So, what are you drinking now?

@BlueNote

In the market for a bbq right now. Leaning against Weber as they have offshored a lot of the parts assembly (thus reducing their production cost), yet are charging the same amount for the bbq (meaning pure profit for them and nothing for the consumer)

I'm celebrating the Habs going to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1993 with a healthy pour of what might be the best Canadian whisky I've had: Wiser's 35 Year. I forgot that my friend Kyle had given me a sample, but it will come in handy tonight.

@OdysseusUnbound Except for Canada Day I'm leaving that flag up for the duration. I'll have a little more of the Flaming Heart before each game of the final, too. I ain't superstitious....much.

@JayRain Sorry to hear that. What else are you looking at. I hear Broil Kings are very good.

@BlueNote - Thanks! Even with using the meater probes, the pork chops were a little over cooked. They tasted great, but were supposed to be medium-rare to medium and they wound up being more medium-well. At least they were tender and had great smoke flavor.

@BlueNote and @JayRain - I've owned two Weber's. My first one was propane. My current one is charcoal. As much as I love my charcoal grill, I have been disappointed with the long-term quality of both Weber's. My next purchase will probably be a smoker of some sort, but either way, I'm not sure I will buy another Weber...

Tonight, while playing on-line poker with my brother-in-law and friends;

Bushmills SMWS 51.15 (16 year - May 2002) "Boiled sweets and cut flowers" - First-fill barrel - 56.4%

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.

Finished with Caol Ila SMWS 53.320 (12 year - Sep. 2007) "Raiders of the flossed ark" from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 58.2% ABV

@OdysseusUnbound I’ve been kicking myself for not buying that Wiser’s 35.

@bwmccoy Hmmm. I'm not liking what I'm hearing about the current generation of Webers. I guess I'll just have to keep my old veteran going a while longer.

@BlueNote I find the stainless steel grill is not as good as my first one. But it cooks well and we use it year round. Guaranteed for 10 years so it amortized to a reasonable yearly cost

@MRick I picked up an extra one when it was discounted to $105 at the KGBO. Should have got more. But I’m happy with my supply. It is exceptional stuff. I really hope Doc Livermore serves up a 25 YO cask strength to celebrate his 25 years with the company this year.

Tonight, a Zoom tasting with a few special friends.

No specific themes, and we did not all drink the same things (though there was some overlap). Small pours for me.

• I started with Last Straw (sorry @paddockjudge) whisky in the 6 56%. After a few sips I dumped the rest. Not what I was looking for today.

• I cleansed my palate with Bordeneuve 2008 CS Armagnac

• Little Book Chapter 2

• Shelter Point Single Grain Rye (CS)

• Wiser’s Legacy

• Wiser’s 23 YO CS - three star of the evening for me

• Beuichladdich Octomore 10.1 - breathing smoke now. ….

Good friends, mostly good spirits.

I can’t wait to do this in person!

@Nozinan "I started with Last Straw (sorry @paddockjudge) whisky in the 6 56%. After a few sips I dumped the rest."

Wot? The great "whisky in the 6" YouTube-hyped collaboration with a bottom shelf distillery, a drain pour? say it isn't so! LOL

@65glenfarclas, I'm not surprised by a three-year-old blend becoming a drain pour ....this one is not in my top two thousand.

@65glenfarclas I just poured out what was in the glass. I still have not reviewed the bottle, but last night was for enjoying whisky, not analyzing it.

@BlueNote Ended up getting a Napoleon yesterday.

Happy w the purchase and current bbq is on its last legs (got great use out of it) so all good on the purchase

I’m sipping some Wild Turkey 101 out of a rocks tumbler after a bbq’d hamburger dinner. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; this might be the most consistently delicious and affordable bourbon on the market. I’ve had some bottles that were better than others, but I’ve never had a bad one.

@JayRain I hear good things about Napoleon. Good bang-for-the-buck. Sizzle on, man.

Seems to be G & T weather out here. 36C today, and we're on the water. The poor bastards inland are suffering through temps in the 40s. Nothing fancy: Tanqueray No.10, Schweppes, lots of ice, lemon, tall glass pre frozen. Got summer written all over it.

I just spent another couple of days at my sister's house. Saturday we had a tasting for 10 tasters and 2 observers of about 25 beverages, almost all starting from blind sampling, pre-selected and pre-ordered by me. Sunday my sister and I sampled about another 14 beverages together.

Observations of note? The large group liked the "experience first, formulate ideas later" approach quite a lot. This was only the second time I had worked from that approach in the 25+ group tastings which I have proctored. Of course almost nobody was able to identify much of anything blind, because we were not working from a narrow group of familiar products, but from a broad potentially unlimited field of liquid tastes and smells. It didn't daunt anybody's enthusiasm a bit that they didn't get the reveal until after their own experience of the products. I really didn't expect them to get anywhere very near to identifying Buckwheat whiskey, Russian Imperial Stout passed through hops vapour whiskey, or Quinoa Whiskey.

What impressed me most this weekend, and which I have been generally been most impressed by for the last couple of years, is how very much the SAME BOTTLE of whiski or other spirits shifts flavours over months and years after having been opened.

Sunday, at my sister's request, she and I sampled 9 (of her 30+) gins, her 3 bottles of Sotol, and a couple of her bottles of Tequila. The three sotols were from the same distillery, Hacienda de Chihuahua, at different ages, but they tasted like they each could have been from an entirely separate product line from different distilleries. I finished the tasting with a taste of 2010 release Wiser's Legacy. Oh yes, 2010 Legacy is still creme de la creme. I like the other year releases of Legacy but the 2010 release stands head and shoulders at the top.

Last night, I had a dram of Ben Nevis 6 year (Dec. 2013). Full maturation in a 1st Fill Amontillado Gorda. 67.6% ABV. Single Cask Nation bottling.

@bwmccoy That sounds interesting. I'm doing a bottle split with a friend on a 6 year old heavily peated Ben Nevis matured in a first fill sherry cask. I don't know the ABV, only that it's cask strength. It's coming from an outfit called Single Cask Nation.

Yesterday, more Glenlivet 12 Illicit Still. It gets better every pour and I'll buy more of this if I can. A fruit bomb with the most complex pear note I've come across in a whisky. Great mouth-feel too and the oak is balanced out perfectly.

Then some Corona beer watching the Euros. Two amazing games yesterday with the Swiss stunning the French.

Tonight it's the old rivalry, England v Germany ... I have a good feeling about the game but we've been here before and it usually ends in English tears

@RianC agree with you about the football, yesterday’s games were brilliant. Like you not so sure about tonight given our history of talking the team up and them failing to deliver!

Re the Glenlivet illicit still, it sounds lovely. Might have to get me a bottle of that given what you say. Not to pricey either.

Edit. No time like the present just nabbed one!

@BlueNote - while it’s only been a few bottles, I’ve enjoyed everything that I have owned from Single Cask Nation.

Last night, Clynelish SMWS 26.161 (8 year - April 2012) "Put the pebble to the petal!" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 60.9% ABV with a few drops of Uisge Source Highland water. Wanted something on the lighter side after a day where the high temperature was 112.3 degrees Fahrenheit!

@bwmccoy You guys are suffering under the same heat dome that we are. This is the wet coast, it's supposed to be cool and raining for most of June.

Good to hear that about Single Cask Nation. We're probably going to get some more of their offerings.

@Timp - Nice one! Let me know your thoughts. I'm normally averse to overt pear notes in whisky but it really works here. It's more like a whole bowl of mixed pears ( and tinned) rather than a pear drop/acetone note.

@bwmccoy I was mistaken. It's not Single Cask Nation, it's Single Cask Clan that is supplying the Ben Nevis. Apparently they are importing the stuff from an independent bottler in the Netherlands.

I’m drinking some Writers’ Tears because it appears as though my beloved Habs have decided that making it to the Stanley Cup Finals is good enough. The 3 Tampa Bay goals tonight were a result of careless play by Montreal who otherwise dominated every possible statistical category. Tampa is simply a better team (and $18 million over the salary cap but who’s counting?).

Not whisky, but tonight I attended a virtual Foursquare Rum tasting with Richard Seale (owner / master distiller) live from his home in Barbados.

The Seale family started in the rum business as a merchant / blender in the 1920's. The Seale family purchased the Foursquare distillery / sugar estate in the 1980's.

1: Probitas - A blend of rums from both Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados and Hampden Estate in Jamaica; (Unaged Coffey Column Still Rum from Foursquare, 2 Year Aged Double Retort Pot Still Rum from Foursquare and Unaged Double Retort Pot Still Rum from Hampden Estate.) 47% ABV - No color, no sugar, no additives, no filtration. This white rum was created to be similar to white rums from the 1920's and 1930's that have more flavor and complexity than most standard white rums on the market. $42 USD.

2: R.L. Seale's 12 Year Ex-Bourbon Barrel Aged Rum. All aging on-site at the Foursquare Rum Distillery in Barbados. Bottled at 46% ABV - No sugar or flavor additives. $68 USD.

3: Foursquare ECS (ECS = Exceptional Cask Selection) Mark XI "Sagacity". A blend of two distinct 12 Year aged Rums. One aged 12 Years entirely in Ex-Bourbon Barrels, another aged 12 years entirely in Ex-Madeira casks. Bottled at 48% ABV - no color, no sugar, no flavor, no additives, no filtration. $85 USD.

4: Foursquare ECS Mark XIV "Détente". A blend of two distinct 10 Year aged Rums. One aged 10 Years entirely in Ex-Bourbon Barrels, and another aged 4 Years in Ex-Bourbon then 6 Years in Ex-Port Barrels. Bottled at 51% ABV - no color, no sugar, no flavor, no additives, no filtration. $90 USD.

5: Foursquare ECS Mark XIII "2008". A 12 Year Aged Ex-Bourbon Barrel Rum. Bottled at Cask strength. 60% ABV. $120 USD.

All of the ECS releases, and the RL Seale that we tasted tonight are what they call "Single Blended Rums" meaning they are coming from a Single Distillery (Foursquare) and are a Blend between both Pot and Traditional Twin Column Coffey Still Rums.

While the white rum was drinkable, I would probably recommend it for mixed drinks. I really enjoyed all four of the aged rums, but #5 was my favorite.

Nojito.

We had a BBQ tonight - the steaks came out perfect - and I used some Wray and Nephew overproof rum to make Mojitos for my wife and one of our guests.

I had an alcohol-free beer, but then I decided to take a stab at an alcohol-free Mojito. Same muddled lime and mint, home-made simple syrup, ice, and soda. Didn't miss the rum at all. After that, everyone wanted one!

@bwmccoy I wish Richard would release a pot still only rum, and I’ve mentioned it to him several times. He’s usually responded with “blended gives us more flexibility” or something along those lines but I’m convinced I’d prefer a pot still only rum to a “single blended” version. Damn the rum industry for not catering exclusively to MY preferences.

Another hard loss for my Habs tonight. I’m sipping some standard Buffalo Trace. This bottle is an above average one, but nothing exceptional. Kind of like my Habs. There are glimmers of brilliance but nothing to suggest a championship-caliber performance.