So, what are you drinking now?

@fiddich1980 @BlueNote @NamBeist @Timp and @paddockjudge - Thank you all for your congratulations. I really appreciate it.

@BlueNote - With my new role, I am now an "officer of the company", so I think I prefer Officer McCoy to Mr. Vice President.

@paddockjudge - While the Amrut ex-Rye cask was very nice indeed, I think the 2017 release of unpeated 18 year Caol Ila would be considered an Executive level dram. When I looked on-line at the secondary market, that bottle is going for $1,500 USD.

For happy hour on Sunday night, I had a couple of Vieux Carre cocktails made with Knob Creek Rye 100 proof with a lemon peel garnish.

Last night (Monday), I had a couple of Greenpoint cocktails also made with Knob Creek Rye 100 proof.

@bwmccoy 18 YO unpeated Caol Ila going for $1800? Wow! I think I got mine in a trade worth about $100 each way.

@Nozinan I remember that trade, although I am skeptical about that secondary price. Looks to be in the 100 euro range according to whiskybase

Sipping some Gibson’s 18 year with a friend I’m visiting in Windsor. I’m not super impressed with it. The Gibson’s is fine…but it’s very Canadian; that is to say it’s light with caramel, vanilla, a little cinnamon and not much more. We gave it a good 20 minute rest from the freshly opened bottle because the initial aroma was chlorine/ozone which I find quite common with Canadian whiskies. Those chlorine aromas have dissipated but what’s left isn’t necessarily worth the price tag. I’m glad to taste it but I wouldn’t fight you for a bottle.

@Astroke It may be a different bottling? Either way, I did not buy it as an investment but to eventually open, and am very grateful for your help with that.

@Nozinan @Astroke - I agree with @Astroke; the site that I found was an outlier, but here's the link. theraremalt.com/caol-ila-18-year-old-unpea…

Most of the other sites I found today were in the $200 range USD.

@bwmccoy if you convert that price in Hong Kong dollars to USD it is about $200 US.

@OdysseusUnbound I don't know if there are any bottles left: it's disappeared from the LCBO and SAQ inventories.

@Nozinan - Wow! First I put 500ml of bitters in a cocktail and now I didn't notice a website was in Hong Kong dollars. I'm batting a big fat goose egg lately. Thanks for catching that and keeping me honest.

@YakLord I’ll try not to mourn for too long or too intensely.

Tonight, Glen Scotia SMWS 93.170 (9 year - Mar. 2012) "Mermaid karate" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 58.6% ABV. A new addition to the cabinet and one of the best Glen Scotia’s that I’ve had in a while. Vanilla and creamy at first, but finishing briny and peaty.

It’s international pretend to be Irish day so I’m sipping some Smithwick’s Red Ale with a side of Green Spot. Cheers.

Clontarf Blended Irish Whiskey. Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of my Connosr friends around the world!

Currently all I have open in the Irish Whiskey category are bottles of Clontarf Blended, standard Jameson Blended x 2, standard Tullamore DEW blended, Tullamore DEW 10 yo Single Malt, and Greenore 8 yo Single Grain. Unopened I have three I prize and am saving for a later opening: a bottle each of Connemara Cask Strength, Tullamore DEW Phoenix blended, 55% ABV, and Jameson 12 yo. Thank you again, @paddockjudge for that Jameson 12 yo. Such a great whiskey which is no longer available. It has been years since I have had a bottle of any Redbreast in the house. One day again in the future I expect that I will. If there's an Irish bottle which I could most covet right now it would be Two Stacks Blended Irish, one which my sister owns. Irish blended whiskey at around 65% ABV. Totally righteous.

Tullamore DEW vs. Tullamore DEW Rum Cask Finish...

The Irishman 17 Sherry Cask, 56%. As good a sherried Whisk(e)y as there is.

Tonight, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, for happy hour, I had 3 Teeling Irish Cold Brew cocktails. 1.5oz Teeling Irish Whiskey (Rum Cask Finish). 3oz LaColombe vanilla draft latte nitrous infused cold brew. Combine in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until cold. Strain into a Collins glass over ice. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

Later, while playing on-line poker with the guys, started off with a 25 year (Jan. 1995) Inchmurrin SMWS 112.83 "Rara avis" - After 23 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a 1st-fill Sauternes barrique cask - 52.6% ABV.

Finished with a 17 year (Feb. 2004) Clynelish SMWS 26.179 "Eastern coastlines" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 54.5% ABV.

Tonight, a couple of Bourbon Smokey Peaks cocktails.

2oz Bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark 46), 1/4 oz Woodinville Whiskey bourbon barrel aged maple syrup, 2 dashes of black walnut bitters.

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir with ice. Strain into a rocks glass that was smoked with cinnamon bark. Add a big cube of ice and garnish with cinnamon stick..

A small pour of Booker’s after dinner. I’ve got a big day of work tomorrow (getting ready for Monday’s lessons) so this is the last of my “March Break”, so to speak. I’m not sure if I’m disappointed that Booker’s isn’t available more often or relieved that it isn’t, given its current price and my affinity for it.

@OdysseusUnbound If only you had access to an earlier bottling at acquisition cost...

@Nozinan Well I’m scheduled to pick up a new electric guitar in North York in April, so perhaps arrangements can be made.

Catching up on my postings;

On Saturday, for happy hour, I made a couple of Old Fashioned cocktails for my wife and a couple of Black Manhattan's for me. Both were made with Maker's Mark 46.

On Sunday afternoon, I spent some time at @jordytropp's house catching up with him and his wife. I had the following drams;

Benromach Hermitage. 45% ABV. Distilled 2007. Bottled 2016. After aging in first-fill ex-bourbon casks for 6 years, it was finished for 31 months in wine casks from Hermitage, a French wine Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of France south of Lyon. Notes of summer fruits, vanilla, milk chocolate and a hint of smoke.

Strathmill SMWS 100.27 (11 year - Mar. 2010) "Colorful and flavorful" - After 8 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a 1st-fill Oloroso hogshead - 55.3% ABV.

Macallan SMWS 24.136 (22 year - June 27th, 1996) "A sweet seduction" - After 20 years in an Oloroso puncheon, transferred to a 2nd-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 58.3% ABV.

Springbank 12 year Cask Strength (2017 bottling) - 56.5% ABV.

I finished by opening a bottle that @jordytropp had gifted me as a Christmas present a couple of months ago. We were celebrating my upcoming promotion, his movement into a management role within his company and his birthday which was yesterday (Monday, the 21st).

Ledaig 18 year (2001) Gordon & Macphail Connoisseurs Choice single cask - Refill Sherry Butt - 56.3% ABV. Notes of cured ham, sherry, raisin, fig, apple, salted chocolate, orange and bonfire embers. Even though this is from Isle of Mull, if I had tasted it blind, I would have swore it was from Campbeltown. It had a bit of that Campbeltown funk. Such a lovely, complex dram. Thanks @jordytropp for this awesome gift! (Pictured below).

Last night (Monday), I had a dram of Corsair Triple Smoke (Beechwood, Cherry & Peat) American Single Malt Whiskey Pot Distilled 40% ABV

Last night was another small (ok, maybe medium) pour of Booker's. This particular bottle is almost gone and I'm glad I have 3 other bottles (from different batches, I think) at home and maybe another waiting for me in Toronto. There is a tobacco and leather note on the finish of this batch that I adore. It's not that common in the bourbons I've tasted, but it just works so beautifully.

@OdysseusUnbound What's the new guitar?

@bwmccoy Speaking of the Tobermory Distillery, I’m really enjoying this one from A.D.Rattray.

@BlueNote - That looks / sounds good! I've only had one bottle from A D Rattray that I didn't care for and if my memory is correct, it was due to a bad sherry cask (sulphur).

I like your watch box as well.

@BlueNote is collecting automatic watches your other hobby along with Vinyl and whisky drinking?

@BlueNote It's an American Ultra Strat, Ultraburst finish with a maple fretboard. My current electric was built by a luthier for me about 25 years ago, and I still love it but it's very much in the Les Paul camp (2 humbuckers, mahogany body, maple top, maple neck, Pau Ferro fingerboard). In guitars like in whisky, variety is important.

@OdysseusUnbound Looks gorgeous. Like bottles of whisky, you can’t have too many guitars. Just ask Jimmy Page.

@BlueNote Exactly…just like bottles of whisky, the correct amount of guitars to own is always n + 1 where n = the current amount you own.

@bwmccoy That Ledaig is whisky porn. Sounds delicious.