What Are Your White Whales?

@MadSingleMalt All the Booker's releases have nicknames.

OK, but what does "Oven Buster" mean?

And is its oven-busting quality what makes it so desirable to @newreverie?

@MadSingleMalt That's a good question. I don't know. I can't recall off hand the other nicknames but they don't seem to have any relation to flavours.

Going and checking my notes from my September 2016 tasting, where @_______ and I tried 5 of the 2015 expressions - we didn't have an -03 - I made no specific notes about the -04, but my favourite of that year remains the -01.

@MadSingleMalt You can see the 'stories' behind each batch name here: www.bookersbourbon.com/batches/

The oven buster batch story is that Mrs. Booker used to cook with bourbon in some of her recipes. She once added some that was a rather high proof and it broke the door off the oven.

I like it because it is an amazing bourbon. connosr.com/bookers-small-batch-bourbon-wh…

Ah, alright! That nickname stuff is good fun.

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Oh—and I thought of one more white whale of mine, which I'll mention to everyone in the spirit of "oh please please please tell me if you know where to find one."

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2013

@MadSingleMalt

wine-searcher.com/find/…

Thanks, @Nozinan. I've heard people mention that site, but it always seemed kind crap to me. What you found seems legit, though—despite the wrong image being on that page.

Now, umm, allow me to restate my wish:

"Oh please please please tell me if you know where to find a Laphroaig Cairdeas 2013 for less than a car payment."

@MadSingleMalt done:

cars.com/articles/2009/…

@BlueNote

Well what should appear the next day after we're talking about them? A double-review of those very 19-year-old single-cask peated & sherried Benriachs: reddit.com/r/Scotch/…

I think we're both right in wanting some of that action. Woe is us.

@MadSingleMalt Have you had the Benriach Cask Strength? It's available here but scarce and getting pricey. I suspect it might be similar to the Glendronach cask strength. I had Batch #3 and it was excellent.

Let us know if you luck into either of those 19 year olds.

@BlueNote , no I haven't had either of those. All the Benriachs I've had were peated:

•Curiositas 10YO 46%

•A Signatory 1994 single cask that I liked enough to get a second one of for the long-term bunker

•Solstice 17YO Port Finish

All good, but no cask strengths.

Mine is a rhino, not a whale:

Vulson Old Rhino

A French 100% rye whisky aged in new French oak barrels as well as Cognac barrels. I've never had it, but I hear good things and I'm always curious about unusual rye whiskies.

@Nelom White rhinos are exceedingly rare...

@Nozinan As it happens, Vulson also sells an unaged version of this rye. They call it Vulson White Rhino.

My White Whales in Residence (i.e. in my possession, and so valued that they are the most likely to remain unopened for quite a few years) are:

Rittenhouse 21 yo Rye, Barrel # 17

Balvenie Tun 1401, Batch # 9

Bruichladdich Octomore 2.1

Bushmills 21 yo Malt Madeira Finish (second bottle)

Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist 18 yo, 2008 (second bottle)

Glenmorangie Signet (second bottle)

Abraham Bowman Rye 10 yo 69.4% ABV, (third and fourth bottles), my favourite bottle all-time of all genres.

Willett Family Estate Bourbon,18 years old, barrel # 79, "Sopressata", 69.7%, (second and third bottles). This one is my all-time favourite rye-containing bourbon.

Of these 8 I suspect that the Rittenhouse 21 yo Rye and the Balvenie Tun 1401 will likely be the last ones opened. But who knows? Tastes and preferences can change.

Not sure if this is a White Whale but when it shows up at the LCBO the speculators will be out in strength.. Would not mind getting it at this price which looks to be better than US retail.

lcbo.com/lcbo/product/…

"Elsewhere is a negative mirror. The traveler recognizes the little that is his, discovering the much he has not had and will never have.” ― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Reviving an old thread because peoples wants change over time:

My take on a "White Whale" is a thing or object which is within sight either physically, or physiological but, can and cannot be obtained. Yet remains an subject of desire just a few millimetres from your finger tips with out stretched arms. Ahab got his and it consumed him. Maybe, best that my White Whale wanders still and continues to spark conversations(internal and external) on "price versus quality" or "price versus rarity", or "price doesn't change the taste" or "if I had limitless funds what are my white whales". Sure, Brora, Port Ellen, Karuizawa, can be found provided your willing to spend $2000 and up or mortgage a house but, the essential question is:

What do you DESIRE(that is just out of reach) and why?

Caol Ila 30 Year Old Diageo Special Release 2014 but, for some sentimental value rational a White Whale it remains. Ever wonder why reviewer rarely, if ever, give a whisky a perfect score?

@fiddich1980 I am glad that friends have given me tastes of Broras, Port Ellens, and Karuizawas, because now I know that none of those would be "white whales" for me. There is plenty obtainable which is for me as good or better than all of those. People buy wholesale into Romanticism. I 'buy' only into taste and value.

What's just out of reach for me now, which is obtainable? Nikka Whisky From the Barrel. Why? They don't sell it around here. I am hopeful to get some from Canada in time.

@fiddich1980 a very old Laphroaig and Lagavulin (30+ years old) would qualify as a white whale for me, simply because I love both distilleries and I’d love to experience a really old one. Heck, I’d love to try a Lagavulin 16 or a Laphroaig 10 that was bottled in 1979 (my birth year) just to compare them with the modern profile.

As far as “just out of reach”, Redbreast 21 comes to mind. It’s not that far over my self-imposed budget, but far enough over that I can’t justify paying the LCBO asking price (approximately $240).

@Victor There is a bottle of Nikka WFTB in Calgary, waiting to come to Ontario. it doesn't have your name on it per se, but only because I don't mark up other people's containers...

@MadSingleMalt - my most desirables are quite similar to yours and @BlueNote.

A 25 Caol Ila or Talisker. Some kind of aged peated anyway and they both seem potentially affordable and accessible and I dig the house styles. I'd say an old Ardbeg but ... Ha!

I'd also like a 20 something Ben Nevis IB from a refill sherry cask, and a very old, well-sherried whisky that has that old school profile. A Glenfarclas 30 or 40 perhaps?

A youngish Ledaig in some type of sherry ... a bottle of the Amontillado cask would more than do! I'd probably have to own an Octomore at some point as well.

An old bottle (80s or earlier) of Johnny Walker Black and anything distilled in the 60s or before. ALthough, that last one might be a bit too unicorn ...

I could go on but think they are all top of my most wanted and aren't priced so high as to make them completely unobtainable. Nice thread!

My White Whale will most likely remain at a distance from me for now. The Fall 2021 Whisky Advocate Magazine p.60 notes that the # 1 whiskey I noted in my first post on this discussion, above, Willett Family Reserve 23 yo Rye, Barrel # 11, "The Iron Fist" (of which I had 5 samples in 2009), sold for auction on April 30, 2021 for $ 16,000. That is not a price I am soon likely to match, but just the memory of doubling over in laughter when I first tasted it is priceless.

A bottle my sister has open in her house and is a favourite of hers, Col E.H. Taylor Sour Mash Bourbon (The first of the modern series of Col EH.Taylor releases, made with ambient yeast) sold on March 28, 2021 for $ 16,964.

And my open bottle of Col E H Taylor Warehouse C Tornado Surviving Bourbon sold in March 2021 for $ 8,492.

What do you think, @RianC, are these good values at auction? :-)

@Victor - In all seriousness, who honestly knows these days?

All American whiskey seems to go for that bit higher than most Scotch, from what I've seen, so given their cult status, those prices don't surprise me.

But $17,000 for a relatively modern bourbon, in real world terms, is just madness! I also can't see them retaining that value but I could well be proved wrong on that.

@RianC yes, I agree. This current whski collectibles market is much like the Tulip Mania.

Whiski for drinking is one market. Whiski for collecting is another.

@Victor Truth. Bourbon especially right now is ridiculous. I have friends that wait overnight in tents to get BTAC, most keep it, some flip it for 5-10x.

Same with ammo and with GPUs right now too. I want to upgrade my current GPU but cards are going for 3x MSRP thanks to crypto miners and semiconductor shortage. Crazy times.

@casualtorture @Victor I can't believe the prices! On my recent trip to Kentucky I was able to get a few bottles of the Old Forester Series 117 Warehouse K release. I had no idea when we planned the trip that it was going to be released when we were there but I got up one morning and saw people had been camping out for, something... We had no idea what but we had a tour later that afternoon so we figure we would find out then. Those 375 ml bottles that cost me $49 each are going upwards of $500 on the secondary market. I'm giving two as gifts this Christmas and will be opening the two I am keeping.

We got to try it during the tour and it was really good but $500+ is madness!

@TracerBullet The secondary market has been hyper-inflated for a while now. It was very tempting not to flip the Weller 12 I got for $40. I know people who paid $150 for it. Now the bottle is 75% gone

@Victor I believe the Red Hook Rye batch 1 (same Willett 23 year vintage as Iron Fist) sold at auction last year for $24,000

@RianC This would probably be included on your list in the Ben Nevis category. 134 pounds after conversion. Not sure they ship out of Canada though.

sierraspringsliquor.ca/store/products/…

@Astroke...yeah, I thought that $ 16,000 seemed like too low of a price....LOL