Which bottle did you just buy and why?

@cricklewood @RikS

I think the $80 LCBO price tag is reasonable for the quality one is receiving, at least for the KGBO...

Heavy discounting led me to pick up another bottle of the Bunnahabhain XXV 25 Year Old to stash away. Also picked up a bottle of the 1974 Caledonian “the Cally” 40 Year Old. The Cally is part of the 2015 Diageo Special Release and I remember being really impressed by it during a tasting.

@sengjc you acquire some interesting bottles. I'm interested to know are these from a retailer in Aus or do you buy offshore? I think I'd struggle to find the same selection over the ditch here in NZ.

@Hewie

I source mainly locally and overseas on occasion only.

It’s interesting you say that as I feel that the selection in NZ is better, with prices more reasonable, than in AUS.

@sengjc yeah, we have a couple of online retailers whose prices are pretty sharp - considering the variation in price globally (not thinking just of our Canadian friends). You often have some interesting bottles to show - I guess I tend to look at the lower end of the offerings - maybe they are just as available here. Apart from One online retailers weekly specials, there are never any decent offers or discounts available here. The walk-in bottle shops generally have a poor selection and primarily cater for mainstream drinkers. Their prices are generally higher than what's available online. The cost of buying from overseas seems prohibitive. I guess I should be happy with what I do have available.

@Hewie

Hehe, you know what they say about the grass on the other side when really you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

@sengjc Are you referring to Ardbeg? The nose on Uigeadail has hints of the Asphalt they use to pave paradise and put up a parking lot...

@Nozinan

Hehe - I was referring to Hewie’s comments on the selection and pricing of whisky in New Zealand.

Stronachie 12 (a rebranding of Benrinnes from sherry casks)

Why? Because I plan to do a "dead distilleries recreated" night with my whisky club sometime down the road, maybe for spooky October. The Stronachie will pair with the Lossit that I already have. We'll see if I manage to pick up any other specimens from this odd little category of whisky between now and then.

The question will be, do these whiskies really evoke a feeling of yesteryear's whisky?

A bottle of Octomore 7.3.

I'd had a taste of a couple of Octomore versions at Bruichladdich a few weeks ago.

Spotted this at a discount so couldn't resist.

@Nickh

From personal experience, that is a bottle one shouldn't resist.

@Nickh, a friend in my whisky club who knows his way around his high-end whiskies says that the Octomore 7.3 is the best whisky he's ever had.

@MadSingleMalt Wow. Praise indeed. I loved the 7.2. Will be interesting to see how this compares.

I picked up my W.L. Weller 12 today. The woman who helped me seemed puzzled by the odd juxtaposition of “allotted online order” and the $46 price tag. I’m not sure I’ll get to sample this tonight as the wife and I are going out later.

@OdysseusUnbound, employee engagement is not a point of strength at the LCBO...yes, there are exceptions; however, it is more akin to vegetarians working in the meat department.

Bought 2 Macallan Ed No.1 for retail. They're getting rare now, no big alcohol retailer has them anymore, small stores that do demand too much $, so I didn't hesitate to buy them.

Talisker 10. On sale for £30. Need I say more? I'll add that recent batches seem to be getting excellent reviews and Serge gives a ~2018 bottling 90 points. Mind you, he gives every bottle of T10 90 points

Went out to sample some new stuff in my area. Here is what I picked up:

Tomatin 12yr - Bourbon / Sherry Casks Highland Park 12yr - Viking Honour Glenmorangie 12yr - Sherry Cask - Lasanta Glen Moray - 12yr - Elgin Heritage Bowmore - 12yr

I am eagerly opening the Tomatin right now! Cheers!!!

I just picked up a bottle of Crown Royal Blenders Select because I have poor impulse control. Miserly May might be in order.

@OdysseusUnbound Impulse control: there's a concept. I recently had to explain to Mrs. Blue Note why I had to spend $515 on 3 bottles of single malt. Because they were there didn't go over that well. I had to let her taste the anCnoc 22 to appease her. It worked.

@BlueNote I wish I could take that approach. My wife hates all whisky, so that’s a no go. She still doesn’t understand why I need so many bottles all at once. And she really can’t understand why some (Dissertation, Last Barrels, Legacy, Lot 40 CS) are downstairs in storage. Oh well. She’s pretty good about it, actually. I’m harder on myself than she is.

@OdysseusUnbound A good and loving wife is worth more than anything else. Sounds like we are both very lucky guys.

@OdysseusUnbound - I like that wording 'poor impulse control'.

If we keep saying it enough perhaps it will become a clinical condition? You know, the kind one gets sympathy for rather than that 'look'!

@RianC Maybe the cost of medication will be covered by Medicare or Pharmacare. The only effective medication, of course, being single malt Scotch whisky.

@BlueNote I believe the only licensed single malt was Laphroaig...

@Nozinan I'll take it. Will you write me a prescription Doc?

I knew that returned bottle of CR Cask 16 would eventually come in handy for a trade.

Shopping whisky!

@OdysseusUnbound can we be honest with one another here? We’re amongst fiends...or is it friends? Anyway, miserly May sounds an awful lot like wishful thinking. It’s more likely to become a short-sighted spring.

You may recall a goal I set for myself regarding purchases in the first half of the year. I have since bought Glenmorangie 18 (internal monologue: “but the deal in duty free is SO good - it would really be wrong not to”). I am also awaiting arrival on a bottle or Glenlivet 21 (internal monologue: “It’s ok. I came into some found money and got a decent deal [comparitively] that makes it ok to splurge. There’s nothing wrong with that...right?”).

I have a whisky buddy. I told him if I mention buying a bottle that he should talk be down from the ledge. His response: “dude, I’m going to talk you into it, not out of it”. Still, I take comfort in the notion that I don’t spend what I don’t have and that I give literally 99.5% of my salary to bills, savings, and education expenses. I don’t touch a penny of it. If .5% is spent on whisky, that’s ok. Right?

@Barnbip Talisker 18! Like Kevin in UP. I know it’s out there. I just can’t find it.