What was the last bottle you finished?

We’re at a mother’s day BBQ and my Arran 10 proved to be quite popular. It’s done now, but it’s all good. I’m sipping some of my host’s A’Bunadh Batch 59 and it’s delightful.

@OdysseusUnbound Good host.

John J Bowman Single Barrel 100 proof, opened 6/23/2018. A magnificent bourbon. This is my favourite style of bourbon. I'm sad to see this one go. I'm buying more than one, next time I find some.

Kilkerran WIP #3

At least half of my whisky drinking has been Kilkerran since I opened my entire stash of WIPs and later OBs for my club's Kilkerran night back in November. Now, that all remain are the most coveted ones that I've been most judicious in drinking: WIP #1 and WIP #7 Bourbon CS.

@paddockjudge , I am down to a few pours myself, always looking for a mule to get another to me

Three bottles finished to report on:

1) Ardbeg Uigeadail L 10 151. I think that this is my fifth finished bottle of Uigeadail. I finished two bottles of L10 151 from my original purchase, and this most recent one bottle of L 10 151 was one of two bottles very kindly sent to me by @RobertH in Utah. Thank you again, Robert! This Utah purchased bottle tasted substantially different from the two I had obtained locally, but still quite good. Whether that difference in taste profile was due to bottling time of day in the run, or storage or transit conditions I do not know. I/we have also finished in the past a bottle of L11 028 and a bottle of L10 194. I still have 3 bottles of L 10 151 on hand and 1 bottle of L11 028, @Nock's favourite, remaining. Ardbeg remains my favourite Scottish distillery and, depending on mood, either Uigeadail or Supernova is my favourite Ardbeg.

2) Grant's Family Reserve, 1.75 Litre bottle, my first and only bottle of Grant's I loved this one, which I have fondly referred to as "the universal solvent", but it took me about 8 years to get through that "handle".

3) Auchentoshan Three Wood. I liked this bottle very much at first, but a lot of air time made the sulphur in it much more obvious to me. At the end I got through the last 200 ml by letting it steep in an old empty 100 ml mini of Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry. That improved it much more than I would have thought possible.

At this rate I might be able to get through 1/3 of my bottles within the next 10 years. That doesn't sound like much, but it would be very helpful.

Finally did it...finished off that first and only bottle of Ballantine's Finest Blended Scotch after 8 years of the bottle open. I didn't like it at all at first, mostly because of the strong black licorice flavours from peat. Over time I became more tolerant to its taste profile and grew to like it, though it still took me 8 years to finish off that bottle.

@Victor I scored my last bottle of Ballantine’s Finest 87/100 points. I even included a snapshot of the batch number in my review for future reference. I’ve tasted from other batches since then and my 87/100 bottle seems to have been an outlier....Not surprising for a mass market blend.

JD SB Rye last night. Won't be in a rush to replace, as I'd say it's a touch overpriced, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Just finished my JP Wiser’s Lanny McDonald. I’m not planning on replacing it, and I don’t recommend it unless you’re a real die-hard Lanny/Wiser’s fan. It got better with time, but even at the end, it wasn’t all that great. Oh well, they can’t all be winners.

I just polished off a Kilkerran 8 CS. Good stuff, just my style. I'm pretty sure I'm repeating myself from earlier discussions, but between the Kilkerran 12 and the Kilkerran 8 CS, the 8 CS will probably earn all my future whisky dollars. (But I need to find a bottle of that new Peat in Progress!)

@MadSingleMalt - That's good to hear - I have one in the stash.

I also saw some reviews of the PiP and they seem quite favourable. I'd want a sample first though as if it's anything like Longrow I'd probably prefer my peat from Islay Still, the price here is excellent c£37.

Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength Batch # 007. One of the greats.

@Victor - I'll take your word for it! It's somewhat of a unicorn malt in the UK . . .

I assume you have some more stashed away though to soften the blow?!

@RianC yes, I have a bottle each of Laphroaig 10 yo Cask Strength, Batches # 5,6,7,8, and 9 unopened. You are suggesting that that is not enough? I have thought about getting a bottle of Batch # 10. Everyone likes it, but then again just about everyone likes all of them. I do. I've got 4 bottles of Cairdeas unopened too, a couple of Cairdeas 2015, and, I think a 2012 and a 2013. I am not sure which Laphroaig to open next. I do find it hard NOT to have a bottle of Laphroaig 10 CS opened at all times. The Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength I consider to be the quintessence of Laphroaig. Currently I have open a bottle of Laphroaig 25 yo CS, 18 yo, and standard 10 yo. I will probably work off that standard 10 yo (i.e. standard 43% ABV North American 10 yo) before I open anything else. This is my third bottle of 43% ABV Laphroaig 10 yo. The first I bought. The last two have been gifts.

@Victor Show off! ;-)

@TracerBullet hey, I have to make posts like that now and then to remind people on here that I am serious about Scotch.

Laphroaig 10 CS, still the only whisky I've ever filled a shopping cart with!

@Victor - Well now that's just being selfish

That we can't get it here unless we literally drive to the distillery (and then get lucky) or pay a premium on the secondary market continues to baffle me! Enjoy, my friend! But if you ever fancy letting one go I'd bet there's a few UK Connosrs that would happily split the cost . . .

@MadSingleMalt - sighs

Just squeezed out the last drops of my Glenmorangie Lasanta. Verdict - pretty nice! Didn't have much expectation when I picked this up 'back then' on sales, but came to appreciate it quite a bit and regularly went back to it.

Will I replace it? I might actually, unless I find something else with PX that tickles me'fancy. Plus, this one regularly comes back on offer for £35. But, next, maybe.... Glendronach?

Finished a bottle of Glenfiddich Malt Master’s edition. I Bought it about 4years ago, after enjoying a previous bottle. Opened all of my 40-46%abv whiskies after returning from Scotland a few months ago, drinking CS SC whisky over there. Not as good as I remember, but I feel that was purely down to abv. Very hard to go from CS to 40-46%. None the less, I still can appreciate the time and effort that went into the whisky, something I feel we overlook far to often, myself being guilty of that. A bottle I doubt I’ll buy again, but I wouldn’t turn my nose up at it if offered a dram

@Tom92 it's easy to get cask strength fever and ignore the lower abv whiskys, I know many suffer at low abv but some are quite good and well suported at such an abv.

My brother is a Glenfiddich lover through and through and so I have tasted most of their expressions as it's likely to be what we'll be drinking at his house. This Maltmaster's edition is actually quite good, it adds a layer of dark sherry, leather, hazelnut spread and tobacco to the orchard fruits you normally get in Glenfiddich. Sadly like many of their releases, you can see there is the potential for more but it falls shy of greatness.

@cricklewood too true. I know Glenfiddich 12 can get a bad rap, but that’s a TWELVE year old whisky. 12 years in a cask, and via there master blender, stays consistent in taste year in and year out. Not my go to, but at 40% a dram I know exactly what I’m getting. One of the early whisky influences for me, her and her father only drunk Glenfiddich so always a soft spot for it. I do enjoy there 15yo Solera Reserve. And have a 15yo distillers edition unopened, albeit 51%

@Tom92 go ahead and open up that Glenfiddich 15 DE. That's the good stuff!

@Victor Too true, that DE 'Fiddich is a super enjoyable dram, easy drinking. I liked the first batch of the XX from their newer collection, it had a great balance between the bourbon and sherry/port casks and surprisingly punchy at 47% abv

Bruichladdich Scottish Barley, 50% ABV. I liked this one OK, but it didn't quite make it to delicious or crave-worthy. I like The Laddie Ten (first edition) better. I have about three bottles of that on hand when desired. The Bruichladdich Islay Barley I have tried and like OK, maybe a little better than the Scottish Barley, but not enough to make me want to buy a bottle.

just finished up my second bottle of Miltonduff 22 bottled by indy Distller's Art. Very nice. I will gladly spring for another one if I can find it.

Not exactly the last bottle finished but, an empty purge.

@fiddich1980 WoW! And to think I tasted of many of those bottles. Thanks for sharing!