What was the last bottle you finished?

I finished my Compass Box Oak Cross last night. Three bottles in three nights. Hopefully whisky Santa is good to me. At this rate, I’ll be under 10 bottles soon. That said, I won’t be drinking for a few days, as I’ll be in Brampton/Mississauga on Monday and Tuesday evening. I’m consulting on my schoolboard’s input into the Canada and World Studies/Social Sciences curriculum revision, especially in the First Nations/Métis perspectives.

@nooch I've only had one bottle of the DE and I decided I liked the standard 16 better. The 12 is the gold standard but getting far too expensive. Opinions are mixed on the 8, but I am on my second bottle and I like it a lot. It's full of youthful piss and vinegar (not literally) and lets you know you are drinking serious whisky, not some namby pamby training juice.

@nooch.. Love it. The Lag 8 is certainly the antidote to all the "founder's reserves" of the whisky world

@cricklewood Nicely put.

@cricklewood - Indeed! Early days but I'm not sure I'm enjoying my Laga 8 as much as I enjoyed the sample I had last year.

Seems more sweet and less smokey - will see how a week or two settling helps it.

I had a bit of Laphroaig 10 and a bit of Quarter Cask left. Put them together last night and knocked off 2 bottles taking up shelf space. Mix was about 50/50 and made one decent size dram. Tasted great.

@BlueNote, that sounds like a winning combo to me. Both are solid, but the QC is a bit woody and the standard 10 is a bit thin. Together, I bet you're in the sweet spot.

@MadSingleMalt Agreed. The 10 certainly benefitted from a bit of beefing up.

@RianC is your second bottle of Lag 8 from the old 200th anniversary batch or the new "permanent" OB line-up. I saw some of the new bottles this weekend, the packaging is the same white instead of black box but they removed the oval 200th anniversary logo, I almost didn't notice. It could explain batch variation. My bottle didn't change drastically after opening but it did get slightly more phenolic.

@cricklewood, keep in mind that there were multiple batches of the anniversary-labeled stuff.

I remind us of this just in case anyone who loved an original "anniversary" bottle is now seeking more with the same label as a guarantee against batch variation.

Glenfiddich 15

@cricklewood - No it's a 200th Anniversary bottling I've had almost a year. The sample I had was a Whisky Santa gift from MoM with my Christmas order last year so had probably had a bit of air exposure along the way.

I had a sniff from the bottle last night and yes, it is beginning to become more phenolic - the sweetness on opening was surprising.

Just finished a Wild Turkey 101, will definitely be replacing that one. Had thought about getting another Knob Creek Single Barrel, but for less than $40 here in Ontario you can't go wrong with WT101.

Just finished my Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban. Making room for my Xmas presents!

Just finished a JP Wiser Legacy. Think I will have to grab another before they are gone for good.

@boatracer, the listing for Wiser's Legacy has gone from discontinued to missing from the LCBO website. What area(s) do you frequent? I have a list from Tuesday and can point you in the right direction

@paddockjudge Is tis the end of Wiser's Legacy in Ontario? Pity.

At least they have Ardmore Legacy. Only slightly higher price...

@boatracer The WT101 was one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had in a long time. Definitely worth replacing.

Finished up the last of my first bottle of Machir Bay just before I took the (temporary) pledge. Thankfully I have another one waiting in the cabinet.

@boatracer Wiser's Legacy LCBO inventory listing can be found on the Vintage site.

I said goodbye to my bottle of Amrut Kadhambam. It was better before oxidation but never was stellar.

@fiddich1980, how can Legacy be found on the Vintages site? Please share.

@paddockjudge. www.vintages.com under the search field type Wiser's. Three pages of Wiser products appear. The 2nd page has a listing for Wiser's Legacy. Open the link and locate inventory. The LCBO site removed Wiser Legacy from their site but the Vintage site still list the product.

@fiddich1980 The Vintages site is not as reliable in terms of inventory. It is strange, though, that LCBO would have it completely missing. Either way, unless someone is asking me to go on the hunt for them, I'm sticking with what I have, because if I get a lifetime supply of every whisky, I'll have 10 lifetimes worth or more.

@Nozinan. I agree. I found it weird and standard KGBO behaviour to delist an item on one site but, continue to list on another site. Another example would be Glenlivet Nàdurra, both sites list Olorosso and Peated versions. Yet, I've seen the First Fill Ex-bourbon in outlets and no listings on both sites.

@fiddich1980 _ thanks for the correct URL. I was using an old bookmark (vintagesshoponline.com) and it had sweet FA.

Cheers bro!

Kilkerran 12 ... Lovely stuff. I believe I like this one better than the mighty Springbank 10. I have another bottle but it's of the first bottling and I'm weird so I'm gonna have to pick up another from last year's run.

@KRB80 agreed. The kilkerran is fantastic. That said, I was lucky enough to try a couple of drams or springbank 21 - wow. If you have the chance to try that, jump on it.

@nooch Man, I wish!!!! Hopefully someday! I had a big dram of Springbank 18 last night that my buddy gave to me for sample which I thought was amazing. The only was I'll get to try the 21 is through sample as it's insanely priced here in the USA ($500) and that's if you can find it. The 18 is at $200, and while still very expensive, it's doable for a special bottle.

With that said, I now have my eyes on Longrow 18 but I hear each year is conditioned differently so I'll have to do my homework before taking the leap.

@KRB80 here’s my springbank 21 story: I went to Speyside last August on a whisky trip. I was staying in Craigellachie and went to the Craigellachie Hotel’s fantastic Copper Dog restaurant to sample the great food and a few of the 800+ drams they carry at the hotel. I had researched ahead of time and determined that springbank 18 (£11 a dram) was on my list. I ordered it, only to discover that they were out of it. The bartender offered up the 21yo (£25 a dram) at the same price when he saw my disappointment. It was so good I figured I would order another - even if I had to pay full price. I figured I was ahead anyway. So I ordered another. They brought the food and drink bill in the interim and the 2nd dram wasn’t on it as it hadn’t arrived yet. I pointed this out to the lad who delivered the dram. I wanted to pay. I’m a karma guy. He looked at my bill. He looked at the dram. He looked at me. He shrugged his shoulders, handed it to me and told me to enjoy my stay. Glorious Scottish hospitality. I also stopped in at Glenfarclas for a tasting. No booking. The host, Murray, couldn’t have been nicer. He gave us a few younger family cask drams, the 25, and a couple tastings of unbottled samples. Afterwards I wanted to settle up and he said to enjoy our stay in Speyside. It has been his pleasure. No charge. The Scots in Speyside do it right.

I organized a driver, Eleanor from Tawse Taxi (highly recommended) to take us from distillery to distillery over the three days we were there. When she found out my brother in law was a firefighter she organized a drop in at the Rothes firehall so he could exchange a fire services shirt with Andy, a leuitenant who came in on his own time to show my brother in law around the station and engine. She charged us nothing for the sidetrip and the half hour she waited while my brother in law chatted. We, of course, took care of her with a tip.

Sorry I went on a bit of a tangent, but the memories came flooding back!

The people of Speyside are the friendliest bunch you could hope to meet.