So, what are you drinking now?

Not drank a drop for a while now due to a long course of medication. Alas ...

However, I had the amazing opportunity to sample some Bell's earlier due to a playing partner getting a hole in one. Definitely not terrible but definitely not great - it went straight in my coffee after two sips Probably OK on ice.

@RianC aoch. hope you're ok mate

@RikS - Yeah OK, thanks just a lot of inflammation post covid that has refused to budge causing some other issues etc etc Man, getting older sucks

Lambertus 10 yo Single Grain whisky, from Rademacher Distillery in Belgium, 40% ABV, bottle open almost 9 years and 85% full. This bottle was given to me as a gift from an American expatriate friend who has been living in Belgium for 22 years now. She had no idea just how legendary this bottle would become.

It's time to revisit this classic. In my initial review of this whisky in April 2013 I scored this "Corn and Chemicals" at 56 points, the lowest I have ever given to any whiski. Jim Murray scored Lambertus 10 yo Single Grain at 44 points, the second lowest score in his 4,500 review Whisky Bible, @markjedi1 "Aqua Vitae Horribilis" at 60 points, and my dear friend @Nozinan, "This Sucks" at 20 points.

Well, time changes things, and most assuredly time often greatly changes whiski.

Here is my honest appraisal of this particular bottle of Lambertus Single Grain as of today:

1) the nose is now not at all bad. The noxious chemicals have blown off. I'd score the nose today at 18 points without water, and 21 points with water added. Water brings out a little welcome sweet contrast to an otherwise very dry austere nose.

2) palate: the delivery has also lost most of the noxious chemical taste, but is not as clear of the chemicals as is the nose. Score: 19 neat, 16 with water added. Water brings out the worst here, unfortunately.

3) finish: here's where the "new, improved" Lambertus 10 yo Single Grain most comes up short. This is a pretty bitter and somewhat nasty finish here. Score: 12 neat, 14 with added water.

4) balance: not much balance here. Score: 16 neat, 15 with water added. Total Sequential Score: 67 neat, 66 with water added

@Victor Non-Sequential Scores: Strength: 22, Quality 16, Variety 19, Harmony 14 = 71 points Strength is an important asset only when the other scores are fully acceptable.

Conclusion: 9 years of air has allowed most but not all of the noxious chemicals in this whisky to burn off into the air. Yes, at around 68 points this is something that I can now actually find some merits in drinking, but remains at present dead last of 200+ whiskis in my cabinet in the queue of whiskis ranked by desirability.

@Victor, I recall trying having a pour of this with @Nozinan from his bottle. Being uncertain as to what I was experiencing, I had a second pour. Not a good experience. lol

I'll take your word as to how it has improved.

@paddockjudge well, even edging up a bit into drinkability my bottle of Lambertus 10 yo Single Grain Whisky is still about 220th out of 220 whiskis in my cabinet.

I managed to finish off a Glen Elgin 14 sample from @weirdo, yesterday. Really liked this one. Still nowhere near review ready but I reckon I'd have scored this high 80's - lovely orangey, raisin and bass sherry notes with a hint of Ardmore style twiggy peat in the background. Reminded me a little of Edradours I've had. Cheers!

@RianC I managed to escape the dreary wet and cold London and am enjoying a whisky sour and cigar in the Mediterranean… thank god, I was starting to melt into the grey palate of the London sky!

@RikS - that sounds idylic! Enjoy

@RikS Lucky bleeder. Enjoy.

@RianC I've been buying Glen Elgins lately, mostly from IBs. Haven't met one yet that I didn't love.

@BlueNote I don't think I've ever seen a Glen Elgin in the wild. What is this elusive creature? How does one find it?

Had to stay home and look after my youngest today so have earned a pre dinner dram of Tamdhu 15. Only one pour left and I'll miss this one but maybe not quite enough to get another.

It has opened up beautifully over time and I'm really enjoying the Orange and dark chocolate flavours and spices. A classy, elegant sort of whisky ...

@OdysseusUnbound The only places I've found them are Craft Cellars and KWM. I have an 11 year old from Cooper's Choice finished in a sauterne cask, an 11 year old from Carn Mor matured in a first fill hogshead and I had a 9 year old from Signatory that is long gone. They are all excellent and pretty reasonably priced when the sales are on.

Behind in my posting. On Monday night, @jordytropp and I held a blind tasting for about 30 people of 6 bottles that are part of the Society's April releases. In preparation, I went over to @jordytropp's house on Sunday afternoon to taste through the 6 bottles.

Auchentoshan SMWS 5.79 (18 year - Jan. 2003) "Paris in the spring" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 55.4% ABV

Glencadam SMWS 82.37 (8 year - Nov. 2012) "Chewing pencils in a barbershop" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon hogshead - 62.9% ABV.

Rhosdhu (Loch Lomond) SMWS G15.11 (13 year - Jan. 2008) "Worlds collide" - After 11 years in a refill ex-bourbon barrel, transferred to a refill ex-Trinidadian rum barrel - 58.1% ABV. This is 100% malted barley, but the SWA made Loch Lomond classify it as a grain whisky because it was from a continuous still, not a pot still.

Inchmoan (Loch Lomond) SMWS 135.35 (12 year - Nov. 2008) "Stellar stuff!" - After 9 years in an ex-bourbon cask, transferred to a new oak hogshead, heavy char #4+ - 54.5% ABV.

Auchroisk SMWS 95.52 (15 year - Jan. 2006) "Moorish and moreish" - After 13 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a 1st-fill Spanish oak Oloroso hogshead - 56.2% ABV.

Finished with a lightly peated Linkwood SMWS 39.229 (10 year - Feb. 2011) "A merry dance" - After 8 years in an ex-bourbon cask, transferred to an ex-peaty bourbon barrel - 61.2% ABV. I'm assuming this is unpeated spirit. Also, I'm not sure, but I would swear this is an ex-Allt-a-Bhainne cask based on taste.

Preference in order of favorite to least favorite were Inchmoan, Auchroisk, Linkwood, Rhosdhu, Auchentoshan and Glencadam.

After that, @jordytropp was nice enough to share some bottles from his cabinet.

Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal 100% Tobala The Wild Mountain Maguey - 45% ABV.

12 year Caol Ila from Adelphi Selection. Distilled 2008, Bottled 2021. Matured in a 1st-fill Oloroso sherry hogshead. 294 bottles. 53.0% ABV.

Finished with Highland Park 21.

On Monday night, we tasted through the 6 Society bottles listed above during the tasting.

Tonight, Corsair Triple Smoke (Beechwood, Cherry & Peat) American Single Malt Whiskey Pot Distilled 40% ABV.

I’m kicking off Thirsty Thursday with a pour of Laphroaig Triple Wood. This batch is a little less sherry-forward and has a little more vanilla than I remember. Still terrific.

I’ve now moved on to some Glenmorangie QR. Funny thing is, after the smoky, vanilla, and slightly fruity Laphroaig, this Glenmo Quinta Ruban tastes like an apricot bomb. Funny, but not unpleasant.

@OdysseusUnbound Two diametrically different malts. I've got the Glenmo QR and I'm always on the lookout for the Laph Triple Wood, but it's always too expensive.

All this talk of Glen Elgin's caused me to break out my almost empty bottle.

Glen Elgin 14 year (2006) The ImpEx Collection - Cask #9800012 (ex-bourbon barrel) - 52.5% ABV.

Keeping up with the Glen's...

GlenDronach SMWS 96.34 (11 year - March 2009) "Stroll Through the Seasons" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 60.2% ABV.

Glen Scotia SMWS 93.170 (9 year - Mar. 2012) "Mermaid karate" - 1st-fill ex-bourbon barrel - 58.6% ABV.

@bwmccoy I love Linkwood, and I’ve had a few over the years, but I had no idea they produced any peated offerings. That sounds very interesting.

Lagavulin 12 Cask Strength, 2010 Release, 56.5% ABV.

Lagavulin 1991 DE, 43% ABV.

Lagavulin 12 Cask Strength 2015 Release, 56.8% ABV

Lagavulin 8 yo, 48% ABV

Laphroaig 18 yo, 48% ABV

Laphroaig 2013 release 25 yo Cask Strength, 45.1% ABV. this one was a present to my late wife from one of her work subordinates. A very nice present!

I am liking these just fine.

Cheers, mates!

Now on to the serious side of life. It was in 2013 that I started intuitively getting to lay off the whiski stockpiling. Despite a "last train out" type of opportunity to buy Laphroaig 18 for $ 55 plus 6% tax I bought only one, and generally passed on most opportunities to follow in the coming several years. Why? It was not clear to me then. But I think that the handwriting was already on the wall by 2013 that my wife and whiski drinking partner would be heading out in a few short years. I have 50+ years worth of whiski to drink at my current rates of consumption. It's just as well that I didn't buy more. I already own the cornucopia to drink and to share.

A mixed bag of spirits for tonight's Guild Tasting...

@Victor That Laphroaig 18 is one I wish I'd loaded up the bunker with.

@BlueNote - I've never seen a peated Linkwood, but according to whisky.com, "Linkwood distillery uses a combination of peated and unpeated malts". The director of the American chapter of the Society and Charlie Maclean will be in town next week, I will see if I can get some details from them. If so, I will let you know.

Tonight, a Jerry Thomas Manhattan made with Rittenhouse Rye BiB.

Greenpoint cocktail: 2 oz Rittenhouse BiB Rye, 1/2 oz Green Chartreuse, 1/2 oz Sweet vermouth, 1 dash Angostura bitters, 1 dash Orange bitters, Garnish: Lemon peel

@bwmccoy love that Green Chartreuse! Only two monks are ever allowed to have the secret recipe at any one time.

Dry Fly Straight Triticale Whiskey, 44% ABV, made in Washington State. Thank you, @bwmccoy for introducing me to this one. I like it quite a lot, especially after the bottle took a few months of air.

Willett Family Estate Rye Whiskey, 2 years old, 54.05% ABV

Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Straight Rye Whiskey, 2012 Release, 66.2% ABV.

It is a great source of sadness for me with respect to the whiski craze of the last 10 years that many people will not get a chance to drink Thomas Handy Rye. I used to call Handy "my favourite generally available whiski." Handy hasn't been "generally available" for several years now, except at scalpers' prices.

@Victor I have been lucky enough to taste Handy, from my own bottle and probably from yours. To be honest I don't think my palate is subtle enough to appreciate it to its fullest. I have tasted some (less expensive) Canadian ryes that I think are in my wheelhouse.

@Victor - my wife doesn't like the Green Chartreuse at all, but I love the earthy influence it provides to what is essentially a variation of a Manhattan cocktail.

Last night (Sunday), some friends of my wife and I held their wedding reception at Westland Distillery. I'm lobbying for distilleries to be the standard wedding reception locale. :-) What a great night of whisky, dinner and dancing. Our friends had an open bar consisting of 4 different Westland expressions, three of which I have not tasted previously.

First up was their new "Flagship" release. I use quotations around Flagship because previously their core range consisted of 3 whiskies (flagship, sherry cask and peated). Their new flagship replaces the previous 3 and they now have one core range whisky "flagship" which is a vatting of the previous 3 core range. While I've had the previous 3 core range releases, this was the first time that I had the new combo flagship and while it didn't blow me a way, I liked it better than the 3 individual core range bottles. Of the original 3, the only one I liked was the sherry. The other 2 I didn't care for, so this is a case of the sum being better than the parts.

Next was Coldfoot which is a collaboration with Filson Outdoor (another Seattle company). I'm not sure what an outdoor clothing outfitter can offer in way of a whisky collaboration, but I digress. This is another vatting of Westland whiskies which includes some of their peated whisky, but for me, both the flagship and the Coldfoot, I'm not sure I would detect the peat if I didn't know it was in there. While both the flagship and coldfoot were very drinkable and enjoyable, neither of them would I seek out and purchase. However, the next two offerings are worth owning in my opinion.

Next up was Garryana Edition 6. Garryana is an oak variety that is native and specific to the Pacific NW. It provides a flavor influence that I can best describe as barbeque. I love it. However, I have not been a big fan of the Garryana editions because they only use a percentage of the whisky in the bottle (around 35%) is Garryana aged whisky. I've owned a single cask Garryana which I loved, so the various expressions range have always tasted somewhat "watered down" since they aren't 100% Garryana. Edition 6, however, is the closest so far to the single cask and I like it a lot. The only thing I don't like and the reason I don't purchase bottles of it is the nearly $200 USD per bottle price. Having said that, if I'm offered a dram of it, I'm more than happy to drink it.

The 4th bottle our friends had at the open bar was a single cask offering that was just released earlier in the day. For more details, see my Which Bottle Did You Just Buy and Why posting. This bottle is 7 years old. The first 4 years was new American oak with the last 3 years being aged in an ex-Pineau des Charentes (brandy) cask. It is stunning and perfectly balanced. I had to have a bottle of it and fortunately, even though this was a private event at the distillery, they were happy to sell me a bottle.

While I was purchasing the bottle, the Westland staff offered a couple of expressions that weren't part of the open bar.

Colere, 1st edition, 2020 release. Where Garryana is all about the wood. Colere is all about the barley. Westland is partnering with the Washington State University bread lab using experimental barley varietals. This is one of them and it was very nice. It is on the lighter side of the whisky spectrum which is not my favorite, but it was an interesting example of what "liquid barley" tastes like. It was quite enjoyable and drinkable, but not exciting enough to purchase.

Next up was a bottle that was in partnership with Seattle's NHL hockey team, The Kracken. After it was poured and I sampled it, the staff told me it is the exact same whisky as their new flagship release, only in a different bottle. :-)

Our friends did a wonderful job working with Westland, the caterers, DJ, etc. to put on a very lovely wedding reception.