So, what are you drinking now?

A freshly popped Glen Scotia Victoriana - good initial impressions. Light yet rich at the same time, If that makes sense? Reminds me a tad of the Blue Label I have open, oddly. Spicy, charred oak, a touch of something tropical (guava?) and some light peat and industrial touches. Expect this to bloom with air.

Some North Star Supersonic Mach 3 before dinner and a pint (well, can) of Abbott's ale. Great combo and improving that ale at the moment.

Cheers!

... loving that ale ... bloody auto correct

Tonight (Saturday) was Sherry night.

Macallan Speymalt from Gordon & Macphail. 21 year (Distilled 1990, Bottled 2011). 43% ABV.

Followed by Blair Athol SMWS 68.76 (15 year - Aug. 2006) "Pleasantly pleasing, simply sublime" - After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred into a 1st-fill Spanish oak ex-Oloroso hogshead - 52.8% ABV.

For Sunday night’s happy hour, Sazerac cocktails made with Old Forester Rye 100 proof.

Later, rated an open, unrated bottle. Caol Ila (SMWS cask sample) 13 year (Sep. 2008). After 10 years in ex-bourbon hogshead, finished for 3 years in a Refill Spanish oak ex-Sherry hogshead - 58.2% ABV. Rating: 94.

Apparently, today (Monday) was International Whisk(e)y Day. In that case, I finished off my bottle of Blair Athol SMWS 68.76 (15 year - Aug. 2006) "Pleasantly pleasing, simply sublime" - After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred into a 1st-fill Spanish oak ex-Oloroso hogshead - 52.8% ABV.

I also had a couple of drams of Caol Ila SMWS 53.395 (11 year - Nov. 2009) "Smoky explosion" - Refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 56.4% ABV.

Last night, I finished off my bottle of Blair Athol SMWS 68.70 (12 year - Aug. 2008) "Intriguing idiosyncratic" - After 9 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred into a 1st-fill custom toasted American and European oak barrique - 59.5% ABV.

Pure Kentucky XO Bourbon, 53.5% ABV. This one is a KBD product-- the Willett people. Nice nose, nice sharp-edged woody flavours from this bottle from batch # 09-121. Not sure, but this bottle might be open since 2010. At this point the whiskey from this bottle is quite astringent in the mouth, both palate and finish. I remember it being much richer and less sharp in the early days this bottle was open. Time changes whiski.

A little dirty but, characterful sherried whisky.

@fiddich1980 - I purchased a bottle of that one at the distillery on my first trip to Scotland in 2007. To this day, my bottle was the meatiest, chewiest whisky that I have ever had. Great memories! Hope you enjoy your bottle as much as I enjoyed mine!

Tonight, finished off a couple of bottles.

Linkwood SMWS 39.225 (10 year - Feb. 2011) "Easy over" - 2nd fill ex-Bourbon barrel - 60.6% ABV.

Tormore SMWS 105.40 (8 year - Jun. 2012) "The sweet kiss of complexity" - After 5 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred into a 2nd-fill Heavy Toast, Medium Char hogshead - 66.2% ABV.

@bwmccoy Thanks for the discription - "meaty&chewy" is spot on. It kept reminding me of a good quality Sherried Mortlach but, with more depth.

@fiddich1980, @bwmccoy, you boys are making me salivate over that Edradour of yours.

DEPTH of experience!

@fiddich1980 - Got to love distilleries that still use the traditional worm tubs. In addition to Edradour and Mortlach; Ardnahoe, Ballindalloch, Balmenach, Benrinnes, Brora (recently reopened), Cragganmore, Craigellachie, Dalwhinnie, Glen Elgin, Glenkinchie, Knockdhu, Oban, Old Pulteney, Royal Lochnagar, Speyburn, Springbank, Talisker and the soon to be reopened Rosebank. It's interesting how many of these distilleries are owned by Diageo. It's also interesting the number of new distilleries that chose to use worm tubs for condensers. Love that meaty influence of worm tubs on the whisky!

For happy hour, a couple of Rob Arroyo cocktails.

3 parts Whiskey Del Bac classic American single malt, 1 part sweet vermouth, 3 dashes orange bitters and a dehydrated orange slice for garnish.

Tonight's tasting is celebrating the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th service anniversaries of the training cadre I was in at work. Some of us have moved on to other areas, some have retired, but we're still mostly in touch.

@YakLord Nice touch. That Nadurra must be pretty nice...

@Nozinan It's good, but honestly, I think the Little Trinity is just as good if not better.

@YakLord I tasted the little trinity at SOT in 2017 and actually bought a bottle when it was released that year. I didn't open it, and when @paddockjudge and I went down to visit @Victor I was able to taste it next to the traditional 4-grain, and I actually preferred the 4-grain. Luckily, someone took that sealed bottle off my hands...

Last night (Saturday), we had some family and friends over for poker and drams.

First, I had a dram of Nikka Days (blended whisky) - 40% ABV. It is light and refreshing, but no finish. If you like whisky on ice, this would probably be perfect on a hot sunny day. Not bad, but not my thing.

Next, I had two Irish whiskies from the same distillery side-by-side. The Irishman single malt, small batch, cask strength, ex-bourbon casks. 54.8% ABV.

Writer's Tears Chapter 04, single pot still, single malt, cask strength, ex-bourbon casks. 54.2% ABV.

The noses and the palates on these two were very similar, but the Writer's Tears' flavor exploded in the finish, where the Irishman was a little more subdued in the finish. Both were really nice, but prefer the Writer's Tears.

Next, Highland Park SMWS 4.304 (16 year - Jan. 2005) "A proper summer dram" - After 14 years ex-bourbon hogshead, transferred to a shaved, toasted and recharred (STR) 1st-fill ex-Pedro Ximénez barrique - 58.3% ABV.

Caol Ila (SMWS cask sample) 13 year (Sep. 2008). After 10 years in ex-bourbon hogshead, finished for 3 years in a Refill Spanish oak ex-Sherry hogshead - 58.2% ABV.

Finished the night with Balblair 18 year old - 46% ABV.

For happy hour tonight, had 3 Sazerac cocktails.

Soaked a sugar cube with Honest John’s NOLA bitters, muddled, poured in 1.5oz rye whisky (Old Forester 100 Proof), strained into an Absinthe rinsed rocks glass. Garnished with expressed lemon peel.

We had some company last night and I shared some Redbreast Lustau with my brother-in-law and another friend. I sometimes forget that others aren't used to drinking anything above 40% abv. They both liked the whiskey but commented on how "strong" it tasted compared to Jameson and Bushmills. At first I commented on the added richness from the extra sherry casks but my b-i-l laughed and said "no, like I can tell this is a Joe whiskey", referring to the fact that I rarely own or serve any whiski that's bottled at the bare legal minimum. It's not a rule or anything I do on purpose, but it seems that most of my favourite whiskis sit in the 48% to 53% abv range.

@OdysseusUnbound I have tried Lustau. I considered buying it a few times. One of the downsides of my earlier frenetic buying days is that I can't be as free to purchase now.

@Nozinan It's nice. It's not a life-changing experience but it's definitely well above average imho.

@OdysseusUnbound RB Lustau or 12 year?

Greetings fellow maltheads. I haven't been contributing here for a while. We spent February and part of March in Mexico where Tequila, mezcal and beer were the beverages of choice. The main reason for laying low since we got home is the nasty virus my wife and I both picked up on the way home, either in an airport or on the flight. We finally feel human again as of last week. We tested, and it wasn't COVID 19, the pandemic that keeps on giving.

So I am easing back into the whisky. It just didn't taste very good when we were feeling crappy.

I started back fairly cautiously with some Glenfarclas 15 on Saturday. Followed up yesterday with Glen Scotia Victoriana and just a wee nip of Corryvreckan. Both just as good as they ever were.

Hope you have all been well. It's good to be back.

@BlueNote - Welcome Back! Always good to hear from you on here! Sorry you picked up a virus on the way home but sounds like you had a great time in Mexico, at least, tequila, mezcal and beer (not to mention the warm weather) sounds pretty good to me. :-)

Next week is my wife and son's Spring Break from school (my wife teaches at the school that my son attends). Anyway, for the first time since before the pandemic, my family and I are headed up your way (Vancouver). Hopefully, some of our favorite places survived the pandemic and are still open. I know Fets Whisky Kitchen is closed, but at least that was due to the owner's retirement. They were able to go out on their terms. A lot of other businesses didn't have that luxury.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to say welcome back and glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery.

@65glenfarclas It was Lustau

@bwmccoy Thank you. I hope you enjoy your time in Vancouver.

Tonight, rated a couple of recent additions to the cabinet.

In order to rate a new to me bourbon, I had a small dram of Maker's Mark 46 for reference.

Hirsch The Horizon Straight Bourbon Whiskey - 46% ABV. This is an MGP product. It is a high corn mashbill. Mostly 4 year old, but 6% of the batch is 8 years old. Rating: 85.

Balblair 18 year old - 46% ABV. Rating: 88.

Now that the rating is done, sitting down with a dram of Caol Ila SMWS 53.395 (11 year - Nov. 2009) "Smoky explosion" - Refill ex-bourbon hogshead - 56.4% ABV. This is so good!

@OdysseusUnbound sorry, I meant, (if you've tried both) which do you prefer?