @Dramlette, Pimlico Racetrack, and Rombauer.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon 2012

@paddockjudge you will meet Carl one day. You and he will get along great. I am looking forward to seeing it. Not that I am in a hurry, mind you.

After a warm day of yard work. A beer.

@Nozinan Westjet is in my favorites.

@RianC Few years back @paddockjudge and I stumbled upon 2 Macallan CS for $93 a bottle. Well, my BIL @nosebleed did. When he found 9 at $73 out the door he picked up 8.

To this day I regret that we asked him to return those two “more expensive” bottles, and that we didn’t pick up the ninth.

For context, at the time of purchase, Mac CS was for sale on the whisky exchange website for £125.

Now, on Wine-Searcher, a bottle will set you back $1500 to $7000. Not that I have any plans to sell the last bottles I have. It’s far too good to sell.