What was the last bottle you finished?

@fiddich1980 That tracks. My wife believes we got that bottle in 2004 so a date of 2003 would make sense.

@Hewie, I agree with you about whisky outside. It's more about the experience than the taste.

I remember having a number of outside drams of my first bottle of Kilkerran WIP #1 years ago when practically everything in my life was different. Only the whisky stays the same! :)

@fiddich1980 and @paddockjudge thank you for sharing your wisdom in the ways of the Macallan bottle code reading. I simply didn't know. But I trust your insight.

@Nock Those codes use to annoy me and were cryptic. Upon investigation, I came across an obscure whisky forum. Luckily it was interesting enough for me to print out. I hope this helps.

Since when is Reddit an obscure forum?

@MadSingleMalt Thanks for jogging my memory. I honestly, could not remember where I got the information. Google "whisky bottle codes batch ", and the results are all over the place.

@fiddich1980, @Nock, @TracerBullet, et alia, find below the link to a dedicated thread for bottle codes on Connosr:

connosr.com/macallan-cs-bottle-codes-whisk…

Just finished off a bottle of Dickel Rye and a bottle of The Classic Laddie Scottish Barley.

I already have fresh bottles of both opened and back in the cabinet.

Finishing the last of Batch 015 Masterson's Straight Rye 10 YO. This batch is the least of all the Masterson's Ryes I have tasted. The last few pours have been a burden...dressed them up with a splash of Masterson's Hungarian Oak 10 YO Rye.

Just finished the last of my Bruichladdich Classic Laddie Scottish Barley. I’m ending Sober September a bit early, since my father-in-law passed away last night. We’re all at my mother-in-law’s right now trying to organize some things....

@OdysseusUnbound

My condolences to you and your family. When I get home I will have a small measure of the same in his honour.

@OdysseusUnbound

I polished off the Ardbeg Ten I opened this past summer.

And now I see that I own no more Ardbegs! That's kinda weird. It wasn't too long ago I was holding multiple Tens, the odd Corry & Oogie, and maybe whatever annual release I mighta grabbed.

Well, I realize now that I'm probably done buying the Ten for quite a while. It's got plenty of good zippy quality, but's it's really the Corry that I crave. I just need to stock up when I'm at a Binny's where the price is so much better. The Ten will continue to be a solid bar pick when that occasion arises.

@MadSingleMalt I hear you. I am with you on craving the Corry when I am in the Ardbeg mood. The Uigeadail has really slipped from my heart in recent years. Don't get me wrong. There still are a few batches I dearly love. But, for some reason it hasn't pulled at my heart strings of late. Partly, I think because I haven't found a really good batch since 17/11/2015. Similar experiences with the TEN. All of the batches I have bought lately have been middling. However, the Corry batches of late have all been calling my name:

03/04/2017 = 92 (average of 5 tasting scores)

04/05/2017 = 95 (average of 5 tasting scores)

16/03/2018 = 92 (average of 3 tasting scores)

22/10/2018 = 91 (average of 3 tasting scores)

When I want Ardbeg . . . I really just want Corry. It also doesn’t help that the Corry and Uigeadail have both been priced at $79.99 in Virginia for the past few months. When they are both equal which one are you willing to gamble on? Of late the Corry has been delivering. I wonder about the quality of sherry casks that Ardbeg is using for the Uigeadail . . . but that is for a different thread.

That said, recently I have been craving Port Charlotte far more than any other Islay distillery. Tonight I killed off my 3rd bottle of the 10yo for the year.

This bottle was batch: 2019/03/12

I like it better than batch: 2018/04/30

But not as good as batch: 2018/10/04

I wish I had taken more notes of these different batches. Alas, my hand keep reaching for them sans tasting notes. I didn’t even manage to save a sample of my favorite batch: 2018/10/04. Thankfully, I did manage to pick up a reserve each of 2019/03/12 and 2018/04/30. The one comment I will say is that every batch has improved with air time.

Saying goodbye to more old friends. This 2yo bottle of Willett is an example of really great rye whisky. I hope they keep pumping this stuff out. This bottle kept improving with time. I originally bought two bottles in July of 2014 and opened one bottle immediately. I opened this bottle (the second one) for a tasting with @Victor at his sister's house on May 14th, 2016. At the tasting we were able to compare the open bottle with the fresh bottle.

I was so taken with the delights of oxidization that I poured the last 3 fingers of the old bottle into my new bottle to allow the oxidization to impart to the new liquid. And it just kept getting better. It will be missed . . . but I need to make room in my cabinet.

Another bottle gone. Trying to make room in my "open cabinet."

This was a very good batch of Lagavulin.

These two had been hanging around far too long, so they got knocked off on the weekend. Neither will be replaced.

Another one bites the dust. This may be the best Glenmorangie I’ve had. @Victor recommended it to me about 7 or 8 years ago. I bought one, quickly bought two more and regret not buying a few more. This marks the end of the last one.

I seem to be blowing off a lot of heels lately. This was a particularly good Glenfiddich that appears to be no longer available. Unchillfiltered, natural colour, 51%ABV. Pity.

@BlueNote those are two great bottles for sure. I am glad I still have some of each on hand. I like Sonnalta so much I named two cars after it, one of which is currently my most-used vehicle. Up until recently I had only seen one bottle which received universal love at the many tastings I have presented. That bottle was Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX. Loved by new and experienced whisky drinkers alike. Recently equaling or exceeding Sonnalta PX in universal crowd-pleasing is Amrut Naarangi.

@Victor I always appreciate your recommendations. Between you and @Nozinan you have convinced me to start looking for the Naaranji.

Cheers.

@BlueNote, @Nozinan is the one who convinced me to try Amrut Naarangi. I like it so much that it is one of which I am laying in multiple bottles. Naarangi is striking in its effect, and there is nothing else like it on the market in the analogous way that there is nothing else like Glenmorangie Signet on the market. To date these two have unique flavour profiles. So far I would say that everybody I know who tried Naarangi has liked it. Signet gets a little bit less universality in its love.

@Victor I may have to schedule my tasting of Naarangi sooner rather than later. The good doctor filled my prescription to see if it hits the spot. I’ve got so many samples that it’s hard to know where to start.

@BlueNote $121 at Zyn, the cheapest I have seen it. Though it used to be $115 there.

@Nozinan Thanks, I’m on it.

@Victor, please tell us more about these Sonnalta-mobiles!

@MadSingleMalt you make me smile and laugh! My late wife was big into naming cars in our possession. After she named a couple she had had, I named our first Hyundai Sonata, purchased new in 2009, Sonnalta. On @Nock's birthday in 2015, October 10, I got into an auto accident and Sonnalta was totaled. I subsequently purchased another Hyundai Sonata, in a blue-silver colour. After much consideration I/we decided on the name Sonnalta Skye for the current car, Sonnalta being a near rhyme with Sonata and Skye being a bit of a pun on the sky-blue colour of the car. .

@OdysseusUnbound I'm sorry to hear about your loss My father-in-law is in really bad shape. He's 91 but lived a healthy life. He used to build and fly his own planes! Now he has trouble eating, talking, well everything. To bring it back to whisky, he reminds me of Horst. And I, an atheist, and deeply praying for him.

I wish you and your family my deepest condolences.

@Nock I also appreciate the PC 10--a lot. At a local shop, I saw two Islay Barleys, one from 2008 and one from 2009. (I think one is ten dollars more than the other.) Will I experience different flavors from the peated Islay barley than I do from the also peated PC 10 (which I'm getting to know like the back of my hand)?

The Octomore just sits like a mansion on the hill. I've tried the Orpheus and Comus and loved them both. BUT--they almost seemed almost too quaffable and 150-200 is a lot of cheddar for such a young whisky.

@Victor I firmly believe that if you name your vehicles, and talk to them, they will never let you down. I have a '99 4Runner Limited named Ray that has never had any issues beyond a couple of tire replacements, a couple of brake jobs and a couple of batteries. I have guys in parking lots trying to buy it from me and giving me their phone numbers. My wife has a 2001 Volvo S60 named Lars. Ditto on the reliability. Both have been garage kept all their lives. We can't come up with any good reasons to replace them. We recently bought a small Mercedes Sprinter motorhome. It's a Roadtrek conversion so, naturally, her name is Rhoda.